Little morning fun

Put a new trolling motor on my boat last week and been itchin to give her a run, so we loaded up this mornin and headed to the river.

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Fished for a while and had some fun. Had a couple visitors com to see what all the excitement was about

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Ended up keepin a dozen or so nice fat bream and 1 shellcracker

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and in keepin with the green movement here they are ready for the garden

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the 1 fish that was not cleaned had a hole in him either from a gator tooth or someone bowfishin and the meat was nasty as I started fileting him so no go on that one. New trolling motor worked fine and even rode around a little to see how bad it would be longlining and don't foresee any problems. Will be nice sittin comfortably for a change. We were off the water and home by 11:00.

motor looks good, brim do too. good job.

nice pictures, good catch.........kinda interesting, you all cut your bluegill differently
than i do.......looks like you leave a lot of the lower front pectural breast left behind.
i filet mine just like crappie..........down both sides with elec filet knife, use very thin
flexible filet knife, cut out rib cage, and use elec to cut hide off fish.............
Very little lost........

Will shoot pictures next time i get into redear (shellcracker mode) big gills we throw
back - as they are usually pretty thin when on filet board..........really just big and
oz for oz fight all way to boat..........much fun..........

Again.........nice set up...........
Curious what is hp of big motor and thrust power of troller..............?

813, I filet them with a knife as I tend to cut right through the backbone with an electric knife. And as many flounder and specs that I filet every fall it don't take me long to go through a batch of fish. I just cut around the ribcage instead of cutting through and then cutting the ribs back out.

The motor is a Merc 25 and my trolling motor is 45lb thrust. Which is plenty on that boat as it only weighs about 400lbs soaking wet and ready to fish. I can troll on 1 or 2 depending on wind. Checked that out this morning.

That trolling speed is great, wish i could get into that area............
i'm on a 12/24 52 lbs on procraft 18.5 with 115 merc...............
pulling the hefty weight around 1700 lbs with equip on board........
i'm only good for about 5 1/2 hrs working into and against winds unless they are above
12 mph........... usually long line around 1.3 - 1.5.................

spider riggin much different ball game.........down to .3 - .5 on/off peddle............
run with wind and chain if winds high..............

like to make note of various units/speeds guys are running and in what water area.

Thanks for
helping out.

that 5.5 hrs with 12/24 is good unless wind gets above 12 mph, than all bets off,
its just a "hang on brother", hope you got enough in well to make weigh in............

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fishin813

that 5.5 hrs with 12/24 is good unless wind gets above 12 mph, than all bets off,
its just a "hang on brother", hope you got enough in well to make weigh in............

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Sounds like ya need to take a step back and think about why ya like fishin. Seems to me ya stress over alot of things instead of enjoying time on the water and relaxing. I would give it up if I had to have a notebook with notes of everyones setups and what they are using when, where, what color, water temp, type of pole, type of line and everything else. Chill a little brother and enjoy the fish. They will teach ya what they want. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against tourneys, but sometimes I think people forget to take time to enjoy why they are out to begin with.

i scale all my gills and crackers, cut off the head, gut em and throw em in the grease.....the fins are the best part to me. I fry my fish kinda hard so the fins are like tater chips. Man im gettin hungry just talkin bout all this, this is why im hangin up the speck gear for a few months and fillin the freezer with gills and cats!

sorry for being so inqusitive........thanks for bringing things back into persepective

That looks like a nice gator. Believe it or not i was one day late on putting in my gator tag! Man i was upset, i didnt know the window was so short, oh well, if im here next year i will def put it in on time. I think i may be heading to Oklahoma City though, if I do atleast i have Lake Eufala to fish

813, no problem on the inquisitive part. Just all the rush rush gotta hurry run run fast fast gotta get to the weigh in. Thats a big part of why I never tourny fished, seems to turn fun into work. I have seen it too many times. My nephew is a very good inshore fisherman, did quite well in local tourneys fishing out of a Maverick 17HPX. Thought he needed to upgrade and got him a 20' or so sterling with 300hp so he could run further and fish for 5 more minutes. His catch rate was cut in half and his actual fishing time was less cause he ran further. Can't catch em if the bait ain't in the water. Now he stresses over fishing and all he does is worry about fishing reports, moon phases, tide flows, and forgets to simply look for birds and read the water, which is what he did in the Maverick. Thats what I was getting at about letting the fish teach ya. It's good to keep logs and records, but ya gotta give the fish what they want and not force feed em. I am still trying to learn to read these specs as well and enjoy talking and the fellowship, but I gotta understand the fish on their terms. And always take time and enjoy the day. If the livewell ain't full so be it. Still enjoyed the day and can stop at Winn Dixie and get me a steak anyway. I guess what I am trying to say is tourneys are O.K. just do not forget to have fun. I would hate to see anyone stop fishing because it got to stressfull.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Southern Young Gun

i scale all my gills and crackers, cut off the head, gut em and throw em in the grease.....the fins are the best part to me. I fry my fish kinda hard so the fins are like tater chips. Man im gettin hungry just talkin bout all this, this is why im hangin up the speck gear for a few months and fillin the freezer with gills and cats!

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I like em that way as well, but the wife and kids do not. So they get fileted. And everyone I know that has drawn gator tags has lost their arse on em here. I am sure some of the guys do ok but the ones I know do not process their own and end up loosing money on em. Good Luck to ya if you do get drawn sometime.

SYG if your going up that way, ya gotta try out Grand Lake O The Cherokees for me.