The Catch-All Fishing Thread 2014

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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

Hello fishing thread!

Until last week I have never been fishing but now I am pretty obsessed. I was in Miami for work and some of the guys on my crew took me into some swamp and we spent a while fishing for mangrove snapper. It was just insanely fun and I am totally hooked.

I live in MD, specifically southern Ann Arundel county. I live on a farm with a ~1 acre pond that was stocked with catfish about 2-4 years back and then never fished much. My eventual goal is to get a kayak so I can fish from that. My job is pretty much travel based so I end up with a ton of weekdays off and fishing seems perfect for that.

I went out to get a license today and ended up buying a small rod and spinning reel. The clerk was super helpful, also recommended the "Fishing for Dummies" book as a god intro and told me to read it before I freak out and spend a ton of money. When I explained the deal with the pond and suggested that I was more or less ready to freak out he laughed and said that if I really was super super hot to jump in (and boy I was/am) he would get me a set-up so I could go fish the pond this week.

I told him I wanted to spend around $100 and he got me a bunch of gear that came in around $80. He wound the reel for me and did some basic casting lessons and told me to get out there and fish, then come back if I'm still into it and he will be more then happy to sell me piles of crap. It was raining too hard to get any outdoor casting lessons in but I think I sort of grasp how to do it. Once the rain slacks off today I am going to go tie the leader thingy on and go practice casing in the yard a bit.

Very excited to fish!

If anyone is from this area and can offer and advice and/or tips I would appreciate the poo poo out if it.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2014 18:37

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 13:56

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

Scrapez posted:

A 1 acre pond is a great size to fish. My parents have one behind their house that is about that size. Do you know the depth of the pond? I'm not sure what your winters are like in Maryland but if it gets pretty cold and freezes, you'll need more water depth or the fish will die from lack of oxygen.

No idea, I suspect it isn't very deep, there are a few boats in various states of decay, if I can get one to float I will try and paddle out and see how far a line drops. It was insanely cold this winter, like the coldest I can remember. The pond did freeze solid enough to skate on.

Scrapez posted:

Also, the depth will determine what types of lures you'll use if you're running crank baits and at what depth you set a bobber if your float fishing.

That said, as a general rule on ponds, I've found that "points point out fish". Meaning that if there is a natural point that juts out into the pond somewhere, try fishing around that area. Also, if there are any other naturally "different" spots in the pond...say a spot where the depth changes abruptly or a spot where run off or a stream enters the pond, those would be good places to try.

If the only fish in the pond are catfish, it limits the type of fishing. Catfish typically won't bite as much on artificial lures like crank baits or spinner baits (Though they certainly will at times).

Typically, people fish for catfish by throwing bait on the bottom or suspending it from a bobber. When I've bottom fished for catfish, I've typically used stink bait, which is just that...nasty stinky gooey stuff that looks like peanut butter and smells like death. You can buy these type of dip baits that you stick down in the stink bait:

If you're going to fish them on the bottom, you'll want to add a sinker most likely to be able to cast out a bit further. Something like below:

This is method the guy set me up for, maybe a 1/2oz sinker at the bottom of this metal wire deal that I then attached the hook too. I used cut up chicken livers tied up in cheese cloth, again, per this dude. He said the weight was too heavy but would be good to help me cast further at first. He was right, I was amazed how far I could fling that thing.

Scrapez posted:

You can also use what's called a slip bobber. They allow you to suspend your bait at a certain depth which you set by moving a slide above the bobber on the line. This is my preferred method of fishing for catfish:

You can use stink bait with a slip bobber as well. Nightcrawlers tend to work well as does cut bait (cut up pieces of small fish like bluegill). The other thing that I've had luck with in ponds is just putting a plain hook on, say 3/0 in size and hooking a live small bluegill through the tail. I've caught a lot of large catfish this way.

That should give you an idea of baits to use. The other thing with catfish is that you typically want heavier rod/reel and line. They fight well for their size and have a tendency to spin when hooked and can cut your line or snap it.

Catfish also generally examine and take the bait slowly so if you see your bobber, line or end of your pole move slightly, wait for just a few seconds before you set the hook.

