Fishing thread

[wildcat62]

White Bass

[worth1]

White Bass

Around here I have heard them called both I was going to say white but I have no idea from one to the other but there is a difference.

[karstopography]

White bass, a lot of Texans also call them Sand Bass. There’s a big spring run they do in the various Central and East Texas rivers and creeks and people catch a bunch in an outing. One of these fish that is very fecund and about impossible to overfish, so I’ve read. White bass seem to be pretty scarce this close to the saltwater.

[wildcat62]

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[Mark_Thompson]

Here’s our version, we call them Menpachi. Catch them only at night.

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[wildcat62]

What a wild looking fish. Never heard of them but googled it. That would be a blast.

[worth1]

Whatever you do when you go fishing know the laws.
Im working with a guy that goes all the time that has no clue about the laws.
He had no idea you couldn't keep game fish you caught in a cast net.
He doesn't do it but he didn't know.

[EdieJ]

When you get a fishing license you should get a pamphlet with your state's laws. Better to spend a few minutes reading than face high fines and the loss of expensive poles & tackle. Of course, that assumes one is smart enough at the outset to know to get a fishing license!

[karstopography]

Texas makes available an annual guide, printed and online. The people that don’t fish that often seem to get hung up on what the regulations were five or ten years ago. “What do you mean I can’t keep ten trout? That’s what it’s always been!”

Size and slot limits throw people off too. I have lent my kayak and gear kit to my stepson and godfather on different occasions and the last three times they have both lost my measuring stick. I Buy a new one, then they drop it overboard. I have fished literally hundreds of times over a decade of trips and never once lost the measuring board. If these two folks are any indication, there are plenty of others out there without a means to measure the fish.

I pretty much know by looking at a fish how long it is, at least to within a half and inch. I don’t think there’s any point to getting another measure, they will just lose it. I don’t keep borderline fish as a rule although I like a Redfish that’s around 20”. Not much meat on a 15” speckled trout, our lower size limit, in most cases. I can’t really get how Louisiana is so excited about keeping 12” speckled trout. One 16” trout has over double the fish flesh as a 12” one. A 12” trout averages 9 ounces, a 16” fish 22 ounces. I wish our redfish slot was more like Louisiana’s with the 18”-27”. 18”-23” redfish are prime in my book. 16”-21” trout are also very nice. Southern Flounder get worthwhile to retain at about 15-16”, our slot begins at 14”.

Those are the big three in Texas that everyone fishes for. Some are more or less fixated on speckled trout and look at redfish as trash fish. That’s just crazy, redfish, are every bit as good to eat, better really and more versatile as what can be done with them. They fight about 5 times harder. Don’t get me wrong, I love catching speckled trout, but redfish getting called “ditch carp” and other such derogatory monikers.

Half the fishermen in Texas basically don’t like to even like to eat fish. What they like is a super thin slice of fillet heavily coated in overseasoned batter and fried into oblivion, then smothered in a gallon of tartar sauce. Most of Texas was not settled by a lot of foodies, that’s a certainty. Fry up something in a batter, mash some taters, cook up a can of corn, call it supper. I’m a native Texan and so I can poke fun at my brethren’s eating habits. Across the state line into south Louisiana, those folks have a more than a grasp on food. They are artists in the kitchen. Hard to find a bad meal in Acadian and Creole country. So do the folks to the South, the ones that beat the anglos to Texas, they understand food and seasoning. New Mexico has wonderful cuisine. Don’t know anything about Oklahoma. East and North Texas anglo cuisine is the worse of the bunch. Little seasoning or emphasis on freshness. Well seasoned and interesting flavors was just bever a priority. The Bohemian, Moravian, German cultures of central Texas understand food and smoke.

[EdieJ]

Karstopography, can you paint lines on your kayak to show what size the most common fishes need to be so you don't have to worry about losing a measuring stick?

