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Rythe posted:I need to make it out to Texoma sometime before I leave TX next year, I always loved chasing the Stripers on that lake. Those fish give you a heck of a run in your kayak too and they taste so good. Let me know how the lake looks with water levels, it has been over a year since I last made it out there. The lake was really low. It was still pretty cold too. I was hoping it might get close to 50 degrees, but it never got above 45 while I was there. Didn't get much fishing time in as the wind picked up pretty early and I didn't feel like fighting it. Fish finder seemed to work fairly well though! Minus finding any fish of course.
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Mar 12, 2014 02:49
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MaakHatt posted:We're fine paying for a charter, just want to maximize our chances. Thinking of going with this guy, a full day ocean trip for $135 (probably with people outside of our group, but some of us are in grad school and don't have tons of cash): http://roguewavefishing.com/index.php He may just set you over a rock pile/reef and say have fun, but thats usually pretty good fishing too if he knows his spots. EDIT: Q: What do you fish for? A: Snapper and grouper are the primary target how ever you can expect encounters with dolphin, king fish, cobia, sail fish, amber jack, banded rudder fish, sharks and so many more! Yeah, it sounds like for the daily going out thing, he's going to have you fishing rock piles and such for grouper/snapper which is also pretty fun. You can try talking him into going for something else, but he may ask for more. Elmnt80 fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Mar 12, 2014 |
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Mar 12, 2014 02:57
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Got some gear today. Thinking I might head out to Town Lake sometime between tomorrow and Friday. At the moment I'm trying to decide on a good spot for bass. Advice is welcome.
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Mar 12, 2014 03:49
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MaakHatt posted:We're fine paying for a charter, just want to maximize our chances. Thinking of going with this guy, a full day ocean trip for $135 (probably with people outside of our group, but some of us are in grad school and don't have tons of cash): http://roguewavefishing.com/index.php Elmnt80 posted:He may just set you over a rock pile/reef and say have fun, but thats usually pretty good fishing too if he knows his spots. Offshore trolling is way more expensive then bottom fishing for sure, like, probably 5x or more because gas isnt cheap. Right now the wahoo are around but not many dolphin. Its a great time to catch grouper and they are an epic fight but they are out of season until may 1st to keep. If you catch snapper you're in for some super delicious eating and it shouldn't be hard to find some nice legal size snapper in that area. The wrecks and reefs hes going to fish also have the potential to bring in lots of other fish. Mackerals, Kingfish, jacks, sharks, etc.
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Mar 12, 2014 15:43
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I'm up in the north east coast, and I cannot frigging wait for the water to warm up and things to come back. I have not fished since november and its starting to get to me!
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Mar 14, 2014 22:06
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Cimber posted:I'm up in the north east coast, and I cannot frigging wait for the water to warm up and things to come back. I have not fished since november and its starting to get to me! Man I been out 8-10 times this winter and haven't caught shiiiit. Goin nuts for pike to open up.
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Mar 17, 2014 23:03
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Just found out I will be living in NC this time next year, about a hour from the coast line in the Goldsboro's area. I am excited about the ocean fishing alone but from a quick Google earth view, there seems to be a ton of fresh water lakes in the local area. Time to go learn how to go BTB and not flip the ole kayaks.
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Mar 18, 2014 00:41
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Just a follow-up to my original post on here: Our charter cancelled our reservation because the seas were too rough. We called around frantically trying to find something later in the week and were fortunately able to find something. We started trolling once we got to a sufficient depth. Got a sailfish on the line, but the captain said it was too small to keep (great looking fish though). Captain marked a school of amberjack, so we immediately stopped and dropped anchor, and rapidly caught 6 in succession. We had a big hammerhead circle us while that happened which was pretty cool. We trolled for the rest of the day (~4 hrs) and caught 2 mahi mahi. Did better than the other charter ships that pulled into the marina (the others were just limited out on Amberjack, 6 per ship, and had no other fish -- although they had some huge 60 lber ones). Pretty cool experience overall, seasickness sucks, might try those Seabands next time ... all 4 of us were nauseated, 2 of my friends threw up, and we proceeded to take turns napping for pretty much the entire day while one of us watched the rods as we trolled.
