[LOAH]

I was wondering how that went for you. Glad you got out fishing with the Hubby. Too bad you didn't hook into the huge cat, eh? Nice pics.

 

[Nibble Nuts]

That sounds like one bigasscat. You should have stuck your hand in the water to see if you could noodle him in. That is a nice gill you got. Pelican is a great place, tailored to my fishing style. Too bad to hear you didn't hook into any of the beastly bucketmouths. I have caught more 16-20 inchers out of there than I can count. Hooked in to some fish that were too large for my pole to bring out of the weeds too, may have been one of them bigasscats, didn't know it had catfish though. Good to know. Nice post!

 

[J-bass]

Congradulations on the gills. They sure are big and beuatiful out there, and talk about good eating, too! Ya, I gotta say that Pelican is one of my favorite lakes to fish. I've had some really good times out there slaying the LMB. I've never tried it in the ice though and that sounds pretty sweet. If you don't mind my asking, what do you use while ice fishing out there?

 

[.45]

Good for you FishGlyph!!!!! Nice day to get out and have the lake to yourself !! I'd like to know how you cook up those gills ?? Do you ? ..... As a kid ( 20 years ago ) I used to fish a lot of ponds along the Jordan River, but never caught Bluegills that big...we had to always hide from them and crawl along the banks to catch them. We never ate them though.
It's good to see them that large.

You don't know what 'noodle' means ?

 

[Nibble Nuts]

It was the biggest cat I've seen up close. Noodle?

We have caught some nice bucketmouths before. Caught a couple nice ones through the ice this last ice-on season there. You'll have to come out with us some time Nibble Nuts, if you ice fishy.

I didn't know they had catfish in Pelican either. I heard someone played bucket biologist and dumped some carp in there. The water is so low that it's below where the reeds stand. So the only thing that's shelter for most of the fish are the floating and standing weeds in the water. We walked over a lot of dried out lake bed and saw tons of beds.

Thanks fellas!

I would love to go to Pelican anytime. I ice fish as well.That is one of my favorite lakes, I can't get enough of the largemouth. Just let me know, I'm always game.

Noodling is also known as catfish grabbing. It is what you see the southern boys doing when they dive into rivers like the Mississsippi, and they dive down and somehow get the catfish to bite their hands. They then lift them out of the water. Sometimes the cats are big enough that they almost swallow the persons arm. I used to think I wanted to try if ever given the chance, then I learned about gator gars, and those things have made me think twice. Same with the snapping turtles and mocassins.
Last time I was at Pelican, the water was still up to the reeds, but just barely. I sure hope nobody put carp in there, those fish destroy everything they inhabit.

 

[Nibble Nuts]

Good for you FishGlyph!!!!! Nice day to get out and have the lake to yourself !! I'd like to know how you cook up those gills ?? Do you ?

I learned an interesting way to cook them from J-bass while we were there. When you don't have a lighter, because it no longer works, because your boat almost got swamped, just cut open a shotgun shell and dump the powder into some tinder. Strike a spark and watch the fire begin, then take the gill halves and grill em. Not bad even without seasoning. They taste alot like walleye. They'd make great fish tacos too.

 

[J-bass]

[quote=".45":6ozyer43]Good for you FishGlyph!!!!! Nice day to get out and have the lake to yourself !! I'd like to know how you cook up those gills ?? Do you ?

I learned an interesting way to cook them from J-bass while we were there. When you don't have a lighter, because it no longer works, because your boat almost got swamped, just cut open a shotgun shell and dump the powder into some tinder. Strike a spark and watch the fire begin, then take the gill halves and grill em. Not bad even without seasoning. They taste alot like walleye. They'd make great fish tacos too.

[/quote:6ozyer43]

That was a pretty sweet way to get a fire started, and them gills did taste good! I think I need to submit that recipe in the Recipes section so others can use the shotgun shell method.

 

[J-bass]

Thanks J-bass. Definately are good eating. We used an assortment of jigs. They hit on everything from chartreuse, black, orange, pink. Slimrats, ants, Gizits... we have a lot. You'll want to use waxworms. They tend to like those over mealworms. Sportmans usually has a good ice fishing selection more toward the end of November into March. For local support, I usually hit Fish Tech. They've got their ice fishing jigs out all year round. :wink:

Thanks for the information FishGlyph. Where exactly is Fish Tech? I've never been there. And when does Pelican tend to freeze over? I can't imagine it's before January. Thanks again.

 

[Leaky]

Good job Fish Kitty. :lol: Did you let em all go or did you cook a few for supper out there? Reason I'm asking, those guys in Pelican, especially the blues have a parasite called the "yellow grub" but they are reduced by cold weather, so I was wondering if ya noticed. They don't bother me none and are not harmful to humans but they do look kind of unappitizing to others. :shock: Also, how were the bugs? Glad you got a tent trailer. 8) It's a lot more comfortable to stay over with.
P.S. The Sparkinator retrieved 4 duckies in our 3 hrs of hunting mid day and decided that was plenty so we came back.
Leaky and Sparky

 

[JAT83]

Nice pics! I would love to catch a cat that big 8)