Fishing!

[unionrdr]

That's some big 'gills! We've gone to an upland reservoir about 20 miles south of here. Got gills up to 1 1/4lbs! Nice bass too. Wife caught a 5 pounder, I was surprised that she fought him right into the bucket!

 

[Gavin C]

Can't wait to get some walleye this weekend up at our lake place. I fished on the opener for a couple of hours, but had the flu so I didn't hit it too hard. Felt just good enough to cast some white X-Rap 10's for pike and bass. If you've never tried it, I highly recommend it. Works best in the spring when the water temps are in the low/mid 50's. Cast it, jerk it, pause a few seconds, jerk it again, pike bumps it from the side, wait 3-4 seconds, SLAM!! Had 10 or 11 this way, all released to swim another day.

Switching this weekend to some minnow jigging in mornings and slip bobber w/ leech in the evenings for Ol' Marble Eye. Going to try jigging some new Moxie plastic curly tails as well. Bluegills and crappie should provide easy action for the kids off the dock too.

Some pics from years past.

Wow! Love that last one. Even has meteor trail in the upper right corner. Beautiful looking fish. Blissful looking days

 

[brewprint]

Just saw this thread. I'm an avid fisherman.

Heading out this weekend to do some crappie (crop-ie not crappy) fishing

I live on the West end of Lake Erie so hitting up Lake Erie.

We destroy the walleye on a regular basis so if any of you homebrewers want to join me sometime I have a boat and know where the fish usually are.

Heading to Yoopers neck of the woods next week though from brook and rainbow trout. Possible coho salmon on Lake Superior as well.

 

[Kharnynb]

first day of fishing from my boat this year

 

[brewprint]

first day of fishing from my boat this year

That's a crazy back drop. Are those some kind of pike?

 

[CreamyGoodness]

first day of fishing from my boat this year

Pike?

 

[Aonghus]

If you cut the throat, above the heart and stick the walleye in a cooler with water and ice to bleed out, they taste better and keep better. Once they bleed out (they do thrash for a few minutes!), transfer them to your regular cooler on ice.
I love fried Walleye, they are not much for fighting (not like a smallie or a SteelHead), but they sure are good eating.

 

[headbanger]

Northern pike (in 'Murica) or some hybrid variant I'd surmise. I'm sure Yoop's familiar with the native species around her neck of the woods. Some darn good eats too if you can get all the bones out.

 

[Yooper]

Northern pike (in 'Murica) or some hybrid variant I'd surmise. I'm sure Yoop's familiar with the native species around her neck of the woods. Some darn good eats too if you can get all the bones out.

Yah, looks like what we'd call a Northern Pike. If you get out all the Y bones, they are great eating!

 

[Kharnynb]

yep, northern pike are abundant here in Finland.
If you filet em just right, you get really nice, if small, filets for panfrying.

 

[Yooper]

yep, northern pike are abundant here in Finland.
If you filet em just right, you get really nice, if small, filets for panfrying.

They are my favorite fish for pickling- better than pickled herring, even!

Usually, the minimum size is 24" for most lakes, and that is exactly the same fish for 1 quart of pickled pike. I love the stuff, but my husband doesn't go for it as much as I do. Whenever I get a small northern, though, I pickle it.

 

[unionrdr]

I love northern pike breaded & fried with light seasoning.

 

[Kharnynb]

pikes don't have a limit here, though practically everyone throws the ones under 1kg back.
trout you should throw back under 50cm.

I really like pike both fried or as a milk based fish-soup.

 

[unionrdr]

I think Northerns taste something like Crappie. That naturally seasoned sort of flavor quality. We have length limits anywhere around here. Something around 2 feet as I remember...

 

[Kharnynb]

Last year the department of fishing said that people should NOT catch and release northern pike in saimaa, since there just is too many.
The only protected fish are salmon&trout, but then we do have a bit less population than michigan to fish em up and most people live south of me

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Because I'm something of a closet Anglophile first thing I thought was "fish pie"

 

[Kharnynb]

They are my favorite fish for pickling- better than pickled herring, even!

Usually, the minimum size is 24" for most lakes, and that is exactly the same fish for 1 quart of pickled pike. I love the stuff, but my husband doesn't go for it as much as I do. Whenever I get a small northern, though, I pickle it.

Pickling recipe/instructions?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

They are my favorite fish for pickling- better than pickled herring, even!

Usually, the minimum size is 24" for most lakes, and that is exactly the same fish for 1 quart of pickled pike. I love the stuff, but my husband doesn't go for it as much as I do. Whenever I get a small northern, though, I pickle it.

