Some nice Florida drum!

divemaster99

Dovii
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Jan 10, 2014
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I only shoot common carp. The fin shape on carp is easily identifiable when compared next to buffalo or other natives. It's pretty similar to memorizing the wing shapes of ducks when duck hunting.
Nice to see at least one bowfishermen that can tell the difference between carp and buffalo. Most people think that they're the same thing. Have you ever done any conventional fishing for buffalo, or commin carp for that matter? Buffalo fight very well on M-MH tackle and will peel drag off a reel when they get going, it's like trying to stop a freight train!
 

Thekid

Potamotrygon
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Sep 18, 2014
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Nice to see at least one bowfishermen that can tell the difference between carp and buffalo. Most people think that they're the same thing. Have you ever done any conventional fishing for buffalo, or commin carp for that matter? Buffalo fight very well on M-MH tackle and will peel drag off a reel when they get going, it's like trying to stop a freight train!
Nada. I go for big flatheads when I fish. Last year my uncle kept track of his fish that were over twenty pounds and he finished the summer with fifty fish.
 

Dieselhybrid

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Electric wood smoker, better temp regulation especially during the cold months, plus don't have to replace propane. Also gets lower temp than propane tends to. Absolutely amazing for fish man, once I tried it I will never want to make fish any other way.

That's cool theyre breeding in a lake, quite neat. Do the cutthroats, rainbows, and salmon get pretty big? They pretty silvery or darker? What is the colour of the meat on the rainbows? The salmon? How is the fight? For me there is nothing like fighting a lake run rainbow in the river, theyre so strong its unbelievable. Anytime I fished for rainbow in lakes (which always tend to have white meat over pink meat, that's why I ask) or even lake trout the fight is nowhere like the ones in the river that are shooting up to spawn. Everyone of those suckers is muscular too, small ones and big ones, but you tend to catch either a 1 lber or 5+ lbs, don't catch too many in between. I bet the bass get a health size in there too eh?

All that being said, you know what I would do to be pulled around in a canoe by one of the monsters in your lake right about now? Completely different game, and half of the reason I get up and get to the spot for sunrise is the shear peace and beauty. Guess those e-cig sales are paying off for you huh?

That's it. I'm buying a smoker! Fish is the only meat i eat regularly. I grill a lot but fried fish is my weakness, need something healthier.

The cutthroat seem to be the smallest. I've only caught up to 16" I've seen rainbows caught up to about 24" I've seen some absolute monsters swim under me paddleboarding. Swear the state record haha. Rainbows are generally a nice pink, fresh stocked ones are more pale and you those from time to time. The kokanee are blood red flesh, real treat but I rarely catch them with any huge size. The rainbows fight just like smaller steelhead, great fun.

The bass are kind of lousy up here. 2-3 lbs. We hook into some real hogs down at our place in AZ. Seen 10+lbers The warmer water really grows them big. Better trout up here in the cold.
 

Dieselhybrid

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Yea bro I'm Divemaster, hoping to get instructor soon. I'm all for spear fishing and now just species dependant. Not down with gar.

We go for flathead in AZ with live bluegill at night. Sometimes hook into some big ones. We scuba spear for striper and carp in AZ. The only legal species to spear down there
 

davenmandy

Peacock Bass
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Ya Josh, buy that smoker asap. I will email you a recipe for the most perfect brine man. Gotta soak overnight, smoke for 3-4 hours depending, as low as you can get like 175, some good apple or hickory chips, I promise you will be so addicted it will consume a bunch of your time haha.
 

Frank Castle

Potamotrygon
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Jan 10, 2016
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Definitley some serious Drummage here, dude...I'd love to get reds OR blacks like that anyday.

Why don't I see any of those world-famous Florida-strain Largemouths in these pics? I CAN'T make a trip to FL without catching some. I love the everglades/keys area where you can end up catching Largemouths in the same places you'll get Snook and Reds and Grouper and stuff. Such a uniquely biodiverse place
 

MN_Rebel

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Aug 5, 2008
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I only shoot common carp. The fin shape on carp is easily identifiable when compared next to buffalo or other natives. It's pretty similar to memorizing the wing shapes of ducks when duck hunting.
I love to shoot carps, buffaloes and natives. Except bowfin, all natives I shot went to smoker or pickling.
 

MN_Rebel

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Ugh, don't get me started on fish archery, absolutely no sport in standing over a grazing or resting fish where it can barely see you and shooting a spear through its back. The whole reason I like fishing is because you have to fool the fish in to taking your presentation and once it's on the hook you have to skillfully fight it in without losing it. Then most of the time I let them go to live another day (not that there anything wrong with keeping fish, as I occasionally do with certain better tasting species) and if they're smart they won't fall for another bait in their lifetime. I'm not even sure what fish archers do with their fish. It seems that very few of them actually eat their catch and while fish do make great fertilizer, you never need the massive numbers that they harvest. What's sad is that many states permit the act of "bow fishing" but only for certain species, I know in PA it's only catfish, suckers, and carp. But if someone wants to go to a popular bass lake or trout stream and start shooting fish then every fisherman around is going to have a spaz attack. Just another example of the gamefish supremacy mentality, I suppose, and I pray that this way of thinking is gone within the next couple decades for the sake of all fish species.
I hope the bowfishing won't goes away because it's a necessary to managing the roughfish populations. Its not uncommon for anglers to dump piles of their least favorite fish in ditch or on ice. Most bowfishermen I met always took their catch home, unlike few anglers I know. I caught an angler dumping 20 smaller northern pikes and countless rock bass in my property one time last summer. You will always have bad apples in anglers or bowfishermen that didn't respect ethics.
 
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