Finding fun in pursuing alternative species..

[DitchPanda]

26 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Legally they aren't allowed to do that here in MN.  The daily bag limit is the same as the possession limit for every species except yellow perch.  Whether most meat hunters are abiding by this, I don't know.  The lack of law enforcement officers out there is an issue too, but that is another topic.

 

People need to harvest and eat more small northern pike here.  They are abundant, easily caught, and they taste pretty good out of cold water.  We're vastly under-utilizing this widely available resource.

This is what I was hinting at...I don't know anybody that keeps over the daily limit but their freezer contents pretty tells a different story for possession limit.

 

24 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Any walleyes i catch are C&R into Crisco Bay. 

nothing wrong with that but my main point was guys that put down other species as if walleye really are the king of everything. They say they are specialists...I say they are elitists.

 

3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

*Looks around the room while reluctantly raising his hand*
 

you don't strike me as the type to break the possession limit laws tho

[TnRiver46]

3 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

This is what I was hinting at...I don't know anybody that keeps over the daily limit but their freezer contents pretty tells a different story for possession limit.

 

nothing wrong with that but my main point was guys that put down other species as if walleye really are the king of everything. They say they are specialists...I say they are elitists.

 

you don't strike me as the type to break the possession limit laws tho

No, I can’t keep 25 of anything really. But if I’ve got 3 people fishing with me for white bass and it’s every cast , things can get crazy . 
 

but I do love cleaning fish. I read a chapter in a book about a dude that cuts up fish for a top end restaurant in NYC. He comes in early, cuts fish then goes home. That’s probably my dream job 

[J Francho]

34 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

nothing wrong with that but my main point was guys that put down other species as if walleye really are the king of everything. They say they are specialists...I say they are elitists.

Have a chat with a Trout Unlimited member, lol.  Walleye are the king of my skillet.

[MassBass]

On 12/1/2022 at 5:44 AM, Darnold335 said:

I think every species you learn to target successfully  makes you better at angling period. This will over all help your most common target species. 

 I agree with this point. It makes you a more well rounded and adaptable angler.

[gim]

2 hours ago, DitchPanda said:

but my main point was guys that put down other species as if walleye really are the king of everything. They say they are specialists...I say they are elitists.

Yep its the "looking down" at bass anglers that I get sick of too.  I can guarantee that most of them would do pretty terrible targeting bass if they couldn't use live bait or troll either.

[DitchPanda]

2 hours ago, J Francho said:

Have a chat with a Trout Unlimited member, lol.  Walleye are the king of my skillet.

Ha I hear you on the trout only guys...sheesh. And I get that walleye may be your favorite to eat but I bet they aren't your favorite fish to catch or the only fish you target or the only one you consider worth eating. In fact I've seen pics of you with various types of fish so I know that's not true. I just get alot of that elitist attitude locally from walleye guys. I'm primarily a bass guy but enjoy all fish and I definitely don't talk down to guys for what they target.

[Further North]

On 12/1/2022 at 4:44 AM, Darnold335 said:

When I was diehard into musky fishing I had the typical musky guy attitude. “Everything else is bait, junk, easy etc”.  Then my thought process started changing. The musky grind wasn’t near as appealing. It opened my eyes to I’m just going to go have fun instead of tear my rotator cuff. Now I just fish for whatever peaks my interest that day. It might be smallies, musky, eyes, cats who really knows. I think every species you learn to target successfully  makes you better at angling period. This will over all help your most common target species. 

Yup

[Further North]

On 12/1/2022 at 7:27 AM, gimruis said:

I have a couple friends that pretty much only muskie fish and that is their line of thinking too.  Nothing else peaks their interest or gets their blood pumping.  To an extent, I can understand that.  Muskie fishing is very physically and mentally challenging though.  It takes some physical ability and strength to toss those giant lures for hours on end that often ends in failure.  The mental portion is just as bad.  At times you just cast robotically without the expectation that you are going to catch anything.  There is an episode of River Monsters where Jeremy Wade targets muskies at Eagle Lake, Ontario.  It takes him over a week to finally catch one.  His body aches, he's behind on sleep, and it takes a serious mental toll on him.  Anyone who regularly targets these fish can relate to that.  I know that I can.

