Fishing 2019

Colorado Cowboy

Colorado Cowboy

Super Moderator
Jun 8, 2011
8,348
4,741
83
Dolores, Colorado
Saw the 2018 post and thought we should start a 2019 season post.

My wife and I will be in Alaska for a month, mid May to Mid June. Have already booked several salmon/halibut trips and a razor clam trip during a minus tide. AKaviator will be on our salmon/halibut trips. It will be great to see Bob again. We are staying in Soldotna and will be doing some trout fishing too.

With all the snow here in SW Colorado, we should have a great year with all the lakes and rivers full. Plan on putting lots of hours on my pontoon boat.
 
Last edited:
Fink

Fink

Veteran member
Apr 7, 2011
1,961
204
West Side, MoMo
I leave for Minot, ND on Thursday, to do a few days of ice fishing with a good college friend. Never been to Nodak, never been ice fishing.. Will probably freeze to death! But, looking forward to it, should be a great time!

Sounds like you're in for a great trip CC, lotta fun times ahead for you! AK is on the short list for me, for sure!
 
Fink

Fink

Veteran member
Apr 7, 2011
1,961
204
West Side, MoMo
Been trying to do a few new things this year, went ice fishing in North Dakota in February, that was a lot of fun. Fishing was a little slow, but we caught a bunch of perch and walleyes, and mixed in some smallmouth as well. It was a totally foreign experience for me, and I'm glad I didn't freeze to death. I was actually hot more often than I was cold, in those ice shacks. Great times with an old college buddy that I don't get to see nearly often enough.
IMG_4487.jpg IMG_4492.jpg
 
Fink

Fink

Veteran member
Apr 7, 2011
1,961
204
West Side, MoMo
This past weekend, I headed down with a few friends to snag paddlefish on Lake of the Ozarks. This was another first for me, but the guys I went with have been doing it for probably 15 years, and they have it absolutely dialed in. Most of the people snagging are way up in the upper reaches of the lake, snagging in the shallow, skinny water. We were much farther down, snagging in big water, 55-60 feet deep.
We caught limits (2 per person) every day, of big fish, very few sub legal fish (If I recall, 34 inches from the eye to the fork of the tail is a legal fish).
I'd never snagged before, because it doesn't seem too exciting to cast a 1 pound weight, and jerk on a rod all day, for a low percentage chance at snagging a fish. But, we fished differently, really reminded me of salmon fishing in the ocean, trolling with planer boards. We hooked into a fish probably every 15 minutes. It was really exciting, and really fun. Reeling in 200+ feet of line, with a 70 pound fish on the end of it is a pretty good workout!
IMG_4599.jpg IMG_4593.jpg IMG_4603.JPG

I've never eaten it before, but have a ton of meat, its very firm, reminds me of halibut. I sure hope it tastes as good as halibut!!! Going to try some blackened fish tacos for lunch today.
 
RICMIC

RICMIC

Veteran member
Feb 21, 2012
2,016
1,796
Two Harbors, Minnesota
Good luck on your trip C.C. Alaska is on our bucket list and my wife and I hope to spend a month or so there in 2020. I'll be interested in your follow-up reports.
 
M

minn elk chaser

Active Member
Jan 6, 2014
332
72
Our annual trip to Sitka will be in August for salmon, halibut and rock fish. Always a great trip with Angling Unlimited so if anyone is interested in fishing out of Sitka check them out.
 
Shane13

Shane13

Active Member
Aug 8, 2012
345
273
Hawley, Texas
I'm looking forward to hitting some ponds, lakes, and rivers with my fly rod in my kayak this spring and summer. My wife and I are going to Alberta in late July. I may fish a little while we're there (hopefully). Will try to squeeze in a trip to northern NM or Colorado sometime late summer as well. I figure it will be at least mid-July before the runoff calms down this year. I have an archery elk/deer/bear hunt booked for southern CO, and I'll have a couple fly rods with me then too.

Last couple of years, we've had deer leases with free range axis. Main rut for axis is summer. That is FUN, but it cuts into fishing time. Decided not to do the axis lease this year, so we can fish more and do some other things. Looking forward to it!
 
