All About Pocket Knives

Nice redfish and shark, Old Hunter!

You gonna eat those OH ?

Knice lands Bruce!!!

Bruce, are those rocks sticking out of the water over your shoulder, or is that Mom and Dad coming looking for the shark in your hands? I've never been fishing where fish are actually big and where, if something happens to the boat, you can't get out and walk home. My son is into Lake Superior fishing and you are tempting me to get him to take me out there some time. ____Dave

Looks like fun times, OH!

OH thanks for posting. I can smell the salt air.

I took my kayak out on a local river on Tuesday. A very fine day in late spring. I caught a few fish, but mainly I was just there to enjoy the outdoors. My local rivers have been high for months, and I am really glad to see the water level back where it should be. Lots of birds were singing in the trees along the river. Unfortunately, I know that I could not hear half of what was calling due to my hearing not being what it used to be, but I certainly enjoy what I do hear! I saw several swallowtail kites and some Mississippi Kites, medium sized raptors. I love seeing any raptor, and kites are some of the most enjoyable to watch because of their buoyant and graceful maneuvers. The first fish I landed was a very nice bass: so nice that I let it go back into the river because it was too big for my frying pan. After that I just released the others that I caught as well - no more bass but every now and then a bream would hit a fly. I did more meditating than fishing really. My grandfather and father both fished that river, and I think about them more when I am out there than I do anywhere else. It is always changing and always the same, as the saying goes.

Good stuff, Mel! Thoughts and pictures.
Treefarmer

doglegg wrote:My best black bear photo from Yellowstone. DSCN2397.JPG

Why are they called black? Here we have brown bears and the color is the same.
Congratulations for your courage. I have met a bear a couple of times a short distance, and I know what it feels like.

Dinadan wrote: Bream.jpg

Is this fish the same as your last picture?

Thanks for sharing, Mel.
Some wonderful pics!
Sometimes we fish to catch fish, sometimes we just fish. And if we're in the right frame of mind, the latter can often be more fruitful.

djknife13 wrote:Bruce, are those rocks sticking out of the water over your shoulder, or is that Mom and Dad coming looking for the shark in your hands? I've never been fishing where fish are actually big and where, if something happens to the boat, you can't get out and walk home. My son is into Lake Superior fishing and you are tempting me to get him to take me out there some time. ____Dave

Dave those are the jetties that jut 3 miles out into the Atlantic; they mark/protect the entrance into Charleston Harbor - a container ship came by, not 300 yards from where we were anchored. Those jetties run east into the ocean, there is one on the northside of the harbor mouth (Sullivan's Island) the one we fished around was on the southside, it begins on Morris Island. Fort Sumter is behind us, back in the harbor. OH

philco wrote:You gonna eat those OH ?

I threw the shark back, didn't even think about eating it. My Drum (redfish) was over the SC slot (legal length of 15"-23") this one was 24", so it went back in the water too. In NC our slot is 18" - 27" - I could have kept the fish and eaten it if I caught it here! You know what they say in real estate; location, location, location! OH

Thanks for all the comments gents - Mel has it down pat, just great to enjoy the good times and reconnect to what's wild inside you. Nice day you had Mel, looks peaceful and beautiful. I took my wife boating in Blounts Creek and out into the Pamlico River this morning - a very smooth day on the water, unusual for the Pamlico to be so flat. OH

Eustace wrote:

doglegg wrote:My best black bear photo from Yellowstone. DSCN2397.JPG

Why are they called black? Here we have brown bears and the color is the same.
Congratulations for your courage. I have met a bear a couple of times a short distance, and I know what it feels like.

They range in color from black to reddish-brown but they're called black bears. Some blond and albino (white) exist also.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_black_bear

Ken

Thanks for the comments, fellows.

Old Hunter, looks like you had a nice outing too on Blounts Creek. Looking at your photos, it seems like tidal rivers in the coastal plain are all interchangeable here in the Southeast. By the way, I do not care for shark so mine always go back. Redfish I love. Our Redfish slot (Alabama) is 16" to 26" but we can keep one oversize fish per trip. I do not keep anything over about 22" - the smaller ones are better eating in my opinion. Here is a 24" red that I caught last month. That fish towed my little kayak down the bayou for a few hundred feet and then the hook fell out of it's mouth when I netted it, so it was easy to release.

Eustace wrote:

Dinadan wrote: Bream.jpg

Is this fish the same as your last picture?

No. My fish is a bluegill Lepomis macrochirus, a member of the sunfish family native to North America. Your fish appears to be a member of the sunfish family, but it is not a bluegill.

Great fishing pics fellas!! I need to get out there....and do some fishing!

Did this yesterday.....

Mel is kayaking and fishing the tannin stained waters and sandy bottoms of what we call "Black Water Rivers" down here.

Beautiful.

Charlie

Dinadan wrote:Thanks for the comments, fellows.

