the "Real fish kill of 2021" in progress

[Leemo]

Only " Real Fish Kill " I see are in these photos.

1. You're hanging that fish by his throat for a picture. Hey look at me, I'm a purist... killing this fish for my picture. Absolutely zero back hand to help maintain his weight out of water. You're literally killing that fish for a picture.

2. At least you're helping on your back hand but what's up with you having his head completely jacked backwards. I'm sure that's a healthy way to handle a giant fish. Gotta get that pic!

3. Hey look at me I drug this fish all the way back to the weigh in to show everyone how much of a purist I am and have absolutely zero interest in killing trophies [emoji849]. Fish looks exhausted and drier than a 50 year old woman after menopause.

4. Another throat hanger with zero support, gotta get that weight and pic!

I'm sure Lemmo our local crabber appreciates you more than you know.

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Shane you are correct.....
I find them floating all the time , January-December!

[PondPopper]

And I would bet that most of ya'll commenting have to go buy fish when its time to have a fish fry... LMAO...

[Mexico]

Let me get this straight.... you start a thread running your mouth about guides killing fish...

Then move to basically anyone who keeps a trophy fish you have zero respect for...

Then you show pictures of yourself killing said fish...

You're either the biggest troll I've ever seen or the biggest puta.... I'll go with the latter.

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[cmwessels]

Well, my attitude is the problem. If the limit is 5 fish, I want to keep 5 fish every time I go out.
I should keep just what I plan on eating then. After eating those fish, go catch more.
I hear too many people throwing away freezer burned fish from last year.

Ding!!!!

[AtTheWall]

idk. but after the longest stretch in modern times w/out a major fish freeze, you would think we would have had some bigger trout. but i do know what happened to p mans/baffin and emb when all the guides started using croaker.. whether people admit it or not, they put a hurtin on anything over 22".. somehow, with all the pressure/development on tx lakes, they still turn out water body records. when was the last time a bay specific trout record was broken? and count me among the many that give no credibility to bud rowland's trt, the only dang fish txpwd certified without seeing it... but that is a subject for another day..

May 23, 2002

Fly fisherman - stalking redfish in 1ft of skinny water below Port Mansfield. Thought he was stalking a small school of redfish - sunrise flat near spoil islands (night time spawn begins late May - June around the ICW Spoil Islands) down thru the Laguna Madre. He said this school, their backs were clipping the water surface as they stalked like redfish

Made his cast, didn't hook the biggest fish in the school, said the entire school was sized very similar, all 30 class girls.

37 1/4"
15lbs 6 oz
Fly rod with a 16lb tippet
Fly Pattern Rowland's custom tied NUMERO UNO FLY
8 inches of water

[Clay C]

Only " Real Fish Kill " I see are in these photos.

1. You're hanging that fish by his throat for a picture. Hey look at me, I'm a purist... killing this fish for my picture. Absolutely zero back hand to help maintain his weight out of water. You're literally killing that fish for a picture.

2. At least you're helping on your back hand but what's up with you having his head completely jacked backwards. I'm sure that's a healthy way to handle a giant fish. Gotta get that pic!

3. Hey look at me I drug this fish all the way back to the weigh in to show everyone how much of a purist I am and have absolutely zero interest in killing trophies [emoji849]. Fish looks exhausted and drier than a 50 year old woman after menopause.

4. Another throat hanger with zero support, gotta get that weight and pic!

I'm sure Lemmo our local crabber appreciates you more than you know.

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I do often get a chuckle at the catch and release purists on Social Medias who rag on people for keeping fish, then post pictures of them treating a fishes gills like their prom date or dangling a heavy fish by a boga with a caption like "Catch, Snap, Release!".


That fish is dead bruh

[rtp]

Im going to continue following the catch phrase, Just Keep 5 that was coined and caught popularity about 15-20 years ago on the lower coast. I like to eat trout and five is a good number. I turn back the bigger fish but I will say if I ever catch a legit 10+ trout I will probably keep it. Flame on, I can take it!

The 5 fish limit is already set at a conservation level. Those guides running two trips a day may want to reconsider their impact on the fishery but the avg recreational fisherman isnt doing any damage to the resource. Hell most cant catch 5 legal trout in a day until barking monkey season rolls around.

