Catch of the day.

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
Got a late start but went out on the lake, anyways. Local guide has a weekly article in newspaper and says the fish are biting later in the AM if overcast. Cindy and I thought we might as well find out for ourselves, started fishing at 7:45 AM. Fished for about and hour and a half before the rain started to fall and forced us back to the Marina. Weather forecasters said PM storms. :rofl:

IMG_3678.jpg

All caught on artificials, during the first hour. Pretty hectic.

29" Striper (6#)

23 1/2' Striper (4.6 #)

19" Walleye (1.23#)

18" Largemouth Bass (1.78#)

Size limits are 20" for Stripers, 18" for Walleye and 15" for Largemouths.

Lost one, halfway to the boat and threw three undersized ones back.

Fish..............it's what's for dinner.
 
Last edited:

Kevin Stenberg

Well-Known Member
That Walleye is a tasty morsel. Up here the LM are usually very strong tasting.
Were you trolling crankbaits or plastics?
Our Walleye season opened up last weekend.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I been checking in and out of the lakes here for a little bit.
the water is just breaking into the just right temps and the fish are really moving around.
the weather is either helping or killing me too.
 

Intheshop

Banned
Winelover was responding to JW's thread about mushrooms and went off track creating a recipe of crab stuffed baked fish with a certain sauce and had a question for you.Then had to delete it.

Assuming y'all are gonna be uncorking a bottle( wine) with your catch... is there a "standard" or rule concerning which,as defined by the cooking process?IOW's... do I serve the same wine for stuffed baked lake trout as say,a Cajun batter'd/fryed Catfish?

Serious question and why I typed it twice....doh.
 

Rcmaveric

Active Member
I hear Walleye is good. Never been to a state that has them. My favorite is Red Drum. Speaking of fishing, i havent had the time to go. To much work and barely enough time to shoot and reload. I spent the whole weekend asleep at my reloading bench.
 

Kevin Stenberg

Well-Known Member
Maveric If you want to take a winter vacation. My house is always on the ice, And the fish are usually biteing.
I kind of specialize in sunfish, perch with the odd ball walleye or bass. In the bucket.
 

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
I normally troll four rods. Two outside rods with planner boards and use the crankbaits on them. The two over the back have five arm Alabama rigs with 4.5" Strike King's Shadalicious plastic shad. The walleye was caught on a Rogue Perfect 10 (trolls @10 feet) and the Largemouth and Stripers on the Alabama rigs with no added weight. Even though the water temperature was 77 degrees the fish are still near the surface, early in the AM. Will need to increasingly add weight as the Summer progresses. Same with the crankbaits.......go to deeper runners. My go to deep runners are Reef Runner's in the 800 series. They will run at 28' without any added weight.
 

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
No set rule on what type/ kind of wine you serve with fish. Rule of thumb is white for white flesh fish and red for heartier varieties, like Tuna steaks or Swordfish. Of course that goes out the window when you spice up the dish, red might be more appropriate. For example, if you were having Salmon today, you could swing either way....a heavier white (Chardonnay) or a lighter red like a Merlot, Mabec or Pinot Noir.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Boy those are some fine vintages there guys.:rofl:

Fortunately, I don't drink so I can easily avoid this whole deal.
I like fish, though. Perhaps with a nice iced tea?

Bill
 

Ian

Notorious member
Anything but Franzia in box wines. :eek:

My choice would be Bota Box ..........Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay for white box wine.
With cheap frozen fish sticks, champagne might be better.........like Miller High Life!

J/K, I don't drink beer or eat frozen junk, and would probably opt for 7-up with grilled fresh Striper.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Cheap fish sticks? Is there any other kind?

Fish are something I catch and release.
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
I live on a terminal lake that 60 yr ago was home to a native Macanaw population and 10# was considered minimum tackle 20# if you were there to get fish in the boat .
5 yr ago the last chub died . This spring in the run off a guy caught a hybrid Wiper (white bass and striped bass) . We managed to with a cool damp summer keep 12' of fresh water last yr to date we are up almost 16' ft from the known written low water point , so 4 ft this yr . It's down 3'/yr during my 22 yr stay .

I'm going to miss it moving to where those would be normal and drought numbers for rainfall vs grounds for a celebration of life .