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Judging by the calm seas, you picked a good day to make the long run offshore Flight

Deltaman wrote:Judging by the calm seas, you picked a good day to make the long run offshore Flight

We've been watching the charts all winter for this day!

Flightstopper wrote:

The Duck Hammer wrote:

Flightstopper wrote:I have to reserve my energy since you won't give me a LP!

What's the point of you aren't doing the fighting?

Tile fish are so deep there is nothing to the fight anyways and you don't even know if you have a fish until you get it up, unless it's a decent one like I posted. They are really just a fish to load the box and are excellent on the table. Most people use the big ass electric reels and just press a button to bring them up. But those reels are not cheap.

I prefer hydraulic bandits for all of the above

Never seen one on a recreation boat here, would make quick work of it.

Those lectro's that u see are basically what we used to call rail rigs, same difference except they use electricity and reels instead of hydros and spools

Finally got dad down to the coast and put him on some reds. Only found one keeper but dad's head near exploded when it started ripping drag. He is HOOKED!

Great way to spend an afternoon with dad FS

Caught this guy yesterday running trot lines in the Missouri River.

Weston81 wrote:Caught this guy yesterday running trot lines in the Missouri River.

Other than freaking huge, what is that? A blue catfish?

Weston81 wrote:Caught this guy yesterday running trot lines in the Missouri River.

Now that is a fish. lots of good meat on that sucker but I feel sorry for whoever skinned it.

SpinnerMan wrote:

Weston81 wrote:Caught this guy yesterday running trot lines in the Missouri River.

Other than freaking huge, what is that? A blue catfish?

Looks like a blue to me. Head doesn't look right for a flathead and the skin isn't mottled.

The Duck Hammer wrote:

SpinnerMan wrote:

Weston81 wrote:Caught this guy yesterday running trot lines in the Missouri River.

Other than freaking huge, what is that? A blue catfish?

Looks like a blue to me. Head doesn't look right for a flathead and the skin isn't mottled.

Definitely not a flathead, they don't have forked tails either. I've caught a few of them. Never any really big. Pretty sure it is a big blue, but I've never seen one.

SpinnerMan wrote:

The Duck Hammer wrote:

SpinnerMan wrote:

Weston81 wrote:Caught this guy yesterday running trot lines in the Missouri River.

Other than freaking huge, what is that? A blue catfish?

Looks like a blue to me. Head doesn't look right for a flathead and the skin isn't mottled.

Definitely not a flathead, they don't have forked tails either. I've caught a few of them. Never any really big. Pretty sure it is a big blue, but I've never seen one.

Biggest blue I've ever seen was 54. He come out if a lake so he his color showed better. Biggest flathead was 25-30. My brother and I was crappie fishing with jig rods when his line just stopped. We had hung some trees in the area so assumed he was hung up. Line slowly started to come in and low and behold that big mother was on there. We played with it awhile and let it loose again. We didn't need meat bad enough to kill that fish.

My biggest flathead is 28". I was hooking them left and right, but I had no leader with me. I hooked many that were a lot bigger, but they all wore through my line. I always carry leader material with me now, but I've never got into them like that one trip.

I catch more flatheads jig fishing than I do any other way. It's fun fighting 5 lb Aps on a 8 foot rod with 6-8 lb line. I carry cat rods with me every time I go just in case the chance arrises. Course almost all of my rods have ambassadeurs on em, I don't like being underpowered.

It's a blue and weighed in at 65 pounds after having been out of the water for 2 hours. Cleaning that fish took FOREVER!!! After skinning him and then cutting all the red meat off took around two hours. Did end up with four one gallon bags full of catfish though, and that made it worth the work!

Thanks.

Are large cats as good eating as small ones?

As far as I can tell they eat the same. The processing of the fish seems to make the biggest difference to me. If you take the time to bleed the fish, thoroughly rinse the meat off and make sure there isn't blood pooling up on the meat, as well as cut away all red meat and skin they taste the same to me.

Deltaman wrote:Great way to spend an afternoon with dad FS

He even went as far as out fishing both my buddy and I.

SpinnerMan wrote:Thanks.

Are large cats as good eating as small ones?

Yes, but they aren't worth the work to me unless you need a lot of meat. Skinning a 20 lb + cat is a bitch. For eating I like 3-5 lb channels. Easiest to clean and when you catch 1 you're usually in a mess of em.

One fish fry for 10-12 people and it will all be gone. It was a buddy and me so I got two of the bags full of fish. And you are right, cleaning that joker sucked. Maybe I need to charge a cover fee for the next fish fry I have.

Just another view of the same fish, this is my buddy holding him.

The Duck Hammer wrote:

SpinnerMan wrote:Thanks.

Are large cats as good eating as small ones?

Yes, but they aren't worth the work to me unless you need a lot of meat. Skinning a 20 lb + cat is a ****. For eating I like 3-5 lb channels. Easiest to clean and when you catch 1 you're usually in a mess of em.

With a little luck they will start letting us shoot catfish. I'm not big on eating any fish. However, catch and release doesn't work so well after you put an arrow through them. Don't want to shoot a non-invasive that isn't worth eating, especially something like a catfish. Doubt I'll ever see one like that, but if I do, it's good to know that it will eat just fine even if it is a pain to clean.

Probably not as big of a pain as these guys.

I've tried to clean a gar 3-4 times in the past few years. Every time ends with me almost shoving a knife through my hand and throwing the gar in the lake.

The Duck Hammer wrote:I've tried to clean a gar 3-4 times in the past few years. Every time ends with me almost shoving a knife through my hand and throwing the gar in the lake.

It's actually not that hard once you figure it out. Do NOT use a knife. You want some sort of shears to cut through the hide. They are very good to eat. They are my wife's favorite and she always asks if I got any when I go bowfishing.

Here's a good step by step description.
http://illinoisbowfishing.info/index.php?topic=91.0

Beautiful white meat, and very tasty, but there is a layer of gelatin between the layers of meat. We cleaned a big one (5' long) once, just to try it, and used an axe to start the cut for filleting. When we fried up the pieces, I just peeled the meat off between the layers when eating, and it was delicious. Another oddball swamp meal is the lowly nutria It's diet is strictly vegetation (the bastards they tear up the swamp), and the meat is very similar to a rabbit. We used to have a huge nutria rodeo each year when I was a kid, just to help keep the numbers down (even had a rodeo queen.....ha ha), but ever since the gator population exploded in the 70's, the nutria numbers stay in check, and I only see them in small, out of the way places now.

Boxed one and had to duck a storm

Dad zeroed today but mom showed up last minute to show him up. Her first red.