I already lost one set of hook and metal wire dealy when it became snagged on something on the bottom of the pond. I might go out tomorrow morning and buy a bobber and set it so the bait is only a foot or so below the water line until I can measure the depth of the pond better.

Scrapez posted:

Once you've caught one, make sure you avoid their side and top fin as they'll cut ya and they have a sort of semi-poisonous substance kind of like getting scratched by a cat. Doesn't do any real harm but stings like hell. For the smaller catfish, you can grip them with your pointer finger and thumb just behind their top fin. There are some indentions there that allow for a decent grip.

I started fishing as a kid catching catfish on a lake we'd go to every year. We would sit out on the beach and throw stink bait out on the bottom.

Yeah, the guy said to bring a pair of thin leather gloves along because of that.

HenryJLittlefinger posted:

Catfish love raw chicken liver.

Man so does my dog, he freaked out when I came inside with a blooded rag through my belt.

General questions:

Will rain affect my chances of getting a catfish or fish in general to bite? It has been raining for days and started up pretty good when I was out this afternoon.
What time of day is best for catfish?
I quickly realized the random milsurp shoulder bag I grabbed to put my stuff in was subpar. I would love a small cooler/tacklebox that has a shoulder strap and is strong enough to sit on. I cannot resist hiking around (found an awesome rodent skull today) and want something that I can carry for a while. Def something large enough to hold a sixpack or maybe a 12-14" fish? I have a bigger cooler already for when I fish out of my car.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2014 21:52

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

Cool, I can 100% go out there at night more or less whenever. I might head out later tonight or get up super early tomorrow morning. I have a pile of wine corks I can make bobbers out of I guess.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2014 22:58

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

HenryJLittlefinger posted:

Go to a burger restaurant (or any restaurant, really) and ask if they have square 3 - 5 gallon condiment buckets. I've almost never been turned down asking for a free bucket with a lid from a restaurant. Go at like 3:00, not a meal time. Get some small clear tackle boxes like this http://tinyurl.com/l6j3xwb. They're cheap, come in all sizes, and can be got at Wal Mart, bait shops, wherever. Put your little tackle boxes in your milsurp bag and stuff it in the bucket with some beers and lunch. Sit on the bucket and fish. Put your fish in the bucket when you're done.

I had thought of using a 5g bucket actually, but that will be a pain to carry and my bag is murse sized. I have an old frame backpack, I might be able to fit a little cooler in there or make some hellish hillbilly rig to attach a bucket to that. In fact, I like that idea a lot.

This is what I was thinking of:

But like somehow a sit-able and somehow not junk and somehow not super heavy.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2014 00:43

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

HenryJLittlefinger posted:

Boom http://www.5gpack.com/
You could rig one of these with enough webbing and some patience.

I put a shoulder strap on mine, swiped from a duffle bag or something. I also just toss whatever little tackle boxes I'm using that day in the bucket loose, minus a man purse.

Empty pack frames can be got from milsurp stores or ebay or wherever.

Ah man that is great. I have the frame, bucket, and even the webbing I think. But at the same time, the fancy one with the side pouches is kinda cool.

The net seems full of awesome poo poo along these lines:

# ¿ Apr 8, 2014 02:32

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

HenryJLittlefinger posted:

Welp, just found my next project.

I am thinking double sided velcro rather then webbing. I think I have enough around here to mock something up.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2014 05:48

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

Some Other Guy posted:

Catfish essay

Awesome stuff man, thanks.

Behold my first Fish!

My second came soon after, it was even smaller if you can believe that. Not bad for 4 hours wandering around by a lake. Sadly the lake on the farm didnt pan out at all. I did see some small fish today so hopefully they will come back.

# ¿ Apr 11, 2014 23:50

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

Holy poo poo man, can I post my lake and get some advice like that?

# ¿ Apr 15, 2014 02:02

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

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!

# ¿ Apr 19, 2014 21:47

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

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.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2014 20:32

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

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.

# ¿ Apr 22, 2014 02:34

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

Hopefully this Monday I am going to drag a friend out to give me a quick "into to kayaking" lesson. There are a ton of places near me to put into the various rivers that feed the Chesapeake and a distinct lack of good places to shore-fish.

