Caught Myself Some Dinner

[Tuckahoe Joe]

Ive been planning on going out after some trout today for a while.  While I was looking at the MD DNR website last night to check something for another thread, I realized that they just stocked my creek yesterday and the day before.  When I go on weekday mornings I usually have the lake all to myself but I figured with the recent stocking, there might be a couple other people there...no big deal.  When I got there at sunrise I couldn't believe it.  There were like 10 cars and 15 to 20 people and there really isn't that much room on the dam and along the creek banks.  Of course every spot I had planned to fish had 2 or 3 people in it.  I was pretty irritated and figured my day was off to a bad start.  I know I know....public lake and all that.  They have a right to fish it.  Like I said, Im spoiled and used to having the lake to myself.  Found an opening where I could squeeze in and started throwing a grey/white inline spinner.  I had a follow on my first cast and after a couple more I caught a nice rainbow.  I ended up catching my 5-fish limit so the day turned out ok after all but I would have rather only caught one or two and not been crowded by all those people.  It wouldn't have been so bad if they were at least following the fishing regulations.  Theres signs everywhere that say 5 fish limit but there were quite a few guys there catching them left and right and keeping way more than they should.  I caught my limit, went to a more secluded part of the lake to try out the new combo I got for bass and drove by an hour later and they were still there.  Anyway this is getting kind of lengthy so Ill wrap it up.  Caught 5 rainbows in about 1 and a half.  3 on the spinner and then 2 on a Strike King Bitsy Minnow.  Im gonna eat good tonight!

 

 

 

[Hyrule Bass]

nice, ive been trout fishing about twice in my life and never caught a thing. also got a warning ticket for possession of live bait in a restricted area of the river, the game warden was nice though, having never been there i didnt know i was in a special area...

[Greenstealth]

At least you can cast into your lake.

[Tuckahoe Joe]

At least you can cast into your lake.

Thats true.  I didn't even think about that.  I guess I should be grateful.  I know a lot of guys out there still have ice.

[Bluebasser86]

Sounds like a nice day of fishing. The put and take trout lakes around here seem to bring out the poachers in mass. One of the lake it's a $100 fine per fish over you limit. A couple years ago they busted 2 guys 36 fish over their limits for trout and a dozen or so over their limit for catfish. Could have bought a lot of fish at the store for that kind of fine. I see lots of guys that catch their limits, go home and clean them, then they're back on the water a couple hours later keeping trout again. I don't eat the nasty things and they die once the water gets warm anyways so I don't really care about people keeping them but it's funny to see them get busted for it. 

[Broke bass fisherman]

Seems like a nice day regardless of the people. Good job, never have had much luck with trout.

[CoBass]

Sounds like a nice day of fishing. The put and take trout lakes around here seem to bring out the poachers in mass. One of the lake it's a $100 fine per fish over you limit. A couple years ago they busted 2 guys 36 fish over their limits for trout and a dozen or so over their limit for catfish. Could have bought a lot of fish at the store for that kind of fine. I see lots of guys that catch their limits, go home and clean them, then they're back on the water a couple hours later keeping trout again. I don't eat the nasty things and they die once the water gets warm anyways so I don't really care about people keeping them but it's funny to see them get busted for it. 

Stockers do taste pretty bad right from the hatchery. If you catch them after they've been in the lake or river for a year or so the meat is pink/red and tastes much better.Once they get on a natural diet instead of the hatchery fed trout chow the meat firms up and makes a pretty good meal. Most of our lakes are deep enough to keep them alive through the summer, so catching 16-20 inch holdovers from previous years is pretty common. I rarely target them but sometimes in the fall when the water's cold and nothing else is cooperating a day of C&R trout fishing can be fun.

[Tuckahoe Joe]

Sounds like a nice day of fishing. The put and take trout lakes around here seem to bring out the poachers in mass. One of the lake it's a $100 fine per fish over you limit. A couple years ago they busted 2 guys 36 fish over their limits for trout and a dozen or so over their limit for catfish. Could have bought a lot of fish at the store for that kind of fine. I see lots of guys that catch their limits, go home and clean them, then they're back on the water a couple hours later keeping trout again. I don't eat the nasty things and they die once the water gets warm anyways so I don't really care about people keeping them but it's funny to see them get busted for it. 

