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stealie72 posted:Seriously. I was expecting "yeah, there's probably some catfish in there somewhere" but as usual, goons delivered hardcore. Hopefully it's actually good advice and I'm not just making poo poo up. We'll need a trip report. On the subject of humping a boat in, I just built a kayak trolley out of PVC and some cheap wheels to solve the problem of carrying all my poo poo into some new holes I'm scoping out. I'll do a post on it soon. tesilential posted:I'm trying to keep it around $200ish for rod reel and fly line. I already have 2 nice flats spinning setups, and the fly rod will get much less use because it's usually super windy. I might look around for a decent used setup rather than get some cheap kit, unless those are decent nowadays? I'd ask my roommate but he walked into a fly shop and spent a G on his rig and has no idea whats good on the low end. He then broke the tip on his Sage and had it out of commission for a while. Cabelas has some good deals on their house brand fly combos right now. Bass Pro house brand is similar to Cabelas and both are good. Reddington is decent low-cost stuff as well. IM6 graphite is the same across brands, so quality differences might not be that apparent. I don't know anything about Scientific Anglers or the other similarly-priced entry-level gear. Check Craigslist or ebay for reels. I like my Pfleuger, and new prices on them are pretty reasonable. There's some sub-$70 Orvis reels out there. HenryJLittlefinger fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Apr 15, 2014 |
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Apr 15, 2014 04:05
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Well the ice fishing season is at an end here in the Twin Cities  , I'm a little sad to see it go. I saw some big fish come out of the ice this year, a 28" walleye and a couple 41" northerns. Heres' the highlight reel from this year: Last trip up to lake of the woods for the winter, we went tip-up fishing for northern, we had 7 guys and 6 of us caught personal best northerns! My biggest northern pike ever, 37", probably a 15 lb. fish:  Here's a nice 39.5", as a bonus this one was caught on my ice warrior tip-up that allows you to hook a flag up to a rod and reel, so he caught this one on rod and reel instead of hand over hand, which was pretty cool to watch:  A FAT 35":  A 41" that was caught IN our fish house on a tip-up(seriously). The tip-up had been down for about ten minutes(kind of as a joke), while we were drinking beer/playing cribbage. This one was hooked awkwardly and as a result was almost impossible to get through the hole. We had a gaff that was about 2 feet long and there was 4 feet of ice and the house was a foot and half above the ice. I had to take my jacket off, roll up my sleeve and go down to my shoulder to get the gaff below the ice. Gaffed her on the underside of her jaw and pulled her up!  This biggest fish of the weekend, a 41" that was probably a lb or two heavier than the other 41", this fish was probably 22-24 lbs.:  This was the previous trip to LOTW, my buddies 28" walleye, biggest I've ever seen and biggest he's ever caught:  All fish were released successfully and we will hopefully catch them again some other day  . All in all it was a fantastic season, I caught a lot of panfish within a couple hours of the twin cities, and caught a lot of walleye/sauger up at LOTW, and got to see some monsters. Now it's time to get the open water rods out, get in the boat and hope to catch some nice fish this summer .
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Apr 15, 2014 17:36
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A few basic tips about how to find the fish in streams and lakes: Generally you want to fish where two bodies of water meet. Where a stream flows into a lake, or where streams flow into other streams or rivers. Food comes along in the water and for a fish it is like one of those conveyor belt buffets: they just hang out and grab whatever looks tasty. Then you look for cover (fish obviously don't like being eaten by birds or animals). Then you look for big rocks or downed trees in the water, fish love hanging around those, they both provide cover as well as break the current allowing them to save energy in high-current streams. If you're on a river or some other place with current, find the edge of the current and if you're bobber fishing, drop that sucker on the edge of the current and let it runs right down the edge of the current. You should be able to see where the still water meets the more rapidly moving water. Do the same with bait. With flies you just imitate however that poor bug would end up in the water naturally, let the current take it in front of some good looking fish-hideouts. Trawling is more involved, and I know nothing at all about jigging. But that should be enough to at least getting you a hell of a lot more bites than just randomly casting into a lake all day. E: know if your bait/lure/whatever you got on the end of your line is meant to sit or be reeled in. If it is meant to have a bit of movement, reel slowly, no need to spook the fish or make it so they can't catch it. Herstory Begins Now fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Apr 15, 2014 |
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Apr 15, 2014 18:58
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The-Mole posted:Then you look for cover (fish obviously don't like being eaten by birds or animals). Then you look for big rocks or downed trees in the water, fish love hanging around those, they both provide cover as well as break the current allowing them to save energy in high-current streams quote:With flies you just imitate however that poor bug would end up in the water naturally, let the current take it in front of some good looking fish-hideouts. quote:E: know if your bait/lure/whatever you got on the end of your line is meant to sit or be reeled in. If it is meant to have a bit of movement, reel slowly, no need to spook the fish or make it so they can't catch it.
