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keykey posted:Apparently, I've missed this thread. I'm headed to the Stockton Delta tomorrow fishing for channel cat. How'd you do? I was up in Davis this weekend but wasn't able to get my line in the water long. I took my girlfriend who is deathly scared of spiders and she started crying when she saw all of the garden spiders along the bank. I got to cast twice before she made us go back. This guy was about 3.5 inches toe to toe. They are harmless, just freaky looking. 
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Jul 30, 2012 16:21
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jvick posted:How'd you do? We didn't catch anything, mostly because we got a late start and didn't stay that late. That said, we still had an awesome day out on the boat relaxing. Today after I get off work, I'm going to hit the inlet just above Yosemite Lake. jvick posted:This guy was about 3.5 inches toe to toe. They are harmless, just freaky looking. My wife just got one of these in Monterey a few weeks ago while she was looking for a P. Metallica from one of their breeders, it's only the size of a dime right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i0IpU-1WEc keykey fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Jul 30, 2012 |
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Jul 30, 2012 19:39
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Caught my first Snook last week! We must've seen 6 jump clear out of the water chasing mullet. Me and a buddy both landed them on a bone spook jr retrieved as violently as we could. A couple days later I landed my biggest bass to date in the neighborhood pond on the same spook. Later that night a buddy and I went back to the pond after some drinks and threw for a bit. He caught a small bass on a small rubber worm. I hooked up a 5-7 ft gator on the spook! Scared the poo poo outta us when a huge wake erupted on the lure. He immediately turned and swam for deeper water taking line fast. I tightened the drag down on the stradic and still I could not turn him. I palmed the spool and the line went slack. Upon retrieving I found he had bent the hook and cracked the spook in several places. That lure is now retired. I knew there was a gator or two in there but that night we saw at least 4 sets of eyes in that little backyard pond. I've decided I won't be paddle boarding there after all. Pics to come later.
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Jul 31, 2012 19:02
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So what do you do with a gator on the chance you actually bring it in? Call animal control? It would suck to have to cut the line and leave a lure in its mouth.
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Jul 31, 2012 21:42
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causticBeet posted:It would suck to have to cut the line and leave a lure in its mouth. That's exactly what I would do. Who wants to mess with an alligator?
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Jul 31, 2012 22:09
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Last night was much better action. In 1 hour before I went home, I caught 3 trout with a baitcaster and a rapala float lure.
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Jul 31, 2012 22:25
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I had an OK day of catfishing on Sunday. Caught about a dozen (channels and a bullhead) in less than 4 hours from my kayak. I was fishing with chicken livers. Biggest one was 18 inches. Nothing too special. The water was up from all the rain we've been getting so I caught them right where the creek comes into the reservoir. I will say this, contrary to the OP chicken livers are a mediocre bait to use for catfish. Yes, they will attract aggressive hits, but mostly from smaller fish. Even with gauze they have trouble staying on the hook when the little peckers start hitting, so you're constantly re-baiting. I was getting bites so quickly that I had to fish with one pole whereas I normally use two or three. This might sound cool, but most bites were from small fish that just stole my bait. Plus you get chicken blood everywhere. I only used them to break the skunk. Biggest channels I ever caught were either on cut or live baitfish. I usually use bream from wherever I'm fishing. If you don't have any fish to use and you just want to get out there, I suggest using either cut chicken breast or chicken gizzards marinated overnight in garlic and oil. It's pretty much a standard for serious catmen these days as far as I can tell. Don't let it spoil. This won't really help you attract any fish, so all it means is you're handling raw chicken that's also spoiled. As a side note, I figured I might go out yesterday so I left my kayak on the roof of the car with the straps loosened. Don't ever do this. I knew that you're not supposed to do this, but I figured it'd be OK for one day as long as the straps weren't tight. I "oil-canned" (yes, I know technically that's not the proper term but that's what everyone says) the hull, but luckily it popped right out in the heat. All it took to oil-can was sitting on my roof in the heat on top of the foam blocks (not tied down at all). Normally, I store my kayak properly indoors and I use foam with normal straps when tying it down. It's amazing how easily the hull will warp out of shape in the heat with a plastic kayak! Bonus pics of some cats from a previous trip (caught with gizzards n' garlic)!   This was the biggest I could photo. Caught one that was a little bigger but he was too ornery to photo. He was a mean spirited fish.  And I still cast for bass whenever the cats aren't biting:  Mulaney Power Move fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Aug 1, 2012 |
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Jul 31, 2012 22:57
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I'm looking at trying my hand at kayak fishing. Any particular yaks you can recommend for someone about 6'4 and 280lbs?