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Mar 23, 2014 22:52
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The specks seem to be moving back into the flats in N FL. Went out on the kayak today and there were baitfish abound and caught this one. (s)he's currently in my oven with some old bay and green onions.  
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Mar 24, 2014 01:22
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Extreme novice seeking guidance! I have not been fishing since I was, oh, twelve or so, and even then didn't do a whole lot of it. I have caught exactly two fish my whole life. I am thinking I would like to pick it up again, and let me be clear, exclusively to catch fish in order to eat them. Primarily, I would be doing this in the Colorado backcountry, so a collapsible rod would be ideal. I have no idea what any of this spincast/baitcast whatever stuff means, I just want a good fishing pole I can hook some worms on and fetch some occasional dinner to offset the horrors of typical backpacking cuisine. Any suggestions?
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Mar 24, 2014 01:37
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Save me jeebus posted:Extreme novice seeking guidance! Honestly, get the book fishing for dummies and read that. Its got a LOT of great info thats easy to read for the begininer. Equipment, fish, how to fish, how to tie the knots you need. Lots of good stuff in there. http://www.amazon.com/Fishing-Dummies-Peter-Kaminsky/dp/0470930683
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Mar 24, 2014 03:18
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Fishergoons, I'm looking for a basic rod & reel x2 for my lady friend and i that we can use without hating until we get some experience and/or want to try something more specialized. I could just mail order Cabela's based on the OP but wouldn't it be better to see how the items feel in hand? I think Walmart and Field & Stream are my choices nearby but I'm not really savvy enough right now to know if I'm looking at gear that's so cheap as to be unserviceable. We're mostly interested in fishing for dinner to take home or as we hike and camp. Here in northern KY it seems like panfish, bass, cats, & trout are pretty standard targets.
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Mar 24, 2014 21:03
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the yeti posted:Fishergoons, I'm looking for a basic rod & reel x2 for my lady friend and i that we can use without hating until we get some experience and/or want to try something more specialized. I could just mail order Cabela's based on the OP but wouldn't it be better to see how the items feel in hand? I think Walmart and Field & Stream are my choices nearby but I'm not really savvy enough right now to know if I'm looking at gear that's so cheap as to be unserviceable. Honestly, if you have nothing and don't know what you want, a basic kit from Walmart works just fine. Avoid a baitcaster, thats the one with the reel on top of the pole that looks like this:  Yes, that will happen to you if you don't know what you are doing. A beginner spincaster is an acceptable choice  but you may be better served using a spinning reel if you want to take the time to practice with it, and it would serve as a longer lasting starter than a spincaster would.  As far as the pole, you probably should look for something that has the words 'medium action' on the pole, and supports 20 pound test line. Also, in the above post i recommended a book called fishing for dummies. Check that out, it can be useful to you.
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Mar 24, 2014 21:28
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Cimber posted:
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Mar 24, 2014 21:34
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stealie72 posted:Right. How does one keep that from happening. I'd love to be able to cast with my baitcaster, but right now I just use it for droplining for catfish. I've watched youtube videos and know to set the magnet so that my bait JUST falls with the reel unlocked to cast, but have yet to master how to avoid backlash. beats the hell out of me. I tried using a baitcaster once and made a very nice birds nest much to the disapproval of my fishing buddy. I stick to spinning reels.
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Mar 24, 2014 21:40
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I have found that stopping the spin with my thumb JUST before it hits the water usually keeps it from getting all messed up. But I am definitely no expert because I can not imagine paying money for one of those kind of reels. I've only used them a handful of times.
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Mar 24, 2014 21:42
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Corla Plankun posted:I have found that stopping the spin with my thumb JUST before it hits the water usually keeps it from getting all messed up. If anyone is shopping for a baitcaster, a helpful feature is having a removable spool. Both of my reels have a side plate that comes off and the spool comes out; it takes half the time to fix a spoof when the spool comes out.
