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Planet X posted:Did y'all see the record halibut? I saw that the other day and that is a massive fish, I have caught some decent size fish deep sea fishing that were a fight to get in, I can not imagine pulling in something that big. I wonder if the meat on that would be worth eating?
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Aug 18, 2013 14:37
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Planet X posted:Did y'all see the record halibut? Wow, that is insane! I've heard halibut are pretty good fighters to begin with. Add that kind of mass and I bet it was an exhaustive fight. Impressive.
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Aug 18, 2013 21:49
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Congratz to the guy with the halibut. I think this brings up a good question. I was raised with the mentality of "it's your fish, you decide if you keep it or let it go". Now I have had the good fortune of fishing when ever I want salt or fresh water. So when I fish now I mostly practice CPR (catch photo release) on decent fish. Ok do make 2 trips a year where I will harvest fish, but if it's trophy it's let go. So what does the goon fishing squad think?
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Aug 19, 2013 00:15
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Welp, got to the jetty 15 mins after dawn, which I guess was my first mistake. Next time I gotta be more careful about this. Tried cut bait, dead shrimp, various artificial but all I caught was a couple of croakers and 2 cutlass fish. I never caught a cutlass fish and they're scary looking so that was at least neat, always good to get some novelty in nuisance fish. A least no one else was catching anything that I could see. Also It's nice to get on the water I guess Timbo posted:Congratz to the guy with the halibut. I release a lot but I have a hard time saying no to a slot redfish or a flounder or something similarly delicious. I would have totally harvested some mackerel today if I didn't suck so bad. I almost never keep anything I catch in freshwater, but that's mainly because the freshwater around here sucks pretty bad. I dunno, I just try not to do damage I guess, which is a lot more than most people apparently. Leaving their poo poo everywhere, harvesting too big or too small fish, etc. I've seen people taking 4 inch catfish home, I mean why bother? Did you just want to kill something?
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Aug 19, 2013 01:16
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Yeah I agree. I will keep my limit of crappie when they're spawning and I do keep catfish in the 3 to 8lb range but outside of those, I'd let everything go after a photo or two. The replica fish mounts these days are so photo-realistic that all you need to do is take a few pics showing the size and pattern and you'll get something that's almost an exact match a week later and a hell of a story/photos to go with it. Plus you let the next angler have a chance to catch their trophy fish as well. This would all go out the door if I caught one of those insanely huge tunas that sell for like $6-8k, however.
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Aug 19, 2013 01:17
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With regards to releasing that monster halibut, wouldn't it be too exhausted after fighting it for that long? Wouldn't it just die?
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Aug 19, 2013 01:38
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I am mostly a CPR myself, the only exception are crappie, sand bass and cat fish in the 2-5lb range, most of those go home with me for dinner since my family eats a lot of fish and I can not say no to a free, healthy meal. Everything else, gets a photo and a nice safe release back in the water.
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Aug 19, 2013 01:41
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Just CPR for me. Make more fish for me to fight next year  . Although I keep debating making a lunch out of brookies some time when I'm doing small creeks with the 3 weight.
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Aug 19, 2013 02:06
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I CPR 100% of the time. I'd keep some, but honestly I just don't feel like going through the work of cleaning them. Installed my anchor trolley last night. Gonna hit the water tomorrow "morning" and hope I don't sink from drilling holes!
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Aug 19, 2013 03:58
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Are fish safe to eat that I catch from a reservoir lake?
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Aug 19, 2013 13:21
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SERPUS posted:Are fish safe to eat that I catch from a reservoir lake? (Assuming you're American) you can go back to the place you got your fishing license from and they will probably have literature about which places are safe. NY State gave me a magazine with a surprisingly detailed table of all of the reservoirs in the state and which ones will poison me.