[AtTheWall]

They should make it first 5 fish. Trout dont do well once handled. You may feel good releasing them but facts are about 50/50 survival unless it has dramatically increased in last 5 years when i read that. Redfish do well when released

Bingo

I read some about Louisiana and their 12" minimum

There's a method to this madness - MALE SPECKS DO NOT EXCEED 16-20" period - full grown

So if you make the minimum limit 16" - The bulk of the MALE fish are not targeted and the 16 - 20" specks, are young females. So here in Texas, we target literally nothing but female fish based on the size limitation of the male speck species, and our slot size, which does badly for females and 50/50 for male species

I remember Texas once had a 12" speck limit slot size. I scored my trophy girls when our slot minimum was lower

They claim reducing it to 12", would kill more males but, they mention it would kill more females as well. I think they have it all wrong, since to me, the take would be more 50/50 mix between male and female in the very young fish class. Right now, it's more female than male because the limits of the males total length, is at the far side of their size on our current size scale.

According to TPWD - Guides take about 40-45% of the total speckled trout harvest in Texas annually and, guiding for redfish and specks, bread and butter bait setups with croaker taking honors for 4 - 6 months of the year for all guides.

Croaker runs - all in the past now. I'm ****** I can't chase bull croaker with a fly rod during the fall migrations. They fight hard on fly class gear.......**** speckled trout weekend warriors, killing all my Croaker!

That's OK - Mangrove Snapper, Snook and Tarpon are now more on my menu these days, than specks. Decades of chasing speckled trout - new challenges for me.

Here's some food for thought - braid lines and big trout with stiff Graphite rod blanks = Lose a lot of big specks because the tackle has zero give, in rod blank action and or line stretch, on a big speck with a SOFT MOUTH

So many today, really don't know how to fish for big trophy speckled trout with TACKLE THAT FITS THAT SOFT MOUTH PROFILE

I bet a few dozen here, who lost a good fish, using stiff blanks and non-stretch braid lines, thinking it was a good redfish that came unbuttoned?

I bet many would cringe to realize, the big tug that felt like a 30" redfish was in fact that big girl, who never surfaced and stayed down till the line went slack and hook pulled.

Just saying.......I fish super light mono line on blanks that have a lot of parabolic give, on my big trout rods.

Here's my take on Rowland's big fly caught speck.........he had a fly rod blank with a mono 16 lb tippet. I can hook and land 30" skip jacks all day long on one of my fly rods blanks in the surf......the reason is.......the blank gives and flexes as they get airborne trying to fling that hook. Stiff blank and stiff line on my baitcasters or spinning gear - skip jack tosses the hook everytime. That some hook on a fly rod, they stay buttoned up till I release them.

Think about what I just typed for a moment - unbutton versus buttoned and land?

Specks, big specks - need a soft soft rod with some stretch or a very loose drag otherwise many, are short hits and misses because you feel that strike and pick up line in reaction with today's gear....which pulls that lure out of the specks mouth quicker versus a flexible rod tip with line stretch - lets that bait stay on those lips just a micro second longer and when the hookset happens, that fish will load up the line like a redfish on steroids (these big specks fight like redfish-powering and staying down deep with many, never head shaking like their smaller class cousins).

In the past, we used SPECK POPPING BLANKS and Quality mono lines with rated breaking strengths, so that line had a lot of stretch to give.

Today's angler knows zero about the old ways of hooking and landing trophy specks - using mono and fiberglass to stay connected and absorbing the shock of a very soft mouthed fish. Add size and weight to that soft mouth = less chance at staying hooked up with stiff gear.

My .2

[HUNTNETIME]

I know it happens, but who the heck is telling you folks they threw away a bunch of freezer burned fish from last year? LOL. I've never once had any of my friends tell me that.

[Clay C]

I know it happens, but who the heck is telling you folks they threw away a bunch of freezer burned fish from last year? LOL. I've never once had any of my friends tell me that.

It's one of those uncommon things that became popular to say.

Kind of like "You won't believe this, but my Wife has a girl in her class named La-a. The dash is silent!"


No she doesn't and no your neighbors aren't throwing out fish.

[bloodtrailer28]

I know it happens, but who the heck is telling you folks they threw away a bunch of freezer burned fish from last year? LOL. I've never once had any of my friends tell me that.

have never heard that before now. Most vacuum seal these days anyway greatly reducing freezer burned fish. Those saying I will keep 5 eat them and go catch more when I want some more filets. That's great when you live down there and have the ability to do that. Some of us live a few hours away and enjoy eating fish often sharing them with our friends/family.

[glen]

You drink White Claw

[glen]

On my boat you can throw croakers, pin fish, topwater, i dont care. Both dont put a 12 pack of skinny white cans in my cooler

[rtp]

It's one of those uncommon things that became popular to say.

Kind of like "You won't believe this, but my Wife has a girl in her class named La-a. The dash is silent!"


No she doesn't and no your neighbors aren't throwing out fish.

This is correct but.....I have met two women named Delisha.

[bollomb]

On my boat you can throw croakers, pin fish, topwater, i dont care. Both dont put a 12 pack of skinny white cans in my cooler