I chase them a lot, both gear and flies, and all of what you wrote can be true. 

 

What do to keep it from being a grind is switch things up.  Muskies for an hour,  then go chase pike and smallies for a bit...repeat.

 

My "single species" friends don't always enjoy it at first...but most have a ton of fun and get into it. 

5 hours ago, gimruis said:

Last year the MN DNR added 93 lakes here to a list that has very restrictive sunfish rules of only 5 fish per day, and a max of 10 in possession.  Wouldn't bother me if that became a statewide rule.

Around here that'd chase most ice fisherman off the lake.

 

...which is a win.

[Will Ketchum]

I'm basically just a fisherman and what species is determined by the time of year. In the spring it's spawning bluegills. About the same time it's small-mouth in the river. Mid-summer it's large-mouth. Fall it's crappie. Those are the times most favorable where I usually fish.

[Further North]

5 hours ago, J Francho said:

Have a chat with a Trout Unlimited member, lol.  Walleye are the king of my skillet.

I'm a Trout Unlimited member...I'll bet $100 that chat wouldn't go like you'd expect... ?

3 hours ago, gimruis said:

Yep its the "looking down" at bass anglers that I get sick of too.

The only time I have fun with that kind of thing is when some angler that thinks whatever fish it is they chase is better than everything else, I'll toss out, "Muskies eat those!" ?

 

3 hours ago, gimruis said:

I can guarantee that most of them would do pretty terrible targeting bass if they couldn't use live bait or troll either.

I target bass, but never use live bait, or (shiver) troll.

30 minutes ago, Will Ketchum said:

I'm basically just a fisherman and what species is determined by the time of year. In the spring it's spawning bluegills. About the same time it's small-mouth in the river. Mid-summer it's large-mouth. Fall it's crappie. Those are the times most favorable where I usually fish.

Same, except I don't fish for panfish.  There's always something to go after.

[throttleplate]

4 hours ago, Further North said:

What do to keep it from being a grind is switch things up.  Muskies for an hour,  then go chase pike and smallies for a bit...repeat.

 

This is the main reason i now spend all my time fishing the dams in north dakota, 4 of them all within 70 miles of home.

In one day the wife and i standing in the same spot will catch muskie, pike, smallies, largies, walleye, white bass, panfish, bullheads, channel cats, carp. We see steurgeon but havnt caught one yet.

 

The best part about fishin the dam is all the fish i listed are caught on the sames lures i use for walleye and smallies. I just never know whats gonna hit on any cast.

To my pleasure that is what gets me jacked up to go now, the wide variety keeps me engaged. Also my wife grew up in the philippines eating fish 3 times a day.

She loves to catch walleye to eat and gets excited when she lands a good eater size walleye but when she catches a smallie or largie or anything other than a walleye its just ho hum.

 

[J Francho]

4 hours ago, Further North said:

I'm a Trout Unlimited member...I'll bet $100 that chat wouldn't go like you'd expect... ?

Maybe you're the exception. I feel like we've pretty much been on the same page. I don't dislike the org as a whole, but the ones that let you know they're members are almost always jerks on the water. At any rate, they've done some real good, especially when it comes to habitat reconstruction. I'm not sure the members I've run into get that. Keep in mind, I'm in a put and take fishery, with the exception of brookies, atlantics, and lakers. 

[throttleplate]

7 hours ago, gimruis said:

I can guarantee that most of them would do pretty terrible targeting bass if they couldn't use live bait

 

All this year wife and i used lures and plastics, wife also used gulp live minnows. Then in oct a person next to us gave us their live, dead minnows and wife put them on and wow what a difference from gulp live minnows.

I then put a few on a jig head and the smallies went wild. The next time we went fishin we bought a 1/2 scoop of minnows at scheels for $3.75 and caught smallies and walleye and had enough minnows left for our next trip though dead they worked great.

