The Hunting & Fishing Thread

[The Marshall Plan]

A little outdoors humor: A guy and his buddy are sitting in a deer blind in the woods behind his house. He's scoping things out looking for deer when he lets out a cuss. "What the heck is Mike's truck doing in my driveway?" he mutters. The other guy replies: "if I caught my wife fooling around on me, I'd put one in her head and one in the guy's privates. The first guy looks through his scope again: "One shot will do it".

LOL! Nice.

[Grizzled]

The infamous Texas A&M joke, which I can tell having my Masters from the school:

Two buddies, both Aggies, take a float plane to northern Canada for their annual hunting trip. Before taking off, the pilot reminds them of weight limits on the plane so he can get off the water. Well, the hunting is fantastic - they bag moose, grizzlies, caribou, Bighorn Sheep, you name it. The pilot, after landing to pick them up at the end of the week, tells the guys they can't possibily take all their trophies home. They tell him that the plane made it up last year and everything is packed into the cargo hold. The pilot pulls back on the yoke, the plane struggles up off the water, makes it about 300 feet over the forest, and nose dives in. One guy turns to the other and says "wow, we made it 100 feet further than last year"!

[The Marshall Plan]

Today was the day of the annual Fathers vs Daughters Fishing Derby with my kid's best friend, her dad and me. We do this to celebrate Father's Day around this time of year. Been doing it for years.

Dads won 13 to 5 non-bluegill fish including my buddy catching a 40" muskie which is considered an automatic clincher. You have to catch a "real" fish like a bass, perch, walleye, crappie, northern, muskie, catfish, etc for it to count.

My best for the day was a 6 pound bass. I caught the most of the group for the day, but of course my buddy's fish was the highlight. Awesome muskie.

This feels outstanding kicking our kids' ass because last year the girls won by a blowout and they never let us hear the end of it for seriously the entire year.

[Grizzled]

Today was the day of the annual Fathers vs Daughters Fishing Derby with my kid's best friend, her dad and me. We do this to celebrate Father's Day around this time of year. Been doing it for years.

Dads won 13 to 5 non-bluegill fish including my buddy catching a 40" muskie which is considered an automatic clincher. You have to catch a "real" fish like a bass, perch, walleye, crappie, northern, muskie, catfish, etc for it to count.

My best for the day was a 6 pound bass. I caught the most of the group for the day, but of course my buddy's fish was the highlight. Awesome muskie.

This feels outstanding kicking our kids' ass because last year the girls won by a blowout and they never let us hear the end of it for seriously the entire year.

Sounds like a lot of fun. I'm going to start taking my 7 year old granddaughter with me to the local ponds. Outstanding catches of the bass and musky. Chain of Lakes?

[UOK]

I spent probably 20 hours hunting over the weekend, it was a blast. Got 4 pronghorn, a pile of deer, an elk, some wolves, even a squirrel or two. Red Dead Redemption 2 is awesome.

[o-pus #40 in B major]

I spent probably 20 hours hunting over the weekend, it was a blast. Got 4 pronghorn, a pile of deer, an elk, some wolves, even a squirrel or two. Red Dead Redemption 2 is awesome.

Nice work. All that without getting your skinning knife dull.

[southdakbearfan]

Wife and I took a vacation down to Florida this week, but I managed to sneak in a charter fishing trip for us while we were there. Fishing was excellent as we got our limit of Red Snapper, some vermillion snapper and a couple Mahi Mahi along with catching a bunch of other throw back fish. I was surprised how simple the fishing was actually (hook and egg sinker) and that the boat used the same electronics that I use here back home, Helix 7 and 9, and a Minn Kota Terrova albeit was the Riptide version for salt water.

The boat was a bit bigger of course (24' vs my 19'), but, fishing is fishing.

I wish I had some of my tackle with me to try out, just for the fun of it. Maybe next time.

[Grizzled]

Wife and I took a vacation down to Florida this week, but I managed to sneak in a charter fishing trip for us while we were there. Fishing was excellent as we got our limit of Red Snapper, some vermillion snapper and a couple Mahi Mahi along with catching a bunch of other throw back fish. I was surprised how simple the fishing was actually (hook and egg sinker) and that the boat used the same electronics that I use here back home, Helix 7 and 9, and a Minn Kota Terrova albeit was the Riptide version for salt water.