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Apr 15, 2014 19:52
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Those are all a response to what I saw last time I went fishing with people who had never been fishing before. And yeah, I know nothing about many kinds of fishing, that is mostly about where to find trout, though the whole "figure out where the food enters the body of water and try your luck there" applies to most fish. Correct away.
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Apr 15, 2014 19:57
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:There's no standard rule for how fast you retrieve. It depends totally on the species you're targeting and the species you're mimicking. There are lots of piscivorous or otherwise predatory fish that will completely ignore a bait if you're not retrieving it fast enough. Skipjack come to mind; I fished for them for quite a while with complete failure until I figured out that I had to reel as fast as possible to get them interested in. With most fish that you target with lures meant for retrieval, you cannot physically retrieve a lure faster than they can swim. Predatory fish are fast. To add on to this, there are a lot of factors in play even within a certain species. I fish walleye a lot for instance and sometimes they will only bite if your crank bait is going as slow as it can go while still having any action, and other times they are biting size 7 or 9 shad raps/tail dancers at 3 mph!
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Apr 15, 2014 20:00
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DoctaFun posted:To add on to this, there are a lot of factors in play even within a certain species. I fish walleye a lot for instance and sometimes they will only bite if your crank bait is going as slow as it can go while still having any action, and other times they are biting size 7 or 9 shad raps/tail dancers at 3 mph! Which is in turn dependent on moon phase, barometric pressure, how you tied your shoes, and if you're eating the right brand of sunflower seeds.
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Apr 15, 2014 20:11
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:Cabelas has some good deals on their house brand fly combos right now. Bass Pro house brand is similar to Cabelas and both are good. Reddington is decent low-cost stuff as well. IM6 graphite is the same across brands, so quality differences might not be that apparent. I don't know anything about Scientific Anglers or the other similarly-priced entry-level gear. Check Craigslist or ebay for reels. I like my Pfleuger, and new prices on them are pretty reasonable. There's some sub-$70 Orvis reels out there. IM6? I knew fly rods were pricier but  . My main rod is IM10 and when I use my backup with IM7, it feels sloppy and insensitive even though it's a lighter rod. I'm looking around at used TFO inshore setups but I could also buy my roommates $400 Sage for like $220 since he wants something else. I probably should have headed to the local fly shop tonight for their free weekly fly tying class where I could have tried out a couple rigs. For the reels I like the idea of a Pfleuger or Orvis or maybe even an Okuma. I've been using nothing but Shimano reels for a while and it'll be nice to be forced to try something else.The-Mole posted:Those are all a response to what I saw last time I went fishing with people who had never been fishing before. And yeah, I know nothing about many kinds of fishing, that is mostly about where to find trout, though the whole "figure out where the food enters the body of water and try your luck there" applies to most fish. Correct away. I read it as advice to someone who had no clue and I agree with most of what you said . For those of us who already fish a ton, we know sometimes you have try 10 different things in a couple hours to get a bite. :PIt's awesome that this thread is getting active, I'll contribute pictures in the next day or two! I might even do a simple writeup on fishing inshore flats, even though that's pretty region specific. I've learned a lot over the past 2 years fishing mostly the same flats and mangroves. HenryJLittlefinger posted:Which is in turn dependent on moon phase, barometric pressure, how you tied your shoes, and if you're eating the right brand of sunflower seeds.  True
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Apr 16, 2014 00:55
