Yesterday's Weapons Forums

Seems I've spent most of my free time down here this summer. As previously stated it's cheap on gas



Nice channel catfish. Adipose fin and speckles make this a postive I.D., even though they don't show well in the pic, they're there. Great-grand-parents knew how to prepare these so's the strong flavour was carried away by the cooking medium. I have no such knowledge myself, so these get released. About 3 lbs.



Red tailed Sucker. These make excellent fish cakes, if you have a grinder-about the only way to eat them, due to the millions of tiny, sharp, bones. This one was released as well. High,warm, and fast water really beat this fish up. They usually come a lot darker in coloration too.



Old stand by freshwater drum. They make a good soup. Baked with a belly-full of cooked rice is good too. This one was released as well. Almost 5 lbs.



This has been the story with Sturgeon Creek for most of the summer- high, fast and dirty with run-off. Creek is about 2-3 ft. above normal summer levels in this picture.



An all too common sight around here this summer. We've broken a lot of records for over night precipitation. It looks like the jet-stream is finally settling back to it's normal behaviour. It would be nice if things could dry out a bit for the grouse opener...

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

I have eaten a lot of catfish when I was a lot younger and all we did was skin them out then they were seasoned and rolled in flour and fried in lard.

Rad

i have eaten a lot of channel cat - they are among the cleanest of the lot , dont survive well in waters that are in any way jeopardized , and a bit of baking soda and salt to soak it in will pull most of that unsavory flavor

The bite is really slowing down now. Went for 5 1/2 hrs this afternoon, and all I caught was this:



That's a rock bass, and about as big as they get around here- a whole 1/2 lb. It's been almost 20 years since I caught one. This one got released, as they are a rare fish around here. Water's still way high and dirty- not much of a break from the heavy rainfall. Grouse opener's next Friday, so I guess the fish in the creek are gonna get some well-earned peace...

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

It has been over 40 years since I last fished and caught one of those but they were smaller.

Rad

i catch those quite often - they are voracious eaters and range in size upwards toward a pound here , but no-one eats them at all , most get thrown back as undesirable ,

The rain is really cutting into my hunting time- so I fish some more:



Another rock bass! This one is much smaller than the one caught previously- a matter of only 7 or 8 ounces He was released. First time I've ever caught 2 in the same year...



Tiny walleye- not much more than a fingerling. Another rapid release.

I did get one walleye big enough to take home- a nice 2 pounder.

Wish the rain would give it up already- but still occupied, never the less

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

Seeing these kinda makes me want to take up fishing ... But the fish in our canals and rivers are mostly inedible (due to polution).
Only in the ardennes you can catch yummie wildwater trout. Oh well, I don't have the spare time for it aniway.
Brgds, A

reminds me that the year is nearly over and i have missed all of the open water again this year ,

There's still 5 or 6 weeks left of open water here. You may have a week or so longer than that- with your slightly southerly latitude, compared to mine. In other words, there's still a little time...

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

Grandson Byan with a 3 lb Maria. For you neophytes, that's a slightly freshwater realation to the Atlantic Cod. They have a huge liver that many people like. I find the flavour of both the liver and fish meat a little too rich for my liking. There are some people that take the livers and trash the rest of the fish. My fish liver preference is those from 5 lb and up pike. Light in taste, with absolutely no stomach reaction



Mad Tom catfish. These only reach 2 or 3 ounces for a full grown adult. Channel Cat fodder
If I caught one of these today, I must have caught 20...

Caught another 2 lb walleye today. There enough in the freezer now for me and wife to have a decent supper. So much appreciation for these things...

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

you are correct sir - once a lifetime ago ,

my friends and i were fishing the mississippi from my boat an hour north of here in brainerd on december 14th in T-shirts , and catching 4-5 lb smallmouth off some submerged timber ,

would love to think that possible one more time in my life , and no ive not given this year up completely yet ,

Red-tailed sucker- one of the biggest I've caught. Quite a long nose on this one too. Sposed to be several sub-species of the Red-tail- which I know absolutely zip about. This one's a good 5 lbs- big for a sucker...



This was waiting for me in my parking stall when I got home tonight. Dark red eyes indicate a domestic pet- still nice to see something like this in the middle of the city...

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

hope that fuzz ball makes it thru the winter