The boat was a bit bigger of course (24' vs my 19'), but, fishing is fishing.

I wish I had some of my tackle with me to try out, just for the fun of it. Maybe next time.

Many years ago, went on a sailfishing charter out of Jupiter. Unfortunately that part of the fishing was unsuccessful. However, the mate had thrown a feather on a heavy duty spinning rod off the stern so it could bounce just back of the wake. A fish took it, almost stripped the reel bare before the I could turn him. Went on another couple runs almost as long before I got it up to the boat and it was released. The mate told me that the runs were both the name of the fish and most anglers reaction to hooking one: Wahoo. It was probably about 30 pounds, 4 foot long. Best snapper I ever took on a drift boat was 15 to 20 pounds, one of the most delicious fish I've ever caught. Cousin and I rented a boat in the Keys, trolled baits for the a.m. Had a strike, fighting it to the boat, all of a sudden it took off on a run that almost stripped the reel, then completely gave up. When I got it the boat, I saw why. A shark had grabbed the mackerel and took off with it. What was left of it cooked up quite nicely.

[southdakbearfan]

Wife and I took a vacation down to Florida this week, but I managed to sneak in a charter fishing trip for us while we were there. Fishing was excellent as we got our limit of Red Snapper, some vermillion snapper and a couple Mahi Mahi along with catching a bunch of other throw back fish. I was surprised how simple the fishing was actually (hook and egg sinker) and that the boat used the same electronics that I use here back home, Helix 7 and 9, and a Minn Kota Terrova albeit was the Riptide version for salt water.

The boat was a bit bigger of course (24' vs my 19'), but, fishing is fishing.

I wish I had some of my tackle with me to try out, just for the fun of it. Maybe next time.

Many years ago, went on a sailfishing charter out of Jupiter. Unfortunately that part of the fishing was unsuccessful. However, the mate had thrown a feather on a heavy duty spinning rod off the stern so it could bounce just back of the wake. A fish took it, almost stripped the reel bare before the I could turn him. Went on another couple runs almost as long before I got it up to the boat and it was released. The mate told me that the runs were both the name of the fish and most anglers reaction to hooking one: Wahoo. It was probably about 30 pounds, 4 foot long. Best snapper I ever took on a drift boat was 15 to 20 pounds, one of the most delicious fish I've ever caught. Cousin and I rented a boat in the Keys, trolled baits for the a.m. Had a strike, fighting it to the boat, all of a sudden it took off on a run that almost stripped the reel, then completely gave up. When I got it the boat, I saw why. A shark had grabbed the mackerel and took off with it. What was left of it cooked up quite nicely.

Had about a 5’ shark take a run at a smaller snapper next to the boat, but he missed or veered off when he saw the boat. That was kind of cool to see. Lots of flying fish on the ride back in too.

[Grizzled]

Many years ago, went on a sailfishing charter out of Jupiter. Unfortunately that part of the fishing was unsuccessful. However, the mate had thrown a feather on a heavy duty spinning rod off the stern so it could bounce just back of the wake. A fish took it, almost stripped the reel bare before the I could turn him. Went on another couple runs almost as long before I got it up to the boat and it was released. The mate told me that the runs were both the name of the fish and most anglers reaction to hooking one: Wahoo. It was probably about 30 pounds, 4 foot long. Best snapper I ever took on a drift boat was 15 to 20 pounds, one of the most delicious fish I've ever caught. Cousin and I rented a boat in the Keys, trolled baits for the a.m. Had a strike, fighting it to the boat, all of a sudden it took off on a run that almost stripped the reel, then completely gave up. When I got it the boat, I saw why. A shark had grabbed the mackerel and took off with it. What was left of it cooked up quite nicely.

Had about a 5’ shark take a run at a smaller snapper next to the boat, but he missed or veered off when he saw the boat. That was kind of cool to see. Lots of flying fish on the ride back in too.