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tesilential posted:Rod stuff. So I did some research, and I was wrong. IM6 is not the same across brands. I thought it was an industry standard. I extrapolated that from what the guy who built my rod told me. He said that the materials he used were similar to a decent Cabelas or Bass Pro 5wt in IM6, both of which are very similar to each other in quality. I switched from a heavy, creaky 30 year old fiberglass Shakespeare in 7-8 to a hand built 5wt IM6, so I naturally think that's the best poo poo there is. Hence my suggestions. If you can get that Sage rig for $200ish, don't hesitate. I have no experience with them, but I do know what they cost. Surely they're better than a sporting goods store house brand. I think they might do lifetime replacements on broken tips, too. The-Mole posted:Those are all a response to what I saw last time I went fishing with people who had never been fishing before. And yeah, I know nothing about many kinds of fishing, that is mostly about where to find trout, though the whole "figure out where the food enters the body of water and try your luck there" applies to most fish. Correct away. Sorry, didn't mean to sound rude. That's all basically right and more digestible advice to someone who is new to fishing or less intense about it. "Get food to fish" is pretty much the main context for fishing. You're exactly right that confluences, structure, and current seams are key places where that happens. HenryJLittlefinger fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Apr 16, 2014 |
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Apr 16, 2014 01:38
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The modulus of the graphite or the brand of the rod doesn't really mean much. One person's dream rod is another person's broomstick, it all depends on casting style and preference. I have an old sage 4 weight VPS that I love, an 8 RPLX that I like, a 6 FLI I don't like too much. What I love lately are the new glass rods. I've been using an Epic 8 foot 5 weight all season, and am getting a custom 6 weight 8'6" model built in time for Montana this summer. Awesome rods, but pricy.
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Apr 16, 2014 09:33
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FishUSA.com is having a sale on rods right now, some deals are okay, some are not great, but I picked up a St. Croix Legend Elite 6'8" MXF spinning rod for $215(they retail at like $340). These are vendor samples, I've heard they are always in great shape and have never been used(just handled). http://www.fishusa.com/Product/St-Croix-Rod-Specials
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Apr 16, 2014 16:23
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Armed Neutrality posted:The modulus of the graphite or the brand of the rod doesn't really mean much. One person's dream rod is another person's broomstick, it all depends on casting style and preference. I just got my first glass rod am I going out for Grayling and Brook trout on sunday and I couldn't be more excited. More amped for the Pike lakes to open up though. Got my 10 weight set up today and over the next couple months I'll be ordering the bits for the 8 weight setup I'll be using along side it in summer Also Tesilential sorry I didn't respond earlier. If you can spend an extra hundred Redington has a great entry level saltwater combo. I'm not too knowledgeable with SMU product from Bass Pro or Cabela's but I think for the money Redington can't be beat. You could get yourself an Echo Rod and source a different real but I'm not confident in my ability to source an affordable reel with a fast enough startup for redfish.
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Apr 17, 2014 02:03
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 Just caught 5 of these little rainbows and missed another 5 at least. It was the evening feed and they were all over the dry flies on the surface.
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Apr 17, 2014 05:19
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Every time I watch a river runs through it I get all stiff peter about learning to fly fish. I can cast and stuff, just can't catch anything. Maybe this will be the year.
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Apr 17, 2014 06:26
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fps_bill posted:Every time I watch a river runs through it I get all stiff peter about learning to fly fish. I can cast and stuff, just can't catch anything. Maybe this will be the year. Flyfishing is the best thing ever As far as catching stuff, practice practice practice. I've found that focusing on a specific body of water helps too, after a few seasons fishing the same section of my home river, my fishing improved drastically. I know where the fish are, when the hatches go off, etc.
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Apr 17, 2014 06:55
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Armed Neutrality posted:Flyfishing is the best thing ever I saw guys doing fly fishing in streams when I was growing up in NH, but never got any interest in it. It looks really hard however.
