Some of you guys take fishing all to seriously. If your a guide or fish for a living I can understand it, but I fish as a past time, and it is almost all catch and release. Take a picture and put it back in the water so there are more fish to be caught next year.

I try to record most of the notable fish I catch and what I caught it on in a photo. I think I have the form your looking for. Photos are more fun and don't take the time it takes to fill out the form and the paper forms take up a lot of space and get wet where as I can have 10,000 photos on a 64 gig memory card.
Have fun what ever you do, but share some photos of the fish you catch.

I find the lures I use the most are the ones I catch the most fish on!?! Oxymoron? I use Mepps a lot, and they make a Crawler Harness that is Killer with a Gulp worm but most of my Mepps are #3-#5 blades, not really ultra light. Chatterbaits are another great lure I catch a lot of fish on and I do like the 1/16 or 1/8 oz chatterbaits with leaches hanging off them. In the photos here half of the fish are caught of the dock out back, and the beat up #3 Mepps I caught the Mini Musky and the Bass on is now in the South fork of the Crow river below the dam in Watertown Minnesota, I did buy another smaller Mepps to replace it.
I carry 3-5 rods with me most of the time and 1 is light or ultra light, but I still use a heavier braided line, because I like the way it casts, and how thin it is. I will catch a couple of hundred fish on Mepps every year, but only because I use Mepps a lot!
I wish you guys would Post more pictures of what your talking about!
https://jemstone90.wixsite.com/bigmnfish/copy-of-gulp-soft-baits

After enlisting during Vietnam and serving 4 years in an 8" howitzer battalion it really rubs me wrong that the current administration wants to give away American citizenship to illegals and has done nothing to tighten the borders to prevent the flood of low lifes from 3rd world countries from infiltrating OUR country. If the people claiming to be christian want to improve the life of the Somalians, let them go to Somalia, don't bring them over here. Am I prejudice? I am proud to be an American and don't want to see the country run into the ground by importing people that let their own county go to hell.

The under water camera is called CFish. It was the cheapest one I could find and its only black and white and the photo I posted was taken of the screen with a digital camera I carry with me. The CFish comes with a 60' cord, 9 led lights on the camera, and a remote control that allows me to spin it 360 or stop it any time I want. I have been using it for 3 years and this year I had to replace the battery for $26. I paid $200 for the camera complete with carrying case which is a must for containing and carrying it around. I have a video of a northern swimming up to the camera too. Most of these were taken under the ice, which works like a big florescent light and lets you see more. Try this link
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=cfish+r1+underwater+camera&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.in-fisherman.com%2Ffiles%2Funderwater-cameras%2Fcfish-r-1-in-fisherman.jpg&t=newext&atb=v257-7__

I have a open bow Glastron for a fishing boat, but I thought having a Kayak on the car roof would be a good idea for dropping in some of the small local lakes. I have friends my age in the 65-70 range that told me kayaks were a younger mans toy but I bought one anyhow. After the second time being out in it for a couple of hours I could hardly walk when I got out of it, and had a hard time standing upright for more than a week. My wife thought it was fun so I told her she could have it if she could pick it up and put it on top of her car. I sold it a week later. I am thinking of a 13' canoe now.... you can move around a little more and stay dryer than on a sit on top kayak.
My point is your never to old to make mistakes or to go fishing.

https://jemstone90.wixsite.com/bigmnfish/about

The Z-Man EYE STRIKE™ ® MINI CHATTERBAIT® MICRO DIEZEL CHATTERBAIT
®FLASHBACK® MINI are all killer in shallow water with a leach or worm hanging off it. I like the leaches the best, they stay hooked on the best. Fat Heads work pretty good too. Whopper Ploppers and Berkley Choppos are fun in shallow water too!

I still have a boat with a very similar Hummingbird depth finder/fish locator in it. It seems to tell you depths within a foot or so and has helped me avoid running aground several times. As for finding fish it seems to give you a sense of weather there are fish in the area and how deep they are. The under water camera is more fun and ACTUALLY shows you what kind of fish are below you. It is a thrill when you can actually watch the fish take your bait. My bait is what is circled in the photo above, suspended at that depth using bobber stops. In Minnesota it is illegal to use lights to attract fish, but not to use a camera that has 9 led lights on it. Lots of fish swim up to the camera to see what it is.