Back in the '70s, I met an old man running a tackle shop. He and his friends used to fish off Palm Beach way back before any of the condos were built. They fished for sharks from a 16 foot boat. One night, they hooked a shark which towed them up the coast for several miles, turned around, towed the other way, reversed direction again. This went on until almost sunrise when they finally got it up to the boat. It was a hammerhead they estimated at about 13 feet. They didn't have any desire to kill it nor wrestle it into a boat only slightly bigger so they just cut the line above the leader and watched it swim away. He said if beach goers knew how close to shore sharks swim in the area, especially at night, no one would go in the water.

[The Cooler King]

I'm dipping my toes back into fishing for the first time in 20 years. Definitely is taking a bit to figure things out. But hoping it's something I can do with my son (he's almost 4 and has interest in it)

Today was my second day this summer at my parents campsite where there's a few small man made lakes.

The one thing I need to get better at is managing the lines and my son and niece and nephews. Inevitably they all want to come out and fish, and trying to manage my own fishing skills along with 4 kids is.. Uh not relaxing.

Anyways the upshot was we had tons of bites today. All bluegill, and the kids had a hard time actually hooking them (so the fish got lots of free meals). But I caught 5 total and was out there for less than an hour.

[The Marshall Plan]

I'm dipping my toes back into fishing for the first time in 20 years. Definitely is taking a bit to figure things out. But hoping it's something I can do with my son (he's almost 4 and has interest in it)

Today was my second day this summer at my parents campsite where there's a few small man made lakes.

The one thing I need to get better at is managing the lines and my son and niece and nephews. Inevitably they all want to come out and fish, and trying to manage my own fishing skills along with 4 kids is.. Uh not relaxing.

Anyways the upshot was we had tons of bites today. All bluegill, and the kids had a hard time actually hooking them (so the fish got lots of free meals). But I caught 5 total and was out there for less than an hour.

Yep. That's how it gets started. LOL. Cherish those times.

Three years ago my daughter was using hot dogs and cheese to catch bluegill.

Now we go Muskie fishing together. She helped my friend net a 40 inch Muskie a couple weeks ago. She's caught and netted some monsters of multiple species. Northern, catfish, bass, lots of things.

General Season Update:

The bass are a dime a dozen now. While walking to a favorite spot of ours on Saturday, we noticed in a side area there were about 6 different pockets of catfish or carp fighting. We already had our fishing pants with us and I keep carp / catfish bait in my bag anyway. We got in the water about knee deep.

We didn't catch a thing but we had a blast.

Imagine for three hours. Carp the length of a coffee table. Some of them smaller but fat like a cow. Just swimming around you. You could bend over and touch them if it wouldn't spook them.

One of those groups that were fighting swam up to about a foot away from my kid. It was great.

So we went back yesterday. We brought shrimp and stinkbait. Didn't catch a thing again and only saw one, but it was still great.

We're going back today, but don't know if we'll try that again or do something else.

[Grizzled]

I'm dipping my toes back into fishing for the first time in 20 years. Definitely is taking a bit to figure things out. But hoping it's something I can do with my son (he's almost 4 and has interest in it)

Today was my second day this summer at my parents campsite where there's a few small man made lakes.

The one thing I need to get better at is managing the lines and my son and niece and nephews. Inevitably they all want to come out and fish, and trying to manage my own fishing skills along with 4 kids is.. Uh not relaxing.

Anyways the upshot was we had tons of bites today. All bluegill, and the kids had a hard time actually hooking them (so the fish got lots of free meals). But I caught 5 total and was out there for less than an hour.

Yep. That's how it gets started. LOL. Cherish those times.

Three years ago my daughter was using hot dogs and cheese to catch bluegill.

Now we go Muskie fishing together. She helped my friend net a 40 inch Muskie a couple weeks ago. She's caught and netted some monsters of multiple species. Northern, catfish, bass, lots of things.

General Season Update:

The bass are a dime a dozen now. While walking to a favorite spot of ours on Saturday, we noticed in a side area there were about 6 different pockets of catfish or carp fighting. We already had our fishing pants with us and I keep carp / catfish bait in my bag anyway. We got in the water about knee deep.