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Apr 17, 2014 12:49
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Cimber posted:I saw guys doing fly fishing in streams when I was growing up in NH, but never got any interest in it. It looks really hard however. Don't be intimidated by it! A half hour of casting practice will get you enough distance and accuracy to put you on fish, especially if you target more eager species like panfish. Half hour to learn, lifetime to master. One of the things I like most as opposed to conventional fishing is that even if I'm not catching a thing, I'm perfectly happy just to cast. I was always a little intimidated by the whole thing, until I bought my first rod in my early 20's and I haven't looked back since. I do something fly fishing related every day, be it fishing, flytying, rodbuilding, leader making, casting, or writing blog posts about those things. I'm obsessed.
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Apr 17, 2014 19:08
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I want to buy a fly rod at some point and learn. My kayak even has slots specifically for fly rods!
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Apr 17, 2014 19:22
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Hey all. I'm going fishing this weekend and it has been a while. The lake I'm fishing at is home to crappie, channel cats, and some trout. I don't have much in the way of tackle since I just moved here. I planned on rigging the pole with a split shot rig and using a skirt tube instead of a grub. Though I was wondering if I'd be better off using my roadrunner, jigs, or spinner. Thank you all for the help much and kindly.
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Apr 17, 2014 19:23
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Casting is the easy part. When it comes to trout fishing I never know when to fish a wet\dry fly, what fly to use, where fish would be, or pick up on strikes. I will say the most fun to have just starting out fly fishing is get some size 10, maybe bigger beadhead wooly buggers and find a spawning bed of crappies or bluegills. roll cast out, and retrieve line while jerking your rod tip a little bit. poo poo goes crazy, you'll be yanking fish out almost every cast.
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Apr 18, 2014 07:47
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Any other gulf coast red snapper fishers reading the thread? The last few years of management have been awful, but I never would've guessed it would get this bad. For those unfamiliar, the red snapper is the most numerous reef fish in the northern gulf. They inhabit natural and artificial (especially artificial) reefs from 40-200+ feet deep. They also grow over 30 lbs and are delicious! Currently the open recreational season on them for 2014 is only 11 days and looks like it will go to 0 days. Meanwhile, the commercial sector can fish for them year round. The worst part is you can scarcely avoid them while fishing for other things, and when you are forced to release them, they often die anyway. Also you have things going on like oil rigs being blown up, killing hundreds or thousands of snapper at a time. The federal government has totally ruined our fishery.
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Apr 18, 2014 16:40
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 Finally caught some reasonably sized ones. Went back to the same spot I caught my fist tiny ones at, but this time I had a thing of bloodworms. I got there about 8am and at first I was casting close to shore, maybe 15-20' out with a cut-in-third worm on like a and about 2' of line under a small floater. As soon as the bait hit water I was getting nibbles. It was insane, if I didnt hook one right away it seemed like a pile of fish would just rip the worm to bits. Pretty much every cast with a fresh worm got me a fish and I even managed to catch three on the same ratty rear end worm. They werre all pretty small but I had a blast. By like 10ish things started slowing down and I took one of my few remaining worms and re-rigged to fish the bottom as far out as I could cast. I managed, using a 3/4oz sinker, to cast out like 30-40' and as soon as I took tension on the line I got the fish in the picture. I caught a few more about that size but once the worms ran out I couldnt get a nibble. I seemed to really struggle to get the hook set. I read that circle hooks just require steady tension but I found it really hard to get it right. Esp when I was fishing near the surface at first, it seemed like something would drag the floater down as soon as it hit water almost every time I cast but I could rarely seem to get anything hooked. Is there a trick I am missing? In summery, gently caress yea fishing!
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Apr 19, 2014 21:47
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tesilential posted:I would never catch a catfish on purpose. That said, I've caught sail cats on super spooks, lil jons, DOA cal shads and of course shrimp or cut bait. Once I caught one under a bridge at night on a glow paddle tail and it puked out like 20 baby catfish about 2" in length, possibly it's own offspring. You're in Florida and when I lived there I only considered catfish junk fish. Move inland to a state where largemouth bass aren't even a native fish and there's no such thing as a natural lake and you might find yourself thinking differently. poo poo look at inland Europe, those fuckers think catching a drat carp is the grandest of all sports.
