Sabrespace Rod and Gun Club

[Ducky]

I went out with my brother yesterday and we got into the saugers big time. We kept eight of them and also took home five goldeyes/mooneyes that were a good size 

Edited September 29 by Ducky

[SwampD]

Finally got out to the Passaic last Friday. My buddy caught a nice 26" Pike from shore.

Heading out on the Kayaks tomorrow. Just got back from buying some lures.

This one is my favorite. I figure, it's Jersey. Ya gotta get the rat.😂

 

 

Edited October 3 by SwampD

[Ducky]

Caught a 27 1/4 inch walleye on Saturday with my stepdaughter and her husband. 3/4 of an inch shy of a master angler.

We caught 24 fish in all but we only took home seven.

[Indabuff]

On 9/29/2024 at 3:31 PM, Ducky said:

I went out with my brother yesterday and we got into the saugers big time. We kept eight of them and also took home five goldeyes/mooneyes that were a good size 

Do sauger taste the same as walleye?

[Ducky]

2 minutes ago, Indabuff said:

Do sauger taste the same as walleye?

You can't tell the difference.

[Indabuff]

I know NYS contemplated stocking them in Erie but it never came to fruition.    

[Ducky]

About 50 saugers and five keeper walleye as well as a 25-in that went back in the water. A 33 inch northern pike, a 31-in channel catfish and a 35 inch Channel catfish. All fish were caught trolling in 12 ft of water banging crank baits off the bottom.

Edited October 18 by Ducky

[Indabuff]

Damn,  that's a fantastic outing.

[Ducky]

15 hours ago, Indabuff said:

Damn,  that's a fantastic outing.

It was a fun time with an old friend I recently re-connected with and a friend of his.

The 31 inch cat was the first cat I have seen taken while trolling.

Not common to catch pike in the river but certainly not uncommon.

The 35 that I caught was hooked on is tail. It is right up there as the best freshwater fight I have had. I hooked a 36 inch carp by the dorsal fin years ago and it was quite the fight as well. I was reeling this cat in for 3 or 4 turns of the reel thinking it was another small sauger and then it almost pulled my rod (2nd time I had the rod and reel out since I bought them) out of my hand. I caught a 27 inch walleye the first day out with it.

Staying away from the river today and tomorrow as there are a couple of wallye derbies going on but will hit it again on Monday. The next 8 days will consist of 6 days of going after fish, ducks and grouse. I might slip in a day for alcohol.

Come on down. 25 minutes out of Winnipeg. I'll take you out.

 

Regarding saugers, they breed with walleye and you get a hybrid they call saugeye. I am sure some of them were saugeye.

Edited October 19 by Ducky

[#freejame]

17 hours ago, Ducky said:

It was a fun time with an old friend I recently re-connected with and a friend of his.

The 31 inch cat was the first cat I have seen taken while trolling.

Not common to catch pike in the river but certainly not uncommon.

The 35 that I caught was hooked on is tail. It is right up there as the best freshwater fight I have had. I hooked a 36 inch carp by the dorsal fin years ago and it was quite the fight as well. I was reeling this cat in for 3 or 4 turns of the reel thinking it was another small sauger and then it almost pulled my rod (2nd time I had the rod and reel out since I bought them) out of my hand. I caught a 27 inch walleye the first day out with it.

Staying away from the river today and tomorrow as there are a couple of wallye derbies going on but will hit it again on Monday. The next 8 days will consist of 6 days of going after fish, ducks and grouse. I might slip in a day for alcohol.

Come on down. 25 minutes out of Winnipeg. I'll take you out.

 

Regarding saugers, they breed with walleye and you get a hybrid they call saugeye. I am sure some of them were saugeye.

Serious question—Do you eat meat/fish you don’t take yourself? Seems like you’ve always got a haul. 

[RochesterExpat]

The youth-only deer season opens Saturday. Our nine year old is going out for his first season. We got him a youth-sized single shot 300BLK and I put a suppressor and Leupold scope on it. He’s been out target shooting with it a bunch and it’s pretty darn accurate. He should be good inside 150 yards which is perfect since there are no shots past about 120 yards where we are hunting. He can harvest up to two deer: a doe and buck or two does.  So hopefully next Sunday I’m posting a nice success story.

Side note: he really wanted to try hunting with a muzzleloader because that’s how I like to hunt. Part of the reason we got him the single shot rifle that we did is there is an identical inline muzzleloader from the same company, so maybe next year he can try that. We’ll see if he enjoys this season or not.

[Ducky]

15 hours ago, #freejame said:

Serious question—Do you eat meat/fish you don’t take yourself? Seems like you’ve always got a haul. 

We only kept 4 walleye and 1 sauger that day. That 25 incher went back to grow bigger and lay more eggs and hopefully become a master angler (28 inches) for someone else to catch. 

Nobody wanted the Pike and you're supposed to throw anything over a 24 inch catfish back.

My bro and I were out today and probably caught 65-75 saugers. We kept 6 and my fiance and the two of us ate them when we got home and cleaned them up. I don't mind keeping walleye in the freezer if I could ever get around to catching more than a few of them. 

