The Catch-All Fishing Thread 2014

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Crab Dad: Dec 28, 2002; behold i have tempered and refined thee, but not as silver; as CRAB

Bottom fishing in Pensacola has been problematic due to all the decorator crabs. Not sure how I'm supposed get around that.

# ? Feb 2, 2015 03:39

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# ? Jun 1, 2024 14:48

fknlo: Jul 6, 2009; Fun Shoe

LingcodKilla posted:

Bottom fishing in Pensacola has been problematic due to all the decorator crabs. Not sure how I'm supposed get around that.

Crab leg feast!

# ? Feb 2, 2015 21:01

Crab Dad: Dec 28, 2002; behold i have tempered and refined thee, but not as silver; as CRAB

fknlo posted:

Crab leg feast!

Too small to bother.

# ? Feb 2, 2015 23:16

HenryJLittlefinger: Jan 31, 2010; stomp clap

Crab cakes?

# ? Feb 3, 2015 02:56

DoctaFun: Dec 12, 2005; Dammit Francis!

Got the fam out fishing today, it was pretty slow overall but we managed a 30" northern. Beautiful day to be on the ice though!

# ? Feb 8, 2015 04:21

Falukorv: Jun 23, 2013; A funny little mouse!

Nice pike!

Winter in Sweden has been pretty mild, and now after less than a month of below freezing temperatures, we're back to +5 autumnish weather. So no ice fishing, as the're only ice on the shallow bays. So today i went fishing on a promontory where the water deepens fast (deep water = no ice = spin fishing

).

Caught a fat one, and the water is so cold so it was almost too easy reeling it in. I'm happy about it because i've had an appetite for fresh fish for a while now, haven't fished anything since this autumn. Now i get one almost perfect in size (for consumption). Store-bought fresh affordable fish in Stockholm is hard to come by, so catching several dinners worth of delicious pike-meat while clearing ones mind out fishing is a godsend.

Sadly, as i found out when i cut the fish open, she was full of roe, which is part of why she looked so fat. The fish was very wellnourished and stocky even when excluding the roe, her stomach was stuffed with like 6 small perches. Amazing how they still can eat so well when it's so cold in the water they swim in.

I wouldn't want the nutritious bounty of roe go to waste, i did as my Portuguese side of the family taught me and fried them with eggs and flour. Pretty delicious.

First time i've gone spin-fishing during winter, i was doubtful if i could attract anything with a spinning reel when the water is so cold. But now i know i can. It helps that i reeled in slowly with more pauses than usual, and that underwater from the pormontory i stand on turns into a deep verge. As far as i know, pikes, when water is cold mostly hang around in the warmer denser waters nearer to the bottom and sometimes climb up near verges and grounds during the day to look for prey. Which seems to be what the pike i caught was doing.

Falukorv fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Feb 20, 2015

# ? Feb 20, 2015 21:21

DoctaFun: Dec 12, 2005; Dammit Francis!

Falukorv posted:

Nice pike!

Winter in Sweden has been pretty mild, and now after less than a month of below freezing temperatures, we're back to +5 autumnish weather. So no ice fishing, as the're only ice on the shallow bays. So today i went fishing on a promontory where the water deepens fast (deep water = no ice = spin fishing ).

Caught a fat one, and the water is so cold so it was almost too easy reeling it in. I'm happy about it because i've had an appetite for fresh fish for a while now, haven't fished anything since this autumn. Now i get one almost perfect in size (for consumption). Store-bought fresh affordable fish in Stockholm is hard to come by, so catching several dinners worth of delicious pike-meat while clearing ones mind out fishing is a godsend.

Sadly, as i found out when i cut the fish open, she was full of roe, which is part of why she looked so fat. The fish was very wellnourished and stocky even when excluding the roe, her stomach was stuffed with like 6 small perches. Amazing how they still can eat so well when it's so cold in the water they swim in.

