# Sunbeam says we need some post and pics



## tbone2374 (Feb 27, 2010)

Ok fellow 2 coolers, Sunbeam is getting bored with our lack of abilities to provide him adequate entertainment, on the Fresh Water Board. I'm going Catfish (jugging in the morning) and Crappie fishing while the jugs are doing their thing.... always willing to do my part, but in the mean time ............ What's the very best single outing, you've ever had, any lake, whether it be with your kiddos, best of friends, wives, enemies, or just by yourself? Not neccesarily the most fish, just the most fun, or the most meaningful! I'm talking about that trip that sticks in your mind and the first one to come up in conversation. I'll start it off with... My oldest son and I caught roughly 280 White Bass one time below the Dam... What a blast!!! My arm got sore from reeling ... The other time was just recently when I caught the Two big sharks! ... Your turn!


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

About the most fun I have had on the water was in 1974. In was a moon lite night on Chalong beach in Phuket. Thailand. I was skinny dipping with two young "puyings" ......oh wait my wife reads these post. (Google puying)

The next best time was standing knee deep in the main feeder stream feeding lake Tarawera just outside Rotarua New Zealand. For two hours before dark I was catching 5 to 7 pound rainbows on every cast of the fly. My shoulder gave out on the third day.
So I went up to Auckland and went tuna fishing. But that is another story.
The link shows the stream on the right side of the main lake. I went from Jararta Indonesia to New Zealand five years in a row in the early 80's.
Yes, I have been there and done that, too.

http://www.rotorua.nz.com/lake-tarawera.aspx


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## tbone2374 (Feb 27, 2010)

D----, I forgot to mention (Sunbeam) Keep it clean. LOL


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## Listo (Jun 26, 2010)

Wow! That is awesome Sunbeam! I would have to say one of my best fresh water experiences was with my Uncle Fred Thornberry back in 87. He took me and my cousin Martin on a guided fishing trip below the livingston dam. The guys had pontoon boats with decks on top of them anchored under the cable that went across the trinity. We started off by getting there right at daylight, running up the river, and the guide shooting a few water turkeys for catfish bait with a .22. I thought that was really cool as a kid. We got back to the pontoon boats and these guys would cast all the way up near the dam with those big rods with a hunk of water turkey on it or a white bucktail jig. We caught 270lbs. of catfish, stripers, and white bass in 4-5 hours. It was a great trip. I caught the biggest fish. A 49 lb. blue cat on a water turkey neck. Still the biggest catfish I have ever caught. Uncle Fred was a professor and head of poultry science at Texas A&M for years and one heck of a fisherman. He got in a car accident about 8 months ago and is paralyzed now. God bless him for taking us on that trip. I have caught tons of marlin, sailfish, etc. and fished the tournaments "Poco" and that great stuff for years. But that trip has always stuck in my head as just about my best experience.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

*The Silver King and Palametto*

Back in the 70's, Tarpon Alley was unknown to most people along the coast. It was during that time that Mike Williams began to write about it in various publications.

Before Mike came on the scene publically, my best buddy and I were making regular Kingfish trips on relatively calm summer days and dreaming of maybe someday seeing our coast return to the glory days of Tarpon fishing. One mid-August day, armed with light King tackle, we found it, what was later made famous by Mike and others. We jumped an estimated 60 Tarpon that day landing only a few and releasing all but the very first one I caught. That fish turned out to be the smallest of those we hooked that day. Did battle with a 200 pound class fish for over 2 hours ultimately loosing the great fish to a Kingfish that cut the line hitting the cigarfish bait that had moved up the line. That "discovery" was documented by Joe Doggett in the Houston Chron and later Mike made the area famous the World over as the return of the Texas Tarpon.

Have since had the great honor of catching well over 100 Tarpon, but that first one will always be the most special.

Next best fun day was a couple of years ago, down on the lower Mexican carrib coast. Had been trying for several years to land a Permit on a fly rod, one of the most difficult fish to fool and catch on the fly. One great day, got that first Permit and then proceeded to land the Grand Slam. To me the Permit was the thing and the Grand Slam was nice but nothing like that first Permit on the fly.


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## Danny O (Apr 14, 2010)

I threw up in Mike Williams boat one day. No tarpon either.


