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Took some vacation time and hit up the Delaware Canal for the last two days. Here's some drat fish!            Bummed it's supposed to rain here tomorrow. Not only did I take the week off, but I found a great spot today where the pickerel were going crazy on the topwater craw and I'm afraid the heavy rain will push them out.
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Sep 6, 2017 02:41
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| # ¿ May 19, 2024 20:50 |
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Basically it's a big canal that connects and runs parallel to the Delaware river. It was built sometime in the 1800's to get coal from northern PA to Philly. Here's the start of the canal. The Canal's wiki if you care to know it's history or something.
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Sep 6, 2017 19:35
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bongwizzard posted:I was just really excited that there was a previously unknown to me canal system and the actual state of Delaware, which isn't too far from where I live. I love me some canal fishing. It's a kick rear end canal. It still has all it's original hardware, so there's all kinds of old rear end hand cranks and poo poo to work the locks. It's considered a historic landmark so the towpath is well maintained, and virtually all the water is within casting range of the path. I've been fishing it for years and I've probably only seen like 10% of it.
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Sep 7, 2017 02:31
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I like 'extreme Philly fishing' , but only because he's right in my area and we fish a lot of the same spots. If this was not the case I'm pretty sure I'd find him unbearable
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Oct 2, 2017 16:01
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Lots of motherfuckin' fish. Wanted to get out as much as possible these last 2 weeks since I know the warm weather isn't going to hold up. Wall of pics incoming. Wall of bass and one bad haircut.          Caught a ton of sea bass and snapper blues in the NJ back bays. Used the blues for cut bait, but caught nothing but sharks and scup on them.      Had to get this lipper out for this monster  Bonus snapping turtle  Took the yacht out for the last trip of the year before dry docking her. Caught nothing, but did get stoned and row around so it was still a win.  Three pickerel, all from today   My "please don't slap my face with your tail" face  joem83 posted:You saltwater fisherman, question for ya. How sensitive is "freshwater" gear to salt? I use my freshwater spinning gear to fish the NJ back bays all the time and never had any issue with the saltwater after a good rinse. I've never fully submerged one in saltwater though. Sand is a different story. gently caress sandy reels forever. SEGA Ass Fisting fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Oct 12, 2017 |
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Oct 12, 2017 06:18
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That's a nice haul! I wish I had more walleye in my area. They're cool as all heck lookin'. They're supposedly in the lakes around here but I've never caught or even seen anyone catch one. Anyways, what do you dudes think is a better 3 day summer fishing trip -- Great Lakes or the Gulf of Mexico? I wanna take my old man on a fishing trip this year for his birfday and for beating the big C.
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Oct 15, 2017 05:46
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Nicce. My local little lake/big pond is having the fall trout stock on Wednesday, and will be completely fished out by Friday. Hopefully I can bag my limit each day
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Oct 24, 2017 00:40
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Why do I forget how much I hate the first day of a trout stock every single time they come around? I get to the tiny lake just as they're stocking expecting a decent crowd, maybe 40-50 dudes. Nope, easily over 200 lines in the water already. So I have to walk all the way around to the other side to get to one of the few open spots. I have a large Belarusian family next to me who were very nice, but also completely unaware of any fishing etiquette. They're all throwing spinner baits all over the place, even though everyone else is just fishing powerbait and casting straight out in front of them because it's so cramped. The family is getting their lines tangled with everyone around them, and people are getting pissed, but no one wants to say anything to the family of 20 who barely speak english. I offered them my powerbait, but the guy just tells me "no fun". know what else is no fun? Having to cut off like 100 yds of line and rerig every 5 minutes because you only wanna cast where you see trout jump even though you have to cast over 3 other lines to do it. Eventually I move to another spot that opened up and finally catch a fish... my only fish after 2 drat hours. Hopefully I can bring myself to get up at sunrise tomorrow and get my limit before it's jammed up with googans again.
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Oct 25, 2017 21:18
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Hopefully I can grabs some weed before the weekend so I can do some cat fishing from the bank. I just can't do still fishing without having a bowl to stave off boredom. I don't know how those english carp guys do it. Any fishing that requires a rod holder and a chair doesn't do it for me.
