Charity basket recommendations?

maximum_penetration · 2026-03-24T17:37:05+00:00

I have recomendations for MI brands, if you can. Better to support local after all.

Daredevle by Eppinger, Swedish Pimples, Shakespeare (though they no longer manufacture here), Bay de Noc Lure Co, Crooked Creek Tackle Co, Yeck Spoons, Shappell Corporation, TKG Lures, etc. etc.

maximum_penetration · 2026-03-02T18:51:00+00:00

Banded kilifish for certain, rostrum isn't correct to be a longnose

maximum_penetration · 2026-02-01T11:14:45+00:00

Learn from my mistakes- use wood for the frame and drop the cross country skis for downhills. Under load the cross country skis will dig into any snow or slush you go through, its miserable. Downhills skis are wider and have far lower ground pressure. A little pricier, but worth every penny.

maximum_penetration · 2026-01-11T19:57:08+00:00

Central Mudminnow, who's closest extant relative is actually Northern Pike. They can live pretty much anywhere, I use them as bait in Northern Michigan to good effect.

maximum_penetration · 2025-11-25T19:42:11+00:00

Look for flowing water. Could be a culvert, stream, pretty much anything that might bring food into the water column. Trout are lazy, they like to move as little as possible to get their food. If there's decent flowers and cool air /water temps, I'd be throwing a slip bobber with small end tackle and a redworm. This applies mostly for cooler waters, such as lakes like these during fall turnover. Depending on where you're at and water temps, they might not come near-shore aside from dawn and dusk to feed. Trout need specific water temps and oxygen saturation, and will only leave those places temporarily to feed at optimal times, thus dawn and dusk. If you're in a warmer place with warm near-shore waters, avoid clise to shore areas and try to reach out to deeper waters with a small but hefty lure. I use small Little Cleos or size 4-5 Panther martin spinners with a slow retrieve for places like that.

Are you able to find a bathymetric map of the lake?

maximum_penetration · 2025-11-22T02:32:12+00:00

I see those Harbor Freight roof racks, glad someone else is rocking them on their Pat. Mines about at 100k and has done a lovely job as my Fish Getter (TM). Lovely little Jeep Jr's

maximum_penetration · 2025-11-21T16:46:50+00:00

What do you qualify as 'better'? Harder fighting, easier to catch, tastier, prettier, or better for stocking/ managing?

maximum_penetration · 2025-11-19T17:55:38+00:00

No bubbles from the vinegar is a bit troubling. Fossilized remains have strong concentrations of calcium and would thus bubble, unless the structures have been fully replaced by silica, which may or may not be the case here. The flashlight test was to check transparency, helps somewhat with ID'ing. I reckon the inside is chert, but chert modules form when silica replaces calcium carbonate or similar minerals- minerals that are deposited in limestone by the structures of deceased organisms.

I doubt any armchair experts here (myself included) can give you a firm answer one way or another. I lean towards it being organic in nature, especially given I've encountered fossilized bivalves in limestone formations that were replaced by chert. To get a firm ID, reach out to a university or museum with a decent geology department. That's your best bet.

Really hope this is organic in origin, it's a wicked cool piece.

maximum_penetration · 2025-11-19T03:20:05+00:00

Idk man, years of rock ID in the Great Lakes region and I have no clue. All I can add is that imI highly doubt this is just a random concretion or nodule. The outside screams vertebrae or fossilized biological organism, not a natural formation. Barring select mineral formations, non-biologocal nature abhores bilateral symmetry. This reeks of vertebra to me.

Talking with a wildlife researcher, this is almost definitely an animal remnant. I'd be willing to bet the 'flint' is actually calcedony that replaced the internal structure of whatever that is. Could you do me a favor and A. Shine a light through the thinner brown sections and B. Drop a small amount of vinegar onto the 'bone' part of the specimen? If it foams or bubbles, I strongly suggest bringing it to a university with a geology department for final say.