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## wwind3 (Sep 30, 2009)

Toledo Bend 1969-70ish. Spring-Housen Bay. Launched out of 944 Park with my best fishin buddy. 14 ft jon boat(rented) 9.8 Merc.

On the water around 7am. Noticed some fish movement on the bank on North Bank of housen creek. Lots of brush between us and the bank. Started throwing spinner baits and it was on. Lots of times we would hook up and have to power in and get the fish that were hung up or laying on top of a log. Didnt affect the bite.

I'm talking BIG bass--4-6 lbs. About 9am here comes a spring norther and we headed across Housen bay in that little boat to Fin 'n Feather and put the boat in a stall and started counting fish. 23 bass. My bud took a pic of me(small black and white I still have) holding the fish. We went up to the restaurant and had breakfast and watched the storm roll thru. 

About 1030 it was a 15-20 north wind(earlier it was a south wind blowing into our bank) Also went from cloudy to bluebird. We decided to go back out with not much hope of catching more. Wrong--the fish only moved to a little deeper water on the edge of the brush and we kept catching and keeping and culling till we couldnt close the lid on the ice chest.

Didnt know how many we had at the time but later when I cleaned them it was a tad over the 30 fish limit  We were finished by around 3 and probably had caught over 50 bass in a stretch of bank maybe 150-200 yds long.

I can still see a 7 plus pounder lying on top of a laydown with a spinner bait hanging out his mouth. Before we could get to him he flopped up into the air and spit the bait. Awesome day with a good friend I've fished with over 50 yrs now and it is still as much fun as it was 40 yrs ago.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Danny O said:


> I threw up in Mike Williams boat one day. No tarpon either.


Mike is really a character. He reminds me of some Florida Keys guides in his "approach". The term "old salt" must have been coined with Mike in mind. A great, great angler.

He used to pride himself, perhaps still does, on 90 straight guided days of Tarpon fishing every summer. To do that, day after day, in all kinds of conditions, fighting the elements, sharks and jacks, and sometimes Tarpon, takes one tough individual...and he is one tough dude.


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## FISHROADIE (Apr 2, 2010)

This is a picture from 5 years ago when I first started fishing for hybrids on lake Conroe. We caught 15 that day it was early enough in the year that we were able to release almost all we caught, these 3 were on at the same time, the big one did not make it, it weighed almost 13 lbs I had it mounted.


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## uncle dave (Jul 27, 2008)

I'm disappointed Sunbeam did'nt post pictures.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

uncle dave said:


> I'm disappointed Sunbeam did'nt post pictures.


No current photos. The wife has drop tested the two cheap cameras and I am not allowed to use the Canon.
The below are things that I am very interested. The Twins, 1st mate sticking his hand through a cinder block, nature and last but not least , TRAINS.

In fact Sunbeam is the name of a steam powered streamliner that ran daily from Houston-Dallas_Houston from 1925 to 1955. It was train No 13 & 14. It made the 276 miles in 276 minutes. One of its few stops was at a little depot outside of Bryan called College Station. There will be a history quiz tomorrow.


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## rocket34 (Jul 7, 2009)

Sunbeam,

I spent week in Phuket one weekend and I hear you.


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## Lonestar Proud (Oct 26, 2010)

Here are a few pics.

My wife's first keeper hybrid caught on Lake Tawakoni:









My dad with a 16" Crappie. I really enjoyed this week of fishing with my dad on Lake Palestine:









My youngest daughter playin in the mud & water!









A nice haul of white bass and one lone crappie caught by my dad & I last May:









One of my twin nephew's and a white bass he caught trolling the old 190 roadbed Memorial weekend:









Sunrise the morning of my 50th B-Day. Guess what I did that day??









6 lb 10 oz LMB at night on a crankbait:









6 lb 1 oz LMB on a rattletrap:









July sunset on Lake Livingston:









Night time mixed bag of hybrids, white's, and a LMB:


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## Kickapoo Duke (May 15, 2010)

Some bass I caught off my dock in Dec 2008. Caught after midnight on wild eyed minnow. Kept overnight in fish basket and released the next day. A friend told me the wild eyed minnow was good for crappie; after I caught these, I called and told him it wasn't, I hadn't caught a crappie yet.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

*Best Trip*

tbone2374's original post: What's the very best single outing, you've ever had, any lake, whether it be with your kiddos, best of friends, wives, enemies, or just by yourself?

