58 minutes ago, The Bassman said:

Tried to cook a chub over a fire once but it didn't work out too well.

One of our favorite memories is when my friends and I tried to cook a shiner over a road flare.

20 minutes ago, billmac said:

One of our favorite memories is when my friends and I tried to cook a shiner over a road flare.

 Jeff Jeff Foxworthy called.

He wants that one. 

A-Jay

Fish were a food source growing up. I fished for anything that would bite that could be eaten. I remember fishing a lot for catfish, crappie, bluegill/sunfish, white bass, and walleye. I also spent a lot of time in the creek at my cousin's house (who lived next to use 1/4 mile down a dirt road), catching creek chubs and suckers to be used for bait for larger fish. Bass were not a frequent catch as they didn't live in large numbers in the lakes we fished, and since you can only keep 2-5 of them in most lakes, they weren't an efficient species to target to get the most food per trip.

Channel cats and bullheads at home.   After we got a bit older, Mom and Dad would load us boys up in the family truckster and head north to Ottertail County MN (Dead Lake) to fish for exotic species like Northern Pike and Walleyes.  We were always stunned by those clear MN waters after fishing the mud creeks of home.  

 

Oh the memories. 

 Bluegills, yellow perch, pumpkinseeds, channel cats, white perch, black and white crappie (fresh or brackish water); flounder, sea trout, bluefish, spot in the Bay or Atlantic. Never caught a striper. How odd for living in Maryland. Plenty of blue crab though!

 

Going after yellow perch during the spawn while migrating up streams is a great memory. Looked like you could walk across them. 

We fished for fish. Any fish. If it swam in the river back home, we tried to catch it: catfish, bullheads, carp, suckers, drum, goldeye, and in some spots, an occasional rock bass, pike, walleye, or sauger.

I was fortunate to grow up with a couple different lake houses here in Missouri. One had a dock that was as simple as wetting a small ball of wonder bread and sticking it on a hook, and catching a bluegill on almost every cast. And it never got old. The other had a dock that had sunken brush that held some slab crappie. You had to work harder for those, but it was fun when you got one.

 

Now a days when I’m at Pomme, My family knows of the “magic” white bass spot. If the largemouth fishing is slow, we matriculate over to that part of the lake and usually have a ball. My kiddos love using an a-rig. Have caught three at time a few different casts.

I grew up on the Tennessee river in Rogersville, AL, near Wheeler Lake. I remember spending weekend nights with my father on the pier, and we would have like 9 rods out on the bottom fishing for cats. We would stay up until 2 am or so fishing, and then we would put the cats on ice overnight, and fry em up the next day. That is where I learned to love fishing, even though now, I fish mainly for bass. 

On 1/22/2021 at 10:22 AM, InfantryMP said:

I grew up on the Tennessee river in Rogersville, AL, near Wheeler Lake. I remember spending weekend nights with my father on the pier, and we would have like 9 rods out on the bottom fishing for cats. We would stay up until 2 am or so fishing, and then we would put the cats on ice overnight, and fry em up the next day. That is where I learned to love fishing, even though now, I fish mainly for bass. 

I’ve heard wheeler is tough the last couple years, have you heard the same? 

On 1/23/2021 at 10:20 PM, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve heard wheeler is tough the last couple years, have you heard the same? 

 

To be honest it has been a couple years since I have been back there to fish. I went to Smith Lake in Alabama last year for my annual trip...

I have been catching several species of freshwater and saltwater fish since I first started fishing. That was several decades ago and I still feel like a kid with a new toy every time I catch a new species or new personal best.