I have my mind set on getting a small, like 10-11', sit on top. I want something light as some of these put-in spots are a pretty long hike from the nearest car access point. I am a pretty fat dude, like 220lbs, I know this will limit what kind of boat I can get but I would really like to keep it as small as possible. I also have huge storage issues at home, this thing is going to have to live under my house or in a hammock between two trees off in the woods. I would also like something on the cheap end, I want to see how often I realistically use this thing before I drop a grand on one. A cheap one will also be easier to sell when/if I decide to upgrade.

I would love any recommendations you guys mig have. So far all the places around here that rent them only rent sit-in models so I think I am going to have to purchase blind.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2014 19:18

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

HenryJLittlefinger posted:

What's your local Craigslist location?

Annapolis, MD. But I usually have decent amounts of free time during the week so any of the MD or northern VA ones are doable.

I assume to move one home at first I can just use packing blankets and straps? I have been loading trucks my whole life so I like to think I can hillbilly rig one and not destroy it.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2014 20:04

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

HenryJLittlefinger posted:

This one is a decent price if it's in good shape, especially since it's already rigged and has a paddle. A little short, but that means maneuverability. Probably doesn't track super straight, but it seems good.
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/spo/4432871424.html

This one is worth $550 brand new at Dick's, so you might try to talk Bubba down $100 or more if he'll keep the trailer.
http://delaware.craigslist.org/spo/4433965772.html

This one is worth $500 new, so I'd call him immediately if it's not too far away. If it is in fact the Ascend FS10.
http://baltimore.craigslist.org/spo/4430154220.html

All have good weight capacity for you. The Wilderness Systems one has the least at 300# max, but it's the nicest, lightest, and has some nice upgrades. The Ascend is the cheapest, newest, and probably more stable than the Wilderness Systems.

Holy poo poo man, thanks! I am out of tone until Sunday but I might be able to get my gf to go buy that $200 one, that seems like a gamble worth taking.

Edit: Is sit-in ok for fishing? It seems almost every post I see about kayak fishing talks about sit on top ones.

bongwizzard fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Apr 24, 2014

# ¿ Apr 24, 2014 20:55

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

I have broken (just barely) the 12" mark!

Got him like 3 feet off of shore, was not at all expecting the hit. Almost fumbled the rod.

There are so so many larger perch top feeding outside the range I can cast a light lure out to. I have been practicing casting in the field behind my house but I still can't get a light lure out far enough.

Question: Is there anything on the artificial side that is close to bloodworms? I would love something I can leave in my car for quick after work trips.

bongwizzard fucked around with this message at 23:29 on May 4, 2014

# ¿ May 4, 2014 23:26

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

I caught my first bass today, I believe a smallmouth?

I went to this little park at noon today after work and headed to my ususal spot on the bank to catch some small bluegills. Somehting hit my line and almost ripped it from my hands. I fought it in and when I pulled it out of the water it was a bass maybe 9" long. Sadly, as I was scrambleing down the bank to get closer to the water to land him, he broke my line right a the hook.

The water I was fishing is a weird little lake that meanders like a river. I was fishing a spot maybe 14' across and 3-4' deep. I was not at all expecting to hook anything other then my usual 3-6" bluegills. The water was so clear, I could see Mr Bass swimming around with my hook in his mouth. I spent maybe 2 hours trying to catch him again to remove the hook but he never bit again. He also was driving all the bluegill away from my bait. Right as I was about to leave I saw another bass next to him, but maybe 3-5" bigger. He would also not bit on anything I cast. The bottom here is totally clogged with logs and smaller branches so I am really limited to what I can cast without getting snagged every time.

I gave up on the bass and went to a small bridge on the same lake to go after more bluegills. I caught a few then landed this litte guy.

I dropped a piece of bait in his mouth when I let him go and told him to bring his friends back but the jerk just left.

Given my ability to catch only the smallest of fish, I have decided to start recording them to see what the smallest I can get is.

I hereby claim the title of "Smallest fish caught on a hook, SA Fishing Thread 2014". Please sent my trophy along asap.

Bonus Gross poo poo:

Saw this jammed in a spillway and fished it out:

It looked flesh like but even after sitting on the shore for like 2 hours there were no flys on it so idk. Anyone have an idea what this thing is?