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Aug 1, 2012 02:43
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Hughmoris posted:I'm looking at trying my hand at kayak fishing. Any particular yaks you can recommend for someone about 6'4 and 280lbs? Depends on a lot of factors, but off the top of my head Wilderness System's Commander series is great for weigh capacity (500-600 lbs). The Ride 13.5 is pretty good as well and quite stable. The Ocean Kayak Trident 13 (what I have) has a carrying capacity of about 450 lbs plus it's only 60 lbs to carry. There's a lot of options to go with. The best thing you can do is find a local shop that offers demos. Every kayak is a series of trade-offs (stability, speed, maneuverability) so it really depends on what conditions you'll be fishing in. I went with the Trident 13 because it's a good all around model that's not as stable as the Commander or Ride but it's faster, tracks better, it's more maneuverable, and can handle a variety of conditions. Jackson Kayak makes excellent fishing kayaks as well, plus there's Hobie which I've never even tried. Do your homework and demo demo demo! One thing I've heard a lot of people say is that at the end of day, you want to leave about 100 lbs to spare based on whatever the carrying capacity is if you want to get a decent ride out of your boat. But that's just something I heard...
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Aug 1, 2012 03:17
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Hughmoris posted:I'm looking at trying my hand at kayak fishing. Any particular yaks you can recommend for someone about 6'4 and 280lbs? Everything Some Other Guy posted is right on, your best bet is to find a local shop that does demo days and test out as many kayaks as you can get into. Maybe even do some google searching for a local club or fellow kayak anglers, a lot of guys in my area will invite new guys out to try out our spare boats, I do this when ever I can. The ride 135 is a great kayak, Jackson and Wilderness kayaks are all outstanding brands and great to test out. I prefer Hobie for fishing out of, I just got a 2012 Outback and I love the kayak a ton, one of my favorite to fish out of too date.
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Aug 1, 2012 03:46
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causticBeet posted:So what do you do with a gator on the chance you actually bring it in? Call animal control? It would suck to have to cut the line and leave a lure in its mouth. I was fishing in the keys in a deep trench of a lagoon at Bahia Honda and a huge Eagle Ray came up and swallowed my lure just as I was bringing it up the trench, jumping out of the water soaking me and my wife and then hauling rear end out of the lagoon. I was pretty much in shock and didn't know what to do, it was pulling the line out so fast I thought it was going to spool. A bunch of fisherman came over that saw what happened and offered to cut the line, I remember thinking I didn't want to do that but didn't seem to have a choice when the knot let go thank god. Win/win for me and the Ray, sucks that he had a lure in him, but much better than a shitload of line behind it. tesilential posted:Caught my first Snook last week! We must've seen 6 jump clear out of the water chasing mullet. Me and a buddy both landed them on a bone spook jr retrieved as violently as we could. What are these "spooks" you speak of? I've been using D.O.A shrimp and greenback lures and haven't caught a drat thing, only a few hits. I'm at my wits end with lures and getting ready to go to live bait again, I wish I could find a consistent lure for catching snook and sea trout.
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Aug 1, 2012 06:25
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leica posted:What are these "spooks" you speak of? I've been using D.O.A shrimp and greenback lures and haven't caught a drat thing, only a few hits. I'm at my wits end with lures and getting ready to go to live bait again, I wish I could find a consistent lure for catching snook and sea trout. I would expect he means a Zara Spook like this one, or something similar. Spooks are a lot of fun to use.
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Aug 1, 2012 11:01
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So is there a certain technique when using them? Gonna have to try one.