CrimsonArrow

CrimsonArrow

Very Active Member
Feb 21, 2011
854
362
Minnesota
Got into some good crappies Thursday. I was by myself, and I’ve gotten into the habit of excluding any background in my pictures. Never know when someone will recognize a house or part of a shoreline.B4D1A27A-E209-44E0-B353-DAEE8DC49D6C.jpg
 
hunter25

hunter25

Very Active Member
Sep 8, 2016
535
395
Glenwood Springs, Colorado
Fink said:
This past weekend, I headed down with a few friends to snag paddlefish on Lake of the Ozarks. This was another first for me, but the guys I went with have been doing it for probably 15 years, and they have it absolutely dialed in. Most of the people snagging are way up in the upper reaches of the lake, snagging in the shallow, skinny water. We were much farther down, snagging in big water, 55-60 feet deep.
We caught limits (2 per person) every day, of big fish, very few sub legal fish (If I recall, 34 inches from the eye to the fork of the tail is a legal fish).
I'd never snagged before, because it doesn't seem too exciting to cast a 1 pound weight, and jerk on a rod all day, for a low percentage chance at snagging a fish. But, we fished differently, really reminded me of salmon fishing in the ocean, trolling with planer boards. We hooked into a fish probably every 15 minutes. It was really exciting, and really fun. Reeling in 200+ feet of line, with a 70 pound fish on the end of it is a pretty good workout!
View attachment 23271 View attachment 23272 View attachment 23273

I've never eaten it before, but have a ton of meat, its very firm, reminds me of halibut. I sure hope it tastes as good as halibut!!! Going to try some blackened fish tacos for lunch today.
Click to expand...
I've done this once in Oklahoma.
Interested how yours came out. I trimmed all the fat like recommended, soaked for a day in different solutions. Still tasted horrible.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
Fink

Fink

Veteran member
Apr 7, 2011
1,961
204
West Side, MoMo
hunter25 said:
I've done this once in Oklahoma.
Interested how yours came out. I trimmed all the fat like recommended, soaked for a day in different solutions. Still tasted horrible.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I'm glad you brought this up, I've been meaning to circle back.. I've eaten it twice now, the first time, I blackened a steak, then sliced it and put it into tacos - with some standard fish taco accompaniments: lettuce, cheese, tomato, jalapenos, cilantro, and a sauce made from sour cream, mayo, lime juice and sriracha. The tacos were amazing, probably the best fish tacos I've ever had.
I was afraid that I had kinda hid the fish with all the extra stuff, so I just blackened a steak the next time, and ate it plain, again - excellent.

I'm honestly not sure what the done temp should be... USDA considers 145 to be the safe zone for consuming fish.... But they also say 145 for beef, and I rarely (get it?!) cook mine above 130. To be on the safe side with this, I cooked to 150 and let rest, it came up to 155. It did not seem overdone at all, and still had quite a bit of juice/moisture in the meat.

As far as cleaning/ butchering is concerned.. We cut the head, tail and fins off, then gutted them, and cut out the belly up to a little below where the white skin changes to grey. We then took the fish, and cut into steaks that were roughly 2 inches thick. This allowed us to better clear off the skin and any red meat. We let the meat soak in COLD water for close to a day before going through everything again, trimming all red meat, etc off, and rinsing really good in the sink. I think the key is just letting them soak for a little while, to get a lot of that extra oil out, cause they are really oily.

Overall, I'm really enjoying eating it, I think it's very similar to mahi, swordfish or something similar, it's very meaty and dense.
 
Fink

Fink

Veteran member
Apr 7, 2011
1,961
204
West Side, MoMo
hunter25 said:
Maybe I'll give it another try.
Did exactly like you but even the whole house smelled. Lol


Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
My wife is a Nazi when it comes to wild game or fish in the house.. I always do my butchering when she's not home. Had 30 pounds or so of paddlefish in the sink, drying in sheet pans, etc, the other day, when I was cleaning and packaging. Got done and cleaned up about 10 minutes before she got home.

She's 4 months pregnant, and I was for sure I was screwed, no way she's not gonna smell fish..... She couldn't smell it at all.

Maybe you just got a foul one? I'm shocked by how 'not fishy' it smells.
 
hunter25

hunter25

Very Active Member
Sep 8, 2016
535
395
Glenwood Springs, Colorado
Although I had them well iced and cleaned iit was a 15 hour drive home. Then skinned them and trimmed the next morning.
This may have been a big factor.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom