Hunting and Fishing

[catfish83861]

Well I have not decided yet if I am going to go Elk hunting but I have been doing really well fishing lately. Have some pictures that I will post. One is the biggest Largemouth Bass I have ever caught. It weighed in at Eight pounds seven ounces. (23 inches long 19 1/2 girth) That was a couple days ago. Today I picked up a nice bass but only 17 1/2 inches. However I did manage to land a 39 inch northern Pike. Not huge by local standards but still a nice fish. Going scouting for Chantrells in the morning.

[pinecone70]

Holy cow, that northern is a monster! In all my life, I never caught a northern quite that big! Very nice.

[45nut]

Nice Pike! How are / did you cook that big ole Pike?

You don't by chance fly fish for these monsters do you?

[catfish83861]

Thanks for the comments. Yes we did/will eat this one. They are very tasty in my opinion. In answer to your question about fly fishing for these things,yes some do and it is challenging to say the least. I like to fillet out the "Y" bones and roll them in flower and corn meal (old habit from Oklahoma) and deep fat fry them. Pinecone, your probably going to whip me for this but these Pike are what we call trash fish. They were brought in illegally and until last year they were considered the same as carp or suckers. I actually was fishing for this one when he struck a large Rapala jointed lure. Now for the rest of the story. The reason I was up by this lake wasn't really to fish but to scout for Elk sign. Kind of made it a two for one trip. Sorry about the picture being goofed up I will post another one this morning,only excuse is I was lazy and tired,thus didn't preview the post correctly. Have to go now as I am going looking at some Elk sign I found a couple days ago. catfish

[pinecone70]

Heh, pinecone doesn't whip anybody.

My family always fished those for the sport of it in Ontario, we only ate them pickled. The walleye, and yellow perch got fried up on the woodstove, mmm! I miss those days.

[dianalv]

Pickled fish?????!!!!

Nice fish there! I'd like to latch onto something that size. Where abouts in Oklahoma? I've got a lot of family down that way.

If I manage to shoot a deer early, I'm gonna be fishing for some nice big trout.

[catfish83861]

Originally Posted by dianalv

Pickled fish?????!!!!

Nice fish there! I'd like to latch onto something that size. Where abouts in Oklahoma? I've got a lot of family down that way.

If I manage to shoot a deer early, I'm gonna be fishing for some nice big trout.

Well dianalv, Originally I came from Osage County,that is about 90 miles North of Tulsa. A little bity town between Bartlesville and Ponca City called Shidler. If you really like fairly large trout check out a couple of my earlier posts. The ones in the pictures are from five to twelve pound Rainbows. I am getting away from raising the Rainbows as I have stocked Bass,Bluegill and Crappie in my pond this time. When I build the next pond I will again start raising some Rainbows. Oh yea, I found a nice bull with seven cows today. Looks to be a six by six, I just might have to go Elk hunting but haven't made up my mind just yet. Wife hasn't told me if we can put that much meat in the freezer yet. catfish

[kutaho]

You have all the fun catfish...
wish i could help ya out with freezer space
I can't go hunting this year

[dianalv]

Ahem. Excuse me. You found a nice bull and you might go hunting???? Get out there in the woods and shoot something, for Pete's sake! If you don't have room in your freezer, I sure got room in mine. There's always room for elk steaks in my freezer.

You've got good taste in fish, by the way. Love me some bluegills.

[catfish83861]

Well I think the wife has rearranged the freezer enough for me to go try to get an Elk. now she says that when I get the bull we may not have any room for this years buck I reminded her that we only keep about three packages of roasts and two packages of burger,she said Ok for me to hunt this season,begrudgingly but said OK. Actually she never gripes about the time I spend in the woods so I am very fortunate about that. Like I said I found a pretty nice bull and will try for him on Saturday morning. Pretty sure he is a six by six but I thought I saw a seventh point on his right side this morning. Didn't want to get to close as I don't want to spook them. He had six cows with him this morning,eight the other day. Will keep you posted. I figure if I don't get him I will let a friend from the military harvest him. catfish

[flannelman]

Well you could can the meat to save freezer space. I just spent the last couple of days canning two deer that my Uncle gave me. He killed them last Fall and wanted them out of his freezer so I was more than willing to take the meat. My Mom helped me can the meat. It wasn't that hard to do either.

[carver]

Catfish, I ain't trying to one up ya, or steal your post, but since you posted a picture of your fish, I thought I'd post a pic of my first big Red. This one weighed in at 37 pounds. Caught it on cut bait, fishing off the bank down in Cameron, LA. I love to hunt and fish!

[38 special]

That's a dandy. I miss the times we fished in Canada and caught Northern"s.
Pickerel are also delicious fish but really boney The bones go every whichway but if you take alot of time and eat slowly and arent to upset aboyt picking bones, pickerel is one of the most delicious and delicate fish meat there is.