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Aug 19, 2013 14:34
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I completely forgot about this thread! I have a bunch of pictures from the last year or so of fishing, but I'll just post a couple. I had a pretty successful hard water season up in MN this past year. A few trips up to Lake of the Woods made for some memorable fish. Fishing was slow up there by their standards, but we still saw a lot of nice fish. We fished through Arnesen's rocky point resort which is top notch. They run an amazing operation, like 200+ ice fisherman a day go out through them! They have floating trackvans that take you out to your house and pick you up, plenty of minnows, and they really try to put you on the fish. This was a 21" walleye I believe, pretty fish! As we were taking this picture my brother walked in to the ice house after going for a snowmobile ride and said, "okay you F'ers, which one of you tripped the tip up, I'm not falling for that!"  We went out to check the tip up and it turns out no one was playing any tricks on anyone(we had tricked my brother by tying an ice scoop to his line while he was out of the ice house previously, which was pretty funny).  This looks massive but is actually just a 24.5" :shh:, masterful hold job by yours truly though, everyone I show this to thinks it's pushing 30"!  Here's another pike my old boss caught on a tip up, these beasts are a blast to catch on tip-ups. We put the minnow 1 foot below the ice(ice was 3.5 feet thick on like April 10th!!!), you can see how much of the line this thing ran out, they make some HUGE runs.  This was actually on the mississippi river last winter, I was fishing for panfish on my noodle rod and caught this ~2 lber. That was a fun fight on 2 lb test line and that super super lightweight rod.  Finally a more recent picture, we went on a fishing launch on lake mille lacs a few weekends ago for a friends bachelor party, big fish of the night was this 25.5" walleye! Tied for my 2nd biggest ever! 
DoctaFun fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 15:42
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Nice pics! I'm gonna pop my ice cherry this year I think, mostly for pike. Do walleye ever put up a fight? Most of the time I've fished for them I'd call them "mildly reluctant" at best.
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Aug 21, 2013 18:41
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DocMcgillicuddy posted:Nice pics! I'm gonna pop my ice cherry this year I think, mostly for pike. Do walleye ever put up a fight? Most of the time I've fished for them I'd call them "mildly reluctant" at best. They definitely put up a fight, especially when they get a little bigger. I think a 29" walleye would be more fun to catch than a 29" northern, but that's probably because a 29" walleye is getting close to 10 lbs, while the northern would probably be about 6 or 7. Well, and a 29" walleye is a once in a lifetime fish for a lot of people . That said, they fight a lot differently than northern. Northern as you know just take really long, extended runs in seemingly any direction. Walleye tend to try and move and stay due south(straight down). It also depends on what tackle you are using, I'm usually using really light gear for walleye, so the big ones definitely have the strength to pull line out. Living in Minnesota there is a certain 'mystique' around catching walleye though. They are a little more difficult to catch, I think you have to be a smarter fisherman to catch a lot of walleye, whereas you don't necessarily need to do much research to catch northern. I won't say there's no skill in catching northern though, because I do know a few people who can consistently put 35"+ northern on the ice, but only a few people. Northern are just a lot more aggressive, and overall probably more 'fun' to catch. They are a lot less fun to handle, clean and eat though(IMO). And definitely give ice fishing a try, if you don't have a boat it's a great opportunity to get on just about any lake and have a good chance to catch some fish. Number one tip I can give is to go with someone who knows what they are doing and get a flasher! My Marcum LX-5 is far and away the best fishing related purchase I've ever made(along with my gas auger). After you've fished with one, you will never want to be without one. I just with the lakes in the twin cities weren't fished so hard in the winter  .
