Mixed Bag Monday

[jigngrub]

Got out Monday afternoon for some Crappie trolling.

Things started off kind of slow (as usual).

The first fish was this this Spotted Bass:

Not a huge fish, but a nice specimen that put up quite a fight on the UL Crappie tackle. It was released after the pic.

Tried a couple of other places with just a couple of dink Spots biting.

As the afternoon started getting later the action picked up and I managed to put 8 Crappie in the livewell until a school of Striped Bass moved in and started attacking my jigs. I managed 4 of those with a couple I couldn't do anything with on the light tackle.

The keeper creel for the day:

Even though it was only 12 fish, they still made for a healthy gallon Zip loc bag of fillets:

 

[lncoop]

Re: Mixed Bag Monday

Jiggy, I don't wanna alarm you, but there are red specks all over your feelays! What y'all got in the water down there in 'Bamy?

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Mixed Bag Monday

Jiggy, I don't wanna alarm you, but there are red specks all over your feelays! What y'all got in the water down there in 'Bamy?

Was wonderin' when somebody was gonna say somethin' about that, thems chironomid pupae that was in the fishes gizzards... I scoop them out with a spoon and add them to the feelays for an exotic touch, and they is tastey too!

Actually, that's red bell pepper in the Zexty italian salad dressing I marinate the fillets in overnight before freezing them... makes for an excellent vac-loc bag poached fish.

 

[lncoop]

Re: Mixed Bag Monday

Aha. That sounds like an outstanding way to cook a striper. I'll have to give it a shot. Nice spot too. I love those frisky little guys. They don't get the respect they deserve IMO.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Mixed Bag Monday

This is what the fillets look like when I put them up in the freezer:

I add a little garlic salt and paprika then vacuum seal the bag and throw it in the freezer. I make 2 portion bags for the wife and I.

Sometimes I just drop the bag in a pot of slow boiling water for 30 minutes, but most of the time I'll cut the bag open and add 4 big tablespoons of salsa, then vac seal it again and drop it in the pot. I don't bother to thaw the bags before cooking.

The wife wrinkled up her nose and acted like she didn't like the Idea of what I was going to do the first time I did this (yeah, it's my recipe), but now she calls it "nice" and I have to get my serving first or I'll be left with less than my fair share.

Another good thing about this recipe is it doesn't smell the house up with cooked/cooking fish smell, yeah I love the smell of fish... but not in the house, and not for the couple of days it can linger in the house.

I'll post a pic of the cooked salsa fish the next time we have it.

 

[FlaCowboy]

Re: Mixed Bag Monday

Nice looking fish there Jig. What is the water temp up there?

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Mixed Bag Monday

Nice looking fish there Jig. What is the water temp up there?

It was 71* on Monday, it was 69* yesterday. I changed the bunks out on my trailer and didn't do any fishin', but flipped the H'bird on to check the temps when I put the boat back on the trailer.

When the water hits that 65* mark you'll have to hide in the bottom of the boat to bait your hook to keep the Crappie from jumping out of the water and biting you on the hand when you bait up.

 

[ngt]

Re: Mixed Bag Monday

nice! What's the size limit on striper in your area?

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Mixed Bag Monday

nice! What's the size limit on striper in your area?

They just changed it this year.


Saltwater Striped Bass
and Hybrids or Combinations


No more than five of the 15 may exceed 22 inches in total length. See exceptions for Lewis Smith, Inland, Yates, and Thurlow reservoirs and Lake Martin.


They lowered the creel limit from 30 to 15 and the size limit from no more than 6 of the 30 over 16" to no more than 5 of the 15 over 22". We don't have a minimum size limit.

The old limit of 30 used to include White Bass and Yellow Bass too, they lumped them all together as "Stripe"... but now they've seperated the 3 of them them with a limit of 15 on each species, so now you can actually have a limit of 45 of what they used to call "Stripe".

This is our freshwater creel and size limits:
http://www.eregulations.com/alabama/fishing-daily-creel-possession-limits/