# ¿ May 12, 2014 23:30

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

I bought some tackle today and wanted to mess with it. It was too late to drive anywhere so I walked down to the farm pond. When I first got the fishing bug a month ago I tried the pond a few times but didn't have any luck so I didn't expect much.

First cast I caught a small bluegill with in seconds. Over the course of an hour I caught maybe 4-5 hand sized ones and a ton of tiny ones, one of which might be my new "small fish" record.

I am so loving pumped that I can walk 5 min and fish now! I only brought a small pouch of tackle with me, I cannot wait to go back with gear to cast further out.

I also saw a pretty big snapper and literally thousands of huge tadpoles. At work tomorrow I am going to look into what it takes to have a private pond stocked. I assume that the plentiful bluegills and poles mean there is enough O2 in the water to support bass.

# ¿ May 19, 2014 01:56

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

Yea, any metal can be made to shine with the right polish or abrasive.

# ¿ May 22, 2014 00:11

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

Oh yea, stocking like that is illegal but ever so tempting. Even more so because the creek the pond spills into ends in a wetland so any stocked fish cant escape.

So today I went to this little park by my house after work. The large pond there has a little spillway that feeds a creek. Either the weather or dnr breached the logjam at the spillway sometime this morning and the lake was draining like crazy. It was like 4-5" lower then it was yesterday. Needless to say, the fishing at the spillway mouth was insane, I could see maybe a hundred bluegill feeding and a few small largemouth. The bg would bite on almost anything, but I couldn't get the bass to hit at all. I ended up using a 1" bit of fake bloodworm on a medium circle hook cast out as far as I could right in front of the spillway and lightly reeling it in, the current would keep it off the bottom and I caught a fish almost every time.

I did end up with two swallowed hooks before I sized up, I though circle hooks were supposed to prevent that?

# ¿ May 22, 2014 22:53

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

Just caught a nice sized bluegill on a gummy bear. This changes everything. I see texas rigged gummy worms in my future.

# ¿ May 26, 2014 17:32

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

I just took my first outing in a kayak and I am all hot and bothered to get one. While I am trolling CL for a deal, I want to buy a life jacket so I am ready. Are the fishing specific ones with all the pockets useful or a gimmick? Does anyone have one that they love?

# ¿ May 29, 2014 21:25

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

HenryJLittlefinger posted:

Stohlquist and NRS are very nice top shelf brands. Extrasport is a little more affordable and about as good. I've never felt the need to upgrade from mine.

Yeah, I realized that I really want to go try stuff on rather then just buying online and hopping for a good fit. Thanks for all the recommendations everyone.

# ¿ Jun 2, 2014 01:48

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

Armed Neutrality posted:

Large barracuda are a huge risk for ciguatera poisoning.

Welp

wiki posted:

Dyspareunia and other ciguatera symptoms have developed in otherwise healthy males and females following sexual intercourse with partners suffering ciguatera poisoning, signifying that the toxin may be sexually transmitted.[8]

"Baby, I swear, I got this rash from a fish!"

# ¿ Jun 2, 2014 20:53

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

I ended up deep hooking a bluegill at the farm pond today so I ate him. Pretty tasty little guy but man I need a proper filleting knife.

I also would love a recommendation for a pair of polarized glasses that will not make me cry when I sit on them or leave them somewhere.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2014 01:56

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

I caught a bass!

It was kinda underwhelming sadly, I was catching bluegills about his length, but twice the weight so when he hit I didn't feel it at first. But still, first largemouth and it is nice to know this pond has them in it.

I bought at kayak!

West Marine was having a sale on their Pompano 120s, which is their version of the Wilderness Tarpon. I stopped by today and while the sale ended yesterday I got them to sell me the floor model for the sale price. It was $540 out the door with a basic cartop carrier. I am pretty pleased, the other two I was looking at in the same price range seemed much less well built and each had some issues.

I have a PFD on order but still need a seat and paddle and would love any recommendations.

# ¿ Jun 18, 2014 17:09

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

I think it is time to get a second rod.

In my frenzy to start fishing I went to a local tackle shop and told the sales guy I wanted a rod and reel that was around $100, would fit in my tiny rear end car, and was a good, rugged, general purpose leaning rig. I ended up with a Tsunami Tuff Tip 5'6" Medium action rod with a Okuma Avenger 30B reel. I cant remember the brand of line but it is a dark green braid that seems to take a ton of force to break.