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Nov 6, 2017 23:02
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A Pack of Kobolds posted:Also, what do you use for catfish bait? I've never found anything that works better than fresh cut sunnies for catfish bait. Those fuckers will basically eat anything that can even remotely be considered meat though -- hotdogs, spam, slimjims, whatever, they aren't picky eaters. You can use a big fuckoff circle hook too, since they don't seem to have any hook shyness. They just smell something with a fleshy stink and shove it in their mouths.
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Nov 7, 2017 01:55
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Decided to go panfishing to catch some catfish bait and found out that the bass are holding in the creeks wayyy late into the fall. So I scrapped the catfishing plan and just slammed on crappie and small LMB bass all weekend.     The weird thing is that I didn't get a single panfish that wasn't a crappie. Usually it's like 5 redbreast for every crappie. Can't figure it out  . Anyway, I'm thinking about harvesting some crappie this week since I've never eaten it before and was catching ones over a 1/2 pound fairly regularly. Anyone got any good recipes?
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Nov 13, 2017 00:37
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Nothing special for crappie, just my usual panfish rig -- a 1/16oz jig head and a small tube or 3in curly tail grub. Any small plastic would probably work though, and you can't ever really go wrong with small bits of nightcrawler on a drop shot either. A great way to break a skunk is to go kiddie fishing for some panfish. Anyway, turns out you're not supposed to eat the crappie out of the Delaware River watershed near Philadelphia because of the pollution from the Rohm and Haas Chemical plant that's right on the river. I've seen stripers come out of the water near there that are covered in sores and have all kinds of weird rear end deformities. Hopefully I can find some crappie in one of the cleaner lakes around here that doesn't connect to the river.
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Nov 13, 2017 23:55
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extra stout posted:I can't tell if it's the angle but the crappie seem a bit small for a spot with bass that size. At least here crappie love those artificial grub with the little tail on them, especially any combination of white/green/yellow. Just guessing the size based on your thumb in the mouth and their fins being big for their body though, did you measure any? Most of the freshwater species around here are pretty stunted. The biggest LM bass can get is about 5lbs, and those are exceedingly rare -- 1 1/2lbs is probably the average. Really, the only fish in the area that will grow to their full potential are the pickerel. Not even the bluegill will get over 3/4lbs, and a 1/2lb bluegill is considered a porker for here. The worst part is that pretty much anywhere else in PA you can catch big freshwater fish, just not in the Greater Philadelphia area for whatever reason. South Jersey is supposed to have some pretty big bass as well, but I don't feel like driving 2 hours just to catch bass. If I'm going down there I'm hitting the back bays and surf. I didn't measure the crappie but I did weigh the biggest and he came in at 0.62 lbs. I actually sent a FB message to the fish and boat commission to see why the trout stock was postponed (now cancelled) and asked them about harvesting crappie out of Core Creek. They said that they can't recommend eating any of the fish out of there except for the stocked trout. They recommended trying the old quarry nearby if I wanted to harvest since it's self contained and fairly clean, but it turns out it's a bitch to get to since the surrounding woods are thick and overgrown and there's no more road access because it's been out of commission since the 60s. Even then they said it's not advisable to eat more than 3 in a month like you said. So anyway, I think the crappie taste test is going on the back burner. I'm taking 3 days off next week to visit family in S. Jersey for Thanksgiving, so I think I'm gonna do some surf fishing for striper, tog, and chopper blues with my pop. Can't wait to see how much the local bait shops have jacked up the price of shedder crabs for the fall tog season. I'm betting about $35 per dozen.
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Nov 16, 2017 00:11
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After a long lovely winter in SE PA the weather is finally nice again and I can post some loving fish!          The long winter has kept the bass and chainsides in hiding, but I was killing it on trout all weekend. The Johnson Min-O-Spin was automatic. Gonna buy 10 more since I lost the 2 I had in the trees.
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Apr 23, 2018 21:58
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I keep the plastic film on the outer part of my TVs and monitors so that I know it's always like new underneath. I am a weirdo. I'd never do it with rods though, that's extra weird.
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Apr 27, 2018 20:49
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Reel Drag Queens. Actually that's a better name for a boat.
