Other Species Latest Catch Pics Thread

[T-Billy]

19 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Hope you're up to date on tetanus.  Dirty hooks are an infection waiting to happen.

Actually, I'm not . I should get that taken care of. Thanks for the reminder. 

[Further North]

4 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Different strokes for different folks... I'd rather to keep the barbs and land more fish.

I'm with you on the "different strokes for different folks", and I don't think poorly of people who leave the barbs on, but...

 

I've never lost a fish because of lack of a barb.

 

I've lost fish because I let slack get in the line, or because I did something else dumb...but never because I didn't have a barb on the hook.

 

We pinch barbs on my boats...that's just the way it is. 

[Darren.]

Went out on the creek last night with son #3 in his jon boat.

Tide was going out, caught several species: perch, speckled

trout, Reds.

 

 

 

[Jigfishn10]

Beautiful fish @Darren.

[T-Billy]

Rode the skunk for about 8hrs today. I thought I was gonna ride it home, then I ended up picking up two on a main lake point with a steep break into 30'. Both were right on top of the ledge in about 12'. 32" and 45". Only took a pic with the 45. Raised four others with the A rig, but they wouldn't commit. Crappie rig saved the day again. Guide buddy and his bunch got three today, all on crappie for them also. It's tough out there right now, but I saw some BIG shad schools out deep today. It won't be long now if the forecast holds. 🤞

[Buzzbaiter]

On 11/11/2024 at 8:24 AM, Darren. said:

Tide was going out, caught several species: perch, speckled

trout, Reds.

 

That speck looks more like a weakfish. Seems like a fun time

[MassBass]

This is tiger trout. It's really not a bad fish even though it is so thin. These things are starving when they hold over. They need a plentiful population of bait to eat good and fill out, and I am afraid the pond where they are stocked doesn't really offer that. There was a bite window where I could have caught at least two more but they shook off. Small jerk bait. 

[T-Billy]

I got out for about 4.5 hours this afternoon. This cold front has 'em eat'n. I ended up going 2 for 4. Caught two on crappie, and lost two on the A-rig. I'm 1 for four on the rig lately, so I switched back to a 9' HF rod. I have been throwing it on a 9'5" XH Prorex, and while I really like the way it fishes on that rod, I think it's moderate action leaves it a little lacking in power for good hooksets with the heavy wire 5/0 hooks I'm making my jigs with. 

Anyhoo... The first fish today was a nice thick 42" and it was #80 over 30" for the year. 

The second fish today was this beautifully colored 37".

I didn't get to see the first A-rig fish I lost, but it didn't feel that big. 30 something I'd guess. The second was a pretty nice fish about 40"-42". I got a good look at it when it shot 4' out of the water and did a backflip about 10' from the boat. That's not something you see a lot in 53 degree water. That fish was fired up! It knocked a few feet of slack in my line when it hit.

 So... I'm sit'n at 81 muskie with six weeks left in the year and the rig bite is getting underway. I'm off the next four days and still have a week of vacation I'm taking the first week of Dec. + 15 more regular off days. There's no guarantee that I'll get to fish all of December though. Even so, I'm feeling pretty good about my chances of getting to the century mark. 🤞

 

[Darren.]

On 11/12/2024 at 8:32 PM, Buzzbaiter said:

That speck looks more like a weakfish. Seems like a fun time

You are correct. My son was not here when I typed it in as

a speck. I read this to him just now and he said "Dad...it's

a grey trout/weakfish, not a speck." My bad. LOL. What can

I say, I'm mostly a freshwater guy.  Both have the fangs, tho.

[T-Billy]

Tough conditions today with light winds and bluebird skies. Rode the skunk for almost 6hrs, then had this purty 40" follow my rig in. It made one lazy turn through the 8, then turned off and SMOKED my crappie rig.

That's the first fish to eat a crappie since last Friday. I was starting to wonder if they'd turned off of them in favor of shad. I had lots of lookers but no takers on crappie over the weekend, but went 2 for 4 on the A-rig.

 Today's fish is #84. Chipping away at 'em. Big cold front coming through in a couple days. Hopefully the rig bite will be on in earnest by next week. 

