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Mooneye are in their own family actually and not related to minnows but certainly resemble them.
I have been pretty fortunate with my fishing, I have caught every species on the Vermont Master Angler Program list, although I still need to get a whitefish and a pike/pickerel hybrid large enough to qualify.The three I would love to get at some point are a lake sturgeon, mooneye and a quillback. Unfortunately, all of these are threatened or endangered... so, at least at this point I probably won't intentionally target them.There are a few species that I would love to get through the ice at some point though... bowfin is close to the top of that list! I love the idea of pulling a big mama bowfin through a hole!
Caught one of those through the ice with a metal scoop. A few years ago it was below zero and I was catching bluegills out of my fish trap at the Dillenback access in Alburgh. The bite kept falling off and a large bowfin would come right up in the hole gulping air. I got sick of it and when the hole started to go dark I grabbed my scoop and when she poked her head up I smacked it on the head. That scared the fish and it swung the tail and right up onto my lap it came. I was shocked and trying to stay away from those teeth and pushed it off my lap and it landed on the fish bucket knocking it and the Mr Buddy over. The top had become frozen down on the ice and I had to kick at the fabric to break it free to get the fish away from me. It was about 12 pounds and I had to cut a fresh 6" hole just to squeeze it back into the lake. The question...I have never caught a musky either through the ice or open water.
Walleye god those fish make me so angry!!! I grew up fishing small creeks and streams for trout....I'm a freaking trout slayer....anyways after getting out of the navy I moved by a very large river Susquehanna river....well I bought a jet boat and been chasing walleye on that river ever since ....I have chased them walleye around all dang ice season and yet to catch one....guys here in PA are super hush hush about walleye cannot get any pointers in regards to walleye.... I've read books watched countless shows....inside turns, humps, flats, points sharp breaks weed edges....I've made insight gennisis maps in the summer with my boat to gather contour maps for these small bodies of water...bc there are no contour maps available...needless to say I've spent countless hours preparing for ice season to just try to catch a dang walleye through the ice....I sure hope my luck changes this weekend hahaha....otherwise I'm selling this house and moving to some other state that has huge populations of walleye to catch.....The first few walleye that I caught through the ice came while I was fishing for trout in shallow water-3 ft...