[catfish83861]

Originally Posted by carver

Catfish, I ain't trying to one up ya, or steal your post, but since you posted a picture of your fish, I thought I'd post a pic of my first big Red. This one weighed in at 37 pounds. Caught it on cut bait, fishing off the bank down in Cameron, LA. I love to hunt and fish!

hey Carver,One up me all you can. Thats a dang nice fish.I have never caught one but I hear they really fight hard. I am done Elk hunting for a while.

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OK, Here is the story. Left the house this morning at 0445. Rode my four wheeler for about thirty minutes then took off with a flashlight. Hour later I was where I wanted to be,well not really,I wanted to be in my nice warm bed. About that time I was cussing the stupid old fat fool that was in what he calls "the black hole" I keep telling myself that I am not ever going back there again. Well that's where I have been seeing the Elk,so there I was with a bite of jerky in my mouth hoping it would warm me up. Didn't happen! What did happen was just at daylight I could barely see a couple of cow Elk coming across this glade. Yep,you guessed it, coming right at where I was laying down. Well I have good camy clothes and knew I didn't have a lot of scent about me so I hoped for the best. Lead cow got about 20 feet from me before she realized I wasn't a log and all heck broke loose.I absolutely think she just got a whiff of something she didn't like the smell of and went into overdrive. Problem is I was laying next to the trail. did you know that when Elk spook they don't stay on the trail. I was probably fifteen feet off the trail I had just walked in on and they dab blame near ran over me. I think it was seven cows and a branched antler bull, Maybe a raghorn four point,I don't really know but I could have castrated him had he got any closer.I laid there cussing a blue streak as I knew I had just screwed my chance for the early morning hunt.Yea I could have got a bullet in him somewhere but damned if I am willing to cripple an animal just to get to kill it,maybe! Well after I calmed down I decided to go to plan "B". Problem was I didn't have a plan "B".Once it finished getting daylight I decided to check this old second growth timber and see what was in there. Found the white flag of a nice buck as he was leaving. shooter? Heck I don't have a clue but he had a big body.Watched a couple of trails most of the day then decided to go back where I had been seeing the nice bull I wanted.Oh yea. I had heard about three maybe four shots earlier in the day but nothing in an hour or more and nothing real close.I arrived at the location where I about got made into catfish mud pie and leaned against a nice cedar stump. Did I mention it was cold this morning? Well it had warmed up to I guess about forty and I had shed a couple layers of clothing. Sitting there in the shade it was starting to get cooler dang quick. I was seriously thinking about just saying to heck with it and heading for the Honda when I saw a lone cow come into the glade.I still had half hour plus shooting light left so I just sat and watched her.In about five minutes here came a couple more cows. Ended up there was seven cows feeding in the area I was watching but no bull to be found.I decided to use my cow call just to mess with these ladies mind a little bit as they were about a hundred yards from me at this time. When I did two calls one of the cows answered me and another animal that was still in the timber made a double chuckle. I knew it was a bull but I couldn't see it as he was still to far back in the timber. I decided to make either a smart move or a real dumb one. I bugled once on my bugle. He couldn't stand it and came charging out into the glade pushing another cow in front of him. I put one 250 grain 338 caliber into him at 115 yards.He spun back into the timber and ran about thirty yards and piled up. I waited about five minutes and should have waited more but my light was fading fast and I opted to go to where he was standing when I shot.When I got there I found a lot of bright red blood and some pink blood. I trailed him back down the trail and dang near stepped on him. Dead as a doornail. Pulled my pack off and field dressed him,used my headlamp to finish cleaning him up and cut his head off (just in case some other hunter came across him early in the morning) and headed for the four wheeler. Arrived at the house about 1910 and I am pooped. Will get pictures tomorrow and post. Oh yes,he is a decent six by seven. I thought the other day I could count a seventh point but wasn't sure. Well I quit. I am going to bed,yes I know its only 2000 but the old coot is tired and tomorrow I have to make at least three packs out again,that is unless I connive a couple of my neighbors into helping me. Next year would some one remind me why I don't want to do this again? Pictures tomorrow in the daylight. catfish

Update: Well after two trips back up on the hill and a nice hot shower I feel like I am going to live. Going to be a sore old coot tomorrow but most of it was fun. didn't have any problem finding the area as the Ravens had already found the gut pile. Meat at the shop weighs in at 360 pounds so I probably had an animal that weighed around 475 to 500 live weight. One of my neighbors helped a lot getting it out. We quartered it and brought it out with two of his horses. Here are the pictures. Tonight's dinner is back strap with home made gravy, corn on the cob and fried Okra maybe some Strawberry short cake for desert. Did I mention that the old man is pooped.:eek

[flannelman]

Nice bull!!