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Aug 21, 2013 19:06
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drat am i jealous of that pikeperch! The lake i fish in has some of those, but without boat and lacking some good specialized bait they're pretty hard for me to get at. It's the most delicious fish IMO. Mostly i end up with pikes and perch, can't complain, they make a up a good fight (ok the pikes, not perch) and are delicious too. Perch i think taste better, but i prefer pike because it doesn't taste that much worse than perch and gives me alot more quantity of meat for the trouble of rinsing them. The other day i caught a decent food-sized pike, yummy:  On the topic of C&R: I kill only fish that are in the size range for food. Its mostly pike, so smaller than 40 cm i release. Which is also the guidelines in my area which i follow. Protected species i ofc don't kill. Too large pikes i wouldn't kill either, both because they taste worse and its beneficial to have those around as they take years to reach that size. And i don't kill more than i can eat either. Enough for some meals, not killing a bunch on a good day to fill a freezer. So one of those good days i don't take home more than maybe two decent sized pikes. Ofc, what and how much you can catch depends on the fish and the region, where i live there's no scarcity of food-sized pikes and perches, so im fortunate that i live near a big lake that is so generous. Swedens third largest lake, no fishing license required. Its also good to know how to handle them safely. Don't use landing nets with knots made out of natural textiles as they mess up the mucuous membranes of the fish, resulting in a slow infectious death. Unless you plan to kill it. For the same reason, where gloves or have wet hands if you need to handle the fish. And if its troublesome to remove the hook, use pliers. And if the fish you want to release is bleeding from its gills or eyes, you should kill it, because its unlikely it would survive if released. Falukorv fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 23:16
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I'm having lots of trouble with my new reel, a light spinning reel. It came pre-spooled with 6 lb. line. I'm using small 1/16 jigs and spinners because I'm just trying to catch these small crappie and bass from the lake. It seems like each time that I cast, I get a huge tangle that comes off of the spool before I can start reeling in. It looks like 3-4 different lines are coming off of the reel and tangling up around the first rod eye. What am I doing wrong? Every now and then I can get a clean cast, get the baler closed, and start reeling in, but for the most part I spend cutting out huge tangles and starting over. Is my lure too light for my line? Am I casting too hard? Help!
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Aug 22, 2013 17:28
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SERPUS posted:I'm having lots of trouble with my new reel, a light spinning reel. It came pre-spooled with 6 lb. line. I'm using small 1/16 jigs and spinners because I'm just trying to catch these small crappie and bass from the lake. It seems like each time that I cast, I get a huge tangle that comes off of the spool before I can start reeling in. It looks like 3-4 different lines are coming off of the reel and tangling up around the first rod eye. What am I doing wrong? Every now and then I can get a clean cast, get the baler closed, and start reeling in, but for the most part I spend cutting out huge tangles and starting over. When the line is slack does the line kind of look like a stretched out slinky? Given that it was prespooled, the line probably has memory issues where it's been on the spool from the factory so long that it wants to come off in coils and can jump off the reel while the bail is open. The multiple lines issue stems from it jumping off the spool and wrapping around itself during a cast, usually. I'd say get rid of the line that came with it and put fresh line on. I use both of these lines and I highly recommend the Vicious line, it's quite strong and with the right drag settings should land most fish but if you want insurance in an area with some big fish lurking you may want to use the Fireline Fused Crystal superline. I use 8lb myself but according to their chart at the bottom of the page you can go up to 14lb and it would be the same thickness as 6lb mono. Vicious Panfish Fireline Fused Crystal With that Vicious on my cheap spinning reel and a 6'5" light rod I can cast 1/16 and even 1/32 jigs without much of a problem at all.
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Aug 22, 2013 20:27
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Here's a nice bass I caught in a farm pond here in NW Missouri about 2 weeks ago.  Jesus that image was large - resized. I fish this place all the time and all I ever throw is a Berkeley Tequila Sunrise Power Worm. 
Ivan Yurkinov fucked around with this message at 21:50 on Aug 22, 2013 |
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Aug 22, 2013 21:47
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SERPUS posted:I'm having lots of trouble with my new reel, a light spinning reel. It came pre-spooled with 6 lb. line. I'm using small 1/16 jigs and spinners because I'm just trying to catch these small crappie and bass from the lake. It seems like each time that I cast, I get a huge tangle that comes off of the spool before I can start reeling in. It looks like 3-4 different lines are coming off of the reel and tangling up around the first rod eye. What am I doing wrong? Every now and then I can get a clean cast, get the baler closed, and start reeling in, but for the most part I spend cutting out huge tangles and starting over. Mantis gave you good advice above. It could also be that your reel is overspooled. Make sure the line isn't quote to the edge of the spool lip. I sometimes use 1/16th ounce jig heads and occasionally small free lined shrimp that weigh less than that on 3000 size stradic w/ 20 pound braid. What make and size reel do you have? For those lure weights I would throw no more than 6-8 lb mono or 10-15 braid.