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Apr 20, 2014 02:30
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bunnielab posted:
What size hook you using?
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Apr 20, 2014 07:40
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Some Other Guy posted:poo poo look at inland Europe, those fuckers think catching a drat carp is the grandest of all sports. Hey I live in inland Europe and I'm a trout guy. That said, fly fishing for carp in the US is blowing up right now, the poor man's bonefish.
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Apr 20, 2014 08:16
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Some Other Guy posted:You're in Florida and when I lived there I only considered catfish junk fish. Move inland to a state where largemouth bass aren't even a native fish and there's no such thing as a natural lake and you might find yourself thinking differently. poo poo look at inland Europe, those fuckers think catching a drat carp is the grandest of all sports. Are you seriously arguing that this isn't worth fishing for? Even a 5-pound catfish can give your drag a run for its money, big ones like that can easily pull you into the water if you're not prepared. Or, for that matter, catching something like this on a fly rod is a piece of cake?(That one's about medium sized for my area, too) Most of the rough fish I've ever caught(freshwater anyways, salt is a whole different world) have put up far more and better of a fight than any sport fish I've gone for. Also as my own experiences can testify to, carp are some crafty motherfuckers and will literally sniff out a hook the second the bait hits their mouth and spit it. If nobody's fishing them they're a piece of cake but as soon as there's any pressure they not only learn fast, but learn from watching what happens to each other too. e: not to get all in your face about it but drat man you should maybe consider expanding your horizons a bit if you're just limiting yourself to "sport" fishes. I've even caught a triploid grass carp on a popper before(seriously, I thought it was a bass from the strike. It was the weirdest thing) and for being a foot long it was one hell of a fight. Kilersquirrel fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Apr 20, 2014 |
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Apr 20, 2014 16:47
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Cats are some of the best fishing there is. I've spent a ton of time catching channels and blues on the Arkansas River and manage to go just about every time I'm home. It's a really enjoyable way to harvest your own food, especially when fish is a major part of your meat. They're reliably catchable once you know the water you're fishing, but just picky enough that it doesn't get boring. It's also a type of fishing that lends itself really well to hanging out with a couple friends. Also a good way to get kids into fishing. Seeing my nephew hyperventilate over a big channel cat that he caught all by himself is one of the best things. I've caught a few little channel cats on the fly, and even a little guy fights like a champ on light tackle. drat now I wand to go drink beer in a boat on a big river and catch catfish. Caught this last week on a caddis nymph I tied with a bit of neon chenille for body dubbing and some dirty cat hair for thorax dubbing. 
HenryJLittlefinger fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Apr 21, 2014 |
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Apr 21, 2014 01:03
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bunnielab posted:
Nice work! There are very few freshwater fish that can resist a live worm wriggling in front of their nose! As far as hook sets go, you will get better with time, I would check your hook size though because the eye of your hook looks pretty big(which might mean your hook is pretty big). It's very possible that the 'bites' you were missing were quite small fish that literally cannot get the hook into their mouth. This happens all the time with sunfish and live bait, if the fish are very small it can be tough to hook them. You can also experiment with putting a smaller bit of worm on the hook, sometimes you can cut a worm in 6 or 7 little pieces and catch more fish than if you were to cut it into 3-4, because the fish can't just suck the tail of the worm off of your hook. Your bait lasts a lot longer too! One thing you could try is to buy a few panfish jigs like this(these are my favorite panfish lure for bobber fishing): http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cubby-Mini-Mite/1605408.uts or something like this http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/gapen-1-32-oz-freshwater-shrimp-jig-chartreuse/0000000023350 It will be tough to cast such a light jig, but one solution is to put a small split shot(sinker/weight/whatever you want to call it) a foot or two above the jig. I haven't used circle hooks very much, but I wouldn't be surprised if they work better when you are fishing more vertically, i.e.: straight off the dock or out the side of a boat. When you are casting your line 30-40 feet in front of you that's a lot of horizontal line before it goes vertical under the bobber. It's possible they are less effective in that presentation, but that's speculation, I think it's more likely that you are just using too big of a hook. DoctaFun fucked around with this message at 19:29 on Apr 21, 2014 |
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Apr 21, 2014 15:44
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bunnielab posted:
If you're happy catching White Perch like that one (actually a temperate bass, not a true perch), here's my thoughts. What kind of bobber are you using? If it's one of the round ones that looks like a Christmas ornament, throw it out. Get something like this:  Especially the second one from the left. They lay flat on the surface of the water, and tip up when you get a strike. They also (this is the real key here) make a lot less resistance when a fish is trying to take them underwater than a big round one does. Thus, a fish is more likely to continue to hold on to it for long enough for you to set it. Go down to a smaller hook, like a #10. A straight shank is probably best for white perch as well. Get lighter line, like say 8 or 10#. Lose all that hardware. Swivels, clips, and steel leaders are unnecessary for what you're doing. Just line to hook with a bobber and maybe a split shot should be completely sufficient. Also, +1 on DoctaFun's advice about cutting your worm into several pieces. If you want catfish, keep the same hook and line, but lose the bobber and all the hardware save a weight to get it onto the bottom. Keep the worm.