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Mar 24, 2014 22:34
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I have a baitcaster from Bass Pro (so pretty much a Browning) that has a magnetic brake dialable from 1-10 in .5 increments, it's great. It's not the exact one linked, but essentially the same model from about 3 years ago. I rarely ever get backlash on it, when it has happened it's generally from line twist building up to a critical level and nailing me instantly. I can toss everything from a carolina-rig worm to one of those ultra-realistic swim/jerkbaits on it without an issue. In other news: it's the most wonderful t-i-i-i-i-me, of the yearrrr... spawn season is about to begin!  Saw this guy staking out a nesting area already and nailed him with a football-head jig and pumpkinseed craw softbait, felt like ~4 pounds and all of it was muscle:    Apologies for the blurry photos, my phone screen got some fish slime on it and went berserk until I pulled the battery. These were the best shots I could get off without keeping the fish out of water for too long. No huge belly, but he was good and thick and strong and gave my drag a good workout on the way to shore. e: anybody got any good tips on catching carp when they're up at the surface clooping for bugs? There's a hole I have that is just lousy with them and at dusk, without fail, they start turning into little great white sharks on all the insects at the surface. They evidently don't give a drat about method mix and flavored corn, as I have fished that spot for carp at least 6 times at varying times of the day and gotten skunked every. single. time. Kilersquirrel fucked around with this message at 03:41 on Mar 25, 2014 |
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Mar 25, 2014 03:37
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^^^Nice bass! Got my fishing fix in today. The subdivision we're in has a small pond (approx. 3/4 acre). When I talked to the builder, he said it had some big catfish in it but I wasn't sure what to really expect or if he knew what he was talking about. I walked behind the house and threw out a 1/32 jig with my ultralight the other day and this guy devoured it:  Really nice crappie. I didn't have anything to measure him but I'd say he was a good 10 1/2-11". I used to do a fair bit of crappie fishing and we wouldn't keep anything under 9" and he was well over that. I've been out a couple times since and have caught a couple other crappie the same size and a couple small bass. All on the ultralight and that 1/32 jig. I talked to one of the neighbors who was out there fishing and he said there are some nice bass in the 5 pound range in the pond. My baitcaster setup is out of commission since the movers broke my rod but once I get a new one I'm anxious to head back there and try some top water action at dusk for bass. It is my favorite kind of fishing. Nothing like a 5 pound bass exploding on a buzz bait. Also, I've been considering buying a canoe to fish out of. Anyone here fish out of a canoe extensively? I know SOT kayaks are preferred but with a canoe, my wife and I can also use it for recreation so it would be useful beyond fishing. I have been looking at the Old Town Saranac 146. Any thoughts on it?
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Mar 25, 2014 04:53
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Thanks! It was a great surprise, I was practically trembling with excitement after I walked up and saw him just patrolling his little territory over and over and shooing everything away. If you've got blues or flatheads in that pond you can get some catfish action on a buzzbait or popper too. I've caught a 2' blue catfish on a carolina-rigged worm at 4 in the afternoon, and had a flathead absolutely crush a buzzbait somewhere around midnight fishing for bass on the Trinity here. Seems if you can find them on a hot day in shallower water(hooked them both in the same spot too, nice rocky bottom with wide silty holes in it) the temptation is just too much and the predation instinct takes over. That reminds me to get an ultralight rig or another cheapie starter fly kit soon(had a $30 kid starter special from Bass Pro for 14 years until it broke in fall, even tiny bass are hellaciously fun to catch on flies), because crappie are too much fun and the creeks around here are full of them. My spinning rod is just a bit too heavy to really be able to cast beetle jigs or the tiny crappie spoons more than 10 or 12 feet, so I can't just half-rear end it and turn the drag super-low. Toss some nightcrawlers or cut bait on a slip rig right near that bridge and I bet you'll get some catfish action in a hurry. e: I suppose this is as good a time as any to mention that Cabelas and Bass Pro are both running sales on fishing gear. Cabelas is giving free shipping on rods and reels(but not rod+reel combos, bastards, I want my cheap fly starter kit again) through 4/2 with promo code 44BASS. Bass Pro is doing free shipping on orders > $75 with code DEAL14. e2: got some rain yesterday morning so I went to a spot of mine on the river after work to do a few test casts, this guy absolutely blew up my lure on the first cast. Took 4 tries to get him because the buzzbait was just too big for him to really mouth the hook, I had to switch to a small spinnerbait just so it could fit in its mouth:   Little thing wasn't more than a pound or so but drat was it feisty. I hope this streak foreshadows the rest of the season. Kilersquirrel fucked around with this message at 16:01 on Mar 28, 2014 |
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Mar 25, 2014 05:18
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I left work early today to go fishing, and ended up catching my PB trout, right around 20 inches. I used a 5 weight glass rod, and a gold ribbed hare's ear I tied myself. Awesome day.
