Other Species Latest Catch Pics Thread

[NYWayfarer]

13 hours ago, Arcs&sparks said:

I have a secret love for those.  Ever seen one in spawning colors?

That's wild! I have never seen one in spawning colors, thanks for the pic!

[Bluebasser86]

The prettiest little fish we have in Kansas, a male longear sunfish in full blown spawning colors from a little creek.

[Arcs&sparks]

11 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

 

Wow!  Looks tropical?

[UPSmallie]

Took the boat out to one of the local bays to try and get some pike and at first it really was a struggle.  After a solid hour and a half of covering all of my waypoints I could only manage a 20-22 inch to follow.  Then as I moved along the shoreline of the other side of the bay I started seeing signs of life.

 

 

Forage, and plenty of it.  Probably 1-2 inches long.  Some little perch were darting up and grabbing the minnows.  Little perch = big pike close by.

 

I started working the shoreline that was stacked with bait and out of nowhere something big slams my golden little cleo.  It looks like a muskie just at first glance, but turns out to be just one of the biggest pike in the bay!  A fat 5 lber.

 

 

I slide her back in the water and then get a large pike that charges my olive x-rap back to the boat.  I mark the spot and keep fishing around it, working the deeper edge.  Takes like 30 minutes, but then I get one to commit.  Solid 3.5 lber.  Great morning all around.

 

[N Florida Mike]

Had a big rain here today, so I figured the cats would be active. They were.

[Bluebasser86]

3 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

Had a big rain here today, so I figured the cats would be active. They were.

That's a giant bullhead!

[N Florida Mike]

Yeah, she was about to pop with eggs, so I let her go.

 

[lonnie g]

1 hour ago, N Florida Mike said:

Yeah, she was about to pop with eggs, so I let her go.

 

how are we supposed to eat  if you keep turning them loose ?

[N Florida Mike]

That wasn't an easy decision !

Love fried catfish. 

[EGbassing]

On 6/9/2018 at 8:45 AM, RichPenNY said:

Wind was gusting yesterday, so stayed close to shore.  Caught just 4 LMB on a senko and spent most of the time having fun with the ultralight setup catching dozens of good sized panfish.  Couple pics of one of the many colorful sunnys, as well as a massive crappie caught near the end of the day when wind went down.  A bonus was sighting a fawn laying in the high weeds close to water.  Was able to paddle my kayak into about 6" of water and zoom in with my little point and shoot camera. 

 

I held an ultra-light rod for the first time yesterday when I was in Cabela's. Dang, that thing is light. I really want to try fishing with one of those sometime. I've heard they make bluegill feel like tarpon. ?

[Subaqua Adinterim]

14 hours ago, EGbassing said:

I held an ultra-light rod for the first time yesterday when I was in Cabela's. Dang, that thing is light. I really want to try fishing with one of those sometime. I've heard they make bluegill feel like tarpon. ? 

For years I have used an Okuma SST 6'6" ultra - light with a small Plueger 20 size reel.  Not an expensive rod (I think about $49 at DSG), but have landed most everything with it - trout, bass, northerns, pickerel and of course all types of panfish.  I usually use just 4 or 6# test floro or mono line.  For panfish, I use a 1/16 oz. VMC moon eye jig along with a curly tail grub; the one pictured was a Strike King 2" grub Tuxedo Black/Chartreuse.  Using that size bait keeps the real little panfish off and allows for just hooking the larger ones, as well as interesting a larger species if it's in the area and feeding.

Yes, you are correct - it does make catching the smaller ones a lot more fun.

You should consider getting an ultralight set up; it is especially good when the bass aren't hitting and you just want to not be frustrated and have fun.  When the bass are shut down; I have caught several dozen panfish and have been surprised along the way by pickerel, pike and bass. 

 

Edit: I ran into John, who is a super nice guy and great to meet in person (see below) last week and showed him what I was using.  Also, I will add this tip: to make the jig easier to use - (this also applies to the TRD jig head as well) - take your needle nose pliers and squeeze down the metal bait keeper that is sticking out below the jig head.  Squeeze this down so it is flush/parallel with the hook shaft.  This will help to not tear up your plastic, so will make it last longer and will still be enough to keep the plastic attached well to the hook.  

Edited July 2, 2018 by RichPenNY

[J Francho]

1 minute ago, RichPenNY said:

For years I have used an Okuma SST 6'6" ultra - light with a small Plueger 20 size reel.

I actually got to hold this setup in person, after running into Rich at the launch last Friday afternoon.  It's crisp, light as a feather.  Thinking I might get back into some UL fishing for days when it's tough for bass.

[EGbassing]

26 minutes ago, RichPenNY said:

For years I have used an Okuma SST 6'6" ultra - light with a small Pflueger 20 size reel.  Not an expensive rod (I think about $49 at DSG), but have landed most everything with it - trout, bass, northerns, pickerel and of course all types of panfish.  I usually use just 4 or 6# test floro or mono line.  For panfish, I use a 1/16 oz. VMC moon eye jig along with a curly tail grub; the one pictured was a Strike King 2" grub Tuxedo Black/Chartreuse.  Using that size bait keeps the real little panfish off and allows for just hooking the larger ones, as well as interesting a larger species if it's in the area and feeding.

Yes, you are correct - it does make catching the smaller ones a lot more fun.

You should consider getting an ultralight set up; it is especially good when the bass aren't hitting and you just want to not be frustrated and have fun.  When the bass are shut down; I have caught several dozen panfish and have been surprised along the way by pickerel, pike and bass. 