Better than pickled herring?!? That's saying a lot! I've never canned/pickled meat/fish before, but this "better than herring" comment has me wanting to give it a try. Mind sharing the recipe Yoop? And have you ever tried it with muskie?
Regards, GF.

 

[brewprint]

Better than pickled herring?!? That's saying a lot! I've never canned/pickled meat/fish before, but this "better than herring" comment has me wanting to give it a try. Mind sharing the recipe Yoop? And have you ever tried it with muskie?
Regards, GF.

My guess is that muskie would be the same. In michigan we're only allowed to keep one muskie per year. They have muskie tags now. It's mainly catch and release.

 

[Yooper]

Better than pickled herring?!? That's saying a lot! I've never canned/pickled meat/fish before, but this "better than herring" comment has me wanting to give it a try. Mind sharing the recipe Yoop? And have you ever tried it with muskie?
Regards, GF.

I've never tried it with muskie- in order to keep a muskie, they have to be at least 42", and you can only keep one per year. I don't eat fish that big so I don't keep any muskie at all. They are more for catching for fun, or for mounting if you get a big one.

Anyway, I will dig out the pickled herring recipe later today once my grandkids go home.

We had fresh fried perch last night, and the littlest one (20 months) ate more then me and my husband combined! He kept saying, "more swish!" (fish).

 

[brewprint]

I've never tried it with muskie- in order to keep a muskie, they have to be at least 42", and you can only keep one per year. I don't eat fish that big so I don't keep any muskie at all. They are more for catching for fun, or for mounting if you get a big one.

Anyway, I will dig out the pickled herring recipe later today once my grandkids go home.

We had fresh fried perch last night, and the littlest one (20 months) ate more then me and my husband combined! He kept saying, "more swish!" (fish).

I'll be up on Friday but I don't think that Muskie season opens until the following Saturday. I'm looking forward to some pan fried brookies!

 

[Yooper]

I'll be up on Friday but I don't think that Muskie season opens until the following Saturday. I'm looking forward to some pan fried brookies!

Muskie season opened with the walleye season (May 15).

 

[brewprint]

Muskie season opened with the walleye season (May 15).

Okay that may just go for Lake St. Clair. I need to check that out.

 

[Kharnynb]

soon the netting season starts, we aren't allowed to set nets until the new saimaa seal babies are big enough to not get harmed by them, then we'll get to perch filet practice again :rockin: my record was 120 perch in an hour and a half.

 

[Aonghus]

soon the netting season starts, we aren't allowed to set nets until the new saimaa seal babies are big enough to not get harmed by them, then we'll get to perch filet practice again :rockin: my record was 120 perch in an hour and a half.

Are you netting for subsistence or for a commercial fishery? I looked up a map view of the area you hail from (as I had never heard the name before); you have a lot of separate bodies of water to go fish in, the whole area looks more water than land.

 

[Kharnynb]

just for food.
Fun fact, that's mostly all 1 lake...Finlands biggest lake.

The saimaa ringed seal is only found here and very endangered and protected. we have to use special seal safe nets and fishtraps and no netting is allowed during late spring/early summer.

 

[solbes]

Nice looking seal there! And regarding pike, I think most of the world record pike are caught in Europe. Germany mostly?

We had a great weekend of fishing, all day Sunday especially with the front arriving as we went to bed that night. Walleyes, pike, bass, pannies, you name it. My wife was on fire. Hand her a rod with anything on it and she was catching fish. I think she had a great time. Other notables were our neighbor girl who is 12 caught her first walleye, and it was off our dock. And my 8 year old caught a dandy 13.5" crappie off the dock as well.

We're heading back this weekend, but I assume the fishing won't be quite as good.

 

[brewprint]

I'm packing up the muskie gear right after work. Thanks Yooper for the heads up on the open season. I live by Lake St. Clair and I never realized that their regulations are different than the rest of the state. Hoping to get a nice one to get a nice photo of!

It's sure going to be a riot casting the big lures from the 12ft plastic jon boat.

 

[Carusoat]

I just bought my girlfriend a rod (Fleuger) and went out Monday. She caught some great sized Crappie. I didn't catch much going for bass. I think they're bedding down. Oh well, a bad day fishing is a good day drinking.

I usually go out every evening I can manage. I'd like to do some deep see fishing this summer.

 

[brewprint]

Here's a couple muskies I caught last week in the yoop!

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