It has been great but I am starting to realize that is pretty sub optimal for the kind of fishing I do, which is as follows:

1)Hiking around lakes and ponds, mostly catching bluegills and white perch close to shore.
2)A little pit of pier fishing, but I have yet to catch anything off a pier.
3)Fishing out of a kayak, as soon as I figure out how to do it.

Right now the idea I have is as follows:

1)Buy a short (6' is the max I can easily deal with) Ultra Lightweight rod and stick my current reel on it, maybe respool it with a lighter braid.

2)Buy a slightly larger reel for my current rod and respool it with something thicker and more brightly colored.

Are these terrorable ideas?

# ¿ Jun 29, 2014 04:16

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

Oh god so much info. Phone posting, so just a few points/questions.

I do understand the idea of leaders, but not why to use them. I have never lost more then an inch or so of line. If I snag, I just wrap the line around my knife handle and pull. Eight times out of ten the hook bends and I get my tackle back, one time I break the line at the first knot, and once I drag some huge branch or wad of tackle to shore. Like, I honestly dont understand why, when super strong line is available, you would want a breakaway leader? Even more confusing is that, in my reading about catfish fishing, I see recommended to use a leader heavier then the main line. There is so much fishing info out there but very little that explains the basic "whys" of things.

Second, I may not have been clear. I want a slightly bigger reel for my current medium rod with brighter line to use for pier fishing and dragging bait on the bottom while I drift down river drinking a beer. I also want an ultralight rod to mate to my current reel and go with a lighter line. This rod would be for bluegill in ponds and amusing myself while the other rod is cast out with bait on it.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2014 03:46

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

coyo7e posted:

Leaders are for when you snag something underwater or fifty feet out when you're bank-fishing however, they're invaluable when doing pretty much any style of fishing as they save time (and money over buying those pre-made hook+leader sets) and line. The main theory is that the line on your reel ought to be heavy enough to catch and fight anything that you plan on possibly biting with a bit of extra toughness just in case, and that when and if something goes wrong you only lose a couple feet of cheap+light line and whatever hook/lure you had.. You can bring in a 20 lb fish on a 2-lb test line if you do it right and tire them out enough but using a shorter piece of lighter line tied to your main spool of (slightly) heavier line is a lot smaller risk of losing your gear, and trust me one day you WILL break/cut a couple dozen feet of your line off and then realize "oh poo poo, I don't have enough to even cast the distance I need, until I re-spool!"

Being in a kayak will definitely often provide you with the option of paddling over and being able to lay your hands onto the line and lure a lot of the time when you get hung up on brush and crap, but eventually you're going to snag a log or wing it thirty feet up and into a tree.. When that happens it's lovely (and environmentally irresponsible) to leave dozens of feet of line underwater or up in tree branches, so you use a lighter piece of short line and then just give it a hard tug and POP that piece snaps, and you've got the swivel and the rest of your line back.

Honestly I am mostly just lazy and would rather tie fewer knots. The longest bit of line I have ever lost was about 30' in a tree and I got it (and 2 crankbaits and a few floats) back my next trip with the assistance of a large snagging treble hook and some 5mm accessory cord. If the fish arn't biting I like to amuse myself by harvesting gear from trees with my grapple. Kinda lame, I know.

coyo7e posted:

Have you ever seen someone fly-fishing, or seen a movie like A River Runs Through It, etc? You'll notice that fly-lines are really thick and brightly colored (they're actually weighted to assist in casting distance, since the fly lures themselves weigh next to nothing) and then there's a section of nearly-invisible monofilament line tied to that thick+colored line, and then to the fly.. This both makes it so the fish are less likely to spook because of your heavier and easier-to-spot line, and because when it breaks you are less likely to damage the main line and your rod itself.. Nicer fly leaders are actually tapered to make this effect even more pronounced!

Fly fishing seems like the most insane thing ever. It looks like I will get to spend a few weeks in CO this fall and am going to look into getting some lessons when I am there.

coyo7e posted:

Leaders also allow you to more effectively utilize many techniques, such as a Carolina Rig for instance, which pretty much requires two separate pieces of line. http://www.fishinfo.com/fishing-articles/article_512.shtml (You can potentially use a split-shot crimped on as a stopper, but that can also put a kink into your line and create a weak spot which will give out at an inopportune moment.)

