The Glade 4.0

So anybody fish?

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I used to fish obsessively when I was a kid, and lived in a part of the country that had, ya know, actual water in the form of lakes, ponds and streams. Here in Southern California, it's at least a 45-minute drive to get anywhere worthwhile fishing. And even then, it's a pretty sizable reservoir that's best fished from a boat, which I don't have.

That being said, I like to fish for bass, for the most part. I usually only go a couple of times a year, at this point. Took my kids fishing last year, strung up a worm with my special slip-shot and single hook, and caught a trout on my first cast. Got skunked for the rest of the day, but they were impressed.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

I fish for walleye (or pickerel to my fellow Canadians) and pike around here. I know there is spots to fish for trout, but I've never had the opportunity yet. Maybe this summer!

One of the perks to living in the middle of nowhere is the fishing is pretty amazing. People pay lots of money to come up here for vacation and fish. Only costs me $40 a year for the license

Silly me, why don't I include some pics!

Elessar, I am hoping to catch some walleye in Lake Erie (1/3 a mile from my home). What kind of rig/bait do you use in late spring/early summer?

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Up here I always use brightly-coloured jig heads, and either minnows or some form of plastic single or two tail grub for walleye. Some people around here swear by minnows only, but I've done well using either bait. I did have a friend who used both at once, but that seemed a bit excessive for me, heh.

Where are you catching them by the way?

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I never really understood fishing, but i don't eat fish all that often. Also activities that encourage me to spend lots of time exposed to the day star are not recommended.

My melanistically blessed brother (wow, no clouds - time to tan) however, he will go fishing on any day that ends in a y.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

I'm viewing it as a means to get outside, drink 1/2 a six-pack and listen to baseball games. If I catch anything great, but since I don't know how to clean a fish it'd end up being catch 'n release.

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Yeah, Micheal, eating them isn't really the big motivation anymore. I ate more than my fair share of bony little sunfish when I was a kid. Largely, we catch and release. To me, it's all about the hunt - stalking fish, learning their behavior, trying to get them to bite.

Cleaning a fish isn't hard, Hop - and in fact, if you open up their stomachs, you can see what they were feeding on when you caught them, which can be useful the next time out.

A long time ago in grad school, my roommate was astounded that I was cleaning a fish I had caught so I could eat it. "You actually know how to do that?" he asked. Struck me as funny that he didn't know how to do it - seemed such a basic thing, growing up in Wisconsin. But, we are all growing farther away from the sources of our food. I wouldn't quite know what to do with a bird or mammal, honestly.

_________________
This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

Talk to Emer, I'm sure he could teach a course on it.

On the other hand, while not a vegetarian, I eat a lot of non-meat food and as such, I can only grow a very little bit of it.

America was once 90% agricultural, then WWI took a generation off of farmland, the depression hit, the dust bowl came about, the New Deal put people to work doing almost everything but farming and WWII happened. After all that, raising food became a specialty trade, not something almost everyone did.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Aethien, if you can clean a fish, you can dress a mammal or bird. They're similar enough that you'd get it pretty quick.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

Yeah, I kind of figure that - it's all entrails, right? When society collapses, I'll be ready!

And, yeah, Micheal, that's very true. Part of the reason I like to garden is to show my kids where food comes from, so they're not quite so removed from it all.

_________________
This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

Cleaning fish worries me cause of all the tiny bones.

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You can find videos on this stuff on Youtube. There are tons on field cleaning stuff like deer, or cleaning fish

Fish are pretty easy, depending on the type. Scale. Find the bumhole, insert knife and make a cut up the belly to the head. Open the slit and scoop out the guts. Cut off the head if you want it gone. Rinse well.

Catfishes are harder IMHO. You need to hook them up, and take pliers to pull the skin off, which can be hard when you first learn to do it. The skin is hard to get off and takes a lot of elbow grease.

As for mammals, like deer, probably similar, you just need to worry about puncturing the gallbladder and colon. You do NOT want to have to clean out poo or let bile get in your meat. Nasty stuff. You also have to puncture the diaphram and remove the lungs and trach.

Good skills to have, and everyone should do it at least once. Makes you much more aware and appreciative of where your food comes from when you have to kill and clean it before cooking and eating is involved.

Sorry for the delay, been a busy couple of days.

Around here we have the best luck with Walleye around things like bridges, rocky channels and stream mouths. As you can see in the 2nd photo, we're anchored just outside of the bubbly area of the stream outpouring, casting into the edges of that. They seem to like to feed in the turbulent waters around stuff like that. The first photo is actually just down stream of a large dam that you can't see. They also seem to like hanging around the drop offs into deeper water later in the season around here, I guess to get access to cooler water when it warms up. Around here, where theres Walleye there's usually Pike too, but they frequent more weedy shallow areas I've found.

When are you planning on going out?

Oh ya as for, filleting fish...like the others said, it just takes a bit of practice and soon you'll be a pro at it. It's a pretty standard practice so you get proficient at it quick. Your first couple might be kind of butchered though hehe. Just make sure to buy a highquality, thin, flexible fish blade.

I have this Rappala and really like it. I can't remember if it came with a sharpener, but definitely get one anyways.

I love fishing!! Mainly go for bass around here, but I prefer to go after trout in the Sierras when possible! Trout are sooooo good cooked on the BBQ or smoked.

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"Said I never had much use for one, never said I didn't know how to use one!"~ Matthew Quigley

"nothing like a little meow in bed at night" ~ Bruskey

"I gotta float my stick same as you" Hondo Lane

"Fill your hand you son of a *****!"

What the hell people ...

I still go fishin' mostly weekly.

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I would go trout fishing all the time as a kid. Good fishing to be had here in Idaho. I haven't had a chance, what with everything being frozen well into April and all. But I plan to spend most of my summer fishing and hunting.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

Very good recommendation.

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Ezekiel 23:19-20 

Wish I could

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"Said I never had much use for one, never said I didn't know how to use one!"~ Matthew Quigley

"nothing like a little meow in bed at night" ~ Bruskey

"I gotta float my stick same as you" Hondo Lane

"Fill your hand you son of a *****!"

Well, when one owns land that has a river running through it and a couple of good fishin' ponds ...

It's EASY to go fishin' very often

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I am very envious!

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"Said I never had much use for one, never said I didn't know how to use one!"~ Matthew Quigley

"nothing like a little meow in bed at night" ~ Bruskey

"I gotta float my stick same as you" Hondo Lane

"Fill your hand you son of a *****!"

Ugh, what's a good way to get fishscales off your hands? This **** is like glitter. I've tried soap, sanitizer, even bleach.

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Have you tried just scraping them off with your fingernails? Thats the only way I can get them off, and it is quite affective

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"Said I never had much use for one, never said I didn't know how to use one!"~ Matthew Quigley

"nothing like a little meow in bed at night" ~ Bruskey

"I gotta float my stick same as you" Hondo Lane

"Fill your hand you son of a *****!"