Fishing

[cdschoonie]

I have eaten a bunch of Drum.
Most people do not eat them.
The meat is very firm but other than that it's good eating.

Agreed, I don’t care for them over about 4#, but under that, just like sandies, debone and cut the red line out, they’re good, especially same day fresh.

 

[cdschoonie]

Nice mess of fish you got there.

I have never caught a saugeye before. How do they compare to a bass or other gamefish for table fare?

Just like Walleye, along with Saugers and Saugeye, the best freshwater fish you can eat, followed closely by Crappie of course.

 

[cdschoonie]

Nothing better than going out on the holidays and sitting at the boat ramp watching the newbs try to back their boats in.
It's even more fun in the evenings when they are toasted on beer and try to get a trailer without a boat down that ramp that they can't see.

I’ve been backing the boat in since I could reach the pedals and the steering wheel, I could sit all day and laugh at about 60% of them HAHA! Really sucks getting in line behind one of them, I always wanna say, “I’ll give you $5 if you just let me go first.”

 

[cdschoonie]

ABSOLUTELY PRICELESS!!!


.

My nephew is 6 and has the attention span of a nat, but we did manage to catch one little cat.
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Amen, I second what @DRC458 said…that’s what it’s all about! Kudos to you for getting him on one!

 

[cdschoonie]

Don't know what lake your fishing and a lot of lakes are different on what catches fish for whatever reason.
Right now as the weather warms, the catfish will be moving into the shallows to spawn. Blues will be moving into current to spawn,like the rivers feeding a lake, while channel cat will be in the rocks around riprap. Flatheads are not my forte, but know the noodlers during spawn also hunt them in shallow rocky areas.
Flatheads like live bait like perch, blues like live or cut bait, crappie shad, etc, channels like just about anything you can throw like weiners, worms, stink bait, etc.
The location your fishing may be the issue as well. I saw an Okla Wildlife Biologist on Outdoor Ok talk about bank fishing catfish.
Fishing the banks where the wind is blowing into the bank was important he said as it moves bait fish closer to the banks.
As said earlier different waters take different techniques.
If you have access to a boat and a depth finder, no matter how inexpensive, you can get into catfishing with jug lining.
pool noodles with some PVC pipe in the center with about 18' of line and three hooks will get one into some catfish.
pour concrete into a red solo cup to make a 1 lb weight with some wire exposed out the top to tie to.
Use the depth locator to find the original river channel in any lake. Move out from the channel to about 17' depth and drop a jug line.
Blues and channel cats use the old river channel just like a highway to move up and down the lake. When needing to feed, they move into the shallow waters to feed and return to the river channels when done.
If you can find an area like I have where three creeks intersect the main river channel, you have found the gold mine. Limits are not a problem, but we can never eat that much so most are returned to be caught again by someone else. A couple 3-4 lb blues is good for us.

Yea but you live next door to one of, if not the best bluecat lake in the state…

 

[cdschoonie]

Thanks for clearing that up for me Dennis. The place where I was fishing with them was a rural bridge that crosses a deep water creek on one of our local lakes. Old men sit on that bridge in lawn chairs crappie fishing year round. When I went there and caught a small one, I would just turn him around and set out a big pole deep while I was crappie fishing. All those old men told me what I was doing was illegal and I could not use them for bait. I didn't pay them any attention. Maybe they were mad that I was fishing with what they were trying to catch or just jealous of what I was catching. Who know's, Grumpy Old Men.

Yes, mad that you were using their bait, but probably more mad because they felt you were invading their ‘personal’ fishing hole. Same has happened to me several times, I just tell them to worry about themselves, and I’ll worry about me…HAHA

 

[cdschoonie]

If I use live bait it is shad. However, I believe legally caught game fish that are correct size for keeping can be used for bait as long as you do not keep more than your daily limit.

Yes, absolutely a fact, any fish caught legally, can be used for whatever you want. You’re just not supposed to discard entrails in a body of water it was not caught in. For what that’s worth, ha

 

[dennishoddy]

Got 24 crappie and 3 big redear sunfish yesterday afternoon.
Find some shade this time of year and a drop off at about 10’ and crappie will likely be there.

 

[Master Carper]

Nice haul Mr. Hoddy, well done!

That's some mighty fine eating right there!

 

[Oklahomabassin]

Got 24 crappie and 3 big redear sunfish yesterday afternoon.
Find some shade this time of year and a drop off at about 10’ and crappie will likely be there.

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Nice mess of baitfish! Ha! Just messing with you.