The important bit with using leaders is that it allows you to potentially tie weights and other expensive crap onto your main line (again, only potentially sacrificing a hook/lure and cheaper line) above a swivel, and then you can just clip whatever else you've got, directly onto the swivel. I personally have a few "blank" (I don't know what the real term might be) leaders laying around in my tackle box, which I specifically use for lures - I can clip a couple cheap+tiny split-shot onto the leader with a spacing of a couple inches apart (this greatly reduces tangling as the lure hits the water, believe me!) and then I have a second swivel at the end of the leader which I can use to swap out my lures yet still not worry about losing a ton of line.

How do you keep them from getting snarled in your tackle box? I use pre-snelled bait holder hooks on one of those tree-looking wire leaders when I am pier fishing and the snells are forever getting tangled.

coyo7e posted:

Especially if you're spooled with braid, a leader is a really smart and valuable thing to use, because braid is expensive and has some other technical issues as well once it snaps!

It really is inevitably that you're going to hook up on something and break your line and lose a BIG chunk of it, and leaders make it much, much less likely that this occurs. Having a lighter-weight leader also shouldn't be adversely affecting the fish you hook and bring in anyway, because that is what loosening the reel drag is important for.

Hah, honestly, going from shooting to fishing, nothing seems expensive. Enough say 9mm ammo for an afternoon of shooting is like $80-100.

coyo7e posted:

Finally and potentially most importantly if you care about animals and poo poo like that, the worst-case scenario from a naturalist standpoint, is that something BIG grabs your single-piece line, and takes off.. You try and bring it in and SNAP your line is gone because of some flaw or old nick/kink/etc, and then whatever big-rear end lunker of a fish that grabbed your lure and got away now has tens or scores of feet of line trailing out of a painful hook in their mouth - likely a fatal scenario which would end in killing a really nice and valuable fish which ought to be able to continue breathing and breeding when it gets caught on some piece of wood or garbage underwater.. If a fish snaps off the leader and takes off with a hook and just a couple feet of line hanging off his jaw or in his guts, they can potentially survive long enough for the hook to rust apart - even a gut-hooked fish will (supposedly) be able to survive if you clip off your line just at the edge of their mouth and then gently release them, their stomach enzymes (or something) will break down the hook - I'm a bit leery of how well this works but DFW says this, as well as most experienced anglers.

This is a pretty persuasive argument. I have only deep hooked a few fish and usually just kill them and take them home to eat unless they are super tiny, then I cut them up for bait. One of the old men I talked to said that if you see blood coming out the fish is generally done for but if not to do like you said and cut the line right at it's mouth.

coyo7e posted:

Ahh okay, that makes a ton of sense and is a very savvy idea. The main thing you ought to be interested in is the numbers on side of the reel spool itself, it'll say something like "5/400 10/320 20/250" etc, which (in this example) indicates that you can reasonably hold 400 yards of 5-lb test, or 320 yards of 10-lb test, etc.

Yeah, my current small reel is rated "200/6 (0.22), 160/8 (0.25), 110/10 (0.30)" so I think it will be fine as I was planning on using around a 6lb mono or equivalently thick braid on it when I get the ULW rod. For sake of argument, lets say I go with the same make of reel when I upsize, would "380/10 (0.30), 340/12 (0.32), 240/15 (0.37)" be reasonable or should I bump a bit smaller or larger? The main piers I will be fishing at are super congested with snags and old tackle and I do really enjoy pulling stuff out. I think I will never need to buy pyramid sinkers if I keep pulling them up at the current rate.

coyo7e posted:

I use some bright yellow-green line on one of my reels for days when I am lazy and wearing sunglasses and just can't really see my own line above (not to mention under) the water however, you ought to keep in mind that whatever is easier for you to see, could potentially be easier for the fish to see as well and may spook them away. I don't think most of the monofilament colors are gonna scare off anything you're interested in fishing for but some people are way more intense about how important colors and line visibility are than others, in terms of how much they might scare off the fish.