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May 6, 2018 01:48
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Took my old man out on a head boat in Cape May for the first day of Black Seabass season. Caught like 6 bigass Tog (which aren't in season), but only 2 keeper seabass between the two of us. I only caught 1 keeper Tog all fall, and like a million keeper sized seabass when they weren't in season over the summer... At least the fish gods have a sense of humor. Anyway my hatchback currently holds one 2 person inflatable raft in a big bag, two 2 piece aluminum oars, an airpump, a small mushroom anchor, a $50 portable fishfinder, a pair of chest waders, heavy thigh-high socks for the waders, a rain jacket, 3 poles, 2 extra spinning reels, a tacklebox stuffed with gear, a tackle backpack stuffed with gear, a ukulele, and a skateboard... keeping all this in a Fiesta ST from spring to fall should get me a medal or at least some sort of certificate. My girlfriend and I got into a big fight last summer about me keeping all this poo poo in my car when I stay at her house (can't fit a child seat for her 4y/o son, plus lots of sharp things all over the place), yet it's mostly still in there although I leave the raft and it's related gear at home, break down the rods, and make sure there are no hooks or knives laying around. I mean, she lives 2 blocks from the loving bay, how could I not bring gear? Always ready to fish is not a loving game indeed.
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May 17, 2018 06:12
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Most people don't know this, but your foreskin is a great place to store extra trout hooks.
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May 17, 2018 22:04
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Check your state regulations
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May 18, 2018 01:08
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drat... I couldn't even imagine being more than a mile offshore in anything without a motor. I won't eve leave the inlets without at least 40hp.
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May 20, 2018 04:13
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Gumbel2Gumbel posted:
gently caress yeah, I love catching chainsides. Even moreso than bass since around here there's about 20 bass for every one pickerel. Anyone ever eat pickerel? How is it?
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Jun 17, 2018 22:08
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Got to mix up some salt and fresh water fishing this weekend. Only one keeper fluke out of the bay so that was kind of a bust, but I caught my first ever carp and my smallest ever largemouth in the canal so I guess that's something.    The carp was actually a really fun fight on ultralight gear, I don't know why carp fishing isn't more popular here.
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Aug 8, 2018 05:37
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Got some after work bassin done this week and caught two fatties. Well, fatties for south east PA.  Me and this fish have similar beer bellies.  This dude is my PB. Didn't get to weigh him, but he was heavy as poo poo. Easily 3lbs, probably over 4, which is about as big as they get in the Delaware Canal. He slammed my Senko and just started jumping like mad. Made for an awesome fight on my 6lb test ultra light setup. I had a family of bike riders on the towpath stop to watch me bring him in, which was cool because there's never anyone around when I catch anything. re: seasickness. If you're prone to it, try to stay towards the back of the boat in the center where there's the least amount of motion and definitely don't look into the wake or the churn under the boat. I was lucky that my dad had a 20ft center console Mako when I was a kiddo, so I've never had any problems, but whenever we'd take friends out they'd mostly likely blow chunks if they sat up front or by the sides, and definitely if they were staring into the water while we were moving.
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Aug 25, 2018 07:44
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Mrenda posted:How do you learn to fish? The background is I have a place to stay on the coast of the South West of Ireland. There's a load of sea angling boats that you can pay to get on, but that seems to be jumping in at the deep end. I don't know if there's fishing from the shore, but I'm sure when I have more time I can find out about it. If I was only going to have one setup for marine fishing, I'd get an 8ft medium heavy rod, and a size 40 or 50 spinning reel tied with 20lb braid. Typically when you're surf fishing you should have a 10-12 ft rod, but they're expensive and super unwieldy for anything other than surf fishing, so I think an 8ft medium heavy will get you more mileage when fishing from beaches, docks, piers, jettys, whatever. After that just buy a few 'high low' rigs from the baitshop, a few different weights, and some combination of minnows, worms, clam, or shrimp and just go cast into the surf. Look for sandbars, rock formations, steep drop offs, deep holes, or any sort of structure in the water since that's generally where fish like to hang out. There's a ton of resources online for beginning fishing -- there's literally thousands of Youtube vids that cover saltwater fishing basics. You can also find out in the baitshop if there's any local fishing hotspots like public docks or jettys. Just go hang out and ask the locals what they're fishing for and what bait and rigs they're using. Most fisherman are happy to help with the basics, just don't expect them to give away their secret spots. But with that said, if you have access to freshwater fishing near you I'd probably start there since the barrier to entry is lower and the gear is cheaper. You can get a ton of mileage out of a $30 ultralight setup and some worms, and you won't have to worry about saltwater corroding your gear. Oh, and Google Maps is a fisherman's best friend. You can find all sorts of great spots that way. In fact, if you're cool posting up the name of the town you're at I can probably point you to a few. Just be warned that I'm not an expert and certainly not the best angler in this thread so YMMV.