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Apr 1, 2014 21:50
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Armed Neutrality posted:I left work early today to go fishing, and ended up catching my PB trout, right around 20 inches. I used a 5 weight glass rod, and a gold ribbed hare's ear I tied myself. Awesome day. Beautiful fish. I really need to get another fly rod and learn to use it properly. Had a cheap Cabelas 5 weight that I would use to catch spawning bluegill out of my parents pond but it got broken.
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Apr 2, 2014 15:43
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Fishing thread! Didn't even know we had one. Nice stuff in here, that sewer fishing kid from a few pages back is the best poo poo I've seen in a while. I'm a fish biologist and have been fishing since birth basically. I grew up in Arkansas and did my MS there on Alligator Gar. Fished all over the state for everything. Right now I live in Colorado and am trying to learn trout. I'll fish for pretty much everything by every method, except I have yet to be offshore or icefish. I quit bowfishing several years back as well. My preferred method is from a kayak with an ultralight or flyrod. My current rigs are a 6' St Croix fast action ultralight with a Quantum spinning reel, usually running 6#, and a custom built moderate action flyrod in 5-6 wt with a Pfleuger Medalist. I'm a lovely fly fisher, but it's fun and I'm getting better. The weather is finally warming up and the season is starting. I'll be headed to the White River for field work and fishing for Rainbows, Browns, and Whitefish next week. Tomorrow, I'm headed to some local ponds to scout sunfish. They should be bedding up soon. Did I mention I'm a fish biologist and could maybe answer some habitat/behavior/diet questions. Fish fish fish fish.
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Apr 3, 2014 00:00
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gently caress me I love fish so much I'm going to do an image dump. Here's me and some dudes getting ready to release an Alligator Gar that we just attached a radio transmitter to.  Here's me with a Blue Sucker.  Here's a Flathead Chub that I just implanted an RFID tag in.  Here's a Plains Killifish.  Here's a Brook Stickleback, they're fuckin cool.  Here's a Warmouth and a Bowfin. Bowfin fight like champs and hit hard and fast. 
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Apr 3, 2014 00:07
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:gently caress me I love fish so much I'm going to do an image dump. Hmm, I don't think I could feign the confidence to smile with my crotch so close to that mouth. Awesome photos by the by. I've never actually seen a stickleback before. How functional are those spines?
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Apr 3, 2014 04:50
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I've got a few questions, actually. Lake Worth and the Trinity are crawling with various gar, where would I expect to find the highest concentration of them in those respective habitats, and what type of baits(hard or soft)should I be looking to use ? Lake Worth predominantly has mud flats, shallow vallisneria beds, and marsh grasses as the major habitat areas. The major prey species are probably shad, sunfishes, crappie, and a few different killis. There are huge amounts of carp so I'm sure carp minnows make up a good percentage of the biomass in the lower tiers of the food chain here as well. The Trinity is chock full of weirs and small dams meant to impede flooding but is still pretty loopy and bendy with a limestone/mudstone bottom and clay-ey banks. It's got buffalo, killis, crappie in the slow feeder creeks, carp galore(this whole river system is carp heaven), Gambusia, and some generic "minnows" that I haven't really been able to place yet. Hardly any sunfish or bluegill, strangely enough, though the abundance of big flatheads and blues probably has something to do with that. Good ol boy wisdom here is to go on the hottest days and start around 10 am with something bloody on bobbers in the middle of the river but that just sounds like "went for channel cats and got lucky" to me. Unrelated to this, carp are some of the most frustrating drat fish to catch ever. I blew all Sunday splitting my time trying to catch them and the bass(who at least had the decency to be courting and had their minds on things other than food) in a nice hole I have, and they went from bubbling and foraging nonstop to totally inactive in the span of time it took me to roll back home and pick up my heavy gear. I made you chili powder oatmeal/grits/cat food mix and vanilla sweet corn, take my baits god drat it!
