All hail the great fisher(wo)man!
We have come to a very important discovery which is, fish MUCH prefer worms over little pieces of pepperoni. I know… I was shocked too, but it’s true. There’s just no accounting for taste.
We caught four of those fish and when they were all cleaned and pan fried, they made a nice “sampling” for both us and our guests. Next time we’ll try to catch something a tad bigger.
Nice work! Just wait until you far enough south to hook a Mahi — mmmmmmmm!
I am the hypocritical carnivore. When we caught our first fish (which happened to be a Mahi) I was so upset watching the colors flash then drain from his gorgeous skin. I tried to sing really loud and concentrate extra hard on steering the boat while Doug did the deed because it was too much for me. Of course, once it is a faceless filet I am all for cooking it up and eating it with glee. But I am just not a hunter at heart.
I’m a little bit like you. I don’t even like hurting the worms, but, food is food!
Mmm, fresh yellow perch!
The camera certainly does interesting things with scale (pic #3 compared to #4)….
We always seem to have better luck with live (or formerly live) bait instead of the plastic stuff, at least for these little guys (I have yet to catch anything much bigger than that perch Rebecca is cleaning). We’ve been known to cast for an hour with synthetic bait and nothing more than a nibble, then all the panfish suddenly go insane when we start adding dried shrimp.
Yeah, the fish in pic 3 does look a bit bigger! We were catching a fish on pretty much every cast. The problem was that many (most) of them were too small.
It seems all I can catch are dogfish. 🙁
We barely have any idea what fish species we are catching. We went looking for a fish ID book but didn’t find one. I think we definitely need a good one.
The fish ID chart at the bottom of the Fishing Regulations is actually quite good, for the species you’ll find in Ontario and the freshwater parts of the northeastern US…. http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/LetsFish/Publication/STEL02_163615.html
Excellent Matt. Thank you. Any idea if there is something similar for the fish of the Caribbean?
My sister can catch anything with worms, live or rubber. It’s all in the technique. Something about letting it sink and then lightly bouncing it off the bottom. I’ll be trying my luck in a couple of weeks.
I’m sure there is a technique to it. It is a skill set we have yet to develop.
Great Lakes yellow perch, YUMMMMMM! But you do need more than four to make a meal! I personally prefer them to walleye, but others disagree. As to live versus artificial bait, I’ve had luck with both. Chartreuse lures produce well in Lake Erie, probably bacause they better mimic our local bait fish. I’ve also had luck with blue and silver, and perch patterned lures. And, of course, minnows and worms! It can be hard to keep live bait viable for a full day of summer fishing unless you have aeration for minnows and ice for worms. Minnows also need a change of water frequently. But the results are worth it! Good luck with your future fishing!
We’re working our way up to the mahi mahi.