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2023 Fishing thread

Got home a little while ago. The bite was on at 945 or so. It was pure madness especially with a triple hookup and numerous double hookups. Trying to manage 3 lines with 2 people was interesting. We just left it in the rod holder and occasionally reeled in any slack in the line.

Then a rod we had set up on the bow hooked up and fish did a 180 and ran towards the stern and almost clotheslined my buddy across the face. 😂

All absolute hogs. All fish were between 44-46" and FAT. We were 2 fish shy of maxing out at 15 fish. Couldn’t keep the lines in the water.

I’m 6 foot for reference lol. This fish faught like hell. IMG_3059.jpeg IMG_2361.jpeg IMG_2358.jpeg

Auction was loaded with fish tonight. Lot of boats slaughtering them. IMG_2359.jpeg
 
The fish just keep getting bigger. New personal best tonight at over 48 inches and 42 pounds. The auction scale is biased low so it’s a minimum of 42 pounds.
What a fight. There were 50+ boats in the area and I was convinced someone ran over my line lol. Drag locked up real tight and it just kept ripping line. Took about 10 minutes to get in even with the drag tight. IMG_2406.jpeg IMG_2407.jpeg
IMG_2404.jpeg

And to top it all off we maxed out at 15 fish. We caught a bunch more but released them. Only took like an hour an 30 minutes or so to max out. All monster bass. Had a couple others that were 48 inches and close to 40 pounds.
What a blast! IMG_3119.jpeg IMG_2408.jpeg
 
We took our Hobie kayaks out on a small lake yesterday for some midday fish hunting. Max depth for this body of water is about 30 feet. I was searching with a 2" PowerBait minnow on a jig, catching smaller bass and bluegill in 10-15 FOW. Once I was over some deeper water, I switched over to a drop shot rig. The Garmin UHD 73sv displayed some larger targets in 20-25 FOW, and I found a bunch of decent sized crappie. By this time the CFO was eager to head out though. So, I marked the spot with a waypoint and will be back, using larger bait in hopes of keeping the smaller fish from taking it.

When deciding to purchase these Hobie kayaks, I wasn't sure if I wanted to invest too much into it. "Nah, I don't need that pre-rigged for a fish finder version, and all of that storage..." I've only added the 7" Garmin and installed an additional hatch. So far. We did sell our tin boat though, and I'm thinking I might want to upgrade to one of the more fishing oriented Hobie models. These things are versatile and much more comfortable than our plain Old Town kayaks. My wife is very happy with her Hobie Lynx and doesn't miss me "shaking the whole boat" when I'm casting. I can cruise at 4mph with minimal effort. Perfect for the majority of my freshwater fishing. The only place I will probably not put in, where I did take the 14' boat, is the CT river.
 
Now you just have to talk with your hand like that guy on Wickit'Toonah. (I tried to find a Gif. I don't watch the show, but have seen enough of him hand-talking to want to punch him in the face. ROFL!)
 
DW357 said:
View attachment 783982
Click to expand...
[rofl] [rofl]

That guy. I have no idea of his fishing ability or if he's a saint or serial (cereal) killer. Just that whole arm thing - he needs a punch in the throat. LOL. (Because all of those stupid studio shots are 100% fake anyhow. I used to love them on Storage Woahz.)


Wife and I hit hte same stretch as me and the boys did this past Sat. Snagged an almost 5# Larry on a Whopper Plopper. Then ran a jighead with a Rage Craw for teh next 2 hours. Caught a couple of the biggest damned perch you've ever seen. And about 4 picks - that I worked hard to remove BEFORE they got to the boat. LOL. Did lose one jig head. That sucker was BIG. Wanted to way and measure him. Always the way - the one pickerel you WANT to check out snaps you off. It's probably happened 20 times in 10 years. No pins for me. LOL
 
Went out last sunday (8/6) into monday morning and caught 5 of the 6 stripers. My buddy was pissed he only got 1. Oh and there were literally 100+ boats out there. My buddy joked that he needs blinkers on his boat for when he turns lol.

Then I went out on Wednesday night for the last day of commercial striper fishing. My buddy only needed 6 more fish to max out. We caught 6 by about 10:45 - sadly I only caught 2 of them lol.

It was fun while it lasted!
 
Nice.

We had our last weekend of fishing. It's going to rain next weekend. The following, I'm out of town. So we decided to pull the boat Sunday afternoon instead of risking cold water later this month.

Had 2 good days of fishing. Caught a good # of smallies. They seem to be easier to catch once Sept. rolls around. Not in areas I thought they'd be. But we found and hit them hard. Biggest was in the 3+ category. I'd have gotten a real measurement, but I was in a bit of an argument with my SIL at the time so I just chucked it back and kept fishing. LOL

We're in Disney next week. Might do the fishing charter in Bay Lake again - just for giggles. It's bait fishing, but it can be a fun afternoon.
 
DW357 said:
The fish just keep getting bigger. New personal best tonight at over 48 inches and 42 pounds. The auction scale is biased low so it’s a minimum of 42 pounds.
What a fight. There were 50+ boats in the area and I was convinced someone ran over my line lol. Drag locked up real tight and it just kept ripping line. Took about 10 minutes to get in even with the drag tight. View attachment 776013View attachment 776014
View attachment 776016

And to top it all off we maxed out at 15 fish. We caught a bunch more but released them. Only took like an hour an 30 minutes or so to max out. All monster bass. Had a couple others that were 48 inches and close to 40 pounds.
What a blast!View attachment 776017View attachment 776018
Click to expand...


Not bashing the commercial fishing, but I get quite annoyed at the size restrictions and limits because the ''decline'' in stripers is due to recreational fishing.
 
dhuze said:
Not bashing the commercial fishing, but I get quite annoyed at the size restrictions and limits because the ''decline'' in stripers is due to recreational fishing.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the rec fishing limit is bullshit when the commercial guys kill everything. It's got me half tempted to get my commercial tag when I get my boat on the water.
 

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