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Aug 27, 2018 02:56
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Mrenda posted:Yeah, I've been looking at Google Maps and the satellite view, the resolution isn't the best but I'm trying to scout out places. There's a lake that looks like a fish just south of the Knockdrum Stone Fort. I'd fish there because, well, it looks like a fish and i'm a simple moron. https://www.google.com/maps/place/D...57!4d-9.1793869 There's also Lough Clubnir and Lough Abisdealy. I don't know much about the freshwater scene in Ireland, but I'd bet there's some carp in there at least. Other than that it looks like the immediate area has a ton of estuaries and inlets that would all produce fish. There seems to be a ton of sheer rock faces that are pretty inaccessible, but there's some beaches too like Trag Beach, and whatever that beach is immediately SW of the Toe Head coast guard station. https://www.google.com/maps/place/T...103!4d-9.265747 https://www.google.com/maps/place/D...57!4d-9.1793869 All these spots look pretty viable, but you never know until you go check 'em out. Also, check the regulations. It might be illegal to fish in some places.
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Aug 27, 2018 19:11
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Man, I fish almost exclusively on ultralight for freshwater. Granted, some people don't consider 6lb test to be "true" ultralight, and the bass around here don't get much bigger than 5lbs, but still, it makes it somewhat more involved than just setting the hook and reeling in. I'll go down to 4lb fluro for trout and crappie though, and I think I'm gonna try out 2lb for the fall trout stock this year. I'm just worried about how hard it'll be to tie knots with what is essentially human hair.
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Aug 31, 2018 23:14
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You dudes got any recommendations for braid knots? I went striper fishing this weekend with 20lb braid and got broken off at the knot loop twice by either big blues or stripers. I figured 20lb braid tied in a palomar loop would be enough to bring in some sizable fish, but they were snapping it like it was nothing. Each time the line came back the knot itself was intact, but the loop of the knot was split in half. I figure a knot that runs through the eyelet multiple times would hold better, but I don't know any. I did manage to catch a few smaller blues, but didn't get any pics due to it being night time and being chest deep in rough surf the whole time. As always, awesome pics of fish and gorgeous fishing spots everyone.
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Sep 24, 2018 22:40
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I've read that only dogfish over 3ft are good for eating, there's some catch and cooks on youtube with varying degrees of success, but the bigger ones usually seem to come out better.
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Oct 31, 2018 19:22
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Elmnt80 posted:People here keep tagging chain pickerel as northern pike, which is hilarious. Also, Fishbrain has been pretty awesome for doing my pond/river hopping thing. loving every single person who fishes in my area calls chainsides pike and it drives me insane. "hey what are you fishing for? You know, I caught a pike in here last year!" "there are no pike in these waters, it was probably a pickerel" "naw sorry bro it was a pike, I looked up a picture on the internet, definitely a pike" They also call all the common sunfish by a billion different made up names so they never have to say "all I caught was a few bluegill"
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Jan 30, 2019 22:09
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Motherfuckers are out there catching sharks and I'm just sitting here waiting for the PA trout season to open so I can catch some farmies.
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Mar 6, 2019 03:18
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I hate winter and I miss fishing. That is all
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Jan 31, 2020 17:40
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| # ¿ May 19, 2024 20:50 |
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Dangerllama posted:
Silver 1/16oz Johnson Min-o-spin. I don't think there's a common local freshwater species I haven't caught on it. If I throw that in a spot for 10 - 15 mins and don't catch poo poo, then I assume there's no poo poo to catch.
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May 17, 2020 23:33
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