Need to disenfect my boat

[RUGER]

My buddy caught this thing yesterday while we were bream fishing.
I'm guessing it was close to 5 pounds but I didn't wanna mess with it any longer than I had to.
Nasty, slimy and full of attitude for sure!

 

[Big Pop]

Bowfin?

 

[RUGER]

Bowfin?

Honestly it's been so many years I'm not sure if it's a bowfin or a grennel ??

 

[DoubleRidge]

My understanding is grinnel is another name for the bowfin.....full of attitude no doubt.

 

[RUGER]

My understanding is grinnel is another name for the bowfin.....full of attitude no doubt.

That's kinda what I thought but wasn't sure.
Back when I was a kid we always called them grinnel

 

[Spurhunter]

Pound for pound the meanest fish that swims in freshwater. They will make a $7 spinnerbait look like a wad of paperclips.

 

[RUGER]

Pound for pound the meanest fish that swims in freshwater. They will make a $7 spinnerbait look like a wad of paperclips.

He landed this on 6# test with a #6 truturn hook lol
Course me being the net man helped a lot lol

 

[WTM]

they added those ugly things to the tarp list. never targeted them though, wouldnt know where to start.

 

[BuckWild]

Cypress Bass. LoL

Years ago at Sardis, we were cleaning crappie at the fish cleaning station at Holiday Lodge campground. Couple of guys from Indiana were there with a few fish. One pulls out a grinnel and says what kind of fish is this?

My Dad looks over and never misses a beat, says oh man...that's a nice Cypress Bass you got there.
The guy hollers at his buddy and says it's a Cypress Bass!!! Said they caught it in the river not far from the boat ramp at Wyatts Crossing.

Sure enough next afternoon those guys pull up to the fish cleaning station with a cooler full of grinnel. LoL
They had about 15 in there along with some white bass.
We were cracking up, but never did tell them any different. LoL

My Dad's uncle was the lake manager at Open Lake up by Ripley, TN for years back in the 70's and 80's. He commercial fished it as well. He caught them in his nets all the time.

He said they were delicious. I never found out....

 

[RUGER]

Cypress Bass. LoL

Years ago at Sardis, we were cleaning crappie at the fish cleaning station at Holiday Lodge campground. Couple of guys from Indiana were there with a few fish. One pulls out a grinnel and says what kind of fish is this?

My Dad looks over and never misses a beat, says oh man...that's a nice Cypress Bass you got there.
The guy hollers at his buddy and says it's a Cypress Bass!!! Said they caught it in the river not far from the boat ramp at Wyatts Crossing.

Sure enough next afternoon those guys pull up to the fish cleaning station with a cooler full of grinnel. LoL
They had about 15 in there along with some white bass.
We were cracking up, but never did tell them any different. LoL

My Dad's uncle was the lake manager at Open Lake up by Ripley, TN for years back in the 70's and 80's. He commercial fished it as well. He caught them in his nets all the time.

He said they were delicious. I never found out....

That's funny right there.

 

[Openlake]

My Dad's uncle was the lake manager at Open Lake up by Ripley, TN for years back in the 70's and 80's. He commercial fished it as well. He caught them in his nets all the time.

He said they were delicious. I never found out....

BuckWild, my wife spent her childhood at Open Lake. It was formed from the same earthquakes that formed Reelfoot Lake in 1812. Her dad had a round house there. I fished it thousands of times.

I once had a quest to catch a world record Bowfin/Grinnel. Caught some in the 12/14 lb. range. About the toughest fish that lives. Primitive lung fish. Water dries up, no problem, they'll bury in the mud and breath air.
Had a 4" one in an aquarium that lived for several years. Mean, ate all the other fish including my turtle. Grew to 6". Found him on the floor dried up once after he jumped out. Been there for hours. Dropped him back in the water and a few minutes later he was swimming like a pro.

Their fins turn lime green when they are excited. Sharp teeth and small whiskers. Tough!