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Aug 1, 2012 15:44
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Hughmoris posted:I'm looking at trying my hand at kayak fishing. Any particular yaks you can recommend for someone about 6'4 and 280lbs? Bass pro makes a re-branded ocean kayak prowler called the endeavor. Rigged for fishing for 100$ less then its brand name counterpart (599-699). Only negative is its beige and not something high-viz. Went offshore fishing sunday morning. Got skunked, went in to the reef to do some spearfishing and i was determined to bring some dinner home. Got a number of nice fish. Two nice mangrove snappers, a fat school master snapper, a grey trigger, and a porgy. 
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Aug 1, 2012 16:10
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Thanks for the kayak tips, I'll check them out and see what I can find. I bought a new rod/reel today and caught an enormous fish (tiny pinfish) on my first cast. That is a good omen, right? Later I caught a spinner shark as well. This was surf fishing out in Pensacola Beach, FL. I was using shrimp for bait.
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Aug 1, 2012 17:02
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leica posted:So is there a certain technique when using them? Gonna have to try one. Specifically i used the Super Spook Jr, color = bone, the version with the dressed rear treble hook. I have the smaller and larger versions but the jr is the easiest to work for me. Retrieve it so it is violently jerking back and forth on the surface sending water flying everywhere. YouTube tutorials show them slowly chugging it but I have not had success that way. My fishing buddy works it so quick it looks like the lure is cartwheeling across the surface. He gets hit almost every cast.
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Aug 1, 2012 20:09
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With the zara spook it's called "walking the dog" get some slack in your line and jerk the line tight. The lure will move one direction. Repeat and it moves the other. Continue this in a steady back and forth while you reel up slack.
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Aug 1, 2012 20:20
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Ok, cool. I really don't want to use live bait for awhile, so I need to start a nice lure collection, any other suggestions? I'm basically going to be fishing passes and inter coastal areas for snook and trout.
Applebees Appetizer fucked around with this message at 05:18 on Aug 2, 2012 |
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Aug 2, 2012 05:15
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leica posted:Ok, cool. I really don't want to use live bait for awhile, so I need to start a nice lure collection, any other suggestions? I'm basically going to be fishing passes and inter coastal areas for snook and trout. Mirrodine  "new penny" Gulp shrimp under a popping cork absolutely slay the trout. Cut ladyfish or pinfish will catch reds, snook, trout, pretty much anything on the flats, including sharks and rays. Around here people freeline whitebait on the beaches near passes for snook.
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Aug 2, 2012 05:32
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I picked up a Spook Jr and a Mirrodine lure today as well as some penny gulp shrimp. Gonna try a Texas rig and a popping rig with the shrimp and see how that goes. Will give it a shot probably next Mon and Tues on my days off when I take my 4 yr old son fishing, will report back with results, wish me luck!
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Aug 3, 2012 02:13
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leica posted:I picked up a Spook Jr and a Mirrodine lure today as well as some penny gulp shrimp. Gonna try a Texas rig and a popping rig with the shrimp and see how that goes. Will give it a shot probably next Mon and Tues on my days off when I take my 4 yr old son fishing, will report back with results, wish me luck! Good luck! Tie the gulp 3' below the cork and toss it on a 4-6' drop off on the edge of a flat. Pop every thirty seconds. If there are fish present they will hit it almost immediately IME.
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Aug 3, 2012 23:54
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Just got back from Monterey late last night with my wifes family, we went ocean fishing over the weekend. Final count from the rocks over 2 days of fishing at low tide : 3 rock cod, 2 ling cod. Even more importantly, had a ton of fun. It was my first time ocean fishing and definitely won't be the last, parting gifts were surf rods from my father in law. I'm thinking once a month would be a good coastal fishing interval since it's 75 miles away.
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Aug 6, 2012 16:37
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keykey posted:Just got back from Monterey late last night with my wifes family, we went ocean fishing over the weekend. Final count from the rocks over 2 days of fishing at low tide : 3 rock cod, 2 ling cod. Even more importantly, had a ton of fun. It was my first time ocean fishing and definitely won't be the last, parting gifts were surf rods from my father in law. I'm thinking once a month would be a good coastal fishing interval since it's 75 miles away. Thats great! Where did you go? If you're looking for a fishing buddy next time I'd be glad to show you some spots.
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Aug 6, 2012 21:41
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Does anyone have experience surf casting around Wilmingon NC, specifically Carolina beach? Going to be down there on vacation the 19th and would love a heads up for what to expect/try. Would also love to know about some freshwater spots in the vicinity. Thanks in advance!
