Fur i have busted the ice to get to the creeks before but I will pass on Saturday lol. I live about 5 miles above our Buddy Mitchel did I see him hooked to a blue phoenix?

He got a black Phoenix.

I had an 819 it was a fine boat. Got an rt 188 c now

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Me and my son are gonna go out. Not sure if we will take the boat or just fish off the bank somewhere close by. I love waiting for these cold days. That's about the only time I keep them to eat. Seems like the Sauger start stirring a little more too.

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You're the only person I've ever heard of talking about catching (gigging?) and canning suckers around here.

Would be interested in talking with you about it. I went in September in Missouri and it was too hot for the suckers, but we smacked a few rough fish and had a good time. Quite cool and interesting.

Clem, talking about suckers. My grandfather used to talk about sein nets wading the creek for sucker's. But the creeks filled in slowly and chemicals killed everything he said. He would tell me this back in the 80s I remember.

Heck, maybe smith lake will freeze over like it did back in the early 90s and i can go bust ice again 🥴

I'm starting to think that I'm gonna chicken out.

No freaking way...may thaw out a pack & fry them.

I need to go spend a day flipping at Lay Lake. Two flipping sticks. All day.

I'll follow behind your boat...I never have any luck at Lay🤔

I sure as hell won't be fishing in teen temps.....

Me and a buddy from triana slayed some sauger one day when the temp was about 20 and it was spittin snow. Was not a fun run up the river to where we were fishing. I do remember i donated one of his older rod/reels when i set the hook once. Froze hand and the fish didn't move...rod flipped outta hand and to the bottom she went. I sure wasn't going after it

Best sauger trip I ever had was with two guys up in Indiana below Newbergh dam when it was spittin' snow, temps below freezing and we caught doubles and triples on every drift. They weren't big but we caught the chit out of them. We quit when our hands wouldn't grip a rod. Ramp was icy, which was fun.

If this big front moves in with snow and schizzle, the smallmouth will be chomping and I'd guess the spots would be, too. Was on the lower end of Neely once and the spots turned on like crazy. We caught a handful on jerkbaits on a point and then it started hailing. Freak storm blew through, covered the boat deck in hail, we were asses and elbows trying to cover up, temps dropped 10+ degrees and the fish quit biting. That hail stung like chit, too.

Predicting 10-20 mph winds Saturday. It's official, I ain't going.

Instead of buying one of the "100 mph" suits that many fishermen wear, I bought my son and I an ice fishing suit a few years ago. We don't get cold, except our hands. Another benefit of the ice fishing suit is that if you fall in the water, you float. The whole suit is a flotation suit. They're light and not bulky too.

Nope

We Normally catch them on rod and reel from November to January down at dead river off the choctawhatchee. Then when dogwood trees bloom, we run our gill nets to get them. We fry some up but you gotta gash them due to the bones. As far as canning we normally just fillet them skin off and cut in hunks to can them. We put up a lot of sucker and mullet. Makes for the best snack when hunting or fishing, especially the ones we do with jalapenos.Add some a Saltine cracker and wash it down with a cold dr. pepper and it is gooood. If you like sardines these are WAY better We do around 100 jars a year. I'm 44 and have done this since i was old enough to run a pick around the net to get fish out. We have been in December before where we had to put dirt on the ramp to get the boat back out due to ramp icing over.