[worth1]

My little five foot two inch French mother was one of the best cooks ever.
From pastries to anything.
That's just not me because it was my mother people all across the land went on and on about how good her product was.
I grew up eating rich people's food half the time.
That's where I got my love of spices and food from.
And learned to cook.
When I was a little kid in the store I didn't hang out in the toy section I was in the spice and kitchen section.

[karstopography]

[mention]EdieJ[/mention] I probably could. Though, Polyethylene doesn’t hold paint very well. I once had a kayak that had an adhesive measuring tape glued to the deck. The easiest to use are the portable wide measuring boards with the 90 degree angle to put the fish’s mouth against the edge. People make their own or just buy the manufactured ones.

I know all the size limits by heart and don’t generally keep borderline fish. Dead fish measure less or more than live fish, depending on various things. Cold, nearly frozen fish measure less than the same fish alive and relaxed. Amped up, tense fish fresh from the fight are often significantly shorter measured at that time than when later their muscles relax. My buddy caught a 27 3/4” redfish, I confirmed my friend’s measurement at the time of the catch, that later got disqualified in a tournament when the then dead fish measured 28 1/8” at the scoring table. Too bad as it was a $1,000 dollar fish had it been within the slot. People also mark their fishing rods at certain intervals. My truck has a tape measure and that’s something I could use for the time being.

[mention]worth1[/mention] I can’t really fuss at people about their tastes. Those things are personal, but no doubt there are regional and ethnic tendencies about what tastes good. My good friend who loves great food went on a New Orleans trip with his very Meat and potatoes BIL. The BIL just wanted to hit up the most banal restaurant chains possible located by the suburban Mall. My gosh, you are in the food mecca of New Orleans, can’t you venture out of your comfort zone and live a little? Not that all places there are equal.

But, I’m aware lots of people don’t really like fish. My former wife’s very Catholic Irish grandfather couldn’t stand fish. He would dutifully buy a piece of fresh Cod from the fish monger every friday, then take it home and feed it to the cat. Had to keep up appearances for the monsignor in Dorchester, Boston in those days. I like fish with flavor. For example, I like fresh bluefish, there’s a strongly flavored fish, darker meat type. Many people grossly overcook fish ruining the taste and texture, they just want to mask or obliterate the fish flavor. I want to appreciate the unique flavor and texture of each species so I often do something besides fry them. Fish with less than white flesh can be just as delicious if not more so as the white fleshed flounder, halibut, haddock of the world.

People that can manipulate ingredients and flavors to create dishes that blow the mind with how good they taste are treasures in my book. I try and sometimes succeed, but then there are true chefs that are on levels far above anything I can conjure up.

My dad’s sister, 5’10” and about 100 pounds, basically eats just enough to stay alive, just barely. Food and flavor have almost no attraction to her. Any event at her home requires a large pre meal as there won’t be much to eat there and it won’t have any flavor. I feel so sorry for her, not having any desire or love for food.

[worth1]

Real salmon eaters know Alaska wild red sockeye is the best.
Pink salmon is dog food.
My wife bought pink salmon I went to the store and bought red sockeye and she was amazed out how different is was.
My dad was the German and ate bland food and had to suffer from my moms spicy cooking.
I can tell you at the time I lived in south east Oklahoma the food the common folks ate was bland meat and potatoes.
For most the fish was way over fried.
Every carp we caught we cleaned and pressure canned for carp patties but we cut the dark part out.
We also ate fried crispy fish tails and fried fish eggs, nothing went to waste.
We also ate gar.
As for fish size I dont bother measuring to make sure they are long enough because I dont eat fish that small and I know they are long enough.
I talked to my buddy today and he said we need to go fishing and he is trying to talk me into buying a boat.
He was supposed to buy the bay boat but things have changed for the time being.
I want one I can run the Colorado river in but still punch through waves in a lake without getting beat to death.
Preferably with a Suzuki motor because I think they are the best.

[worth1]

Co worker at Galveston island yesterday.
That's an old uglystik.

