2024 Toothy Critters

[wednesday13]

Congrats, nice to see. Most of those are pretty slim, not packing on the poundage for winter.

Do you carry a small tripod to hold your phone or camera when fishing? Those low-angle shots all look very consistent, and it's a good angle for trophy fish shots.

But...what's that weird stuff behind you in most of those pics? Almost looks like...well, like liquid of some sort? Is there something pooling on top of the ice?

We're really late this year in terms of cold weather and ice. We have about 6 inches right here on the big lake, 10 or 15 minutes from my house. Lots of fishermen out there but not many vehicles. Guys are catching some okay pike and walleye, and one guy was coming off the ice when I was watching with a big Ling, easily over 30 inches. Me? I am waiting for the ice depth to be measured in feet rather than inches before I take my truck out.

And what's with the T-shirt in some of those pics? We're currently in the negative double digits most days up here in Paradise.

Def. getting warmer every year in my area and winter seems to be pushed back more towards jan-feb for a short stint. Haven’t seen my normal “run” of pike in a few years now with lack of rain. Finally had a couple weeks of temps below 30F. Waters still high for december at 39F.

You can see by the fish as well like u said. There not even packing on weight yet and its december lol. Just weird from anything i usually see. Worse than last year even.

No tripod for the pics. I just set up against my reel on the ground for a quick video then i take stills from that. Trying to get better at it. Always haunts me to not get good documentation of the better fish i get. Never fails tho. The good fish are always captured poorly and the 24” look excellent .

 

[wednesday13]

I get it, completely. Back in my angling days when I was out every weekend I always wore the same comfy gear.

You can always tell when it's time to wash it when the unmistakable smell of fish slime becomes unbearable, lol.

Yes lol… with limited time its easier to just have it all set out ready to go when i do catch a cple hours here and there. My winter fishing jacket is foul . Packed with traces, rattles, tools, etc so i just leave it lol.

 

[jjohnwm]

I get it, completely. Back in my angling days when I was out every weekend I always wore the same comfy gear.

You can always tell when it's time to wash it when the unmistakable smell of fish slime becomes unbearable, lol.

Lol, I squeeze and manipulate it a bit when my wife asks if I want to throw it into the wash. Once she raised a quizzical eyebrow and asked "Are you checking the pockets for stuff?"

I replied "Nope...just checking how crunchy it is!"

At least she knows better than to consider throwing it into the same load as regular clothing. Fishing clothes get washed with work coveralls and similar. She calls them my "Catfish Carhartts".

 

[esoxlucius]

Being a fisherman you'll be fully aware that some fish are worse than others for slime.

Out of the usual "coarse" fish which we have in blighty, there are two stand out candidates that produce more slime then any others. They are bream and eels. Ugghh!

Bream, on occasion, if overly stressed, will shed slime like nothing I've ever seen in fish. It can literally drip from their bodies profusely, like sweat. Line, nets, and of course the anglers hands and jacket sleeves get full of it.

And eels, although they don't secrete as much slime as the bream, have a horrible tactic in their armoury which is to curl their long slender bodies around everything. They are like slimy bars of soap.

To make matters a whole lot worse there is no such thing as a lip caught eel to get the hook out quickly and easily. They swallow the bait very very quickly so you have to wrestle with the slimy things for ages. Occasionally I just used to give up and cut the line as close to the mouth as possible.

 

[jjohnwm]

I wouldn't know about Bream; eels are definitely squirmy slippery devils and very adept at smearing themselves all over you from fingertips to armpits. But...they're tasty! We used to catch them regularly in SW Ontario when I grew up there; not so much when I moved further north, and none at all where I live now.

To me, the slime champions are Pike. When you catch a big one, you're gonna get messy...and it's well worthwhile. I don't care for them much on the table...if i want to eat fresh fish I will alwas target something else...but I love catching them. Even the little guys, affectionately nicknamed "Snot Rockets", are entertaining and fun.

Esox, you have got to start using circle hooks. I only started playing with them for the past few years, although they've been around much longer than that. Virtually every fish is hooked right in the corner of the mouth, almost no swallowing of bait, and if you go barbless a quick and stress-free live release is easy. Never caught an eel on one, but it should work for them the same way. Sadly, you must forego the excitement of the hookset, but aside from that they are ideal.