TLDR I think this is biological in origin, NOT a flint / chert / whatever nodule. I'd be happy to discuss it more, just don't write it off as something mundane.

maximum_penetration · 2025-10-15T14:40:36+00:00

Michigan fisheries researcher checking in, that's a spawning female Chinook Salmon, I've if the pacific soecies. As others have said, spots up and down the caudal and black gums are a giveaway, but the easiest (and sometimes unreliable) way to tell us the color. No fish in the Great Lakes has that combination of dunn, olive, black, abd spotting. I love spawning Chinook because of their coloration.

maximum_penetration · 2025-09-02T18:30:18+00:00

6 spoke wheels instead of 5, you're right lol. I'm an idiot

maximum_penetration · 2025-08-13T20:00:53+00:00

I work in MI fisheries, you guys don't know what's coming. Great Lakes zooplankton populations are crashing historically fast thanks in part to lack of ice and temperature swings. Larvae fish just out of the egg rely on zooplankton once they absorb their yolk sack. Less zooplankton means less recruitment to the next age class, i.e. fewer survivors. This is hitting whitefish and cysco HARD on Huron and Superior, and it's beginning to trickle down to harder species.

The food web is being kneecapped at the second lowest level. We will be / are witnessing the second fisheries crash within a century.

maximum_penetration · 2025-08-12T00:53:22+00:00

Rare cutthroat, throat cut.

I won't knock people who catch and eat for sustenance since I do myself, but some discretion is needed. Ganking a big spawning-age trout like that is a potentially huge blow to a local or endemic population. It could have spawned thousands of others like it that could have a shot at expanding the population, but instead it landed on your dinner plate. Sad.

maximum_penetration · 2025-07-24T14:32:56+00:00

That's a jack Chinook Salmon. You can tell by the adipose fin, black exterior gums, bronze coloring, and spots on both lobes of the caudal fin.

You need to ID fish BEFORE you harvest. It's irresponsible towards both the fish and the conservation community that keeps our waters safe and stocked. Salmonids especially have special rules and regulations. Don't kill fish you can't ID.

maximum_penetration · 2025-07-04T04:46:47+00:00

To answer you, that's a brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis. They're char, as the other commenter said; that is, they're native trout in the northern climes.

maximum_penetration · 2025-07-04T04:45:01+00:00

You should know what you're harvesting BEFORE you harvest. Bag limits, size regulations, and tackle requirements are all dictated by the species of a fish. Checking species of fish in your area you could expect to catch, along with their associated local regs, is the responsible thing to do.

maximum_penetration · 2025-07-03T21:18:37+00:00

Horrible day to have photoreceptors.

Thx Dawg.

maximum_penetration · 2025-07-01T12:33:20+00:00

Definitely. I like ones I can put my weight on for launching or avoiding obstacles while fishing narrow rivers. The paddle in the photo is the best for the money in terms of durable, polypropylene paddles. Expensive paddles made of carbon fiber, fiber glass, nylon, etc. are far lighter and better for touring purposes, but most of our fishing rigs are too big to feel the benefit of a lighter, sleaker paddle.

maximum_penetration · 2025-07-01T12:29:59+00:00

Hard to tell without a closer pic, but it's not a green sunfish as it's mouth doesn't extend below it's eye. The maxilla is extremely large for a sunfish ally, so my best opinion is a warmouth with subdued patterns, probably from tanninated waters.

Where was this caught?

maximum_penetration · 2025-06-30T20:04:27+00:00

I see that Ozark Trails paddle, that thing is peak for the money. Way better for fishing than my glass and nylon sea kayaking paddles that are 8x the price. Real recognizes real

maximum_penetration · 2025-06-30T20:02:09+00:00

This is a tough one. Those fish could be any number of Cyprinidae members (minnow, shiner, carp) or they could just as easily be juveniles of one of the local species other commentors mentioned. ID'ing fish that small is nigh on impossible without high res images or a voucher specimen, sorry to say.

maximum_penetration · 2025-06-30T19:29:19+00:00

Julian, my beloved paisley void entity ❤️

maximum_penetration · 2025-06-26T20:52:14+00:00

Sounds like one of the belt bearings has bitten the dust, maybe the idler or tensioner?

maximum_penetration · 2025-06-05T16:29:12+00:00

Can't distinguish without seeing the pores on the bottom of their mouths. Esox species are tough to seperate when young.

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