Noted, but most of the rivers around here are very stained most of the time and bright line seems to be what most of the old guys who seem to live on the pier use.

coyo7e posted:

Finally, as you may have noticed, it's a pain in the rear end to tie braided line securely to a lure or hook - especially as they get smaller. Tying a piece of mono line to the front end of that braided line allows you to tie on your hooks and lures a ton more easily, even if you skip using a swivel (don't skip the swivel, they're just about the best fishing invention ever!)

I do disagree with this, I find braid a ton easier to tie than mono. It feels in the hand more like rope, which I have a ton of experience tying knots in. Every time at work when we had to use mono for something it would give me fits trying to tie it.

Ok, so, you have convinced me to give leaders a try. Is there a specific type to look for or just get whatever brand that is a few pounds lighter then my main line? Second question, how much will I have to spend to get a decent 2-piece rod?

# ¿ Jun 30, 2014 18:10

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

Did some hiking along the C&O canal this weekend and saw like a dozen huge rear end carp. Like, 2-3' fish in a maybe 50' wide by 8-10' water. I threw every lure type and style I had at them and they showed no interest. I even borrowed a Cliff bar and tried to use that as a dough-ball and nothing.

Once home I looked up carp fishing and holy poo poo is there a ton of specialized gear and tackle. Can anyone point me at a basic pre-rigged tackle set and bait brand? Preferably something I can get on Amazon? I don't want to make a real hobby of carp fishing but I simply must catch one of those bastards this summer.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2014 00:41

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

coyo7e posted:

Palomar knot is amazingly simple and also versatile, I use them to make multi-hook leaders by pulling extra length out and then threading a hook over it, for beach casting, then I do one on both ends and loop a swivel through one end and whatever size weight I need from the other. I'd heard about "palomar knots" for years but for some reason I assumed it was another of those ludicrously complicated knots which require both hands plus holding part of the knot in your mouth while you push the knot snug with your tongue (gently caress you Dropper Loop! You always loving go wonky on me!)

I'm a total convert because you can pretty much tie a palomar one-handed.

The dropper loop is the spiritual twin of one of my favorite rope knots, the alpine butterfly, so I want to use it but have never managed to tie one in braid in a non-living room situation.

In other news, I have been out of town for like 4-5 weeks working first at a beach/pier on Lake Michigan and now in a tiny town in CO. I never really had much time to get out and fish but more so I couldn't figure out a good way pack a pole that would survive the trucking. Other then making a big rear end PVC tube, anyone have a clever way to pack a rod and reel that can survive shipping?

I did have my gf mail me my light wight reel out here to CO so that if I have a chance to get on the water just need to buy a cheap rod and some tackle.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2014 17:03

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

HenryJLittlefinger posted:

Where in CO?

Crested Butte/Gunnison. I ordered a cheap telescoping rod to go with the reel I brought up here. My gig is over in a few day and I hope to stay here and fish for a bit. Met a few awesome bros who keep offering to take me out.

There is this beautiful little stream right behind where I am working and I have seen a few trout chilling in it. Sadly I think it is private property or I would be out there every day at lunch.

# ¿ Sep 7, 2014 11:50

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

HenryJLittlefinger posted:

The Gunnison River is just filthy with browns. See if you can get up in the gorge or just below it.

I think I have like 75% sold my boss on extending my room and car for a few days.

All I have is a little spinning reel and a cheap 6' tele-rod, what tackle and lures should I get?

# ¿ Sep 7, 2014 23:07

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

gently caress florocarbon. I have been trying to tie myself some snells (mostly adding beads and a flicker blade to some wormhooks and pre-tying some of those Slow Death hooks on to a 12" leader with a swivel) and trying to tie knots in floro is driving me nuts. I have only so far used brain on my reels and it is so close in feel to rope that I am really struggling to with the floro.

I have been getting out in my yak more often and my personal best bass has gone from this guy:

To this guy:

Caught him on a small Gulp crawler on a random flicker snell I bought at a gas station. About an hour later I hooked up on something big enough to pull my boat around and ultimately bend the hook and get away. This cannot stand so I am now in the snell making business I guess.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2014 01:18

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

HenryJLittlefinger posted:

The progression from your first post to this one makes me happy.

Hah, yeah, I have gone a little nuts with this stuff.