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Aug 6, 2012 21:58
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jvick posted:Thats great! Where did you go? If you're looking for a fishing buddy next time I'd be glad to show you some spots. We went to the point of these rocks here: https://maps.google.com/?ll=36.637712,-121.930241&spn=0.001103,0.001549&t=h&z=20 You either have to wait for close to low tide to cross or just be in swim shorts and watersocks or other type of nonslip footwear. My father in law usually hits the Tuesday farmers market in Monterey so he went back again yesterday, tried to cross during mid tide and slipped and banged his hip.
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Aug 7, 2012 15:22
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keykey posted:We went to the point of these rocks here: https://maps.google.com/?ll=36.637712,-121.930241&spn=0.001103,0.001549&t=h&z=20 Man, he sure made you work for your first time! How was the surf? It can get pretty rough in that area. What did you take for bait? Squid?
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Aug 7, 2012 16:44
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Can someone recommend a fish dehooking tool? I'm fairly new to fishing (saltwater), only doing catch-and-release for the time being and I feel like I'm causing these fish a large amount of trauma trying to get them dehooked.
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Aug 7, 2012 18:27
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For removing difficult hooks, the most versatile tool is a pair of fishing forceps like these. The biggest help though is removing the barbs from your hooks. You can use the forceps to press down on the barb and fold it flat against the hook, or break it off entirely. It's been my experience that the barbs aren't necessary if you're careful to keep a bend on your rod and tension on the line, which you should be anyway.
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Aug 7, 2012 20:03
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jvick posted:Man, he sure made you work for your first time! How was the surf? It can get pretty rough in that area. What did you take for bait? Squid? Yeah, we used squid. You can get it up on the pier for $1.00 per lb. We also tried using shrimp but that didn't seem to work as well. We also used glow in the dark string just above the bait to attract ling cod. Truth be told, it wasn't that bad to get out to, I used the base of my pole as a balancing stick so I didn't get wet at all, I also rolled up my pants to shorts level and I just unrolled them when we got out to the rocks. I actually got better 3g cel reception on the rocks than I did at any point in Monterey as well so that was a bonus. 
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Aug 7, 2012 23:15
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Any pointers on using top-water frog lures in very patchy still water? I started using one and I get a TON of interest but I can never seem to hook up. Almost all the strikes seem to occur shortly after my lure hits the water, a few are while I'm reeling slowly but mostly it is on splashdown. I can actually see the fish hit it which is really awesome, and they'll take it down for a second or two before it inevitably is back top-side. I try setting the hook right when it hits and shortly after it goes under. Should I wait even longer perhaps? Could it just be these are smaller fish that aren't engulfing the entire lure, but just the legs where the hooks aren't?
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Aug 8, 2012 16:34
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EnsignVix posted:Any pointers on using top-water frog lures in very patchy still water? I started using one and I get a TON of interest but I can never seem to hook up. Almost all the strikes seem to occur shortly after my lure hits the water, a few are while I'm reeling slowly but mostly it is on splashdown. I've found frog fishing to be pretty tough, I've had a lot of missed strikes but here's some tricks I've found: I use an Spro Bronzeye like this  One of the first things I recommend doing is cutting about half an inch off those skirt legs if yours are similar in style and length. I've noticed that helped since they wouldn't start their strike so far behind the lure. I reel it in pretty fast with a walk-the-dog zig zag motion. For hook setting I generally try to wait until the lure is either completely under or I just can't plain see it at all in the splash. I miss strikes still and I think it's just the nature of the game with such weedless designs but I'm starting to hook them more than I used to, at least.
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Aug 8, 2012 17:03
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Wait 2 seconds when setting the hook on a frog/topwater. I like to wait til the inhale it and dive for the bottom and my line starts to get tight.
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Aug 8, 2012 17:31
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Cool, thanks to both of you. I've got the kind with solid legs not the stringy ones like above. Maybe I'll try cutting off a bit of those legs, and yeah definitely will wait a bit longer to set the hook. Trial and error seems to be the way to go with a lot of this stuff but it helps to get some ideas on what to try ahead of time.
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Aug 8, 2012 17:53
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Yeah I'll have to give the waiting thing a try myself. It's hard though because seeing a good top water strike gets me all hyped up.
