I was standing in the checkout line at Lowe's yesterday and I overheard two older gentlemen talking about the fish startin to bite. One mentioned he is trolling at the mouth of the lake and has caught around 300 sandbass in the last 2 weeks. Overhearing that just made the bottom of my feet start burning and my arms start tingling! MUST.........GO.........FISHING!!!!!!!
Been catching Catfish for the last month,Trout are biting.Inlaws caught 6 Spoonbill the other day one weighed 80 pounds. big rockpile
Gosh darn it. Season doesn't start until April 1st. Got the urge something fierce though...been checking my gear...it's by the front door right now.
Went to a pay lake last weekend and caught 13 trout. Haven't had a chance to get my license and make it to the river bank yet. When it warms up a bit more I think I will take the boy out and teach him to catfish this year (or he can catch the tree bass while mommy catches the catfish lol).
crappie are picking up where they fish for them on the big bays of the lakes nearby. Down around 30' under the ice. Conditions are getting better as the deep snow cover thaws and refreezes. It's less slush for the snowmachines that have a terrible time getting around when the snow insulates the ice layer. About only 2' of ice this year. The river Sturgeon fishing is delayed a bit, but should be stronger in the next 2 weeks or so. I like to wait until ice out in mid may and go for one good outing for lake trout, and then it's walleye fishing anytime after the first week of June. Might go out and catch a pike or two, or walleye on the smaller lakes. No certain time it's better really than now. PLUS there are no mosquitoes~ :yeeha:
Guess I am luckier than others, I can be at the Gulf in about 15 minutes from here, there is allways something biteing in salt water. And the bait is edible!
Yet? I live in Maine. We think going out in frigid weather to drill a hole through three plus feet of ice (no exaggeration, 38" two weekends ago) to drop a little fish on a hook into the hole to catch a bigger fish is a good thing. We start doing this on January 1 and don't stop til the end of the day on March 31.
Crappie: Caught 40 in 1-hour, kept 27 on jigs. Temperature was 84-degrees, just ahead of a cool front. I don't know anything about drilling holes throught the ice to catch fish. The only ice we have is in the freezer.
The houses needed to be off the lake on the last day of Feb 'here' (several 100 miles north they had until March 15th) but many are still going out daily to catch fish yet. Been doing that since November. What do you mean 'yet'? --->Paul
Crashy, where in Washington do you fish??? Even though I'm not water soluable, I fish for salmon there also... and smelt and rockfish too!
If you go outside and open your eyes(in places like here anyway, I don't know what the timing is where others live), you will notice that the Caddis Flies have emerged and a close look at the water will show you Mayfly larvae present. . They are swarming everywhere around here! To the fisherman, this means it's a prime time to catch trout and many other species of fish as they are happily gobbling up these emergent insects. They are biting at just about anything that moves! LOL Oh yum! Trout rolled in corn meal and cooked crispy and brown! LQ
In these parts catch and release is highly regarded with sport anglers. This is mostly with Smallmouth Bass and big pike, Musky and such. The fishery management over the years has influenced a better ongoing plan that includes slot sizes for walleye. These are the good eating size to keep, thus smaller and bigger ones go back in the water to sustain the longer term for that species. Crappie are in bigger numbers, but the pressure over the years has put catch limits on these so that you can still catch enough to eat and enjoy fishing. Personally, nothing is wrong with a 3 lb. pike by filleting it to get out the Y bones. It's a tastier fish than walleye in my mind. This fish in this size is relatively common to catch and have a good meal, especially shore lunch. The spring lake trout season gets locals out by using set lines from the shore with sucker bait. It's a short season, but brings in some good eating trout. Lake trout is rather strong and stinky cooking for me, but one or two feeds in the spring and in the fall is okay. I like to get ocean fish sometimes, like red snapper and head to the Safeway basin to catch those, by using 'wallet bait'. :haha:
I'm the type of person that'll eat fish when it learns to go MOO. So excuse my ignorance about fish and fishing. DW was fishing at our farm yesterday afternoon till dark. She caught a bunch of panfish including one "monster". She also threw a bunch back. She cleaned them off and gave some to her parents (on our way back from the farm to our house) and the rest are being cooked up today. I guess she'll be riding down to the farm with me a bit more (compared to winter when the lake is frozen over). It sure puts her in a good mood though <G>. Mike
Y'all are making me so jealous! I thought my spring fever was bad..................now I have fishing fever too!