[T-Billy]

It was an 8.5 hour grind today without much action, but I managed to add two more to the count. A 42" on a crappie, and a 37" on the rig. I only had a few other lazy follows the rest of the day. 

[Dwight Hottle]

@T-Billy Your tearing them up this year Tim. Congrats.

[T-Billy]

53 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

@T-Billy Your tearing them up this year Tim. Congrats.

Thanks, Dwight. It's been an awesome year already, and the grand finale is about to start. There are balls of shad scattered all over the main lake basins, and the muskie are scattered with 'em. Hopefully this big cold front that's blowing in tonight will be enough to get them concentrated into those giant schools. The A-rig bite will be in full swing at that point. 

I've learned so much this year, I'm already looking forward to putting the lessons learned from this years failures to work next year. As incredible as this year's been, I'm expecting next year to be even better.

[Team9nine]

Bass bite was off today, but the crappie bite picked up at dark, and the sunset made for a great ending to the day.

 

[TnRiver46]

@Team9nine, that looks like a tasty sandwich !!! 
 

[gim]

Uh oh.  @Team9nine crappies might be making a return here.

 

Only a matter of time until he starts posting bigger crappies than most bass here.

[T-Billy]

7 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

@Team9nine, looks like a tasty sandwich !!! 
 

Whoa!!! I can't agree with ya on that one. The crappie looks tasty though. 😂

[TnRiver46]

Edited for @T-Billy, #punctuation matters

[Team9nine]

8 hours ago, gimruis said:

Only a matter of time until he starts posting bigger crappies than most bass here.

I’m actually having that debate in my mind right now. Already sitting quietly on a few that never saw the light of day last month 😉

[gim]

2 hours ago, Team9nine said:

I’m actually having that debate in my mind right now. Already sitting quietly on a few that never saw the light of day last month 😉

My guess would be the photos also showed your ripped up jeans too. I have no concrete evidence for this theory at the moment though, as all your recent photos purposely avoid detection. It’s only anecdotal at this point.

[T-Billy]

Somewhere in there is my bride holding her 13th muskie of the year. She's a trooper. It was low to mid 40's today and blowing 10-15. She bundled up, came along, and whooped me 1-0. It's only 33" but it's a fat fall chunk. She caught it on the rig, fishing an outside weed edge in 12'. 

[Jigfishn10]

“It’s only 33”…” Still means that I’m jealous AF!  

 

Congrats to the Mrs!

[AlabamaSpothunter]

You hit a homerun Tim when you married that woman......she's a real one no doubt, fishing for a bite or two in freezing conditions is the hallmark of real angler.    

[Bluebasser86]

21 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

You hit a homerun Tim when you married that woman......she's a real one no doubt, fishing for a bite or two in freezing conditions is the hallmark of real angler.    

I've got a lot of fishing buddies who won't go out when the temps get below 50* 😂 "But the winds gonna blow and then it feels colder on the water, I think I'll just stay home". 

 

I guess I shouldn't complain, those fairweather fishermen are the reason I enjoy winter fishing so much, just me and the fish out there. 

[T-Billy]

I had an awesome day on the water today. Ended up going 5 for 6. 3 for 3 on the crappie rig, and 2 for 3 on the A rig. The drag backed itself off on the Tranx AGAIN, and cost me that fish. 🤬 I wouldn't call 'em junk, but they have some issues.The Tranx offer 400 capacity in a 300 size reel. Aside from that, the Daiwa Lexa HD is better in every way.

 Anyway, 33, a pair of 36's, a 41, and a 43. I didn't take a pic with the 33" or the first 36". The second 36" got it's pic taken for being #90 this year. 

36"

41"

43" She's a fatty.

Should be interesting tomorrow. I'm taking a buddy with no baitcaster experience, and it's gonna be mid 40's and blowing 15-35. 😲😂 Ain't no way I'm trying to teach him to cast in that. We'll be trolling all day.

 

46 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I guess I shouldn't complain, those fairweather fishermen are the reason I enjoy winter fishing so much, just me and the fish out there

I'm with ya brother. I took vacation next week as it's traditionally the best week of the year for the A rig bite. Now the forecast is calling for teens and twenties. Yikes!!! I think there's gonna be a hot bite going on, but it's gonna be painful out there. I'm guessing my guide buddy and I should pretty much have the lake to ourselves.