I will now bring real minnows on every trip because they are cheap and they catch fish. Also easy to store in the freezer by putting them in plastic bag and soaking them in cheap vodka.

Heck a bag of 3 inch gulp live shiners 12 per pack costs $6.99-7.99 and get destroyed quickley, live minnows can last as long as a gulp and are better ln cost and best in attracting fish.

I like to catch fish and dont care if its a live minnow or may even use nite crawlers. I am over the stigma that you are not a real fisherman if you use live bait.

Now how about you real fishermen take your side imagining, depth finders, sonar and other electronics out of your fishing vessels and tell me how you did that day.

Hey g-man this is not a attack on you personally?

 

[Further North]

50 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Maybe you're the exception. I feel like we've pretty much been on the same page. I don't dislike the org as a whole, but the ones that let you know they're members are almost always jerks on the water. At any rate, they've done some real good, especially when it comes to habitat reconstruction. I'm not sure the members I've run into get that. Keep in mind, I'm in a put and take fishery, with the exception of brookies, atlantics, and lakers. 

We're on the same page, that's why the ?

...but there's a ton of TU mumbers who join (like I do) to support their habitat work.  At least half of the TU members I know fit that description.

The water in the trout streams winds up in our bigger rivers and lakes, pretty quickly.

There's a trout stream a mile from my house that progresses from brook trout, to brown trout, to smallies and pike, to one of the major Wisconsin river systems with smallies, pike and muskies (and sturgeon, catfish and everything else that lives in a big river in less than ten miles from the spring fed headwaters to the confluence with the bigger river.

There's three more like that within 10 miles.  I support the heck out of their projects on the trout streams because they improve water quality where the big fish live.

...and there's some insanely big trout  (20"+) in the section of the stream closest to my house.

32 minutes ago, throttleplate said:

I like to catch fish and dont care if its a live minnow or may even use nite crawlers. I am over the stigma that you are not a real fisherman if you use live bait.

There's nothing wrong with using bait...I just can't stand dealing with it.  I friend of mine fishes big suckers (like 18" - 20") for muskies in the fall...and I still like him. ?

 

 

34 minutes ago, throttleplate said:

Now how about you real fishermen take your side imagining, depth finders, sonar and other electronics out of your fishing vessels and tell me how you did that day.

You can have my electronics when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers. ?

...but I also run a drift boat about half the time...that doesn't even have a motor, much less any electronics.

[gim]

15 hours ago, throttleplate said:

I am over the stigma that you are not a real fisherman if you use live bait.

The only stigma that exists is from the butt hurt walleye anglers. I can’t even really associate with them anymore because their stuck up attitude towards bass is intolerable. They think smallmouth are an invasive species that are out competing walleyes, and they think muskies are eating their panfish. I know you are a multi species angler and in a river you are bound to catch just about anything. You proved it several times this past season.

 

I’d like to see some of these ice anglers go fishing without live bait. I don’t think the majority of them would even go.

 

My issue with the use of live bait is similar to @Further North. I am not interested in stopping to buy it, trying to keep it alive, or disposing of it properly afterwards. Plus almost everything I catch is released and live bait increases the chances of mortality. Muskie suckers? Not a chance. Those things are like 15 bucks a pop here. Plus using one is like watching paint dry.

[Further North]

5 hours ago, gimruis said:

Muskie suckers? Not a chance. Those things are like 15 bucks a pop here. Plus using one is like watching paint dry.

Yes, this...

A few folks I know will drop the sucker in and fish normally at the same time.

One guy I know catches his suckers first, then goes after the muskies.

[DitchPanda]

I've got absolutely no issue with somebody using live bait..depending on what I'm after ill often do it myself. That said the fish I target most are largemouth, walleye and crappie and I rarely feel the need for live bait for them. I do target channel cats often and I always use live (worms) or fresh cut bait ( chubs, shad, gold eye). I almost always catch my own bait, something I find is almost as enjoyable as catching the cats.