Summer Wis-Mis Hunt & Fish Trip

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Good eats.! Thanks for the ongoing story. Next the GAR!

[bearpaw]

Bowfishing Whittington Lake (A Mississippi River Oxbow on the Delta)

We didn't get any real big gar, they were all about 18 to 36 inches. We managed to get 27 gar and 1 common carp for the boat and amazingly I shot 7 of the gar myself (should have been more, we should have had a 50 gar night). Brad the guy I went gar fishing with is going to put the skull of my first gar in his beetle pile and send it to me when it's done.

We saw a freakin huge spoonbill catfish right beside the boat, he was probably over 4 or 5 feet long and who knows how many pounds, he swam right under the boat, I could have stabbed him with an arrow in my hand he was so close, but you can't shoot them, we had to let him swim. 

He was the craziest looking fish, I would loved to have plugged him, he was so close I could have even hit him.

We saw another huge fish that looked 5ish or so feet long from a distance, but not sure what he was, he didn't let us get close.

I had an absolute blast, Brad and Bradley were great guys to meet and fish with. When we first met and we got to talking on the way to the fishing hole I asked them "What do you do for a living?

Brad replied back "I'm a delivery boy!"

So what do you deliver?

"Babies!"

So then I asked Bradley what he does?

"I am the VD police, I work for the State Health Dept, as long as you are not on my list you are OK!"

That is how the night went, it was total fun in spite of the worst bugs and heat I have seen in a long time. If you look at the photos you can see I was sweating my tail off. I went from 60 degrees in Colville to 100 degrees in Miss, I have definitely been trying to adjust to the climate. 

[Miles]

Cool pics!  Looks like a fun trip.

[NRA4LIFE]

Awesome Dale.  Where in WI is your wife from?  That's the homeland for me.

[bearpaw]

Another thing I got out of the way is the fact that I "aint no yankee", Washington was not part of the "Union". Actually it was all in fun, but there are some people down here that don't like yankees, I didn't want to take any chances. 

People in the south are about the most courteous and accomodating people anywhere and they love good cooking. I have always enjoyed trips I have made to the south for these reasons. For example we din't have spaghetti, we had a speacial "baked spaghetti" and it was awesome as was all the other dishes I had here.

Catfishing the Tallahatchee River 
(Not far from where Billy Joe jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge, they tell me the song was based on a true story. This is also real close to where I was told the first shot of the civil war was fired.

Setlines and noodling (hand grabbing) are common here, I saw as many people fishing these ways as I did with fishing poles. We opted for the set line approach since I had so many activities lined up. This way while the lines were out I could go gar fishing and hog hunting. So we set the lines overnight and we caught a total of 9 catfish, 8 were keeper sized but we lost the biggest back into the river trying to haul him in the boat, he must have been over 30 pounds, a blue. The next biggest was roughly a 20 to 25 pound yellow and all the way down to about 4 or 5 pounds. There was a small catfish about 8 or 9 inches that we caught using 3 inch goldfish. We left him on the line for bait for bigger cats.   

We caught flathead (yellow) catfish, blue catfish, channel catfish, and willow catfish. I think I got those names right, sort of confusing, I thought there was only a couple kinds.

I almost forgot to mention, we pulled in to check one line and a water moccasin dropped off the overhanging brush, he fell almost in the boat. 

Just finished taking the last catfish picture a little while ago and I am leaving back to Wisconsin for the wedding reception, family reunion, and yes "MORE FISHING". 

Here's some Mississippi catfish photos. Sorry I didn't do better on the pics, but I have been running hard and sleeping a few hours here and there. But so far "Mission Accomplished" and lots of new friends. Life doesn't get any better than that. 

[Miles]

The colors in that last picture are pretty neat!

[winshooter88]

So is the green cat in the last picture a willow cat or is it something else?

[bearpaw]

Awesome Dale.  Where in WI is your wife from?  That's the homeland for me.

One of my guides lives in Madison and comes out every fall to Idaho, gonna meet him for a fishing trip hopefully tomorrow, then back to Eau Claire where the wife is from for all the family stuff.

Gotta hit the road, it's 900 miles of driving for me tonight. 

Here's a few more pics of Mississippi...

[bearpaw]

That last fish photo I think is a yellow cat, but it could be the willow, I couldn't keep them straight. 

[shoot-em-dead]

looks like your having a blast. Keep living the dream.

[carpsniperg2]

Dang don't know how I missed it I was waiting for you to post about it! Looks like you had a killer time! That is great and a nice hog as well! Looks like you got into the fish as well

[bearpaw]

I left miss at 6:30 pm and put the pedal to the metal. Only problem was I missed my turn to Madison and ended up in Chicago right at daybreak.    finally worked through the traffic and headed for Madison, met Jeff and we hit his favorite shallows for muskies.. We waded fished, I caught a short nap on the dock then waded some more, but no fish.

[bearpaw]

I left the lake and headed back to eau Claire for family time. Last night my nice had her wedding reception, great time, tons of good food, my diet is totally out the window.

[bearpaw]

Up this morning at 3am and drove back to Madison to meet up with Jeff and his musky fishing buddy Gary. We have been fishing 3 hrs, so far we have caught 1 largemouth, 2 walleye, and 5 northerners, I have literally reeled in 3 northetrns  while doing these messages.

[bearpaw]

Another photo this morning