The Fishing Thread

[Easy 6]

Searched around & only found the video fishing & BassMasters threads, i know their are plenty of outdoorsman here, so i figured it'd be cool to draw upon the Planets vast experience in all things fishing.

I only use spincast reels & fish mostly large/smallmouth bass & cats. My choice of reels is quite the source of derision from many people i know 'duffer gear', but i haul in my share of 6 pound bass & 10-20 pound cats on that gear no problem. With a little know-how you can use just about any technique you want to on 'duffer gear'.

Berkley Powerbaits are a big part of my trick bag, the difference between those & regular stuff is night & day. My best action last summer came on Mister Twister scented white curly tail grubs, on one day fishing from shore to a bridge pier, i caught smallies, bigmouths, perch & even 1 carp believe it or not... great day. But my bread & butter is a texas rigged Berkley worm, it'll wiggle through any kind of cover without getting hung up.

With cats i strictly bottom fish, no bobber & bait is just as basic... but its always in 2's to give'em a real treat... a shrimp/with a nightcrawler, liver/chunk of cheese etc. Cats are mostly for night sport to me, time to kick back a lil...

So thats me style, how do the rest of you guys get your fish on? What do you fish for, what do you use? IIRC Missouri's trout season just kicked off, anyone getting anything?

[seclark]

Originally Posted by Iowanian

Have a great time.

We're making a run to our favorite lake on the Mo-Ark boarder next week.

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by Bob Dole

Damnit. Clicked on this thread and am now going to have to stop by the shop down the road and buy some buffalo ribs.

I remember watching Anthony Bourdain and a friend of his in Louisiana was trying to make those things a hit at his restaurant, it worked, people loooved them... the only drawback is apparently the prep time.

They looked great on tv, I need to try and find some... or maybe catch one myself, they're plentiful around here, though I don't often fish for carp, they're usually caught on accident.

I did catch a huuuge grass carp just last week, same day as I caught 2 nice 10+ catfish... its been an excellent season of fishing so far, one of my best.

At the local lake 2 weeks ago I caught multiples of every single thing they stock in it including the very hard to find rock bass... except one, crappie... couldn't get one of those... but that was just one of several great days this year, pretty sure I got this fishing thing figured out.

The hot tricks for me this year are drop shot rigs with minnow or worm and grubs on spinners... they've been working when all else fails.

Happy fishing, everyone.

[Radar Chief]

So a guy in Italy caught a 265 lb wels, that was almost 9 ft. long, on a spinner? I'm going to need more of this story before I believe it.

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by Radar Chief

So a guy in Italy caught a 265 lb wels, that was almost 9 ft. long, on a spinner? I'm going to need more of this story before I believe it.

Yeah wow, if he horsed that thing in on THAT gear he's damn good and so was the driver of that boat... his gear didn't look nearly heavy enough for that, at the very least he had to have been using some Spiderwire on that open face.

Its also pretty rare to catch catfish on bass lures like spinners, although its happened to me a few times... cool post, RC.

In other news, my overnight trip saturday went great, my boss has a cabin on a 7 acre lake that's been in place for 50+ years and is 35 foot deep... a good, solid lake.

He gave me the key to the cabin, I had a paddleboat to fish from and it was awesome, such a beautiful lake, he spends $1000 a year keeping it moss free, its so easy to fish and is such a "fish friendly" lake, meaning that there is just a ton of cover all along every bank... if a tree falls in the water it gets left right there, tree's growing out over the water, huge banks of cattail... theres just cover EVERYWHERE.

Just me by my lonesome, 12 fish, mostly keeper size bass, it was a real treat and I cant wait to go back again, my best day of the year so far... got up, cooked breakfast and coffee over the fire, went for a dip later on, its what summer is all about.

[Radar Chief]

Originally Posted by scott free

Yeah wow, if he horsed that thing in on THAT gear he's damn good and so was the driver of that boat... his gear didn't look nearly heavy enough for that, at the very least he had to have been using some Spiderwire on that open face.

Its also pretty rare to catch catfish on bass lures like spinners, although its happened to me a few times... cool post, RC.

Those are my problems with this story. Seems to me a big cat like that could swim to the bottom, mud itself in and you’d never pry it off the bottom with that light gear.
Also, if a big cat like that has to expend the energy to chase something down it wants a mouth full, something that will stick to its ribs for a while. They’re not interested in something as small as a bass spinner. I suppose that if the spinner was practically swimming into its mouth it would snap it up but the chances of that are so miniscule as to be unbelievable.

Originally Posted by scott free

In other news, my overnight trip saturday went great, my boss has a cabin on a 7 acre lake that's been in place for 50+ years and is 35 foot deep... a good, solid lake.

He gave me the key to the cabin, I had a paddleboat to fish from and it was awesome, such a beautiful lake, he spends $1000 a year keeping it moss free, its so easy to fish and is such a "fish friendly" lake, meaning that there is just a ton of cover all along every bank... if a tree falls in the water it gets left right there, tree's growing out over the water, huge banks of cattail... theres just cover EVERYWHERE.

Just me by my lonesome, 12 fish, mostly keeper size bass, it was a real treat and I cant wait to go back again, my best day of the year so far... got up, cooked breakfast and coffee over the fire, went for a dip later on, its what summer is all about.

That sounds like a lot of fun.

[HonestChieffan]

Farm pond bass were nuts on Saturday. My buddy caught 4 over 5# in my pond, biggest was almost 6 # 23inch fish two on topwater, rest on wacky worms

[Dartgod]

I went to Bennett Springs over the weekend and has pretty good success. We drove down Friday morning and were on the stream fishing by 11:00. I was mainly throwing a rooster tail in zone 2. Had a lot of interest in it but never could get a solid hit.

We broke for lunch and a nap and went back down around 5:00 to fish until the whistle. Still not much success on the rooster tail. So I got out my fly rod, which I have NEVER caught a trout on. Had it for about 8 years. Truth be told, I never give it much time before I go back to the ultra light. Anyway, I was floating a white threaded jig and was getting a few bites but couldn't close the deal. It was getting very late and I knew the whistle was going to be blowing soon. Getting skunked was a definite possibility. I missed another hit and pulled my jig into the trees behind me and had to break it off. I knew I didn't have time to rig up another tippet and tie everything up so I frantically tied a jig to my ultra light and put on a float. I finally caught a nice trout and about 3-4 minutes later the whistle blew. Whew, skunk averted!

We got down to the stream early the next morning and waited for the whistle. Once again throwing a bumble bee rooster tail, I caught 5 in about 20 minutes. I tried the fly rod again while the feeding frenzy was still on, but again I could not close the deal despite several bites. Went back to the rooster tail and caught one more before it completely died down.

We took a break for breakfast and went back an hour or so after we ate. It was slow going, not much happening on the rooster tail or the fly rod. We went over to zone 3 for a bit and I caught 5 more on power bait. Another break for lunch and a nap and then we were back down for the evening.

We went back to zone 2 and threw the rooster tail for awhile but not much happening. I got out the fly rod again and floated the same white jig. Started getting some bites and I finally hooked one! Landed him and everything! This was a long time coming and quite a thrill. Not to be satisfied I did it again a short time later. That was it although I missed some more hits but at least I was making progress.

Sunday morning we were back down early to find our spots and wait for the whistle. Once again the bumble bee rooster tail was working early on. I caught five before the frenzy ended. It was pretty much dead after that so I figured I'd try the fly rod again with the same white jig. I had even better success than the day before and landed 5 on the fly rod before we had to pack it up and head home.

This is kind of a long report, but I am still geeked that I finally had success with my fly rod. I still have a LOT to learn and my casting skills are sub-par. But I am really looking forward to getting better and catch more fish consistently.

Total fish caught for the weekend, 24 including 7 on my fly rod.

[allen_kcCard]

I was taught by my buddy that took me to Bennett for the first time on nothing but the fly rod, and if we go into the outfall from the hatchery we can literally catch fish in there until we get bored and move out to the channel instead to have to work harder for them.

Out in the channel, all I've ever really used, or caught anything on is just simple fuzzballs. White, tri-color, or yellow, I (like I was taught by my buddy once again) is put on a float, suspend the fuzzball a few (or more if it is deeper) feet down and let it go with the current. He has a lot more luck with this, but I've caught a handful this way.

When you are using the white jig, are you pretty much doing the same thing? Letting it drift with the current? I run into trouble seeing the difference in a fish testing it out to see it is wants to take it, and the fuzzball hitting the bottom or rocks and pulling down the float. I like catching them out there, because it is more of a fight instead of just holding them where they bite in the outfall and netting them without really playing them in, but I've yet to get consistent enough with it to resist the constant action I get otherwise.

[Dartgod]

Originally Posted by allen_kcCard

When you are using the white jig, are you pretty much doing the same thing? Letting it drift with the current?

Yep, exactly the same. You call them fuzzballs, I call them glow balls. I did play around stripping a crackle back late in the day on Saturday and did get one nice bite. But it caught me by surprise and I was slow to react.

It's all a learning process.

[Radar Chief]

This late in the summer I like using dry flies. Ants, mosquitos, I tie my own so I like to watch what the fish are feeding on then try to make something that looks like it.
Dad used to work a yellow and black headless jig so that it looked like a minnow swimming. He could literally pull fish out from cover to chase it. I was never that good at it so I stuck to my dry flies.

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by Radar Chief

Those are my problems with this story. Seems to me a big cat like that could swim to the bottom, mud itself in and you’d never pry it off the bottom with that light gear.
Also, if a big cat like that has to expend the energy to chase something down it wants a mouth full, something that will stick to its ribs for a while. They’re not interested in something as small as a bass spinner. I suppose that if the spinner was practically swimming into its mouth it would snap it up but the chances of that are so miniscule as to be unbelievable

Yeah, that guy is either incredibly lucky or a huge liar.

Originally Posted by HonestChieffan

Farm pond bass were nuts on Saturday. My buddy caught 4 over 5# in my pond, biggest was almost 6 # 23inch fish two on topwater, rest on wacky worms

Dang, thats a healthy pond you have there, 5 pounds and over is Lunkerville.

The good ol wacky worm, a buddy of mine says he has a lot of luck wacky rigging senko's on a drop shot rig, I've been meaning to try that out... if the weather holds up this weekend I will.

[UK_Chief]

Photo of a 6lb sea run brown (we call them sea trout over here) caught at 1am on a 2 inch tube fly. Amazing sport at night on single hand fly rod. Best I've had is 18lb

[jonzie04]

I go fishing on the MO river ever now and again. Went a few weeks ago and used liver. Caught a crap ton of drum, and a 4-5lb flat head. Nothing too exciting. But idk what the deal is in that video, nut christ that cat is ****in huge.

[tooge]

Originally Posted by jonzie04

I go fishing on the MO river ever now and again. Went a few weeks ago and used liver. Caught a crap ton of drum, and a 4-5lb flat head. Nothing too exciting. But idk what the deal is in that video, nut christ that cat is ****in huge.

people scoff at Drum, but if they are good sized ones, the flesh is actually pretty damned good either smoked or fried.

[Radar Chief]

Originally Posted by tooge

people scoff at Drum, but if they are good sized ones, the flesh is actually pretty damned good either smoked or fried.

Yea, I don’t know why drum get a bad reputation. They make for a fine meal.