 

[BuckWild]

BuckWild, my wife spent her childhood at Open Lake. It was formed from the same earthquakes that formed Reelfoot Lake in 1812. Her dad had a round house there. I fished it thousands of times.

I once had a quest to catch a world record Bowfin/Grinnel. Caught some in the 12/14 lb. range. About the toughest fish that lives. Primitive lung fish. Water dries up, no problem, they'll bury in the mud and breath air.
Had a 4" one in an aquarium that lived for several years. Mean, ate all the other fish including my turtle. Grew to 6". Found him on the floor dried up once after he jumped out. Been there for hours. Dropped him back in the water and a few minutes later he was swimming like a pro.

Their fins turn lime green when they are excited. Sharp teeth and small whiskers. Tough!

Small world. Man I loved fishing Open Lake. I fished there hundreds of times. My Dad's uncle was Bennie Morris. He was the guy that took the money when someone launched a boat there at the ramp. Uncle Ben and Aunt Eva lived there at the lake for many years.

It's silted up now and filled with jumping carp. I think they closed it to the public years ago and it's mainly a duck hunting club from what I've been told.

 

[Openlake]

I knew Bennie well. He could catch crappie on a jig like you can't believe. Used a wooden boat to run his nets.

It's always been a shallow lake like most oxbows. It has magnum sized crappie now that the public doesn't beat it down. Gets replenished each year from the Mississippi River backwater. It is privately owned

Only a mile from the river makes it an awesome attraction for ducks.

 

[brassmagnet]

Isn't that what we called a snakehead? If so, ugly as they are, great eating. Be sure to tenderize the head with a 2 lb hammer before you clean it. Hit it again, harder, it's got big teeth's.

 

[Openlake]

Snakeheads are a different fish but look similar.

Both need tenderizing in the same way! Lol.

 

[tbadon]

Caught one on a cane pole at the Perryville Pump stations years ago. Drug me around for about 10 minutes. Fun! Tastes good, but the meat falls apart into a mush. At one point I heard about a mustard based soup for them...don't know about that though.

 

[BuckWild]

I knew Bennie well. He could catch crappie on a jig like you can't believe. Used a wooden boat to run his nets.

It's always been a shallow lake like most oxbows. It has magnum sized crappie now that the public doesn't beat it down. Gets replenished each year from the Mississippi River backwater. It is privately owned

Only a mile from the river makes it an awesome attraction for ducks.

Man if you only know how many days I spent fishing with him in a boat. He never used a trolling motor. Had a little sculling paddle and sat in the front of the boat easing around catching crappie like nobody's business. I guess he rubbed off on me, I've never bought a minnow and I'm 63 years old.

 

[Openlake]

Man if you only know how many days I spent fishing with him in a boat. He never used a trolling motor. Had a little sculling paddle and sat in the front of the boat easing around catching crappie like nobody's business. I guess he rubbed off on me, I've never bought a minnow and I'm 63 years old.

He would tap that jig pole and send vibrations down the line into that jig. Lol. It worked well.

 

[BuckWild]

He would tap that jig pole and send vibrations down the line into that jig. Lol. It worked well.

1984 and I had just got out of the Navy. It was August and hot as hades. I drove up to Open Lake to fish with Ben and he said lets go to Chism Lake and fish a spot I know. We drove over to Chism and put in and headed up the old river run toward Bulldog's Bar. About halfway up there the run made a left turn and on the right hand side were 5 or 6 big cypress trees out in the water off the bank. We pulled up there and circled those trees. In four hours we had 76 nice crappie, a bunch were 1.5 to 2 lb fish. We headed back to the ramp and took out of the water. While we were getting the boat tied down and our stuff in order, the guy from the Chism house next to the ramp walked down to talk to Ben. After a while the guy said well good to see you even if you didn't catch any fish...with that Ben opened the cooler and grinned. The guy looked at the fish and said well I'll be dam, I should have known you caught fish even though there aint been 10 crappie brought out of here in a month. LoL

Ben was something else. He would sit there and peck the side of that pole with his finger to work that jig.