I wouldn't want the nutritious bounty of roe go to waste, i did as my Portuguese side of the family taught me and fried them with eggs and flour. Pretty delicious.

First time i've gone spin-fishing during winter, i was doubtful if i could attract anything with a spinning reel when the water is so cold. But now i know i can. It helps that i reeled in slowly with more pauses than usual, and that underwater from the pormontory i stand on turns into a deep verge. As far as i know, pikes, when water is cold mostly hang around in the warmer denser waters nearer to the bottom and sometimes climb up near verges and grounds to look for prey. Which seems to be what the pike i caught was doing.

Wow, I've never seen a pike with those proportions! They must grow a bit different over there.

Do you have access to live bait over there? If so, that's a great option for pike, any time of the year. In fact, during the winter a lot of people over here use dead bait(cisco, herring) under a tip-up for pike.

Not sure how many lines you are allowed to use, but throwing a medium sized sucker minnow(4-7") under a bobber is a great way to catch pike. All the better if you can use a couple lines and cover some different depths. Or you know, throw out a bobber line and then cast a spinner with another.

I've never eaten and fish roe before, but a friend of mine ate some raw walleye eggs last year while we were cleaning fish. He said it was good but he's a crazy SOB so I didn't try any.

# ? Feb 20, 2015 22:00

Siochain: May 24, 2005; "can they get rid of any humans who are fans of shitheads like Kanye West, 50 Cent, or any other piece of crap "artist" who thinks they're all that?

And also get rid of anyone who has posted retarded shit on the internet."

Man, how did I miss the fishing thread hahah.
I live in NE Ontario, land of a kabillion lakes. Just moved here a couple of years ago, and I'm having a bitch of a time adjusting to the shield country lakes.

I grew up in Manitoba, didn't fish much until about 6-7 years ago. Got fairly into it doing a study on Northern Pike breeding habitat as part of my University degree (I know way too much about pike now, wheeee). Fishing southern Manitoba is primarily soft-bottom and river systems, with most lakes of any size being man-made reservoirs. I could nail pike all day long, and was fairly decent with pickerl.

Any suggestions for someone moving from a lot of experience with soft-bottom lakes to rock-bottom? I can't seem to find a reliable source of contour maps, so most of the days I've been out on the boat have been run around like an idiot and hope. Then there's adapting to different food types and lure usage, but that will come I guess. My primary target is walleye, but there are some bass and trout around as well. I like catching pike, but the wife won't eat them, so I'm not fishing for them.

Awesome thread. And for ice-fishers out there, if you don't have an auger and don't want to spend a ton, look at one of these:

http://www.icemasteradapter.com/

Went to my town's annual big ice-fishing derby on Saturday, had a blast. One of the guys I was fishing with had something like this. With his Makita drill and that, he did about two dozen holes on a single battery. Way smaller than a gas auger, lighter, and a lot cheaper - if you have a drill, grab a cheap $60 auger and an adapter and you are set.

I didn't catch anything - had a few nibbles, nothing coming close to biting. A few people in our group of like 18 people got some smallish pike, and a few perch.

# ? Feb 24, 2015 04:44

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

I stopped in at "Guns, Fishing, & Other Stuff" the other day, it's a big new store that turned out to have, like, 300 rifles and 150 pistols on display, plus hundreds of fishing rods.

And out of those fishing rods, I could not find a single fly rod.

I finally found, on an almost empty rack in the back corner, three fly "kits". One for children. One for $30. And one for $200.

I'd been hoping to get a rig for about $100, something like what I have, for my brother-in-law since we're planning to fish Russian River in two weeks. Instead I saw a really loving sad sight.

We'll just have to hope Dicks still has the same thing I bought for myself last year.

Pham Nuwen fucked around with this message at 07:07 on Feb 24, 2015

# ? Feb 24, 2015 07:05

DoctaFun: Dec 12, 2005; Dammit Francis!

