Show off your fish

Some of the Asian carp I am used to snagging. The current of the river and hooking a fish on the side or tail vs in the mouth makes it a lot harder to fight these but I love it all. I’m glad to kill every single on of these big head and silver carp fish I get the chance to.

 

8’2” Sturgeon…got to tag this sucker and let it go. What a fight! 45 minutes to bring this in! Wish I had a picture when it breached out of the water, f’n amazing!

 

That is a bucket list item right there. Not much compares to fighting with a fish for a long time for me.

 

Was definitely scratched off the bucket list! Want to go do it again! They guessed that this beast was around 400lbs and over 30 years old

 

Dinosaur lol

 

Truly is! Besides the huge smile on my face I was slightly worried if this fish squirmed we would have been in a bit of trouble…we were standing almost knee deep in mud and couldn’t move my legs hahaha

 

those are huge! do you eat them? or just pulling them out, since they are invasive

 

Ive heard they are good but i have no experience

 

They can be pretty good depending on the water they live in and feed in.
Typically smoked.
Extremely bony and takes a deft hand to properly clean/prepare.

 

It is illegal to release them alive because of how invasive they are. I cleaned a few that were about the size of those in the pictures and got maybe a few pounds of meat off each 50+ lb fish. They have two sets of y bones that make it a royal pain to clean them. On the real big ones it is a little easier because the bones are bigger and easier to feel. They weren’t bad but I won’t be cleaning any more unless I get bored or find a better way to do it. I leave them on the bank to die while I fish then burst their air bladder and throw them back in the water before I leave. Most of the time someone will come by and ask if they can take some of them to eat.

If I catch a spoonbill I’ll eat it but I just enjoy snagging and fighting the fish more than anything.

 

Here's the fish I've been catching lately.

 

Man, I haven't shown off any fish lately.

Here's an Ono that I snagged a while back.

 

You a fisheries biologist?

 

Huge moment for me. My son caught his first bass, then hauled in 2 more and a bluegill. Couldn't be prouder.

 

No, construction…close enough lol

 

I have a degree in fisheries biology but I teach construction lol

 

Commercial stripers a few years back....

 

Tell me about the tagging please. That is why I asked. Do fisherman tag them or were you with some fisheries biologist, researchers, etc

Very cool catch by the way. Fuckibg monster.