I am looking to buy another rod+reel or two before it gets too cold out. Currently I have the following gear:

1) 5'6" Medium rod that is only rated for like a 1oz weight. It has a Okuma 30b reel on it spooled with some strong-rear end braind. This was my first rig and now I only really use it when I am in the yak, usually with a texas rig on it or a worm harness of some sort, depending on where I am.

2) 6'6" 2-part UL rod with a tiny Okuma 10b reel spooled with 6lb braid. I use this rig most of the time as I can break it down and hike with it and it is generally more fun to catch stuff with. When I am yaking it tends to be set up with a spinner or jig and is the rod I usually keep handy to toss at interesting looking stuff.

What I am looking to pick up are the following:

3) A long-ish (7-8') 2-part spinning rod to use for pier fishing. I want something longer to make leaning it more stable and something heavier so I can chuck more weight out there. I would like to get a baitfeeding reel as I am getting into using fish-finder rigs rather than wire high/low rigs. I do want something strong enough to haul poo poo up off the bottom with, I find retrieving old rear end tackle from the bottom pretty rewarding.

4) A small Baitcasting set up. No real pressing reason, I just want one to play with. I am thinking something light with a shortish rod, just long enough that I can work it around the front of a 12' yak. Just looking for a good beginner set up with enough fanciness that I will not be birdsnesting it all the time.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2014 21:45

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

What do you all think of this method of tying a snell?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbkBjiEOFio

It is by far the easiest I have found thus I distrust it.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2014 22:00

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

Bangkero posted:

Totally doable. The method in the video you posted is for creating snell knot leaders. If you want to tie a snell knot directly onto your fishing line I use a modified snell knot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukzfzws2jYY

Oh my god that is so easy compared to the traditional or uni snell.

# ¿ Sep 30, 2014 00:22

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

Ok, I want to buy a set up for pier fishing over the fall and winter. How does this set up look:

The rod is rated for 1-8oz so it should cover all my pier needs and maybe let me do a little surf fishing when I get dragged to the beach in the summer. Does this look OK and/or does anyone have a different suggestion?

# ¿ Oct 8, 2014 00:49

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

LingcodKilla posted:

Find an ugly stick for half the cost I think. That's kinda really expensive for a pier pole. Kinda short for surf casting from my west coast experience. Surf casting was always less productive than poke poling anyways.

tesilential posted:

Don't buy that rod. I'd get a ST croix mojo or tidemaster for the money. Maybe even a Shimano terramar.

I can't find any other rod that is 1) a two-piece, and 2) can handled such a large range of weight. I need something two-piece so I can keep it in my car most of the time as I often have time to stop a fish for a few hours on the way home from work. I know 8' is short for surf casting but that is a secondary use at best. I would love some suggestions but neither of the ones above hit these points.

Other then the rod, how is the reel and line pairing? My usual pier fishing MO is to cast out either a high/low or fish finder rig out with bait on it and then amuse myself with a second rod with some kind of more active rig on it. As sometimes I wander a bit so a baitfeeder reel seems like what I want.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2014 17:20

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

LingcodKilla posted:

Where are you? What are you expecting to catch?

Western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in MD. Shore fishing around here is poo poo, no real water access other then a few piers. However, there are a couple of piers pretty close to my house. Half are small, low wooden ones on small, slow rivers and the others are large, high affairs over some of the larger rivers that feed the bay.

As to catch, could be anything that lives in brackish water. Like, today I went to one of the small piers. I caught a 14" Channel Cat (my first catfish!) and a small yellow perch, the guy next to me caught a few white perch and a tiny rear end LMB. He said that the week before he caught an eel. The tidal rivers around here are really varied.

I want a long-ish rod as all I have now are short ones and I want something that that throw enough weight so that my line doesn't drift in the current and get crossed with someone else's. The surf thing is really an after thought, there are a few places here you can fish from the beach and I want to mess around with that a little but dont want to jump into a full on surf rod.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2014 02:04

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 13:56

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

Whats a good beginner's bait-casting reel? Want to get one for bass and running spinners around piers where the accuracy will help. Im also looking for a rod to match, I need a 2-piecer and am looking to throw 1/4-3/4oz lures. My budget is around $200-300 but can stretch it a bit if needed.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2014 21:10

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > The Great Outdoors > The Catch-All Fishing Thread 2014

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