Gimme Five (a fun, stress-free thread I hope)

Swingline's top five freshwater fish:
Smallmouth bass — catch and release only
Rainbow trout — catch and release only
Goggle eye — catch and release only
Bluegill — rolled in cornmeal, pan fried and eaten
Catfish — rolled in cornmeal, deep fried and eaten

 

Freshwater:
Largemouth - c/r
Smallmouth - c/r
Bluegill - c/r ultralight rod, great fun
Crappie - rolled in cornmeal, fried in a cast iron pan
Catfish - c/r

 

Nothing in the pike family? Amateurs.

 

Shit, I forgot crappie. A buddy and I used to sneak in to this 11-acre lake to fish, and although we haven’t been there in about 20 years, I can still see the layout. We knew every spot to find crappie, lunkers, 2 pounds and bigger. We have pictures of stringers just flat full of fish, and man, we looked so much younger then.

You grow up in the country, and you know every pond, lake and creek within at least a two-mile radius — and in some cases a much bigger land cove stretching away from the circle.

I feel better already.

 

Pikes are yankee fish!
We've got some muskies around, but they are dang near impossible to catch.
There was one old man when I was a kid who could catch them regularly, but he guarded the spot with his life and took it to his grave.

 

Amen. And that’s why the Muskie is the top of any freshwater fish list. Followed by tiger muskie, northern pike, chain pickerel and yellow perch.

Can’t believe nobody put perch on the list either. Y’all don’t like to actually eat the fish, do you?

 

Freshwater? As previously noted, it's hard to beat a good mess of crappie. Catfish is better when it's farm raised rather than wild caught because with them, the smaller the better. I can't stand trout.
Saltwater? Oh heck yeah. I'd rather have fish than beef any day.

 

2muchcoffeeman's Top 5 Places to Fish:
1. Offshore.
2. Offshore.
3. Offshore.
4. Offshore.
5. Coastal estuaries.

 

I don't really have the means to truly go offshore fishing, and by that I mean out into the Gulf Stream.
Most of my fishing is surf, canals, bay, intracoastal, and bottom fishing 3-5 miles out on structure.

 

If I go 3-5 miles out, I'm in the Gulf Stream.

 

Top 5 No. 5’s:
1. Johnny Bench
2. Ricky Rudd
3. Geoff Bodine
4. Joe Flacco
5. Nigel Mansell

 

At the best of times, I think it's about 30 miles out for me.