We didn't catch a thing but we had a blast.

Imagine for three hours. Carp the length of a coffee table. Some of them smaller but fat like a cow. Just swimming around you. You could bend over and touch them if it wouldn't spook them.

One of those groups that were fighting swam up to about a foot away from my kid. It was great.

So we went back yesterday. We brought shrimp and stinkbait. Didn't catch a thing again and only saw one, but it was still great.

We're going back today, but don't know if we'll try that again or do something else.

Used to carp fish a lot on the Fox when it was still really polluted. We had great success with canned corn. We'd chum first with handfuls and then thread enough kernels on the hook to hide the barb. I'm thinking the dried corn you buy at a feed store would work well also, put a couple pounds in a burlap sack, weight it and throw it out (preferrably a few days before fishing) for chum. Sliding sinker also with a split shot about 18 inches up the line so they don't feel the weight if they take the bait. I've seen two 45 pounders caught, one in a Chicago Park lagoon and one up at Fish Lake. Caught quite a few but my fave was an 8 to 10 pounder I got while jigging for perch along the Lake Michigan waterfront, ultralight spinning rig, a white marabou jig. Didn't have a long handled net so I carefully lifted it up to the pier, unhooked it and threw it back.

[southdakbearfan]

Had a decent day Saturday. Took the boat out with a buddy to waubay lake in NE SD. Caught tons of small walleye and tossed them back 13-15”. Then in a span of 15 minutes I hit a 23.5” and 25” walleye.

Made the day worthwhile and memorable.

We were trolling spinners on bottom bouncers using 3” gulp minnows for bait.

[The Cooler King]

Spent the entire week at my family's campsite. Fishing was more of the same as it has been: LOTS of bluegills (probably 40 over the week), but my 8 year old niece bagged the winner of the week, with the only non blue gill catch, a channel catfish. Didn't have any measuring equipment but it was at least a foot, maybe 16 inches.

On the other positive note, I'm noticing my skills coming back a little and figuring out better how to have a handle on the kids' lines (I.e. I'm not screaming half the time ) and I managed to escape once and just fish on my own for 20-30 minutes. And all the kids caught something, even my 2.5 year old (with a heavy assist from dad).

[mmmc_35]

I took my kids out to a pond here on my birthday. They all got a few little gills. I got to cast maybe 5 times. We ran into a school of tiny bass. Maybe 8" at the max but a lot of them. Couldn't get a single one. Was hoping the kids would get one.

In 2 weeks I am fishing a bass tournament with my dad. Hopefully my luck is better.

[Burl]

The wife, kids and I took our little popup camper down to Hunting Island State Park in South Carolina for some surf fishing over the weekend before school started back.

Fishing was slow, there were a few whiting, some rays and some sharks I saw caught, we got only one, but had a nice time anyway.

[Grizzled]

The wife, kids and I took our little popup camper down to Hunting Island State Park in South Carolina for some surf fishing over the weekend before school started back.

Fishing was slow, there were a few whiting, some rays and some sharks I saw caught, we got only one, but had a nice time anyway.

Cue the music from 'Jaws'.

[mmmc_35]

Me and my father competed in his bass tournament yesterday. I've fished them a few times in the past. Yesterday kind of sucked. Windy and light showers on and off. Caught a bunch of 12-13" but only 1 legal fish. Still a good time fishing with the old guy.

[Xee]

My 6 year-old has recently been asking to get a fishing pole and I'm all for doing that but only having fished a few times in my life, anyone have any recommendations on what would be a good first pole?

[mmmc_35]

My 6 year-old has recently been asking to get a fishing pole and I'm all for doing that but only having fished a few times in my life, anyone have any recommendations on what would be a good first pole?

A zebco is pretty standard and easy to use. Depending on height even the little Mickey mouse Poles are perfect. Get the smallest hooks bobber and a wieght. The kid will get a couple of blue gills and love it.

[wab]

Dove season is right around the corner and I can't wait.

[southdakbearfan]

Dove season is right around the corner and I can't wait.

Along with Goose, deer, pheasant and elk seasons.