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Aug 23, 2013 05:12
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Ivan Yurkinov posted:Here's a nice bass I caught in a farm pond here in NW Missouri about 2 weeks ago. Nice bass! How do you work that worm? My confidence lure for bass is a zara spook jr. Oddly enough in the salt I use almost exclusively soft plastics.
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Aug 23, 2013 05:16
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I appreciate the advice on all the pike y'all but I actually caught a king instead!  18lb 35in by far the largest fish I have ever caught. Took nearly 15 minutes to reel it in. Back in Texas now where it's too stinking hot to fish. Getting to be too hot to even swim. Eagerly anticipate the fall for LMB
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Aug 24, 2013 00:38
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DixielandDelight posted:
You and me both, this heat has been so horrible, even fishing at dawn has been horrible. On the plus side with winter right around the corner, that means catfish season will be upon me and I am looking forward to that.
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Aug 24, 2013 02:57
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I was in east texas fishing a few weeks ago and we had to get off the water every day by about 1-2pm. In addition to being miserable ourselves, the fish would stop biting by then anyways. On the subject of catch and release, the only thing I've kept recently has been a couple of good sized black tip sharks. Generally unless I feel like cleaning and preparing the fish when I get home, I don't keep anything. I'd rather just let it go and catch it again some other day. And in a somewhat related subject to fishing, has anyone here had a bad experience using a transom mount trolling motor for fishing compared to a bow mounted one? I've got the room to mount it at the rear and I prefer fishing from the back of my boat anyways due to it having a rather large area to fish from, but I'd like to know if anyone has had any real difficulties using a transom mount before I consider buying it.
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Aug 24, 2013 03:08
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PREYING MANTITS posted:I'd say get rid of the line that came with it and put fresh line on. One day countdown to launching in the Boundary Waters! I'll be back sometime in September, and hopefully will overflow this thread with fishing pictures. It's supposed to storm the first four days we're out, so we'll see if my dream comes true. I sure hope so; we're kind of depending on fish for a good part of our sustenance. If you've never portaged deep into the wilderness for several days and attempted to live off the land, I highly recommend it. Makes you remember what being a part of this earth really means.
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Aug 24, 2013 04:03
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PREYING MANTITS posted:I use both of these lines and I highly recommend the Vicious line, it's quite strong and with the right drag settings should land most fish but if you want insurance in an area with some big fish lurking you may want to use the Fireline Fused Crystal superline. I use 8lb myself but according to their chart at the bottom of the page you can go up to 14lb and it would be the same thickness as 6lb mono. If you go with the fireline, I reccommend going a size smaller than what it says it is the thickness of. Like if you want 14lb braided line which is the size of 6lb mono line, find where it says what line has the size of 6lb line and then go a size smaller. (so 10lb braided line with the diameter of 4lb mono). I find that this will line you up better diameter wise with what the reel maker thinks the diameter should be. For me personally this has been true for an old quantum I have had for 15+ years and a brand new Abu-Garcia Revo INS30 along with another Quantum reel I've had for the last 5 years. I have a fair amount of experience with the fireline due to fishing in an inshore area with a bunch of oyster beds all along the bottom making braided line a necessity more often than not.
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Aug 24, 2013 09:39
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Rythe posted:You and me both, this heat has been so horrible, even fishing at dawn has been horrible. On the plus side with winter right around the corner, that means catfish season will be upon me and I am looking forward to that. Thirding. Yeesh, today was terrible. Went out at 7am, powered through "realfeel" temps over 100 til about 2:30pm. These were my two largest catches:   Koivunen posted:One day countdown to launching in the Boundary Waters! That sounds really cool, have a good time!