Old Hunter, looks like you had a nice outing too on Blounts Creek. Looking at your photos, it seems like tidal rivers in the coastal plain are all interchangeable here in the Southeast. By the way, I do not care for shark so mine always go back. Redfish I love. Our Redfish slot (Alabama) is 16" to 26" but we can keep one oversize fish per trip. I do not keep anything over about 22" - the smaller ones are better eating in my opinion. Here is a 24" red that I caught last month. That fish towed my little kayak down the bayou for a few hundred feet and then the hook fell out of it's mouth when I netted it, so it was easy to release.

Redfish.jpg

Eustace wrote:

Dinadan wrote: Bream.jpg

Is this fish the same as your last picture?

No. My fish is a bluegill Lepomis macrochirus, a member of the sunfish family native to North America. Your fish appears to be a member of the sunfish family, but it is not a bluegill.

Nice redfish Mel ... One of my favorite fly rod fish - I have very fond memories of fly rodding for big redfish in the bayou of Loisuiana - fairly shallow water and some fish on the feed were literally crawling through the mud rooting for crabs - but the bayou is perfect for sight casting redfish with those tails waving out of the water - also fun to see a wake coming at your fly like a submarine when you were blind casting ... one fun thing about shallow water fishing for them in the bayou is once they got hooked up they had nowhere to go deep - mud was flying etc when they tried.. Up here we don't have redfish but striped bass which are also a perfect fly rod fish - both fish can get quite large (though stripers can easily be 50-60 lbs though not the norm and the record is around 82 lbs - both stripers and redfish are "bulldogs" once they get hooked... Right now the migration of the stripers is underway and we get mostly small fish with a few bigger ones in the mix - my favorite time here is the backside tidal waters the first few weeks of June I should note back in the 1980s there was a striper moratorium and thanks to conservation efforts they have come back strong ... It is annoying though that the state fisheries departments always wait until it is an issue to limit the size of fish one can keep - hopefully some lessons have been learned by all involved - right now you can keep one striped bass day at 28" or bigger - I release all my fish and only once a year may keep one for the table but we make a feast from it and honor that fish

TripleF wrote:Great fishing pics fellas!! I need to get out there....and do some fishing!

Did this yesterday.....

Scott - that is a good thing to do!

Charlie - the creeks and rivers with tannin stained waters and sandy bottoms are my favorite streams in all the world. Probably because I grew up fishing and swimming and playing in them. In my area over the past year those rivers have been high for about 48 of the last 52 weeks. So I am really enjoying getting out while I can.

Lee - I have never fished for redfish with a fly rod. I guess I should give it a try: You certainly make it sound fun! I have never caught a striper. There are some in this area at times - I see other folks posting about catching them on a local forum. I would need to figure out the where and when and what that I needed if I were serious about catching stripers.

Getting back to redfish - when I was a kid (1960s) no one I knew ever caught redfish. I do not know if they had all been wiped out or what, but I would go saltwater fishing for specks or white trout with my Dad and we never hooked a redfish. I would remember it if we had - I still remember 12" trout! I had other older relatives who fished too, and they never mentioned catching redfish, or sea bass or drum as they were called back then. These days, when my wife and I fish for white trout in just the same fashion we will sometimes catch redfish too. Maybe all the netting back in the old days wiped out the stocks.

Eustace wrote:

doglegg wrote:My best black bear photo from Yellowstone. DSCN2397.JPG

Why are they called black? Here we have brown bears and the color is the same.
Congratulations for your courage. I have met a bear a couple of times a short distance, and I know what it feels like.

Sorry for the delay Eustace, I think someone has already answered your question. Black, brown, blond, all officially black bears.

Quick Steel wrote:Good shot doglegg. I like bears...from a long distance.

Thanks QS, It is nice for me just to see them and to get to observe them for a while, Wow!

Dinadan wrote:That bear photo is really nice, Doglegg. Makes me want to visit the Rockies again!

Thanks Dinadan, love all the wildlife of the Rockies. A favorite vacation spot. Now to see some wolves or a mountain lion.

TripleF wrote:Great fishing pics fellas!! I need to get out there....and do some fishing!

Did this yesterday.....

Good going Scott. You do good.

Mel - No doubt give the "reds" a try with the fly rod - I think you will like it .... Shrimp and crab flies for sure, and a "spoon" fly which is pretty popular down there - the spoon fly wobbles but flutters down the water column when you stop retrieving which seemed to be a big trigger for the fish (google "spoon fishing fly" ).....

Lots of nice wildlife photos in this thread - Here's one of my favorite photos from time up on the lakes in Maine - a "Loon" - a beautiful water bird but classified different than ducks or geese... They have beautiful distinct calls and at night there is nothing like going to bed and hearing the Loons out on the water!! They are protected and you need to keep your distance from them - though even if you tried to approach them they can dive and swim literally a few hundred yards underwater - I had to get this shot with a telephoto lens on a calm quiet morning out on the water (double click to get the full image)...