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Apr 3, 2014 05:27
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Does anyone else pay attention to the solunar schedule when they plan to go fishing? I have been timing my trips with this website, and been getting mixed results.
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Apr 3, 2014 05:37
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Kilersquirrel posted:take my baits god drat it!
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Apr 3, 2014 06:12
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Its actually starting to get decent weather around here, woo! I may actually go fishing this weekend before the kids wake up! Too bad i can't go clamming, they have banned it for an unforeseen time due to water pollution causing the clams to become toxic.
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Apr 3, 2014 14:00
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Frogmanv2 posted:Does anyone else pay attention to the solunar schedule when they plan to go fishing? I have been timing my trips with this website, and been getting mixed results. As a book i read said "Any time is a good time to go fishing, just some times have better results than others"
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Apr 3, 2014 14:01
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Cimber posted:As a book i read said "Any time is a good time to go fishing, just some times have better results than others" I've been making failed attempts at steelhead since September, and even without so much as a bite, it was worth it just to be out on a river in the snow, watching hawks try to find things under the snow and seeing foxes sneak by. Though, if something wanted to take my baits, goddammit, I'd be happy with that too. 
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Apr 3, 2014 15:01
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Bell the Cat posted:Hmm, I don't think I could feign the confidence to smile with my crotch so close to that mouth. The spines are basically fin spines without tissue between them. Current theory says that the spines are functional against piscivorous fish, not so much against things like water bugs and dragonfly larvae and birds. Kilersquirrel posted:I've got a few questions, actually. Lake Worth and the Trinity are crawling with various gar, where would I expect to find the highest concentration of them in those respective habitats, and what type of baits(hard or soft)should I be looking to use ? Ok, I don't know the Trinity River from personal experience, but I've spent a bit of time reading scientific papers about it and talking to Texas Parks and Wildlife biologists who work with gator gar there. The method I've heard that has the most success is this: Take a fuckoff big rod (snagging or surf), put a fuckoff big reel (spinning or baitcast) on it, string that with fuckoff big braided line, put a steel leader a couple feet long on the end, put a fuckoff big circle hook on it, and stick that in a fuckoff big chunk of drum/sheepshead/stinky fish. Like half the fish, at least the size of your hand. Bury the hook. No bobber. Toss that into the channel, sit on the bank, and wait. They take it slow, and you've got to let them run with it for a while before the hook sets in the corner of their mouth. Alligator Gar are pretty opportunistic and probably scavenge more than they hunt. There's one paper from 1967 that examined gut contents and came up with all sorts of stuff like blue crab carapaces, chicken carcasses, steel leaders, and a thermostat from a marine diesel engine. Check out Season of the Gar by Mark Spitzer for an interesting if not scientific read. Also, the Alligator Gar episode of River Monsters is sort of useful. Now, this next part is important. After fighting a gator gar for that long, it's exhausted. If you're going to release it (which you should), you need to allow a while to help it recover. Take your pictures and everything and get it back in the water. They're obligate air breathers, which means they have to be able to gulp atmospheric air. If they're too tired to swim or stay upright, they'll sink and die. It's surprising how easy it is to kill one just by wearing it out. You'll need to keep it upright, gills submerged, and stay with it until it can swim off on its own. When it is able to, it probably will swim explosively and knock you over. Point the head toward the channel. I've got strong feelings about keeping Alligator Gar alive. I had a couple die on me and it feels pretty fuckin terrible to kill something that huge and old. I've caught other gars on a handful of things. Spotted and Shortnose feed throughout the water column but in slightly different ways. Spotted predate mainly on fish and crustaceans while Shortnose focus a little more on terrestrial insects and stuff near the surface. Both of them will take a nice big worm or liver. I've had both hit spinners and other artificials, but they don't hold on to them very long most of the time. Treble hooks are useless for gar in my experience. There's also the method of tying a 6 - 8 inch piece of cotton rope on to your line, no hook. Fray the rope and retrieve across the surface, and supposedly they'll tangle their teeth in it when they strike. I've never had it work. I don't think I've ever caught a Longnose, so I'm not sure what to tell you there. I would really love to take a gar on a fly one day. In terms of habitat, it depends on species, season, and time of day to a certain extent. Shortnose and Spots seem to be everywhere, but they like stuff with large woody debris and submerged vegetation, like swamp privet and button bush. Cypress is good. They're more active at night. Avoid much current. I feel like