The bite is great right now here as the fish have just returned from the creeks making little fishes with the lady fishes, they are hungry and feeling good! John you the one stopping you from doing it no one else.
I've been a few time to a local reservoir that yields citation fish, but need to get my boat water-worthy. There is no worthwhile fishing from the bank.
Wisconsin has 'free' fishing this weekend. No license required. Went with my daughter and her friend yesterday and caught nada. The sea gulls were cruising the same area and did better than we did. We have a trout farm nearby (45 minutes away) Parents yell at their kids to STOP CATCHING FISH! because fishers there are charged by the pound. my pond has egrets regularily but mostly has frogs, not fish. Of course there is lake Michigan to the east and charter boats. We were forced to buy a chest freezer the one time we employed them.
Just got our 1992, 20 foot Celebrity Cuddy Cabin back from "summerization" at the marine service center yesterday. New prop looks great on it and we hope it will bring the rpms up to where they should be "on-plane" at full throttle. Going over to Boat/RV Storage today to get stuff put back on the boat we took off for winter. Have our new fishing licenses, two rod/reels for me and one rod/reel for my wife. Will either do "catch 'n' release" of any rainbow trout we get or give them to someone at the dock. When we lived here in Colorado before, we'd keep the rainbows we caught, I'd fillet them and stick in the freezer. But, we didn't end up eating any of them. Gave some to a neighbor and threw out the rest. We aren't much of "fish eaters" except for a fillet from Culver's Restaurant, that is local.
It's an old jon boat with an electric motor. I had no cover for it and the tarp disintegrated a long time ago. The prior owner installed a cheap casting seat on a post, and all the cushions are split & they and the interior are weather-beat.
Time for a new boat, but not meaning brand new. This is our second boat. First one was a 1989 16 foot Invader Bowrider. Cost us $5,000 for boat/trailer. Nice little boat, but sure didn't have the speed, and size of motor, our 1992 Celebrity does. Invader had a 4-cylinder and our Celebrity has an 8-cylinder. The biggest engine that can be put into a 20 foot boat. Bought it in April 2009. New sonar, CD Player, rod/reel holders, etc.. Had to have the stern redone, entire block replaced, dual-battery setup and some other things. You don't want to even see the cost of all of these! Yes, quite a little chunk of money to keep it running, but it, and rodeo, are our entertainment.
I'm not far from Lake Anna, which is a 13,000 acre man-made lake that serves to cool the nuclear power plant. Since it is not a drinking water reservoir, outboard motors (and skiing and jet skis,etc) are allowed. Even closer is an 187 acre reservoir that only allows electric motors. I'm more of a river/pond/reservoir kinda guy. I can abide drunken yahoos that are limited to whatever trouble a 12v battery can enable. I bought the jon boat when I first moved here for under $1,000 with the electric motor and a 9hp Evinrude. I've hardly used it. I should have bought a proper cover for it right away.
The first time I ever went fishing. Summer vacation at a small lake near Port Loring, Ontario, 1957 (give or take a year). The Northern pike is not mine. I was demoted to a cane pole, and sunfish.
Nice pic! Reminds me of a black & white of my father holding a long northern pike at the shores of Lake Michigan. He must have been awfully proud of that thing, because when our mother passed away and we were going through her belongings, we came across about 2 dozen copies of that photo scattered around in different boxes. I got no idea who the old man thought he was gonna hand them out to. Oh, and don't knock cane poles. I caught a few catfish using one as a kid in Indiana.