July 24 Was Another Good Day of Fishing for Tasty Tidbits.

 

David got a bit of a later start that morning, but the forecast called for a cooler day. The highs were only suppose to reach the mid 80’s by late afternoon. The fishing was slow at first but then things picked up. He said he got into a nice school of bluegills.

So he was able to catch six nice ones.

 

He also caught seven filleting sized perch.

 

He did not catch his limit of catfish this trip. Almost though he caught these four pan sized ones.

As it gets closer to August now, it will be time to switch over to evening fishing. He will go over early enough to catch bait sized fish to put out on his big fishing poles. He will stay after dark when the big boys start biting. So it will not be about quantity then, it will be about the size. One or two fish, around or well above the 5 pound mark, will be a good night of fishing.

A Sink Full of Tasty Tidbits

 

After a two-week break from fishing, to recover from the 4 days in a row fishing and feeling out of sorts from an infected tooth that he had pulled, David headed off to the ponds to do some fishing yesterday. Yes, I gave him his kiss for luck and it is continuing to work.

He brought home another nice bucket of fish. He dumped it into the sink before I had a chance to take a picture of the bucket o’ fish, so it became a sink full of fish.

 

 

I then separated them by species and took photos of them. He caught this lone crappie. This is the first crappie he has caught in all the years fishing at these ponds. He usually gets over excited and misses them. Their mouth is thin-skinned, so I think he pulls the hook right through the mouth when he tries to set the hook. This time he was patient and did not jerk the pole to hard to set the hook.  It was a nice 11 inches long.

 

He caught a nice mess of perch, nine in total.

 

He caught the limit of 5 catfish a day.

 

He filleted all the fish out. Even the catfish this time, he usually leaves ones this size whole, removing head, tail, and fins then skins them. That is why this was a sink full of tasty tidbits. 😀

Buckets of Fish

 

David has been fishing over at the ponds several times now. He has been getting up to do early morning fishing. He tries to be at the ponds by 6:00. This has been proving to be a good time to go. He has finally been able to catch some bigger sized catfish. He has now brought home two that weighed 2 lbs. and were 18 inches long, also a couple that were 1 1/2 pounds and just under 18 inches. The rest have been just nice pan sized. He continues to bring home the blue gill, and perch. He has also brought 3 trout home now. Neither of us have caught trout for some time and now he is bringing at least one home each trip.

I am not fishing this year, but I do give David a “Kiss for Luck” before he leaves for each fishing trip. I think it is working, because the one time I forgot to give it to him, he only brought home 2 bait fish to stick in the stock tank. Every other time he has brought home his limit of catfish and a couple of others be they a mixture of perch, bluegill or trout.

The photo below is a typical catch for the day. He had already removed a perch and a bluegill to clean them.

Let The Fishing Begin

 

David has gotten to a place in his urban gold mining which will now allow him time to do some fishing, so he purchased his fishing license at the end of May. He has now been over to the ponds 5 times. He was able to bring home 4 nice pan sized catfish his first trip. Trips 2 and 3 only produced bringing home bait fish to put in the stock tank. Trip four he brought home a variety two nice bluegills, a trout and a nice perch. They are now soaking in salt water for a meal later in the week. All these trips were taken from 5 pm to around 8 pm. The fifth trip he decided to try early afternoon fishing from 11 am to 3 pm. He caught a couple of bait fish and got them out on his big poles. He did have a really good bite, but he whiffed setting the hook. He does that for a while at the start of the season. So today he just returned with a perch for the stock tank.
I hope soon to be posting some pictures of the big one that didn’t get away. 😀

Plan B

 

We had been fishing for some time this day. We each had a couple of small bites, but no takers just a couple of quick tugs then nothing.

It was after dark, when David finally got a good bite on his Big Game pole baited with a small perch. I got up from my lawn chair to be ready with the net. David feels a good tug then pulls back and sets the hook. The fish makes a run for it, the line plays out with that wonderful zzt zzzt zzzzt sound. David pulls back and reels in the slack then everything comes to a halt. The fish has manage to snag himself in the weeds, tree limb, or other debris. He continues to pull but the fish is not budging. So he grabs the line its self and pulls on it… SNAP the line breaks. We are both bummed, but as I turn to return to my chair I see my pole tip is bent over and the butt is lifting off the ground. I grab it up and start reeling. There is a bit of a fight, but then it reels in easily. It seems pretty heavy, and not coming in at a proper angle. I finally get it up to the bank. The fish is wrapped up in my line and David’s busted line,weight and the hooks are in the fish’s lip and his front fin. We both look at each other and laugh. David hooked it but I reeled it in.

When the fish went on his run he went through my line. Usually when either of us hook a big one we will reel in the other poles. I was so excited about him finally hooking something I forgot this time. (Yep,fishing for the big fish has been slow this season.) We decided to call this new method of fishing Plan B. 🙂