most of the Longnose I've seen have been in less sluggish water and in current or at least close to moving water. In Arkansas, they're present in the Buffalo and upper White rivers in huge numbers, both of which are crystal clear and usually maintain pretty good current. But then they're also in swamps off the Arkansas and lower White, where it's hot, slow, and muddy. I really can't tell you a whole lot about Longnose. Alligator Gar love shallow, slow water that has so much vegetation and debris in it that you can't get a boat paddle in. Seriously, the poo poo they hang out in is worse than a briar patch underwater. Second to that, they hang near big logs, stumps, tree roots, etc and in the shade. My MS study was largely about microhabitat selection, and the number of times I found one where there was no submerged or shading structure in sight was very small. Problem is, they're a lot harder to catch there, because they're probably not foraging. For the best information about any gar, go to scholar.google.com and search with keywords like Lepisosteus, Atractosteus, diet, forage, habitat, life history, gar, etc. Cimber posted:As a book i read said "Any time is a good time to go fishing, just some times have better results than others" Truth. HenryJLittlefinger fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Apr 3, 2014 |
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Apr 3, 2014 16:09
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I'm heading to Montana, SoCal, and Texas this summer mostly to fish, and I'm going to try for gar with a fly rod with the rope method. I think it has to be the core of a nylon rope from what I've read, it tangles and catches easily apparently.
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Apr 3, 2014 16:45
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My 2014 trout opener outing went pretty well! I'm not super confident in my trout ID abilities but I'm thinking top-down: Brook, Rainbow, and ummm Tiger (brown/brook cross-bred)?  Closeup - Left side is the top of the above image. 
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Apr 3, 2014 16:47
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Thanks, I too feel very strongly about alligator gar and keeping them alive - they're a treasure and incredible in more ways than most people realize. I actually don't have any real intention to fish for them up around here(though they're present once you get east of the Tandy center here in Ft Worth), as I don't want to accidentally haul in a big one and have every rear end in a top hat bowfisher in this corner of the state show up trying to kill an 80-year old threatened fish to prove how big their dick is.(Just to be clear, I don't have an intrinsic problem with bowfishing but don't god drat do it just for a trophy photo. Bowfish for stuff you're going to eat, and if you need target practice go knock down the carp population some) gently caress I see red when another "HUGE GAR CAUGHT IN TRINITY" article pops up and somebody's shot and strung up an evolutionary miracle for nothing but bragging rights and a lovely black-and-white photo in the back of the paper. I also get really pissed about taking paddlefish for the same reasons(I have a bio degree too, can you tell?), they've got a tough enough time staying alive without dipshits removing breeding adults because "hey lookit that". The shortnose and longnose gar swarm here, I was more intent on going for them so thanks a lot for your advice there. I've heard on artificials you need to let them "chew" your lure for a few moments before setting the hook so it's in a good position to not just slip off their teeth. I've seen the rope lures too, I think they would only work on alligator gar since they have the double row of teeth to tangle up in. I know I certainly would not want to have to reach in and untangle it if I actually caught one on it, not without a full mail gauntlet of some sort. A regular gar can chew you up pretty bad if you're not careful, I can imagine what a full-sized scared+angry gator gar could do. I wish we had bowfin too, but they aren't supposed to come further west than about Tyler or so in all the territory maps I've ever seen. I totally missed the boat not going for some bowfin when I lived in Orlando, they're bad-rear end. Kilersquirrel fucked around with this message at 17:01 on Apr 3, 2014 |
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Apr 3, 2014 16:56
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What is everyone's suggestions for fishing a river from shore/standing in the river. I do not have a boat, have had some luck fishing from shore, but there are certain parts of the river which are only hip deep or so which I could wade out too. I've used crank baits before, and retrieving them slowly has worked decently well for picking up some bass, pike and pickerel. Generally throwing a worm or something out on a float really limits where I can fish, as the past year the river has been much too fast for that unless I were to get out in the water, and let the line just kind of sit at tension against the flow of the water. Are there any sort of riggings which would make it easier to fish from shore with live/soft baits? I know very little about setting those up, or what would/should work, but I have been fine before setting up knots. Secondly, I know there are a decent amount of trout in the river, but I've never caught any, have no idea how to go after them. I know a lot of people fly fish for them, are there any ways you guys can suggest for targeting trout with a spinning reel set up, or is dropping a fly near their lazy mouths a much greater percentage chance? I'm fishing a lot in the Grand River near Hamilton, Ontario, if that makes any difference.