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Apr 21, 2014 17:20
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I would say that you could go down to 6 or even 4 lb if those are the fish you are catching. Unless it's extremely weedy or something. The thinner diameter line will help casting distance, as would a weighted bobber(the 2nd from the right in the picture above). And yeah, definitely lose that big leader thing, just tie your mono straight to your hook/jig. I would HIGHLY recommend just using slip bobbers(the ones with a hole through the entire length of the bobber where the line slides through, as opposed to the first bobber in that picture(spring bobber?). The ones with springs are faster to get on but they WILL kink your line beyond repair. I've lost a lot of fish to my line breaking while using those bobbers, and it always breaks right at the bobber... The slip bobber is slower to get set up, but it's faster to adjust your depth once you get it set, and it has the added benefit of not ruining your line.
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Apr 21, 2014 19:34
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Thanks for the advice guys. All that rigging was when I was trying to cast as far out as I could, maybe 30-40', to where some larger fish were feeding on the surface. I need that much weight to cast far enough and keeping the hook off the bottom seems hugely helpful in not getting it snagged every time I cast out. I did switch to smaller hooks, I think it was a #10 but then one of the tiny perch swallowed it and the little guy didn't make it. RIP tiny fish. I felt bad so I switched back to a bigger one. I come from a theatrical rigging background so tons of fussy little parts are right up my alley, I can work on simplifying things. I am practicing casting in my yard so I can get better at getting some distance on lighter weight rigs. I am going out in a few minuets actually, to a different area. It is a meandering little pond thing fed by a few streams. I went there the other week to look around and saw a bunch of trout (i think?) in one of the streams.
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Apr 21, 2014 20:32
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bunnielab posted:Thanks for the advice guys. Gotcha. Casting distance can be helped by the following: -Using thinner diameter line. -Using a longer rod. -Using a heavier lure/bobber/sinker. -Using a bigger spooled reel. Obviously some of those things are not going to help you without going out and buying more equipment(which you can probably hold off on for awhile). If a fish really swallow a hook, don't be afraid to cut the line as close to the hook as possible. I've always heard that most fish can digest small hooks(maybe fish biologist man can chime in though). At the very least they will have a better chance of surviving than if you rip out their innards while trying to dislodge the hook . If you do find some trout, be aware that they are notorious for swallowing live bait like worms. If you don't spook them first, they will almost always hit a live worm, but they swallow them quick. They also like small spinnerbaits, like this: Mepps Aglia Keep at it though, anytime you can go fishing and catch a fish is a success in my book!
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Apr 21, 2014 21:05
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The new place is kinda weird, It is theoretically public access to the Patuxent river, but it is like a 15m hike to get to like 50y of bank, the rest is private property or takes a boat to access. It has one largish pond, shallow and full of lilly pads. It is very clear and I could see a ton of small sunfish near the shore. Some guys hiking by said that there are bass in there but "they are too smart to catch". There is a smaller, weirdly winding pond by the parking area. It is very narrow but deep-ish and is also very clear. There is a little bridge where I caught this guy: And some of his dumb friends. I am kinda digging my tiny rear end fish catching. I don't think anyone else much bothers with this little pond so the fish bite at anything. It is very very relaxing to just stand there and get them one after the other. Also, I saw a huge loving beaver and it might have scared a small amount of pee out of me. It jumped in right behind me, sounded like someone threw a cinderbock in the water.