Siochain posted:

Man, how did I miss the fishing thread hahah.
I live in NE Ontario, land of a kabillion lakes. Just moved here a couple of years ago, and I'm having a bitch of a time adjusting to the shield country lakes.

I grew up in Manitoba, didn't fish much until about 6-7 years ago. Got fairly into it doing a study on Northern Pike breeding habitat as part of my University degree (I know way too much about pike now, wheeee). Fishing southern Manitoba is primarily soft-bottom and river systems, with most lakes of any size being man-made reservoirs. I could nail pike all day long, and was fairly decent with pickerl.

Any suggestions for someone moving from a lot of experience with soft-bottom lakes to rock-bottom? I can't seem to find a reliable source of contour maps, so most of the days I've been out on the boat have been run around like an idiot and hope. Then there's adapting to different food types and lure usage, but that will come I guess. My primary target is walleye, but there are some bass and trout around as well. I like catching pike, but the wife won't eat them, so I'm not fishing for them.

Awesome thread. And for ice-fishers out there, if you don't have an auger and don't want to spend a ton, look at one of these:

http://www.icemasteradapter.com/

Went to my town's annual big ice-fishing derby on Saturday, had a blast. One of the guys I was fishing with had something like this. With his Makita drill and that, he did about two dozen holes on a single battery. Way smaller than a gas auger, lighter, and a lot cheaper - if you have a drill, grab a cheap $60 auger and an adapter and you are set.

I didn't catch anything - had a few nibbles, nothing coming close to biting. A few people in our group of like 18 people got some smallish pike, and a few perch.

You say you have a boat? That will help a lot, do you have a depth finder? A depth finder will help find nice pieces of structure that otherwise could be tough to locate.

I'd target your low light periods(sunrise, sunset) and try to find some rock piles or structure on the lake to fish. You can spend thousands of dollars on walleye lures and rods, but I'd focus on two main strategies, trolling and jigging.

Buy a few size 5 and size 7 rapala shad raps and troll around the lake. Time of year will play a big role in how deep/shallow the walleye are, but generally if you troll right before dusk the walleye will come up shallower to feed just about any time of the year. Try trolling on the edge of weed lines if the lakes have defined weed lines. Trolling is great on an unknown body of water because your speed is low enough that you can really pay attention to the water, if you have a depth finder you can keep an eye on that to try and locate some rock piles or reefs. I'd troll in the evening in anywhere from 8-15 feet of water(Every lake will be different), but you want your crankbait to be right on the bottom, occasionally hitting the bottom is best.

Contour maps really really help, I'd target points, rock piles, reefs, and inside turns. Once you start picking up a few fish here or there, take note of when and where. Then, try to find other similar pieces of structure on that lake or other lakes.

Jigging is another great/cheap option, buy some jigheads, I like 1/8 - 1/4 ounce, find a spot that looks 'fishy'(what I mentioned above), and slowly drift over that spot with your jig just bouncing on the bottom. Soft plastic tails will work, but minnows/crawlers/leeches work great as well. With a light breeze you can just shut off the motor and drift over an area a few times, if you get bit, mark that location and re-position yourself to drift through again.

I leave for Ely, MN tomorrow to do some rainbow trout/splake/lake trout fishing. I couldn't be more excited. Hopefully I can come back here next week with some awesome trout pics

. Never fished for these species before but I"m fishing with a guide so I have a pretty good feeling.

# ? Feb 26, 2015 21:57

Siochain: May 24, 2005; "can they get rid of any humans who are fans of shitheads like Kanye West, 50 Cent, or any other piece of crap "artist" who thinks they're all that?

And also get rid of anyone who has posted retarded shit on the internet."

DoctaFun posted:

You say you have a boat? That will help a lot, do you have a depth finder? A depth finder will help find nice pieces of structure that otherwise could be tough to locate.