Okay, my best trip ever was for....you guessed it, white bass. And, it was my old love, the spawn. The ex and I found the whites so stacked up it was unbelievable, and not another boat around. Using maribou Roadrunners, we caught fish virtually every cast for a long time. It was catch & release for us, which was common. The single hook on the Roadrunner always caught the upper lip, which allowed us to grab the lower jaw with our thumbs. But of us had absolutely raw thumbs after the trip from the sandpaper lower jaws. The fish were so thick I joked that "I bet you don't have to cast." I left 5 feet of line between rod tip and lure and caught 2 fish (I only tie on 1 lure) in less than a minute just moving the lure beside the boat. This was in a creek with the river very high. The only downer? The buffalo gnats or black flies were as thick as the whites, and they bite! We each had to wear ski masks to keep them off our face. These knit masks only had a small hole for your mouth and of course 2 eye holes. I remember once I had a a gnat in one eye, I inhaled another, but was still amazed at how good the fishing was, LOL.

Another trip, another year, we caught 200 between us in the river in a short morning trip.


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## Jeff G (May 18, 2010)

*"The Dream Trip" - Lake Conroe*

Great thread idea Tbone !

On February 13 th of this year John3:16 and I had a jug trip on Lake Conroe which we have referred to as "The Dream Trip " We caught 93 catfish between 2 and 10 pounds and we caught , photographed and released 28 Cpr's of which eight were 40 pounds or more !! Also , on this trip , we caught a double cpr on one jug of a 36 pounder and a 24 pounder . Almost every jug had a big fish on it or multiple fish of 3-4 on it. This is a trip that I will always remember and a trip that we will always try to compete against to try to beat this winter .

*Here is the list of our CPR's *

*22 , 26, 40, 46, 12, 18, 24.5, 40, 24, 32, 24.5, 38, 27, *
*43, 52.5, 48, 24, 36, 22, 46.5, 25, 26.5, 22.5, , 10,*
*36, 36, 34, and 65 pounds !!*

I was able to video every fish that we caught and released . The video of John catching the 65 pounder is one of my favorite videos . We were both so excited because this was our first big catfish to ever catch over 60 pounds .

Here is the youtube link :


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## Fishon21 (Jul 16, 2010)

*Best days remembered*

Back in the early 80s i was fishing a bass tournament on houston
county lake out of crockett texas in the spring and i took first place,
I was using a white snagless sally spinner bait with gold blades and caught so many bass it took the gold off the bait, i took largest fish with a 6.11lb bass also .

Back in the early 90s my mom , wife and myself went to seawolf park durning the fall flounder migration , we were in my boat on side where the
flats are at, we were catching flounder so fast all i could do is net the fish 
rebait for those girls we ended up with 38 keeper flounder, the limit was 20 a day back then.


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## Fishon21 (Jul 16, 2010)

*Best days remembered*

Back in the early 80s i was fishing a bass tournament on houston
county lake out of crockett texas in the spring and i took first place,
I was using a white snagless sally spinner bait with gold blades and caught so many bass it took the gold off the bait, i took largest fish with a 6.11lb bass also .

Back in the early 90s my mom , wife and myself went to seawolf park durning the fall flounder migration , we were in my boat on side where the
flats are at, we were catching flounder so fast all i could do is net the fish 
rebait for those girls we ended up with 38 keeper flounder, the limit was 20 a day back then.


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## Listo (Jun 26, 2010)

Awesome stories and pictures!!


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## Kickapoo Duke (May 15, 2010)

Great video Jeff, you guys were having a great time


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## tbone2374 (Feb 27, 2010)

Awesome Cat, great video... I've heard John 3:16 is quite the Catfisherman!


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Jeff G, what a trip! Livingston is good for cats obviously, but I have heard of other trips similar to yours on Conroe. Maybe not as good as yours, but still very good. Those that know how to really jug and practice CPR on cats over 10 pounds seem to occasionally have remarkable trip on Conroe.


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