 

Edit: I ran into John, who is a super nice guy and great to meet in person (see below) last week and showed him what I was using.  Also, I will add this tip: to make the jig easier to use - (this also applies to the TRD jig head as well) - take your needle nose pliers and squeeze down the metal bait keeper that is sticking out below the jig head.  Squeeze this down so it is flush/parallel with the hook shaft.  This will help to not tear up your plastic, so will make it last longer and will still be enough to keep the plastic attached well to the hook.  

Yeah, I'm about to buy a ML Dobyns Fury for finesse fishing, so I probably won't get an UL yet, but I want to get one sometime. Imagine hooking a good sized bass on one of those things. ?

[FishDewd]

Fished my pond this evening just before a big storm front moved in. Caught two nice catfish that were harvested for the fry pan. First was a channel cat around 18", then a few minutes later I got this nice fat boy. I had to measure it cause it might be my PB catfish. Pretty sure it's one of our old blue cats we thought had died out/been fished out. It hit that hotdog so hard it slid all the way up my 10 lb. fluorocarbon leader and got stuck onto the swivel (my exact set up is a secret, sorry). It ran 4-5 times across my pond, doing it's darndest to spool my spinning reel. I love the sound of my reel drag screaming, I know you can all relate to that! In the end I wore it down, netted it, and pulled it onto the bank in victory. 22" (although it moved before I took the pic and it's head went up farther, so it was a little over 22") and easily 3.5 lbs. 

[Bluebasser86]

3 hours ago, FishDewd said:

Fished my pond this evening just before a big storm front moved in. Caught two nice catfish that were harvested for the fry pan. First was a channel cat around 18", then a few minutes later I got this nice fat boy. I had to measure it cause it might be my PB catfish. Pretty sure it's one of our old blue cats we thought had died out/been fished out. It hit that hotdog so hard it slid all the way up my 10 lb. fluorocarbon leader and got stuck onto the swivel (my exact set up is a secret, sorry). It ran 4-5 times across my pond, doing it's darndest to spool my spinning reel. I love the sound of my reel drag screaming, I know you can all relate to that! In the end I wore it down, netted it, and pulled it onto the bank in victory. 22" (although it moved before I took the pic and it's head went up farther, so it was a little over 22") and easily 3.5 lbs. 

That's a channel cat for sure. Blues have a straight anal fin, channels are rounded like your fish. It is a nice channel cat though

 

 

 

Got one of the bigger and harder catches out of the way for my multispecies kayak challenge yesterday. I sat and stillfished corn and crawlers for 3 hours and caught nothing but channel cats. As I was moving to my next spot I decided to let the wind push me down a shallow flat and look for cruisers. First one I saw I made a perfect cast with a tiny #8 gamakatsu octopus hook with a few corn kernels and it was all over them. Had to drop anchor and fight it as I was getting pushed to some trees and I sure didn't want to lose it. Was hoping for a little bigger one, but I'm banking on a lot of guys not even messing with fishing for them in the competition.

[FishDewd]

Ah yeah you're right I overlooked the fin. Ones we had before were flat in the back, remember that now. The coloring on it threw me off. Normally mine have spots and a flatter head. This one was a little oddly colored and shaped. Then again I also have albinos in the pond too, so big gene pool there flying around.

[Bluebasser86]

11 hours ago, FishDewd said:

Ah yeah you're right I overlooked the fin. Ones we had before were flat in the back, remember that now. The coloring on it threw me off. Normally mine have spots and a flatter head. This one was a little oddly colored and shaped. Then again I also have albinos in the pond too, so big gene pool there flying around.

There's actually at least 1 lake in Kansas with hybrid blue/channels, but I don't think they're naturally occurring. The coloration and potbelly is more that of a blue than a channel. It would be nearly impossible to tell without genetic testing if it was a hybrid though.

[FishDewd]

17 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

There's actually at least 1 lake in Kansas with hybrid blue/channels, but I don't think they're naturally occurring. The coloration and potbelly is more that of a blue than a channel. It would be nearly impossible to tell without genetic testing if it was a hybrid though.

Interesting. Its very possible I could have some hybrids. Pond has held catfish for over 40 years. Can't see it in the picture but thos cat had a lot of red on the fins. I've never seen that before on my cats. I have no idea what caused that.

[UPSmallie]

Hit the stream early yesterday morning for some Independence Day brookies.  The area I was fishing was mustly just mud and clay with hardly any riffles so was surprised to do quite well.  Panther martin struck gold at one spot with a nice 12.5 incher coming from this open muddy stretch.

 

 

[KickingFish]

Caught a 100 pounder my new pb

[KickingFish]

went musky fishing on webster lake today caught 4this fish is only about 35 inches and was the largest

[Way north bass guy]

Took the kid out for a few hours trolling on the bay this evening, I literally just set the first rod in the holder and this guy smashed it. Got one other small laker that we released, this guy will go on the bbq tomorrow. 

[Jar11591]

8 hours ago, Way north bass guy said:

Took the kid out for a few hours trolling on the bay this evening, I literally just set the first rod in the holder and this guy smashed it. Got one other small laker that we released, this guy will go on the bbq tomorrow. 

 

Coho? 

[Way north bass guy]

Chinook. Nice eater size and a good fighter too. 

[Bluebasser86]

Little after work creek fishing. That Yo-Zuri Snap Bean catches everything (almost caught a bullhead with it this morning even). The little Longear were spawning and super aggressive. They don't get much prettier than this.