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Aug 8, 2012 23:20
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It could also be smaller fish trying to take the bait and just grabbing a leg. You'll get bluegill and rock bass grab those things all the time. Really annoying. If you get a big aggressive fish, there's usually no doubt. You'll see a huge swirl. When I see the swirl, I say "1" in my head and then set the hook. It's definitely trial and error. Set too soon and they aren't to the hook, set too late and they realize it's not a frog and spit it out. Definitely my favorite type of fishing, though.
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Aug 8, 2012 23:34
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tesilential posted:Wait 2 seconds when setting the hook on a frog/topwater. I like to wait til the inhale it and dive for the bottom and my line starts to get tight. Lol I can't even take my own advice. Yesterday walked a couple houses down to the local pond at 8:20pm. Threw a bone spook jr and within 10 casts had a nice largemouth launch out of the water when he missed it. Kept the speed up and he came back around and ate it. Brought him with hardly any fight. Turns out he was hooked with the front hook on the outside of the lip and the rear hook was hooking him under the gill. I think the pain cause him to not fight. When I got the hook off and lip gripped him he started fighting which caused me to drop him back in before I could snap a good pic. I stayed another 15 minutes and had 3 more big hits but each time I missed. Twice I yanked too soon and the spook went flying. The last time I remembered to wait but I had cast so far that by the time I got the line tight and set the hook it was gone. I've been getting the hits within the first 3 seconds of the lure hitting the water.
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Aug 9, 2012 17:03
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keykey posted:Yeah, we used squid. You can get it up on the pier for $1.00 per lb. We also tried using shrimp but that didn't seem to work as well. We also used glow in the dark string just above the bait to attract ling cod. Truth be told, it wasn't that bad to get out to, I used the base of my pole as a balancing stick so I didn't get wet at all, I also rolled up my pants to shorts level and I just unrolled them when we got out to the rocks. I actually got better 3g cel reception on the rocks than I did at any point in Monterey as well so that was a bonus. 1. Squid 2. Clams 3. Anchovies In that order. I usually only use anchovies if I'm fishing of the piers, where my line is nearly straight down. How was the glow in the dark line? I've never used it, but have never gone for long specifically. Sounds like it could be a great tactic. Here is a picture in Carmel from last week: http://i.imgur.com/Is7Se.jpg
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Aug 9, 2012 18:08
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tesilential posted:Lol I can't even take my own advice. You lucky bastard, I wish I could just walk a few houses down and fish a pond. I just looked up that lure, I happen to have one and will try it out along with my frogs this weekend. My last trip out I got all that action with the frog lures, then fished a deep quarry on a slip bobber with nightcrawlers. Got this guy early on, then 4 sunfish, and one 3" baby bass.  My battle plan for this weekend is to hit that same canal with my frogs and a few other floating lures to see what works. I'll use the ideas posted here and report back. After that I think I'm going to try live minnows and go even deeper on my slip bobber to see if the trout are still down there somewhere.
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Aug 9, 2012 18:53
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jvick posted:1. Squid We'll have to give clams and anchovies a shot next time. Thanks for the tip! The glow in the dark stuff we used was more like a yarn that you tie at the top of your hook to attract fish that usually go for that sort of thing ie ling cod. Honestly, I can't really give an accurate representation of whether or not it works well yet since we only tried it for a couple hours on 1 pole during an overcast afternoon. I imagine if we went night fishing it probably would have worked great. In any case, the stuff we used was like the very bottom item in the list: http://www.fishing.leteras.com/shopmaterials_glowinthedark.html
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Aug 10, 2012 16:02
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Anyone have carp fishing experience? I could clearly see three very large carp just kind of hanging out near the surface on my last outing. I tried a few different baits but they didn't seem interested in anything. I'm actually not sure my 8 lbs. test line would've been up for the challenge, these things were pretty massive! Looking online I see corn might work, or stink baits similar to what you'd use for catfish. Would cut bait sunnys work? I'd like to get back out there with maybe heavier line and some bait that may actually produce some strikes. They seem to just hang out in one spot and not move around all that much so I suspect I'll be able to find them in the same general area next time.
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Aug 13, 2012 21:03
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