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[EdieJ]

New rods & reels are fun but sometimes there's nothing like an old friend!

[Volvo]

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What we call Grunter , Very tasty Fish and mostly caught in our Estuary Systems as well as off Wrecks close to shore.

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Jewfish or what you call Redfish over your neck o the woods, Nice chewing so long as they are not tooo Big and a cousing of the Silver Jewfish caucht in southern waters which are also rather tasty.

[worth1]

Looks like Penn Is now making a couple of low profile bait casting reels.
They are expensive, they used to make a Sargus low profile some time ago that was expensive too.

https://www.pennfishing.com/penn-reels- ... 24830.html

https://www.pennfishing.com/penn-reels- ... 24835.html

[worth1]

For the price of the Penn Fathom largest low profile reel made in China you can get an Avet SXJ two speed lever drag with MC cast control made in the USA.
And do the same thing with it with a little more line capacity.
Plus choice of colors too.
https://charkbait.com/product/avet-sxj/

[Donnyboy]

We used to live five miles deep in the Angelina forest on the Angelina river below Sam Rayburn reservoir. The river was great for flathead and blue cats. If you wanted pan fish, you fished the lake from the bank or from a boat. Rayburn was always on the professional bass tour every year, but I'm not interested in large mouth. If I wanted small mouth bass, I traveled north to lake Texoma. Texoma was also the sand bass capital of Texas. We would be on the lake before sun up. When the sun started up, we would watch for flocks of birds diving the water catching shad the sand bass were driving up from deep water. Put the boat in high gear and head for the birds and boiling water. Throw a silver spoon or slab into the the shad, count to three for the spoon to sink and jerk the rod. It would only last until the sun was barely above the horizon and then you had to wait for the next morning. You could load your boat with sand bass in a few minutes but we normally quit after we had enough to eat for the day. They don't freeze well because they get mushy in the freezer. If we wanted to fish for largemounth, we would drive south east from Texoma to Pittsburg Texas and fish five nice lakes very close to Pittsburg. If I got tired of fishing, I would wait until the first weekend in November and ride my ATV for five minutes to my deerstand in the forest. If I didn't want a deer, I could hunt wild hogs year round in the forest. East Texas and south east Texas can't be beat for variety. I also enjoyed all the salt water fishing not very far south.

One of the lakes near Pittsburg had a fishing donut which was a building with seating around a low fence enclosing a hole in the floor. It was good crappie fishing and it got you out of the rain and you could fish all night and sleep all day if you wanted to. You could also put a little bell on your fishing rod and take a nap while your fishing. The bell would let you know when a fish grabbed the bait.

Some of my favorite fishing was in the shallows for large "horse blanket" flounder around rocks along the gulf beaches and surf fishing waste deep in the surf at night under a bright moon. I enjoyed cast netting shrimp and shad for bait to catch red fish and speckled sea trout. I wasn't a fan of red fish for eating so I usually released them. The specs were one of my favorite eating fishes. I caught everything from small sharks to fairly large stingrays in the surf. Many people eat the small sharks, and many people eat the wings of the rays. I didn't. The flounder were good to throw on the grill and cook for a while and turn them over and cook a little longer. If you wanted to catch giant alligator gar, you fished around the highway 87 bridge over the Sabine river near Sabine, Texas. I've seen them with scales the size of silver dollars. Hurricane Ike wiped out highway 87. I don't know if they ever rebuilt it again.

Now I live near a state park in North Texas with a large lake on three sides of me. I rarely fish.

[karstopography]

I love or loved fishing. This year, I have fished less than I have fished in 12-13 years. I blame Covid19, why not, everything fff up is due to this fff up virus.

My teenage son and I recently busted out of dodge and drove to some higher altitude spots for some mountain chill exploration and social distancing in semi-wilderness. Trip was designed with minimal human and maximum wildness contact in mind. Saw the comet, too. Fishing was okay, fun was top notch.

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