Just one fish

Huntindave McCann

Huntindave McCann

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Just one fish to fight this evening, but it was a nice one. Took a couple photos and let her go. Man, she pulled like a horse. Caught her on a jig with 1/2 of a nightcrawler.
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To keep this duck related;
Was fishing 20 feet away from this root ball, when I noticed the goose nest. The hen had moved off her nest and was hiding up against the logs.

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Dave

Nice catch. I would have thought it is a bit early in your area for nesting with hard freezing still possible.
 
Eric Patterson said:
Dave

Nice catch. I would have thought it is a bit early in your area for nesting with hard freezing still possible.
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Last weekend it did freeze 3 nights in a row, in some areas of the state. I was primitive camping in my truck topper and it required an adequate sleeping bag. 😁 We should be past that now. The entire river is loaded with Geese, Blue Wings, Woodie's, Mallards and Turkeys doing what they do in the spring. I put up a dozen or so nesting boxes many years ago. Many have deteriorated and/or the trees have fallen. Time to make and distribute some new boxes.
 
A catfish and a goose in a root wad beat my hand.
No fishing for me, just 2 mottled ducks walking around in the fast food parking lot this morning.
 
Nice cat! Our resident momma mallard that nests in our tree has hatched and all ready vanished. Currently we have 4 pairs of geese with roughly 12 goslings each running up and down the river bank. Turkeys in the woods across the street. I haven't seen any fawns but they are here. Also fox with kits. Spring is busy here on the island.
 
Great fish!

My woodduck box is not in use but I have bluebird boxes with blue birds, chickadees and a downy woodpecker. I have a red bellied woodpecker box with tufted titmice living in it. Also a wren has made a nest in the spare tire holder of my FJ cruiser.....damn wrens. One wren made a nest at my dad's house in an open, partially used fertilizer bag.
 
Also a wren has made a nest in the spare tire holder of my FJ cruiser.....damn wrens. One wren made a nest at my dad's house in an open, partially used fertilizer bag.
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Yeah, those house wrens are crazy. I like their warble, but they make a mess. We have 5 gallon water bottles delivered because the well water isn't the best tasting even after the water softener. We store them in the garage, both full and empty between deliveries. If we leave the garage door open for an hour, one insists on throwing down the deuce on top of a bottle. Not too appetizing. I threaten the vandal with lead poisoning, but he's not impressed. 🖕
 
Those cats are fun Dave. I'm far from a catfish expert, but have fished for them quite a few times measured over many years. I've caught what I think are all the US cats, channel (yours I believe?), white (kinda small body with a huge head, we get them through the ice), yellow, flathead and blue. Also their lookalike, the bullhead/hornpout. As you mentioned, they can fight like nobody's business. I enjoy your walleye reports too, old Walter and I are well acquainted. No finer fish through the ice IMO.
 
SJ Fairbank said:
Those cats are fun Dave. I'm far from a catfish expert, but have fished for them quite a few times measured over many years. I've caught what I think are all the US cats, channel (yours I believe?), white (kinda small body with a huge head, we get them through the ice), yellow, flathead and blue. Also their lookalike, the bullhead/hornpout. As you mentioned, they can fight like nobody's business. I enjoy your walleye reports too, old Walter and I are well acquainted. No finer fish through the ice IMO.
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Took a trip down to the Gulf Coast to hunt redheads in Texas, and the guide I hunted with said that there were certain times of the year that the catfish would come down out of the rivers and get into the salt/brackish water, big blue cats I think, and he said when they did, they were some of the best fish you'd ever eat. Something about the saltwater changed the flavor on them.
 
Dani said:
Great fish!

My woodduck box is not in use but I have bluebird boxes with blue birds, chickadees and a downy woodpecker. I have a red bellied woodpecker box with tufted titmice living in it. Also a wren has made a nest in the spare tire holder of my FJ cruiser.....damn wrens. One wren made a nest at my dad's house in an open, partially used fertilizer bag.
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Dani,
I have a wren which likes to perch on the overhead light for the back porch. Wouldn't be a big deal except the feeding tray for my dog is directly under that light. Guess what ends up in the feeding tray? :mad:
 
SJ Fairbank said:
Those cats are fun Dave. I'm far from a catfish expert, but have fished for them quite a few times measured over many years. I've caught what I think are all the US cats, channel (yours I believe?), white (kinda small body with a huge head, we get them through the ice), yellow, flathead and blue. Also their lookalike, the bullhead/hornpout. As you mentioned, they can fight like nobody's business. I enjoy your walleye reports too, old Walter and I are well acquainted. No finer fish through the ice IMO.
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Scott,
Yep, primarily Channel Cats in my immediate area. I will keep a few for the table but this one was a bit bigger/older than I prefer to keep. I had fresh walleye for supper a day ago and another fresh walleye is on the menu for tonight. My dog enjoys raw fish, so I cleaned and filleted a nice 15 inch river sucker this morning for her supper tonight.
 
Rick, we saw the same thing in Mobile: In the fall the big blue cats would follow the white shrimp as they moved out of marshes, into the rivers and out to the bay.
Nothing like floating a live shrimp for speckled trout when a 15# blue cat grabs it runs downstream, with the tide! Drag screaming. Yep, great eating.
 
Huntindave McCann said:
Scott,
Yep, primarily Channel Cats in my immediate area. I will keep a few for the table but this one was a bit bigger/older than I prefer to keep. I had fresh walleye for supper a day ago and another fresh walleye is on the menu for tonight. My dog enjoys raw fish, so I cleaned and filleted a nice 15 inch river sucker this morning for her supper tonight.
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Love those eyes for dinner. One of the best eating fish, fresh or salt water.

Huh, never gave our dogs raw fish. I guess they would eat it. No concern about parasites? I'm careful to fully cook fresh water fish for our meals.
 
Dani said:
Do saltwater fish generally have fewer parasites than freshwater? Because they live in saltwater?
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Saltwater fish have lots of parasites, but they are more incompatible with humans, so less of a worry. Many parasites of freshwater fish have complex life cycles that include vertebrates and we can be hosts to them. We (and dogs) are more likely to "catch" parasites of freshwater fish than marine species - hence why nearly all raw sushi is marine fish and if there is a freshwater fish (or catadromous fish AKA unagi) it is served fully cooked.
 
What Todd said. Parasites that live in saltwater fish generally do not have parasites that can survive in mammals or use mammals as part of their lifecycle. Salmon is an exception due to their freshwater life stages. All salmon used for sashimi or raw on sushi is frozen to -40 for a certain number of days. Before deep freezing technology Japan didn’t eat salmon raw.
We never use freshwater fish for sashimi in our house but we’ve tried just about every saltwater fish I’ve caught!
 
Carl said:
What Todd said. Parasites that live in saltwater fish generally do not have parasites that can survive in mammals or use mammals as part of their lifecycle. Salmon is an exception due to their freshwater life stages. All salmon used for sashimi or raw on sushi is frozen to -40 for a certain number of days. Before deep freezing technology Japan didn’t eat salmon raw.
We never use freshwater fish for sashimi in our house but we’ve tried just about every saltwater fish I’ve caught!
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Farm raised salmon is exempted from needing to be frozen, just an FYI.
 
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