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Aug 25, 2013 06:05
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Elmnt80 posted:I was in east texas fishing a few weeks ago and we had to get off the water every day by about 1-2pm. In addition to being miserable ourselves, the fish would stop biting by then anyways. On the subject of catch and release, the only thing I've kept recently has been a couple of good sized black tip sharks. Generally unless I feel like cleaning and preparing the fish when I get home, I don't keep anything. I'd rather just let it go and catch it again some other day. It's not bad from the transom it's just different due to the tiller aspect instead of foot controls ect. Positioning can be challenging in the wind due to the push rather than pull effect. Let me check my garage I might have a generic transom mount I don't use any more.
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Aug 26, 2013 02:40
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Speaking of the heat I finally caught a break today. Super cloudy morning so after errands hit low tide on the local inshore flats with a female friend bay doesn't fish at all. Tons of baitfish jumping and occasionally getting pounded by small jack crevalles. Caugh 2 jacks, they pull a bit but my inshore setup was whipped em too easy. Saw about 6 sharks between 2.5-5 feet, at least 4 were bonnetheads. 2 got too close for comfort but I splashed the surface with the rod tip to misdirect their curiosity away from me/us. The sun came out and poo poo slowed down but on the way out found a trout bite and landed 4, missing several more. Left em biting cause a thunderstorm was heading our way quick. Just another day in good ole Tampa Bay. We were actually targeting redfish and had hoped to catch them tailing on the outer sand bar but I guess even with the cloud cover they still didn't wanna get in the skinny. Anna handled the day well but later told me the sharks had scared her a bit (poo poo me too, you never get used to one swimming straight at you) she just didnt complain or freak because she figured it wouldn't do any good.
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Aug 26, 2013 03:10
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Had a killer day doing creek fishing for rainbows. So much so that I ordered a 4 weight setup and am praying it arrives before next weekend. Gonna be my first non beginner fly setup. Really pumped!
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Aug 26, 2013 04:50
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tesilential posted:Speaking of the heat I finally caught a break today. Super cloudy morning so after errands hit low tide on the local inshore flats with a female friend bay doesn't fish at all. Tons of baitfish jumping and occasionally getting pounded by small jack crevalles. Caugh 2 jacks, they pull a bit but my inshore setup was whipped em too easy. Saw about 6 sharks between 2.5-5 feet, at least 4 were bonnetheads. 2 got too close for comfort but I splashed the surface with the rod tip to misdirect their curiosity away from me/us. The sun came out and poo poo slowed down but on the way out found a trout bite and landed 4, missing several more. Left em biting cause a thunderstorm was heading our way quick. Just another day in good ole Tampa Bay. Thats a pretty badass chick to be cool during all that and hang out while you fish if she doesn't really fish.
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Aug 26, 2013 05:11
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tesilential posted:Nice bass! How do you work that worm? My confidence lure for bass is a zara spook jr. Oddly enough in the salt I use almost exclusively soft plastics. Sorry for the delay been offline all weekend. I cast and let it sink for a second or three, usually to near or on the bottom, then I give it a few small spastic jerks as bring the rod tip up. Then I slowly retrieve while letting the rod tip fall. Repeat. Fish will almost always hit it as it falls.
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Aug 26, 2013 20:20
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DocMcgillicuddy posted:Had a killer day doing creek fishing for rainbows. So much so that I ordered a 4 weight setup and am praying it arrives before next weekend. Gonna be my first non beginner fly setup. Really pumped! My first non beginner fly rod was an 8'6" 4 wt. Sage that's still my favorite rod more than 10 years later.