[The Marshall Plan]

My 6 year-old has recently been asking to get a fishing pole and I'm all for doing that but only having fished a few times in my life, anyone have any recommendations on what would be a good first pole?

A zebco is pretty standard and easy to use. Depending on height even the little Mickey mouse Poles are perfect. Get the smallest hooks bobber and a wieght. The kid will get a couple of blue gills and love it.

This.

Just a regular thumb spool from Dick's Sporting Goods or Walmart.

Something with Spider-Man on it.

Bluegill bait is as about as easy as it gets. Hot dogs. Cheese. Bonus points for going to the bait shop and getting worms or wax worms.

If your kid is outdoorsy, it's a lot of fun to catch bugs and use those as bait too.

Just be careful though. LOL. J/K. This is how it starts. I took my kid fishing three years ago or so for the first time and it was bluegills caught with hot dogs and cheese.

Now it's, "Dad, this is a good spot for huge bass, pike, and a muskie. All the bait fish hang out here."

It's the best time you'll have with your kid though. Outside having bonding time. My favorite experiences as a parent occur fishing.

[southdakbearfan]

Taking the day off tomorrow to go chase some Crappies and Walleye.

Hopefully it will prove fruitful, last time out on this reservoir we had 6 crappie 14” and a limit of walleye.

[The Marshall Plan]

Taking the day off tomorrow to go chase some Crappies and Walleye.

Hopefully it will prove fruitful, last time out on this reservoir we had 6 crappie 14” and a limit of walleye.

Good luck today.

I took Friday off for the same reason except for Largemouth Bass.

[The Marshall Plan]

Awesome day today. Lots of fun.

Went with my kid and then we met up with a regular from the bait shop that we've never fished with before on accident.

I caught a few bass while my kid was catching bluegill for Muskie bait and then the bait shop guy was strictly Muskie fishing with large suckers.

As my kid would catch bluegill I would hook one and use it as bait. No luck. But then the other pole would have shiners or a small sucker. Every few minutes I'd catch a bass.

So the fun part. About 20 yards to my right this guy is fishing a reed line with minnows. He catches a bass. As he's reeling in the bass a Muskie comes in and eats the bass. He's fighting this thing, the Muskie inhales the bass and bites through his line. He didn't have a steel leader on there.

Couple minutes go bye and my kid is leaning over the pier doing the bluegill thing and there was a whole school of them while she's catching them with cheese. This Muskie (no clue if it was the same one) swoops in through the middle of the school and must've grabbed a bluegill. It was great.

Couldn't land the Muskie this time. But the temperature is slowly dropping so they'll be coming out more and more. Just a hilarious story with my kid.

[southdakbearfan]

Ah Muskie, the fish of 10,000 casts.

My fishing has dropped off a bit here due to the start of hunting season and hunting season prep, still need to sneak ina few perch fishing trips before hard water.

Took my 83 year old father dove hunting last week and had a blast, hadn’t hunted doves in 15 years.

Got the duck decoys and portable blinds out today and cleaned them up, finished reloading for duck and goose season for me and the son. Sighted in the muzzleloader for muzzleloader deer season, next weekend we will get the rifles out for practice if it stays cool like this weekend.

Next project after that is making a new shuttle for my ice fishing electronics (vexilar, helix 7 and aqua view camera) along with rigging up my old 4 wheeler for the hard water and welding up a hitch extension for my flip over shack. It’ll probably be spread out over a couple months due to football and keeping the wife happy.

Hoping for a good fall and beginning of winter, 5 deer tags between me and the son.

[southdakbearfan]

Had some rare time to myself this morning, so I decided to take the muzzleloader out and get ready for some deer hunting later this year. Our muzzleloader season is the month of December. I only have a doe tag this year for that season.

Needless to say the morning was good, once dialed in I fired a 3 shot group under an inch. This is with no magnification as we are restricted to open sights or non magnification 1x optics here.

It was a fun morning with the 50 cal.

On to a fishing trip in the morning to try to hit some crappies and walleye.

[mmmc_35]

What was the distance? Never shot black powder but it's a good group