I am the Pickerel King, I can do anything, except catch a bass these days! No complaints though. These guys are ferocious in these temps and 28"-30"ers live here and are a possibility. I jumped out tonight and it was still in the 50s. Chucked a small swimbait  and landed the first fish on my newest rig, so that was cool. Missed two more on the same bait because I was too close to branches to swing on 'em. It'll be dropping into the 20s the next few nights, so it was good to get some tugs before the freeze.

 

4 hours ago, NYWayfarer said:

Still no Bass from shore since late October. It’s been all Yellow Perch and Chain Pickerel

2017 was a drought year just like '20, and so far it's been a repeat as far as activity and patterns go this fall and early winter. Hopefully they wake up late in January or so. It's been rough in these parts for everyone I know.

Finally caught the elusive albino rainbow trout.... on a crappie tube. Get to cross that off my list!

5 hours ago, Dorado said:

Finally caught the elusive albino rainbow trout.... on a crappie tube. Get to cross that off my list!

Cool! Looks like an actual albino and not a palomino with the pink eyes?

16 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Cool! Looks like an actual albino and not a palomino with the pink eyes?

Albino with red eyes. Wonder what the difference is between the two?

only had one jerkbait in the work truck for lunch break but I managed a herring. I did not have time to chop down a shrubbery with it 

C'mon...

Tennessee boys shouldn't be posting pictures of catfish bait!

 

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

C'mon...

Tennessee boys shouldn't be posting pictures of catfish bait!

 

It’s really good striper bait too 

Maybe the best, but live and 4"-6". That one is too big.

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

only had one jerkbait in the work truck for lunch break but I managed a herring. I did not have time to chop down a shrubbery with it 

Those are plentiful in the Tennessee River right now. I've caught several this week. They may not be prized (other than for bait), but they're pretty fun to catch...if that's all that's biting.

1 hour ago, Fishlegs said:

Those are plentiful in the Tennessee River right now. I've caught several this week. They may not be prized (other than for bait), but they're pretty fun to catch...if that's all that's biting.

Don’t they call them Tennessee Tarpon? They sure jump like them.

Yes

2 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

Maybe the best, but live and 4"-6". That one is too big.

I had a monster striper eat one that big (whole) 3 times in a row when it was completely dead. Also striper love cut skipjack 

 

here’s two from this spring, one that hit the whole dead skip, 44 inches and 36 lbs 

 

Then another 16 lb on cut piece of skipjack in a canoe 

55 minutes ago, NYWayfarer said:

Don’t they call them Tennessee Tarpon? They sure jump like them.

Yes, they do.

Hmm...

Not my experience, but I never fish them that big, dead or cut up. We catch the 

skipjack on a Sabiki rig. They are fished alive using a 3-way swivel, 2/0 octopus

circle hook and a 3 oz weight below the Pickwick Dam.

 

The skipjack were biting whatever lipless crankbait I threw out there Saturday. I froze a few to use for catfish bait another day. I haven’t had much luck catching bass lately so I was just glad to catch something.

Big stripers especially love cut bait. Big fish will eat take any chance they get at an easy meal, that's how they get so big. A lot of them get conditioned to eating chopped up fished that have gone through the dam turbines also. Folks around here fish for wipers with livers and catch lots of them with it. They're not picky eaters when they decide to eat.

 

I'd think it would be a blast to catch skipjack. There's a few in the Missouri River and a buddy of mine has found a spot they congregate during the winter (he actually caught the old Missouri state record there). I've seen a couple of his videos catching them and it looks like a lot of fun ?‍♂️

https://mdc.mo.gov/newsroom/kansas-city-angler-hooks-state-record-skipjack-herring

 

5 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Big stripers especially love cut bait. Big fish will eat take any chance they get at an easy meal, that's how they get so big. A lot of them get conditioned to eating chopped up fished that have gone through the dam turbines also. Folks around here fish for wipers with livers and catch lots of them with it. They're not picky eaters when they decide to eat.

 

I'd think it would be a blast to catch skipjack. There's a few in the Missouri River and a buddy of mine has found a spot they congregate during the winter (he actually caught the old Missouri state record there). I've seen a couple of his videos catching them and it looks like a lot of fun ?‍♂️

https://mdc.mo.gov/newsroom/kansas-city-angler-hooks-state-record-skipjack-herring

 

I’ve almost broken the world record several times! Hahah I always wondered if anyone would notice........... 

 

it used to be 4 lbs even and I caught several 3 lb 9 oz 

Never weighed one, I don't like touching them unless I am hooking one up for bait.

I think they have cooties.

 

35 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

Never weighed one, I don't like touching them unless I am hooking one up for bait.

I think they have cooties.

 

They are quite disgusting , which I’m assuming is why stripers and catfish can smell them. My buddy always tries to shake them off and never can, it makes a hilarious scene 

16 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

They are quite disgusting , which I’m assuming is why stripers and catfish can smell them. My buddy always tries to shake them off and never can, it makes a hilarious scene 

That's funny because I watch Kayak Catfish on Youtube and whenever he post a video where he's trying to catch them for bait it seems like he looses more of them than he lands. They look like they've got really thin lips that would be easy to shake loose, like a crappie.

1 minute ago, Bluebasser86 said:

That's funny because I watch Kayak Catfish on Youtube and whenever he post a video where he's trying to catch them for bait it seems like he looses more of them than he lands. They look like they've got really thin lips that would be easy to shake loose, like a crappie.

You guessed it! Tougher than a crappie mouth but not by much. Their gyrations are unparalleled so they shake off a lot. I just started watching kayak catfish recently, fun to see others fishing on the same waters I fish 

Just now, TnRiver46 said:

You guessed it! Tougher than a crappie mouth but not by much. Their gyrations are unparalleled so they shake off a lot. I just started watching kayak catfish recently, fun to see others fishing on the same waters I fish 

I like watching Justin. He catches some monsters and mostly I enjoy that he just does what he likes to do and doesn't care about selling out for more views or sponsors or anything. When he gets going about people getting mad about him using crappie or bass for bait it gets me laughing. I'm hoping to catch a few of his "fun sized", catfish from my kayak next year.

 

I caught my first trout ever in October! But since I uploaded the picture from my phone, the picture is 4.7mb, which is sadly too big to post on here. 

2 minutes ago, TheBasslayer said:

 

I caught my first trout ever in October! But since I uploaded the picture from my phone, the picture is 4.7mb, which is sadly too big to post on here. 

If you have Facebook, send it to yourself on Messenger. Then save the picture you receive from yourself. Messenger automatically downsamples images, and that new image will be small enough to post here.

27 minutes ago, galyonj said:

If you have Facebook, send it to yourself on Messenger. Then save the picture you receive from yourself. Messenger automatically downsamples images, and that new image will be small enough to post here.

Oh. I don't have either, but thanks anyways!