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Apr 22, 2014 02:34
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bunnielab posted:The new place is kinda weird, It is theoretically public access to the Patuxent river, but it is like a 15m hike to get to like 50y of bank, the rest is private property or takes a boat to access. It has one largish pond, shallow and full of lilly pads. It is very clear and I could see a ton of small sunfish near the shore. Some guys hiking by said that there are bass in there but "they are too smart to catch". There is a smaller, weirdly winding pond by the parking area. It is very narrow but deep-ish and is also very clear. There is a little bridge where I caught this guy: Bluegill! Bury me when I get tired of them. Catching little fish is fun. If you get bored with it, just get lighter tackle. Or use a hand line or some other dumb little challenge. A hand-sized bluegill is good eating. Scale and gut it, cut the head off, dip it in egg and cornmeal, and shallow fry it. They're a perfect poor man's dinner.
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Apr 22, 2014 02:45
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Nice bluegill! I should have taken my phone with tonight. Went out to the pond behind the house and caught my biggest crappie yet. An absolute slab! 12.5 or 13 inches and thick. Thought it was a bass until I got him in. Caught it on a Mepps 00 Aglia. Talked to another neighbor and he said there are 10+ pound cat, 5+ pound largemouth and even a few 2-3 pound smallies in there. Surprised it can sustain that size fish. Pond is a good 2 acres but only about 5 feet deep. I guess I'm just used to the ponds up north where I'm from. A 5 foot deep pond up there can't support fish through winter.
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Apr 22, 2014 03:09
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bunnielab posted:The new place is kinda weird, It is theoretically public access to the Patuxent river, but it is like a 15m hike to get to like 50y of bank, the rest is private property or takes a boat to access. It has one largish pond, shallow and full of lilly pads. It is very clear and I could see a ton of small sunfish near the shore. Some guys hiking by said that there are bass in there but "they are too smart to catch". There is a smaller, weirdly winding pond by the parking area. It is very narrow but deep-ish and is also very clear. There is a little bridge where I caught this guy: I love catching bluegill/sunfish, they fight all the way to shore, no matter how small they are. They are fiesty little fish, much more exciting to catch then the trout that are stocked every year.
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Apr 22, 2014 03:36
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Kilersquirrel posted:Are you seriously arguing that this isn't worth fishing for? Even a 5-pound catfish can give your drag a run for its money, big ones like that can easily pull you into the water if you're not prepared. No I just made a huge effort post about catfishing.
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Apr 22, 2014 17:32
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Derp, I somehow blanked out on all that. It's been a long sleepless couple of weeks, mea culpa.
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Apr 22, 2014 17:53
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So, I like spending as much time as possible in my kayak. I've portaged it long distances on my shoulder or by dragging it, usually with a bunch of fishing stuff, food, water, camera, whatever in it. I'm tired of that and also I'm looking at a couple new lakes that require a longer haul than from the truck to the bottom of the boat ramp. Roughly following this guy's plans, I built a kayak cart.  All the PVC came from spending a couple hours rooting around in old bathtubs full of used plumbing poo poo down at my local Habitat for Humanity second-hand building supply store. The hardware came from the local hardware store, and the wheels are from Harbor Freight. I had some shock cord that I ran through the hull supports. They stretch over the deck right behind the cockpit and connect via a carabiner and welded ring attached to the shock cord with some 550 cord. I'm going to throw some pool noodles or pipe insulation on the hull braces soon. The only real difference between mine and the Palmetto plans are that I put threaded connectors on the hull braces, so I can just turn them 90 degrees like so:  and lash it onto the deck behind the cockpit while I frolic in the water. Cheap.
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Apr 24, 2014 16:01
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Looks great. I'm planning a canoe purchase so I'll probably be building one of these soon. Nice job!
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Apr 24, 2014 16:27
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