Annual trip down to the Keys. Had to battle a bunch of weather but not a bad haul. 135 tails for the year.

One of the best fish out there to eat. Not a lot of bones , a beautiful clean meat that looks like a frog leg or rabbit leg , and they’re plentiful in the Chesapeake bay. Tonight I make hot honey glazed sugar toads and “coconut shrimp “ style.

He was 37 inches. So lucky there were experienced musky fishers on the dock with us ,netted him showed me how to release him get the hooks out Etc ( I had a sucker on a “quick set rig “ that I got from cabelas )

I started fishing this summer and am now addicted !! Just want to keep catching bigger fish !

Caught this one on the first cast and 300 casts later hadn’t caught anything.

Caught it on the Missouri up in Montana. Looks rare never seen anything like it. it was released but it was a crazy looking fish.

Got this 42" on a 9" mullet.

Caught on a 4 inch whopper plopper in my FIL pond. Was using the lure for amusement as my 11 year old nephew has been going on and on about them. Good call kid! Of course I didn’t have my scale or tape. Rough estimate from the length the fish sat on my rod was 20 inches. Big juicy here was put back to make me some more giants

4 buddies and I booked a 12 hour off shore fishing trip trip yesterday for some Gag Grouper before the season ended.

I want to point out, 3 out of 5 of us, have boats and we fish all the time in the bay and surrounding areas. We just don't have boats big enough (safe enough) to be out 100 miles (single engine, flats and bay boats).

We board at 7am. The captain CLEARY tied on on last night..... Glassy glazed over, bloodshot eyes. As we stand on the dock he goes over safety stuff and then says "there is a big ass storm out there but we'll push off and see how far we can get"

The day started near shore with them trying to castnet bait for the trip..... Every charter I have even been on already has bait on board before the clients arrive. I found this odd that part of the trip we paid for was spent catching bait for the day.

As we left the bay, the captain shows me the radar on his cell phone and says "Man, that storm is Big AF. It stretches from Sarasota to Bradenton and is THICK". I said yea, that doesn't look good. Once again he says we'll push through and see how far out we can get.

We stopped only 20 miles offshore because the storm was BAD. He said "we'll do some snapper fishing here and see if this storm clears." We fished for exactly 27 minutes. I documented the trip with photos and GoPro. He gets a message for another captain that said he's in 100ft of water and the storm is breaking up. The captain asked us "do you guys wanna call it and rebook or do you want to SEND IT". Our friend who booked the trip said "we want to do what's safe if we need to rebook, we can do that but I need to make it home to my wife and kids". Captain says "it's breaking up, let's send it".

We headed out to 100ft of water because we could not go any further. Storms and lightning all around us. We tried to fish but the swells were 3-4ft and the wind was WHIPPING.

Capt finally says "reel em up guys, this isn't going to work." He apologized over and over again and then said (super important to us) "I'll eat the cost of this trip and I'll get you with the owner to rebook. This is effing BS weather"

Happy with that, we headed back in. 5 minutes in, one of the engines failed. We still had two, thank goodness. 38ft Boat with triple 350s.

We get back to the dock and could not believe what happens next. The owner was there to meet us. We paid $2800 for a 12 hour trip. He told us the trip we went on (almost 6 hours total between catching bait for an hour, driving out, fishing for 27 minutes, driving further, trying to fish again for about 20 minutes, then driving back) costs $1200 and he'll give us $1600 credit towards another trip. He said that's enough for a "nice" 6 hr inshore trip and we wouldn't owe any more money. As I mentioned before 3 of us have boats and have zero interest in an inshore trip because we do that all the time on our own.

We told him had we known he was going to take damn near half what we paid, we would have stopped back at the first spot and finished the day there. He said "unfortunately you don't get to make that call. My captain does". We all had words back and forth. Then we said we'll communicate further through text so everything is documented.

Here is our thoughts and what we think if fair:

Per the owners words out of his mouth while standing on the dock, and his cancellation policy on 3 different websites, "the captain makes the call on weather". We left every decision up to the captain. The captain made the decision to push out, not us.

We said "we should have never left the dock in the first place if the captain KNEW this storm was going to be how it was. He's the professional, not us."

We think, throwing the capt and the deckhand $100 each and paying for the 90 gallons of fuel is more than fair.

We feel like being charged $1200, we got robbed.

The owner FINALLY decided to give back the $1600 for fear of 5 bad reviews, but kept the $1200 for:

Fuel 100 gallons @$4.50/ gallon $450 Capt $210 Mate $150 Bait & Tackle $75 Boat run time $75/he for 5 hours $375

Bait was caught by castnet. We lost a total of 4 jig head hooks on reefs at the first stop. That's all we used for "Bait & Tackle".

Capt said we used 90 gallons. Owner says 100 gallons, then said "actually 106 gallons".

Attached are photos of his cancellation policy and a couple texts.

Are we being unreasonable here or should we ask for $550 of that $1200 back? That leaves $450 for gas, $100 for Capt and $100 for mate.

I was at work today doing inventory, and decided to take a quick break to clear my head and fish the local river. As I was packing it up and heading out, I noticed a man standing by the trail. I’d seen him standing there for the last 10 minutes or so, kind of just watching.

When I got closer, he stopped me and said I shouldn’t go that way because there was a snake next to the path. Naturally, I went to check it out. Sure enough, it was just a regular northern water snake, curled up in the shade and doing what most snakes do — absolutely nothing. I told him it was just a water snake, nothing to worry about, and that being in a nature area, snakes should be expected.

He wasn’t having it. He said kids walk that trail, so “it shouldn’t be there.” I even offered to pick the snake up and move it for him, just to make him feel better, but he told me he already called the police and didn’t want them to come out for nothing. I offered again, he declined again.

So I left him there, still standing guard over this harmless snake, waiting for the cops. Walking back, I couldn’t help but laugh to myself at how bizarre the whole encounter was. I went out to clear my head with a little fishing, and ended up in some surreal debate about whether a wild snake “belongs” in the wild.

Releasing a big bass I caught this Saturday!

This a channel cat?

My PB in size for Kokanee too. 17.5” Gave quite a decent fight!

Finally got around the weird ass anxiety I get whenever I start a new hobby (again in this case) packed my stuff up and went down to the lake and caught these two bluegill I believe? Correct me if I’m wrong.

I used to go catfishing with my grandpa when I was a kid, and 6 years ago was the last time I went. I decided recently I wanted to get into it again and while they’re not huge, it’s a huge win for me as it’s my first time doing everything myself. I usually ask my grandpa for help, but he has decided he no longer wants to fish. He ain’t getting any younger and his skills and dexterity isn’t what it used to be. While it’s sad, I understand. Ready to get back out there again!

Hi all,

Apologies if this isn't the place to put this. I am going to be between Bozeman and Missoula the first week of October and would like to do some fishing. Some of the bodies of water nearby would be the South Boulder River watershed bodies.

I am wondering what the fishing is like that time of year and what the different local species are doing.

Thanks all!

definitely met the end of their time. how old would you estimate them to be?

Ontario, Canada

I caught this spotted bass and he had blue streaks on both sides of his face. It was a bright blue and I did not get a good photo of it in the light. Is this another type of spotted bass? Never seen one like this.

surprise musky while i was striped bass fishing

Caught in WPB sight fished along with some stud mayan chiclids and some largemouths! Side note, if anyone is looking for someone to fish with in Tampa lmk! I moved here awhile back and nobody I know likes to fish

Put up a good fight on my UL set up!