If you have sporting goods stores near you, watch for sales. I have a Dick's, Sheels, Fleet Farm, Gander Outdoors and a number of small private owned sporting good stores all within about 15 miles from home. I live in the middle of a 14,000 acre lake, so garage sales are a good place to find fishing stuff too! Depending on what you are fishing for it really doesn't take much tackle. A few different size hooks, floats and weights is about ALL you need. Worms, leaches and minnows will catch pretty much EVERY fish you will find in fresh water lakes. I have well over $2,500.00 in tackle, most of it is still in the package it came in. When Gander Mountain sold out it started at 40% off. Then 60% then 70%, it ended at 90% off before it closed its doors. Every time I drove by it I dropped another $100.00 or so. During the season I run an aerator in a Coleman cooler to keep my minnows alive, and I also have a few battery operated aerators and I keep $5 worth of batteries on hand

https://jemstone90.wixsite.com/bigmnfish/hard-tackle

I live in MN also and have found Rods and Reels at both the thrift store and the Pawn shop at Rice and Larpenter. I ran into the Salvation Army at Moore Lake Rd. in Fridley when the were liquidating a sporting goods store and had racks of NEW rods for $7.50 and reels for $7.50 each so I bought about $100.00 worth. A week later I was back in there and bought another $100.00 worth. The following week they were 1/2 off so it was a rod and reel for $7.50. Surprise I spent another $100.00 or so. None of them were real high end but I have nothing against Berkley, Shakespeare, Zebco or Pflueger, they were all BRAND NEW. In the summer I hit garage sales around Lake Minnetonka and if your lucky you find one that the old man kicked off and the widow just wants the stuff off the estate, or the guy got caught sticking it to the secretary and the wife is going to stick it to the old man by dumping ALL his sporting goods for next to nothing. Collecting rods reels and tackle has turned into a hobby that I enjoy! When my wife wants to complain about it, I ask her if she would rather I spent the money in the bar or chasing women. That's the end of the conversation, I bought her a pink rod and reel that she is pretty proud of.
https://jemstone90.wixsite.com/bigmnfish/rods-reels

My Grandfather was born in the late 1800's and died the year I was born. He hand made a 4 piece bamboo fly rod and had his wife (my Grandmother) make a cloth case with 4 slots for it. My dad passed it on to me in the mid 70's. My brother took it fishing on his bike. On the ride home he got the case with the rod in it in the spokes of his bike and busted ALL 4 pieces in half. My dad took the longest piece and let my brother know what kind of welts bamboo will leave on his back side.

Since I fish lakes with BIG toothy fish in them and have lost a number of fish for that reason, for the last six years I have used a relatively heavy braid with vinyl coated steel leaders. In that time I fish every Friday and Monday during the spring summer and fall (its Minnesota). I average 250-500 Large Mouth every year with that setup. This year I am going to try Fluorocarbon leaders on my Bass and Pan Fish Rods to see if I can tell if it makes a difference. I am not sure I want it to, catching 10-20 fish in a day is exhausting, do I want to catch more?

https://jemstone90.wixsite.com/bigmnfish/muskie

I catch hundreds of Large Mouth every year. If I really want to catch fish I use Fat Heads, Shiners, or Sucker Minnows, If they won't hit live bait they are messing with you! Swim Baits are fun, and if you want a real thrill get a Whopper Plopper or Choppo and watch the fish come out of the water and hit your lure.

https://jemstone90.wixsite.com/bigmnfish/copy-of-largemouth-bass-1

I moved from Minnesota to Altamonte Springs in 2004, after Hurricane Jeanne tore up half a million roofs around Orlando. I only lasted about 3 1/2 months. When the sun bakes the red off of stop signs, with 80% humidity being common place, it still took me quite a while to figure out I don't like being sweaty and stinking by 9 AM. I lived with the Little Wekiva as my back yard, the first sign said "NO SWIMMING ALLIGATORS" and the next sign said "CAUTION VENOMOUS SNAKES IN TALL GRASS" with a dead Water Moccasin near by. I am back in Minnesota and it's the middle of the winter, but it won't be long before I am in shorts, safely wading in the lakes and rivers again.

How Much Do Each Boat Type Depreciate In Value?
Before we dive into the examples for each boat type, here are the numbers we came up with during our research.
Boat Type Value left at 3 years. Value left at 5 years. Value left at 10 years.
Bow Rider 66% 57% 34%
Cabin Cruiser 65% 51% 40%
Cuddy Cabin 87% 75% 63%
Fishing Boat – Aluminum 79% 65% 40%
Fishing Boat – Fiberglass 80% 70% 47%
Pontoon Boat 71% 60% 51%
Sail Boats & Yachts 91% 85% 73%
I have friends that financed their boat? I have neighbors that don't think twice about paying $85,000.00 in property taxes every year and have parties for 100 of their friends on their boat. I paid cash for my boat and it serves me well! I boat for enjoyment, not to impress anyone. I am impressed with my neighbors ship, I have only been on it once, had dinner and went home. Lake Minnetonka has some of the richest people in Minnesota living around it, and it's going to take a lot more than I will ever have to impress them!