Fishing Journal Entry 9

5/29/16

I had the opportunity to hang out with a buddy of mine who I hadn't been fishing with in a long time. We had a great time even though the fish were biting slow.  Today's temperature made it up to about 80 degrees with mostly sunny skies.

Not A Bad Blue Catfish

The barometric pressure was again around 30.12 and falling slowly to about 30.05 during the two hours we were out.  The wind was blowing from the south/southeast at a mere two miles per hour.

A Smaller Channel Catfish

Both fish were caught on minnows.  Jason attempted using multiple lures to no avail as the fish just weren't interested in his offerings.  Having talked to a few other friends via Facebook I found out that catching fish was a rare event today.  

Even though the fishing has been slow lately every outing has been a blast!  I know that sooner or later I will hit the water at that perfect moment when the fish just can't resist the bait at the end of my line.  Until then I'll just keep enjoying the outdoors while I wait on these slow biting swimmers.

- Any day in the outdoors is a good day

Fishing Journal Entry 8

5/22/16

Sunday ended up being another rain free day so I decided to take the wife and kids to a different place to  try our luck.  We started out at Lake Jacomo which resulted in no fish being caught.  After about an hour and a half we decided to head over to James A. Reed where our son beat all of us on the fish count.

Dakota's First Crappie Of The Day

 Today's weather was much like yesterday.  The temperature was in the low 70's with sunny skies.  The barometric pressure was again at 30.00 and the wind was blowing from the south/south east at about seven miles per hour.

Dakota With His Second Crappie

Cody was very proud of every fish he caught.

Dakota With Another Small Crappie

We used minnows for bait and each of the crappie measured about six and a half to seven inches long.

Emilee With Her Crappie

After another hour and a half at James A. Reed our son had reeled in four tiny crappie, our daughter had managed to bring in one and my wife pulled one in on my pole while I was helping Emilee with her line.  I guess my wife and I each get credit for half a fish.

The rain is supposed to begin again by morning and the weather man says this whole next week will be wet.  At least I was able to squeeze in a couple of days worth of fishing this weekend....It could be a while before the opportunity presents itself again.

- Any day in the outdoors is a good day

Fishing Journal Entry 7

5/21/16

Finding a day without rain that hasn't required working late has been a real challenge lately.  However, I finally managed to squeeze one in.  I decided to take my wife and children along on this trip for some family time.  I also invited my dad to join us (the kids love their time with grandpa).

The sky turned from sunny to cloudy.

The temperature was 73 degrees with skies that changed from sunny to cloudy.  The barometric pressure was 30.12 and falling.  We fished at a local pond (one of our favorite fishing holes).

Here's dad with the big fish of the day.

The picture above shows dad holding his only catch of the day.  A largemouth bass that measured just shy of sixteen inches long.  Watching him reel that one in was a load of fun!

My Smallmouth Bass

Once again we all fished with minnows.  I also used many different crappie lures in several color combinations (all of which netted nothing).  I caught one smallmouth bass, and one largemouth.

My Largemouth Bass

On this outing I managed to out-fish my wife as she and the kids were unable to bring in any fish.  Days like this help us teach our children that you can still have fun outdoors even when success eludes you.

By the way...It began raining this evening just as we were packing up to head back home.  I sure am glad we were able to squeeze this fishing trip in.  It is supposed to rain on us again this whole next week.  Perhaps summer will intervene in this weather pattern and allow more family fishing days  sometime soon.

If you enjoy the fishing journal posts please share them with your friends.  If there is other information you would like to see included in these posts feel free to leave a comment below to let us know what you think.

- Any day in the outdoors is a good day

Fishing Journal Entry 5

5/5/2016

Today I went fishing with my dad and my son Dakota.  I took them to one of my favorite fishing holes and we had a blast.  The fish were biting a bit on the slow side, but we managed to catch a few.

The temperature was 72 degrees with a clear skies and wind blowing out of the north at 9 miles per hour.  The barometric pressure was 30.01 and dropped to 30.00 before making a u-turn and rising to 30.10.

The water was quite muddy but seems to be clearing up a little bit.  Unfortunately there is more rain in the forecast which will dirty it up even more.