I don't understand poachers.  Its just not worth the fine and possibly having your license suspended.  I was hoping DNR would roll up on these guys.  Aside from being illegal, it affects fishing in the near future.  They only realease a couple hundred trout at a time.  If 20 people keep 10 fish the first day, there isn't much left to fish for.

 

Seems like a nice day regardless of the people. Good job, never have had much luck with trout.

It was a fun day.  It was my first time out in about a month and a half and I was happy to be able to wet a line.  Most of the people were using spinners and doing pretty good.  There were a couple guys there using live bait or powerbait or something and not catching much at all.  Just casting it out and letting it sit and looking bored the whole time.  Thought about trying powerbait before but no thank you.  Too cold to just stand there and stare at the water.

 

 

Stockers do taste pretty bad right from the hatchery. If you catch them after they've been in the lake or river for a year or so the meat is pink/red and tastes much better.Once they get on a natural diet instead of the hatchery fed trout chow the meat firms up and makes a pretty good meal. Most of our lakes are deep enough to keep them alive through the summer, so catching 16-20 inch holdovers from previous years is pretty common. I rarely target them but sometimes in the fall when the water's cold and nothing else is cooperating a day of C&R trout fishing can be fun.

The meat on these was nice and pinkish red.  Ive had them before after they'd been in the creek for a few months and they tasted better.  These weren't bad though.  My girlfriends an excellent cook.  Thinking about going out maybe Monday morning and doing some catch and release.

[Bluebasser86]

I don't understand poachers.  Its just not worth the fine and possibly having your license suspended.  I was hoping DNR would roll up on these guys.  Aside from being illegal, it affects fishing in the near future.  They only realease a couple hundred trout at a time.  If 20 people keep 10 fish the first day, there isn't much left to fish for.

 

I actually watch a guy get busted for netting crappie today. They're trapped in what's left of the outlet at the bottom of a dam at a local lake and some of them are starting to die from lack of oxygen I suppose. He was walking around netting the ones struggling by the bank and putting them in a bucket while several people, including myself, watched him doing it. He carried the bucket back to his car and then came back down the bank to fish. Apparently someone called on him and there's a warden outpost 1/2 mile down the road and 2 trucks pulled up shortly after he started fishing. He'd left his net and bucket leaning against his car so once they found out who the car belonged to he was done. He lost his net, fish, bucket, tackle box, and rod along with getting a ticket. He was arguing that the fish were dying anyways so what does it matter? FYI, arguing with a LEO will never EVER help your case   He stomped off after he figured out his argument wasn't changing the warden's mind and nobody was going to stick up for him. I caught a bunch of crappie but that was probably still my favorite part of the day 

[Tuckahoe Joe]

I actually watch a guy get busted for netting crappie today. They're trapped in what's left of the outlet at the bottom of a dam at a local lake and some of them are starting to die from lack of oxygen I suppose. He was walking around netting the ones struggling by the bank and putting them in a bucket while several people, including myself, watched him doing it. He carried the bucket back to his car and then came back down the bank to fish. Apparently someone called on him and there's a warden outpost 1/2 mile down the road and 2 trucks pulled up shortly after he started fishing. He'd left his net and bucket leaning against his car so once they found out who the car belonged to he was done. He lost his net, fish, bucket, tackle box, and rod along with getting a ticket. He was arguing that the fish were dying anyways so what does it matter? FYI, arguing with a LEO will never EVER help your case   He stomped off after he figured out his argument wasn't changing the warden's mind and nobody was going to stick up for him. I caught a bunch of crappie but that was probably still my favorite part of the day 

Didn't know they could take your gear too.  Sucks for that guy but oh well.  He got what he deserved.  Funny stuff.

[Bluebasser86]

Like with any crime, the tools used to break the law are evidence if he decides to go to court to fight it. I don't know if he can get his stuff back or not but I enjoyed watching it go down. It's kind of like when someone blows by you on the highway then you see them pulled over a little ways down the road, real world justice at it's finest. 

[Tuckahoe Joe]

I just figured I'd check what the penalty would have been for keeping too many trout.  They would have got a $250 - $1000 fine and/or license suspended for 6-12 months.  But then I think to myself, if they were just blatantly ignoring regulations, what are the odds that they even had a license in the first place.

[CoBass]

Our penalties are way too easy on poachers when it comes to fishing. I believe the fine is less than $100 and no license suspension for first offence. It's a set amount, not a per fish fine. We do have several fish species that are on the endangered list and keeping one of those will get you in serious trouble.