I'm with @TnRiver46 on these rowers. I've had one plow right into the hull of my boat before.

I actually called the county sheriff's office because it had gotten to be so bad for months on end. Only in rowing do you propel a watercraft without actually facing the direction you're going. Imagine if everyone in a boat did that?

@gim , one of the rowers got me back Friday evening. They went by and one of them was barking like a dog. As with most people, they don’t realize you can hear what they are saying across the water. He then said “I was looking right at the guy in the kayak when I was barking.” Then the next boat that went by said “that dude in the kayak is staring at us.” Which I was, but unfortunately my Jedi mind powers weren’t strong enough to capsize their vessel 😂

Yesterday my wife wanted to go trout fishing so I took her to a local tailwater. I caught two and lost at least two more that were much bigger. She also lost one that was peeling line off her fly reel, would have liked to have seen her get that one into the net. Water was friggin freezing, I think I heard someone say it was 39 degrees. The trout felt like ice blocks

37 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

The trout felt like ice blocks

I hate that. When I'm fishing cold water, my hands are already cold and then the fish make them even colder.

The very south end of the lake by my house is LOADED with big shad right now. I've stocked up on about a trash bag worth of catfish bait and shared the info with some other guys. I didn't even have a net the first time, just snagging them with a Ned rig they were so thick 😂

A 10" shad snagged in the back is a pretty decent fight on light tackle.

On a 60 degree February day we hit the river. The water is very low at this spot at winter pool, but it was just high enough at the ramp to get the boat in. The water temp hovered around 41 all day. We looked for fish shallow, and deep. Pretty much everywhere we usually fish along this stretch with nothing to show for it. We only found one spot with signs of baitfish all morning, but nothing was willing to bite.

The only place we had not looked was at the dam. We went up to the dam, but did not see a lot of fish there either. We did manage to find a few baitfish near one corner of the dam so we tried there. My buddy caught a nice crappie, a fat spotted bass, a small catfish, and accidentally snagged a small gar.

I managed a 7 lb blue cat, and also accidentally snagged a gar. This gar was pretty big. I've caught catfish heavier than this fish, but this may be the longest fish I've ever caught. We didn't have gloves sufficient to get it in, and neither of us are experienced handling gar so I just told my buddy to snap a picture when I got it to the side of the boat. It's hard to tell from the picture, but we estimated that it was between four and five feet long. It took me over 20 minutes to get it to the surface on 6 lb test. The drag on my reel got a major workout. That reel definitely needs a little TLC before I go out again. We called it a day after that.

Monster gar! Throw a saddle on that thing and go for a ride

18 hours ago, Fishlegs said:

It's hard to tell from the picture, but we estimated that it was between four and five feet long.

You're right, the pic doesn't show it as 4 - 5 feet, 3 feet maybe, but, still, 4 - 5 feet! That must have been quite a thrill. Congrats

3 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Monster gar! Throw a saddle on that thing and go for a ride

I've looked at some pictures to see what type of gar it is. You're very good at fish ID. Is it a longnose?

1 hour ago, Jigfishn10 said:

You're right, the pic doesn't show it as 4 - 5 feet, 3 feet maybe, but, still, 4 - 5 feet! That must have been quite a thrill. Congrats

It was a fun fight. We passed over a large bait ball so I dropped my line down into it just hoping for something to happen. I felt the line move so I set the hook, and this is what was there. I've caught a few gar over the years, but never one this big. It's also the first time I've unintentinally snagged one with a #2 hook, and 6 lb test. Now I know that my hooks, line, and knots are up to the task though. 😂

45 minutes ago, Fishlegs said:

. It's also the first time I've unintentinally snagged one with a #2 hook, and 6 lb test.

Which makes the catch even crazier! You have to wonder if that would have been some type of state record or trophy. That's big! Especially for that line an hook size. Do they have some type of state trophy fish citation where you live?

I’d definitely guess longnose. We get 42-46” ones all summer long, funnest fight there is. They take all your line and jump like a marlin

Found this one too, wife claims I tried to kill her with the fish. Same exact spot years apart, we’ve been catching them there since I was a little kid. Probably the same ones, I think they live a century

@Jigfishn10 I caught it in Tennessee, and they do have an angler recognition program. You just need a picture with measurements, and a witness who's willing to verify the catch. I had thoughts of trying to get it in the boat to see if it qualified, but I wasn't 100% sure what species it was, we didn't have a good set of gloves to safely handle it (it had lots of teeth 😂), and it was a long way to the nearest ER if I needed stitches. In light of those things we decided against it. 45 inches is the qualifying length for a longnose gar. It was probably not 5 ft long, but I'm pretty sure it was over 45 inches.

The TN state record for a longnose gar is over 38 lbs. I've seen 38 lb fish (other species), and I don't think this one was that heavy. I may have to leave a pair of gloves in my friend's boat just in case it happens again though.

That's a longnose for sure. Pretty crazy to manage to land one after snagging it on light tackle. It's almost impossible to get a hook through their scales, even with heavy tackle.

Grabbing a gar with treble hooks in it? You're braver than me @TnRiver46! 🤣

@Bluebasser86 It took some patience to get it in. I have become a believer in 6 lb Daiwa Samurai J-Fluoro. I have had multiple experiences where it's proven to be crazy strong.

She was fighting very well and blew my spool. I needed to bring her in with hands 😏

@Fishlegs , it almost got me divorced when it was back toward her end of the boat full Tasmanian devil haha. I almost always catch them with treble jerkbait. Just have to be mindful of their wild energy. I tried netting them before and that’s a non starter 😂

One of the many great things about longnose gar? If they see a lure, they try to eat it 99.9976347 percent of the time

@TnRiver46 I was wondering if that was her, or you yelling at the end of that video when it started going crazy. 😂

Apparently, lowering a drop shot rig into a huge bait ball is a decent way to snag them. It happened to both people in the boat my last time out.

First striper of the year, only bite of the day.

1 hour ago, Peacedivision said:

First striper of the year, only bite of the day.

Sweet!

Left home at 5:05 after work, home at 7:20. I let a bunch of fish go too

Those look nice, and thick. You're eating good this weekend!

My son got a few big slabs in Crescent lake today…

Fished my lake for catfish and only got 2 butter cats ( yellow bullheads )

Friday canoe crappies after work

Halibut on a 3.75 rage swimmer this morning.