After fishing for about three hours the fish count was three and a half for dad (One didn't quite make it to shore, but we got a good look at it.  It was a bit bigger than the one in his picture.)   He caught one bass, one crappie and two channel catfish.  I caught two bass and one crappie.  Cody caught one bluegill.

Together we caught a total of seven fish using minnows, with several more bites we didn't manage to bring to shore....(We won't include dad's half fish in the count, but don't tell him.)

-Any day in the outdoors is a good day

Fishing Journal Entry 4

5/1/16

I took the whole family to one of my favorite fishing holes today.  The water is up and really muddy.  We fished for about two hours with minnows and crappie jigs which resulted in only a few bites.  

The temperature was 57 degrees today.  The skies were cloudy with a wind blowing from the NW at 12 miles per hour.

The barometric pressure was 30.04 and rising with a dew point of 46 which may have something to do with the fish not biting.  I'll try to start keeping track of the pressure and dew point levels in my future journal entries.  This information could come in handy if I start to notice a pattern of fish activity at varying pressure and dew point readings.

Carrie (my wife) was the only one who actually landed a fish which can be seen in the picture below. I usually don't get skunked, but there's a first time for everything.

On another note....Emilee broke her hand in three places last Thursday.  She insisted that she was still going to go fishing!  I guess you just can't keep a true fisherman or fisherwoman away from the water.

- Any day in the outdoors is a good day

Fishing Journal Entry 3 Bank Fishing On The Mighty MO

4/26/2016

A bit after 2:00 this afternoon I took Emilee and Dakota down to the Missouri river in hopes of hooking into some pan-sized catfish while we had a break between thunderstorms.  Instead we found ourselves casting our nightcrawlers into the middle of a bunch of sturgeon.   

Sturgeon

Most of the sturgeon we caught were in the range of twenty to twenty-eight inches long....Not giants by any means, but most of them put up a decent fight.  The smallest was about eighteen inches long with the biggest being about thirty inches long.

Another Sturgeon

The temperature today was in the middle 70's with a mostly overcast sky.  The sun did poke through for a few minutes, but it didn't last long.

One of several sturgeon caught

For a while I thought the kids were going to skunk me but I finally found my way into the action.  Emilee and I each caught 4 and Dakota ended up catching 3.

A look at the underside of a sturgeon

For some reason it seems as though any time we get into a mess of sturgeon, the catfish are nowhere to be found.

A closeup of a sturgeon's mouth and underbelly

Although we didn't catch any catfish, we had a blast reeling in a total of eleven sturgeon in a matter of about an hour and a half.

Note:  Every fish we caught was released back into the water unharmed.

- Any day in the outdoors is a good day

Fishing Journal Entry 2

4-22-2016

Friday evening finally arrived allowing for an opportunity to go fishing without worrying about the alarm clock going off so early in the morning that I would feel like I didn't get any sleep the night before.

Weather Conditions:  It had been raining overnight but the rain ended in the early morning hours giving way to partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies the rest of the day.

Temperature:  70 degrees

Wind:   Blowing from the Northwest 5 - 8  MPH

Water:  Murky

Ponds about 4 acres in size

Live Bait:  Minnows

Lures:  1/8 ounce Rooster Tails

Depth: Tried varying depths finally locating the reluctantly biting fish at about fifteen inches deep

Results:

The fish were biting very slow today.  I caught one crappie with a few nibbles from fish that refused to commit.  Emilee caught one tiny small mouth bass about nine inches long and one bluegill about eight inches long.  My brother and his wife were fishing with us having about the same results.  It was overall a beautiful day to be in the outdoors; however, the air cooled off quite fast as the sun began sinking below the horizon.

- Any day in the outdoors is a good day

Fishing Journal Entry 1

Sunday April 17, 2016

Went fishing this afternoon.  Emilee caught her first fish of the year today.

Wind:   Blowing from the South/Southwest 10 - 15 MPH

Water:  Murky/Ponds about 4 acres in size

Bait:     Minnows

Depth: About 16 - 18 inches below a weighted bobber with no weight attached to the line

Results:

The fish seemed to be biting slowly but we did catch a few.  I caught one crappie, one largemouth bass, one smallmouth bass and one decent sized largemouth escaped just before I could land it.  Emilee caught one crappie and had one largemouth get away.

- Any day in the outdoors is a good day