I might have 7 or 8 lbs. in the freezer right now but most will go at a family dinner in a couple weeks. 

No food goes to waste. If we hook a fish in the gill, we try our hardest to get the hook out with minimal damage. Barbs are not allowed in Manitoba so it makes that job easier. If we don't think he is going to make it, he comes home with us.

 

Back at it tomorrow morning. 

Edited October 21 by Ducky

[RochesterExpat]

18 hours ago, Ducky said:

Nobody wanted the Pike and you're supposed to throw anything over a 24 inch catfish back.

 

I kept a pike once from ice fishing as a kid and I pretty much ruined it trying to clean it. This was the days before YouTube and I was trying to figure it out myself on the fly. Not my proudest moment. That being said, it tasted alright cooked up as a fish taco, but I'll admit it wasn't the best-tasting fish for that and I decided it wasn't worth it to try and keep any others after that.

Why are you supposed to throw the bigger cats back? Is that just the fishery rule to encourage a healthy population? I've never been particularly fond of catfish which is unfortunate as we have them in absolute abundance here in Texas. At the lake five minutes from my house, I believe the daily limit is 25 channel cats with no minimum length (although there is a cap on the number of fish over 20 or 24 inches you can possess, but I don't remember the specifics). Flathead cats have a minimum length, but I don't even know what it is since, again, not a huge fan of catfish. I just go for the striped bass and crappie.

[Indabuff]

1 hour ago, RochesterExpat said:

I kept a pike once from ice fishing as a kid and I pretty much ruined it trying to clean it. 

Damn Y bones!

[SwampD]

4 hours ago, RochesterExpat said:

I kept a pike once from ice fishing as a kid and I pretty much ruined it trying to clean it. This was the days before YouTube and I was trying to figure it out myself on the fly. Not my proudest moment. That being said, it tasted alright cooked up as a fish taco, but I'll admit it wasn't the best-tasting fish for that and I decided it wasn't worth it to try and keep any others after that.

Why are you supposed to throw the bigger cats back? Is that just the fishery rule to encourage a healthy population? I've never been particularly fond of catfish which is unfortunate as we have them in absolute abundance here in Texas. At the lake five minutes from my house, I believe the daily limit is 25 channel cats with no minimum length (although there is a cap on the number of fish over 20 or 24 inches you can possess, but I don't remember the specifics). Flathead cats have a minimum length, but I don't even know what it is since, again, not a huge fan of catfish. I just go for the striped bass and crappie.

There is just no reason to ever try and clean a pike, I mean, unless you are minutes away from death by starvation. 😂

[North Buffalo]

Learn how to fillet boys... quicker... easier and no bones... with Pike either cut out Y bone or cook and pick them out if you dont want to waste the meat... easy enough.

[SwampD]

1 hour ago, North Buffalo said:

Learn how to fillet boys... quicker... easier and no bones... with Pike either cut out Y bone or cook and pick them out if you dont want to waste the meat... easy enough.

There are stores for food.

[RochesterExpat]

5 hours ago, North Buffalo said:

Learn how to fillet boys... quicker... easier and no bones... with Pike either cut out Y bone or cook and pick them out if you dont want to waste the meat... easy enough.

See, this is what I should have done; however, 16 year old overly confident first time solo ice fisher me decided he knew better.

[Ducky]

On 10/21/2024 at 3:21 PM, RochesterExpat said:

I kept a pike once from ice fishing as a kid and I pretty much ruined it trying to clean it. This was the days before YouTube and I was trying to figure it out myself on the fly. Not my proudest moment. That being said, it tasted alright cooked up as a fish taco, but I'll admit it wasn't the best-tasting fish for that and I decided it wasn't worth it to try and keep any others after that.

Why are you supposed to throw the bigger cats back? Is that just the fishery rule to encourage a healthy population? I've never been particularly fond of catfish which is unfortunate as we have them in absolute abundance here in Texas. At the lake five minutes from my house, I believe the daily limit is 25 channel cats with no minimum length (although there is a cap on the number of fish over 20 or 24 inches you can possess, but I don't remember the specifics). Flathead cats have a minimum length, but I don't even know what it is since, again, not a huge fan of catfish. I just go for the striped bass and crappie.

You have to throw them back to make sure the big ones stay in the system. We have a world-class fishery when it comes to the Red River where you can catch a Master angler in five or six different species. Since I started fishing the river two or three weekends ago I have caught a Master angler Bullhead a Master angler channel catfish a Master angler gold eye and I caught a walleye that was 3/4 of an inch away from a Master angler. We have people from all over up here right now fishing the Red River for walleye.

It isn't all that hard to go out in June and catch 30 or 40 big catfish with most of them being over 30 in and hardly any under 24.

I don't believe you are allowed to keep a walleye over 28 in either.

Some people that live around here don't realize the great fishery we have.

I forgot to say, there's nothing wrong with a 16-year-old cutting up a pike and trying it out.

[Ducky]

I was out yesterday with my brother and we caught about 10 fish. This one came in at 29 and 3/4 in. What a freaking tank! He has caught bigger but I have never seen one this big caught by angling...not in person.

[Indabuff]

First of the season