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Aug 26, 2013 21:35
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Thanks to you wonderful people, and my dad taking my daughter out last time we were up at their farm, I've been inspired to get myself set up for fishing again after about a 20 year hiatus. I'm only about 4 pages into the thread, so if this has been covered, forgive me. I just picked up two of these combos at Dicks (http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12644427&kw=samurai+combo&origkw=samurai+combo) one in 5'6" and one in 6'6", which were on sale at 2 for $35. Thanks to a crappy summer, they have all sorts of fishing gear the're trying to get rid of. I've got a zebco 202 coming in for my daughter from amazon, because she'll be more concerned that her rod is pink than if it's any good, though that kit did get decent reviews. The eagle claw 80 piece freshwater kit will be coming from amazon as well. Unfortunately I left all my fishing gear behind when I moved out of my parents house, so all my stuff is part of my dad's collection now. Most of the fishing I've done has either been with a dropshot setup from my grandpa's boat in the Niagara River, or with a bobber and worm in ponds. I've done a little fishing in the lakes in the Adirondacks with rappalas and poppers and whatnot, but not a ton. My job is about 10 minutes from a pretty decent fishing pier/breakwater in Lake Erie, and I'm wondering what is going to work best to fish with from there. I'm assuming I want some sort of spinner, spoon, or jig, but I've never done any shore fishing in a lake that size, so I'm not positive what is going to work. The majority of my fishing is going to be done in smaller lakes in the wildlife areas around here, but I'm just wondering about a halfway serious setup for the lake for days I decide to destress a little after work. Beyond the basic tackle (hooks, bobbers, sinkers, jigs, and plastic worms), what should I get next as far as spoons, lures, etc? The Ohio DNR has this pretty nice page on what baits to use for what in the lake, but it seems to be purposefully vague. http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/Home/fishing/fairport/fishingtechniques/tabid/6160/Default.aspx stealie72 fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Aug 27, 2013 |
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Aug 27, 2013 00:53
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Bought a new rod and reel today. http://www.abugarcia.com/products/rods/volatile The 7' 9" medium power fast action casting rod and http://www.abugarcia.com/products/reels/low-profile-baitcast-reels/revo/revo-mgx the left hand reel with the 7.9:1 gear ratio. The MGX is actually going on a 7' 11" Abu-Garcia Veritas heavy power casting rod with a medium action tip and the volatile is getting a revo inshore baitcaster with a 7.1:1 gear ratio that is currently sitting on the Veritas. I think this will match my fishin' a bit better and will keep inshore stuff matched up anyways. EDIT: Also getting ready to head out in an hour after reds!
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Aug 29, 2013 10:37
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Just got to play with the new redington vapen 5 weight with the golf grip as the rep was kind enough to bring a demo model to my office. Definitely going to be replacing my current 5 weight. It feels absolutely incredible!
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Aug 29, 2013 16:15
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Boom, my fishing trip is a go! I leave next Thursday for 3 days at Lake of the Woods with a buddy of mine. He's been fishing LotW for almost 20 years and usually finds the fish pretty well. Last time I went up for open water fishing up there it was too windy to even get out on the lake, here's hoping the wind lays low for the weekend! Crossing my fingers for some big walleye, I know there's some 30+ inchers up there, but I'd take a few 25+ fish and a limit to bring home!
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Aug 30, 2013 05:08
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DocMcgillicuddy posted:Just got to play with the new redington vapen 5 weight with the golf grip as the rep was kind enough to bring a demo model to my office. Definitely going to be replacing my current 5 weight. It feels absolutely incredible! I want to try it but goddamn that red grip, I like cork and hate golf. Did you get your hands on a butterstick? And what kind of office do you work in where fly rod reps bring you poo poo to try?
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Aug 30, 2013 21:24
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Buying office of outdoors store. I also get an insane deal on some rods. Might be able to score myself a zenith for under 200 bucks Tried the butter stick, it felt great but I have absolutely nothing to compare the experience to. You can get the vapen with just a cork handle for 50 less. DocMcgillicuddy fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Aug 30, 2013 |
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Aug 30, 2013 21:29
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DocMcgillicuddy posted:Buying office of outdoors store. I also get an insane deal on some rods. Might be able to score myself a zenith for under 200 bucks What? In other news: it's almost time for fall flatties. Flathead catfish season is almost on us boys. Tight lines!
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Aug 31, 2013 03:58
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Some Other Guy posted:What? Don't mind us, we're just talking about real, skill based fishing. 
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Aug 31, 2013 16:50
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