I'd target your low light periods(sunrise, sunset) and try to find some rock piles or structure on the lake to fish. You can spend thousands of dollars on walleye lures and rods, but I'd focus on two main strategies, trolling and jigging.

Buy a few size 5 and size 7 rapala shad raps and troll around the lake. Time of year will play a big role in how deep/shallow the walleye are, but generally if you troll right before dusk the walleye will come up shallower to feed just about any time of the year. Try trolling on the edge of weed lines if the lakes have defined weed lines. Trolling is great on an unknown body of water because your speed is low enough that you can really pay attention to the water, if you have a depth finder you can keep an eye on that to try and locate some rock piles or reefs. I'd troll in the evening in anywhere from 8-15 feet of water(Every lake will be different), but you want your crankbait to be right on the bottom, occasionally hitting the bottom is best.

Contour maps really really help, I'd target points, rock piles, reefs, and inside turns. Once you start picking up a few fish here or there, take note of when and where. Then, try to find other similar pieces of structure on that lake or other lakes.

Jigging is another great/cheap option, buy some jigheads, I like 1/8 - 1/4 ounce, find a spot that looks 'fishy'(what I mentioned above), and slowly drift over that spot with your jig just bouncing on the bottom. Soft plastic tails will work, but minnows/crawlers/leeches work great as well. With a light breeze you can just shut off the motor and drift over an area a few times, if you get bit, mark that location and re-position yourself to drift through again.

Thanks for the reply!

Yes, have a boat. Used boat, leaks a bit, but still goes like hell and has a pump to keep me from sinking. And I have a fishfinder/depth finder on the way from Basspro already (boat came with the transducer, but no fish finder). Its going to help a ton, since that'll let me find the shelves/dropoffs.

I think part of our issues is getting out too late in the morning, or too early in the evening. I really need to get out at 5am a few mornings to try and catch the early walleye. I have a good variety of crankbaits, and I'll grab some rapala' shads to go along with. I'm used to fishing shallow, weedy, sandy-bottom lakes for pike, so I used them, but differently.

Have a trolling motor on the boat as well, so we'll just need to work on finding the spots, making a note of them, and working them for a bit before looking for another. Part of my issue is likely not running my lures deep enough, which I'll work on once the lakes aren't hiding under 6 feet of ice.

Good luck on your trip! Post some great pics when you get them!

# ? Feb 26, 2015 22:07

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

Everything is frozen and I am kinda sick of it. I have been buying tackle to make myself feel better, anyone here use Z-Man stuff? I have liked the stuff of theirs I have tried, but it is a pain to rig.

# ? Feb 26, 2015 23:27

babyeatingpsychopath: Oct 28, 2000; Forum Veteran

bunnielab posted:

Everything is frozen and I am kinda sick of it. I have been buying tackle to make myself feel better, anyone here use Z-Man stuff? I have liked the stuff of theirs I have tried, but it is a pain to rig.

I just got a new set of orders to a different Navy base, and I show up with all of my tackle.

To find out that all the lakes are frozen. There's no way I'm ice fishing. None at all. Guess I gotta wait a couple of months until everything thaws.

Why couldn't I have gotten orders back to Pensacola?

# ? Feb 28, 2015 05:15

Crab Dad: Dec 28, 2002; behold i have tempered and refined thee, but not as silver; as CRAB

babyeatingpsychopath posted:

I just got a new set of orders to a different Navy base, and I show up with all of my tackle.

To find out that all the lakes are frozen. There's no way I'm ice fishing. None at all. Guess I gotta wait a couple of months until everything thaws.

Why couldn't I have gotten orders back to Pensacola?

Wish you had. I'm having a hard time finding any decent fishing from shore. The loving decorator crabs are just killing me. Cant even really eat the fuckers but they swarm my bait in seconds. When the weather gets a bit nicer we will be trying our luck on the base boats and kayaks.

Pensacola looks so promising but its hard not knowing the area.

# ? Feb 28, 2015 15:05

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer