Nice. :thumb:

So two weeks ago I bought my first rod and reel. Got a cheap baitcaster. Been fishing a few times, and caught my first (very small) fish yesterday on Lake Jacomo.

This reel is frustrating as hell. I spend more time untangling birdnests than fishing. I read up and watched some videos on how to use it correctly, and it helped, but still tons of tangles. I think I'm going to go back and buy an open reel while I'm learning. I think it's a combo of user error, and buying the cheapest baitcaster I could find.

Ah well. Still enjoying it.

Smallies are on fire out in Washington state right now.

It's ridiculous how big those bastards get up there.

Go buy a spinning reel and save the baitcaster for when you have time to master it. It helps a lot if you are casting heavier lures on the bait caster. Make sure you have your drag set properly as well.

Yeah, the heavier lures are much easier to deal with. But, yeah, I'm going to go get sething more suited for a novice.

I have let more big fish get away this year than ever. Was screwing around on the pond a couple weeks ago. Had grabbed someone elses pole. Hooked probably a 6 pounder. She jumped and snapped the line. He had tossed that line around his yard and never re tied the bait.

Anyone else fishing for Walleyes on the Missouri in South Dakota?

I've been hammering them at Ft. Thompson using bottom bouncers and spinners... took a couple limits off last the water last weekend... pretty decent size to them as well...

Canada was once again a success. We caught more Walleye than you can imagine and plenty of Northern. The Walleye bite was so good that we never really went after the Smallies. Here's a photo of this year's best fish. A 28" walski caught by my buddies Dad who hadn't fished in 30 years prior to taking this trip.

In 2 weeks I'm heading up to Eastern Lake here in Ontario for a friends stag. It's a fly in (no roads lead to it). Apparently there are more bass and walleye than you can imagine.
Here's the link to the site:
http://www.stantonair.com/eastern.html
I'll give an update when I get back.

how much did it weigh?

We didn't weigh it but a 28" walleye usually comes in around 7-8 lbs.

You've got to remember to keep your thumb on the spool to keep it from overspinning. Remember that you won't be able to cast as far as you can with a spinning reel, but you'll be able to pinpoint where the lure hits the water, which is a major plus when pitching and flipping or otherwise fishing in heavy cover.

I fed a few gar Monday.
Best luck I had all day was catching the bait, perch, they were stealing off my hook.

Just got back from Lake Sharpe last weekend. We put in a West Bend and headed near the pump house. Fish were biting but nothing really big. Lots of 15-16 inchers and a ton of 14's. Caught our limit last Friday within 4 hours and then switched to smallies. Were using spinners and bottom bouncers as well. Used live worms with mostly chartruese or silver spinners.They were biting like a mother.

We stayed at a hotel in Pierre as the campsites were full and the dudes that pulled in next to use had been on Oahe and had only caught one keeper and only 3 fish in 10 hours on the water. They had five dudes in the boat.

Water in the river here was just recently up and running .. Boog II caught some really nice catfish in the back-up waters off a creek feeding into the river .. biggest went 26 pounds .. caught 14 fish in total all over 8 pounds .. he was using nite-crawlers on open-face reels with 30 lb test line ....

I've been around Ft. Thompson a fair amount lately.. same thing, 15-17 inchers on Sharpe, can catch a limit out of the boat... then 16-20 in the fast waters below the dam on Francis Case, in and out of the boat... also around the island just downstream of the dam... great place to fish there...

I hear Platte is starting to hit pretty good off shore as well...

Landed this guy on a rubber worm while Bass fishing in "the pond".

Tipped the scales at 5lbs.

Got back last week from our fly-in trip to Eastern Lake here in Ontario. Six of us caught roughly 150 Bass and Perch over 3 days in the 2-3 pound variety. One guy hooked a huge Muskie but couldn't bring it in. Awesome trip, we had the entire lake to ourselves.
Gonna make it an annual event.

Best eating size IMO.

Went after some cats this morning with my Dad and Uncle on Lake Winnebago. My uncle lives there and said to use hotdogs for bait. I thought he was crazy as I've never fished with hotdogs. He wasn't crazy...

2 - 7 lb, 1 - 5 lb, 2 - 3 lb.

Going out sport fishing next Saturday, Sea Bass and Sand Bass are biting at night , Blue Fin Tuna so-so, Yellow tail a million miles away, water too cold, go figure.

Rising ocean temperatures have allowed the giant Humboldt squid to move north to the Bay Area. These dang things are eating up all the fish. The salmon fishing is the worst ever so boats are going after squid instead. I guess its a good thing for calamari lovers...

http://www.mexfish.com/fish/hbsquid/hbsquidwilliams.jpg

That's a lot of calamari...

That's pretty cool. Is that you?

This is freaking epic:

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I am excited, I am going fly fishing for the first time and I am going to the Deschutes here in Oregon. Can't think of a better place to go for the first time.

You going for steelhead?

Naw, just some trout, get my line wet and relearn everything. I took a week long class 2 years ago then life got busy so I never got to go out. My waders still have the tags on them from two years ago. However I see a lot more trips in my future since I met a fishing buddy.

Always wanted to fish off a coast/salt water fish.

Everything seems so much bigger and less work for a meal...

Very cool. You're in a great area for it. A lot of my good friends live in Portland. FYI: there's a pretty cool event this weekend in Portland that you might be interested in. If I remember correctly, you're into urban homesteading/locavorism and such:

http://www.grandcentralbakery.com/ab...al-bakery-fair

Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City, will be speaking as well.

I would love to live somewhere with good access to the salt. I love freshwater fishing, but the speed of some saltwater fish is just insane when you hook one.

Never have, and won't claim to know the "feel" of sea fishing, but pulling in one big fish (4lbs+) like in many of the pics seems like a more enjoyable experience than reeling in 15-20 medium sized crappie...

Yeah. The difference, to me, is that the fishing itself can be very very boring in saltwater (unless you fish it enough to understand the ins and outs of it). There's no structure to look at other than water. It all pretty much looks the same (mangrove type swamps and jetties being an exception). Also, you can't just drive over to some creek, wade in, and start fishing like you can in freshwater. You often need a boat (and an expensive one at that) to access the fishing. If you're going offshore, then your fuel costs aren't going to be cheap either.

The recent saltwater kayak fishing craze is a result of that and is making saltwater more accessible to the "common" man, though. Anyway, I see your point on the size of the fish, but I'd probably take a 20 day crappie day to a 1 grouper day any day of the week. 20 crappie means there was a lot of action. 1 grouper means there was a lot of waiting.

Yep we are going! One of our friends actually is a manager at a grand central. Also the flock and fiber show and then fishing on sunday, going to be a busy weekend! Thanks for the heads up.

So, not having fished the coasts, you can't just pull up to the shore with some line-bait-pole and have a day without huge expense?

I mean, you can't fish from the shore I'm guessing due to the waves/tide and whatnot in most places, but there are a $#it-ton of places in the NE area and FLA gulf side protected from a lot of that I'd think.

Well, you can fish from the shore, it's just not always productive. Jetties and boardwalks/piers can provide good "shore" fishing as well. Kayaks let you get out past the breakers and into more productive water without really having to go real far offshore.

If you do just a little research and ask around some about where to go, then it can definitely be productive to just go out with your bait and gear. Probably the most popular and productive way to fish for the average dude without a boat is to find a pier that has lights on at night and fish off the pier. It just doesn't really work for fly fishing, which is my preferred method of fishing. It can also be extremely boring if the timing is off (but I guess all fishing can be boring if you ain't catching).

My buddy from Jersey is coming this weekend .. going to try to catch a big flathead cat .. prolly in the spillbasin and in the lake on a troutline ... plus watch the Chiefs spank da Brownies .....

son & grandson down on jacks fork a few weeks ago for "men's week on the river".
first time fishing for the boy. about all he wants to do now.
sec

That is GREAT. I'm happy for you. Teaching the gradson how to fish and
spending quality time with him. Thats living the good life.

cont
 

like i said, it was the grandson's first time fishing. also, it was my son's first time fly fishing::D

Went to Truman last week and watched my old man outfish me about 13 to 2 over the course of 9 hours. And then my map research paid off and and I put us on a spot that produced 30+ bass over the course of an hour.

Wen to Florida Keys w/my kid and slayed 'em. This is why they call me MahiMike. My son's nickname is now Ahi Alex!

I am finishing up three day at lake Catherine in Arkansas. We caught 4 channel cat (pan size), 3 drum, 10 large mouth and 30 plus stripers.
It is a nice lake with pretty good cabins right on thE lake.

Cabin cost 79 a night and bOat was 40 a day.

Ang

Usually fish at Lake Olathe but it's a bit of a drive so tonight we'll probably fish at the local park which is about 5 acres.

http://image.com.com/tv/images/proce.../ba/315165.jpg



How would you like to go fishing with this guy? Jeremy Wade, River Monsters

I would, and have Jaws music in the background....

Got to do some fishing while in FL. Didn't expect this kind of trip! Managed to get this 7-8' Dusky Shark to the surface before we cut the line. It's quite a rush reeling in something that big!

Heading down to Bennett Springs tomorrow for some rainbow trout.

Caught some here in Bella Vista at Lake Brittany Last Sunday. Not a trout guy normally, but I caught fish in February. So that's a plus.

Season opener?

Motorcycle Drag Racing buddy went crappie fishing at Parsons Lake Tuesday and came back with a bunch of nice slabs. Everyone of them filled with eggs too.
I’m going to get some fishing in somewhere this weekend, damnit.

I live on a Lake in Northeast Iowa. Fly fishing is the only kind of fishing I do, be it for Trout, Bass, Crappie, and my favorite Carp...Iowa's Bone Fish.
I have found Fly Fishing for Bass to be very productive. Last Year was the year of the Frog, and this was a go to fly for some very nice Bass.
http://www.riverbum.com/images/produ...mming-side.jpg

I usually tie all my flies, but sometimes the spun deer hair ones I will purchase.
For Trout I use a St. Croix Legend 8ft 3wt.
Bass I will use a 9ft 7wt
And Carp I usually use my 9ft 5wt.
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...carpsept09.jpg

I went to the pond yesterday and it was still pretty slow, but I landed two nice bass.

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No, just the 1st weekend after. You couldn't pay me to get anywhere near that place on opening day.

We had a somewhat decent weekend. The cold front screwed things up a bit, but I managed to catch 12 nice rainbow. All of them in the Niangua, not in the park.

I hope you make it out fishing when you're in Belize. We killed them down there. A shot of "Pow" one of our guides.

Taking a break for a fish fry at lunch.

Nice haul for late winter fishing Bill.

I've been itching to fish lately myself, cant wait til it warms up a bit more & the spawn starts. Caught my biggest ones of last year in the early spring, once they bed down they'll attack a matchbox car if you put it in front of'em.

Well this thread just gave me my fishing boner...


and there's still ****ing ice on the water...

White Bass should be getting cranked up around here soon.

Crappie still slow .. some nice cats been csaught on shad-sides ...

It got even better on Friday.

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i threw a dog and some other dead stuff off the high water. Fishing should be good for awhile.

Crappie fishing NC Style

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...n/DSCF0398.jpg

That's what I'm talking about! I wish to Hell it would warm up around here so I can get down to Truman for a mess of those.
Posted via Mobile Device

whats the water temp there? between 50-60 is time to go no matter what the air temp is...:thumb:

I braved the 25 mph wind and constant rain last friday and ended up with 2 crappie. I know that sucks, but they sure tasted good as a small (very) appetizer that night

41 degrees on March 6th.
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They are real deep now at that temp, in about 10 degrees they will be in the mid depths ready to make a run to the shallows...

I would rather fish in the rain than in hard wind.... I hate that crap

yeah, 41 degrees hould have them bunched up pretty tight in about 25 to 27 feet of water on flats right at the channel edges. If you don't mind getting the boat out now, they can be easy pickens and usually are fairly agressive.

they are easier to catch now than they are in July and August because you know where they are now.

true. only problem is that it is much more enjoyable to have a few cold beers and jump into the lake if you get too hot in July than it is now. I'll probably wait a few weeks till they start showing up closer to the banks

check out crappie.com forum, they have state specific crappie fishing forums.... I have learned alot over the years there

will do thanks. We are going down to Stockton Lake a few times this year. Usually known more for Walleye and Bass, but we get into some very nice 12 and 13 inch slabs in late April and then again in mid September. I'm totally chomping at the bit right now. I'll check that forum

If all goes well, I may be doing this on Sunday down in Palm Beach:

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Sixty seconds of drag-screaming run from a spinner shark ROFL

http://www.flyfishingextremes.com/60...20screamer.mov

Insane.

Bought a baitcaster, lures, tackle box and license for $75 today. Caught my first largemouth in 10 years today. Hell yeah.

Going pond fishing with my fiancés grandfather monday.

Is anyone here familiar with Lake Olathe?

Some fish caught in a local lake.. the 29# pike was caught a month or two ago..
http://www.onotaboat.com/bigfish.html

Hitting up Truman this weekend...hoping the warmer temps might drive the crappie into shallower water around the deadfall.