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Apr 3, 2014 16:59
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What are you trying to catch? Ambush predators like bass tend to like to hang out near current breaks and lines between slack and running water. Pikes in my experience like to have lots of vertically-oriented cover to hide and blend into, and seem to like flashy things a lot more than bass do. ninja edit: I have never had good luck with wading aside from catching trout. The bass bite always disappears instantly whenever I step foot into a creek or river, but ymmv there. Kilersquirrel fucked around with this message at 17:10 on Apr 3, 2014 |
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Apr 3, 2014 17:07
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Fish I'm aiming to catch: Trout: I have never in my life caught one, and it's something I'd like to be able to do. Bass: I'm quite happy catching bass, and I do try and run a crank bait along weed beds when the river is slower, especially about the dam I normally fish at. I've had some luck with that. Walleye: I've caught a couple of these, but I know they're harder the further you get into summer as most rivers tend not to be deep enough to maintain the temperature they like. That being said, I know there are some deeper parts of the river. Catfish: Again, something I know is in the river/have seen people catch. I know generally I want to run something along the bottom for these guys, but not sure what exactly or how I'd go about it. Something I've never caught before and I'd like to give a go at. Hope this helps.
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Apr 3, 2014 17:19
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I fish (unsuccessfully, mostly) another Grand River on the Ohio side of Lake Erie. You may want to investigate and see if you get Steelheads up your way. I know we have them here and in PA mostly because they are stocked, so it may be worth looking into on your side. It's a bit tough to quickly google, because the Grand River in OH, and the Grand River in MI are both good steelhead rivers. As for trout, there's not tons of them where I am now, but when I was a kid, a smaller Mepps spinner usually worked pretty well.
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Apr 3, 2014 17:21
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| # ? May 15, 2024 13:59 |
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ManiacMatt posted:What is everyone's suggestions for fishing a river from shore/standing in the river. I do not have a boat, have had some luck fishing from shore, but there are certain parts of the river which are only hip deep or so which I could wade out too. Get a good assortment of Mepps #1s, some Rooster Tails, Panther Martins, or the like. Little inline spinnerbaits are killer on piscivorous fish of all kinds. Fish along the margins, i.e. throw up- or downstream along the vegetation and retrieve along it parallel to the current. Alternately, wade out toward the center if you can and throw toward the bank and retrieve perpendicular to the channel toward the center. If it's not to veggy, you can drat near land your lure on the bank. A lot of bass and sunfish will hang out in super shallow water to forage on minnows and young of year. Which your brand new Mepps #1 looks like. Another bait I've had lots of luck with is a little grub on a 1/16 or 1/8 jig head. They look like little frantic minnows, and are awesome for bass, sunfish, and trout alike. I got several limits of rainbow on one colored like motor oil last year and then some cutbows as well. Sometimes, tying two of these on spaced about 18 - 24 inches apart makes them more effective. There is an endless variety of colors of both the grubs and jigheads, and they're dirt cheap. I never go anywhere without a bunch of these if I'm spinfishing. To be honest, I hardly ever fish with anything other than grubs on jigs and little spinners anymore. They're just too effective. For live bait, never underestimate the nightcrawler. Drop one deep or let it drift for cats and bass and perch species (walleye, sauger, etc). Use a bobber for fish that forage higher in the water column or for sunfish near shore. Tightline is a little more effective for catfish a lot of the time. Around spawning season, crickets are usually pretty good for sunfish species if they're bedding. Look for big round depressions in shallow water with little to no current, like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_54E5_E9rq4. If you find where they're bedding, you'll usually have to try hard to not catch them. Also, get a kayak. The Grand River looks ideal for kayak fishing.
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Apr 3, 2014 17:51
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