The Fishing Thread!

Heya....

I used to fish a lot w/ my dad when I was younger, but he became somewhat disabled, and so I haven't been (successfully) in some time.

Just wanted to say...I went to Lake Cumberland in...1997, with my family, and that was probably my favorite vacation ever. Those stripers are freakin huge, but we didn't have gear (or money) to fish 'em.

Anyway, just wondering, I've been so out of the loop, was wondering if anyone wanted to help me get back into the swing of things. I'm somewhat poor, but a lot of that's by choice...I work w/ kids, and not for "the man." Lol. Anyway, eating fish is something I love, but it's also something I'd like to do for sustinence.

The closest real river to me is the Monongahela, right now our mercury and pcb warnings for catfish limit meals to 6 per YEAR. Ouch. Panfish are mostly unlimited, sauger/walleye are like 2 a month I think. There's lots of smallish ponds around, though. I'd really like to learn more about walleye and sauger, caught my first sauger last week actually, fishing near a power plant. There's a hydroelectric dam nearby on the cheat lake/river, that's allegedly one of the best spots for walleye and sauger in this part of the country, but I haven't the foggiest notion of where to start for fishing them. Any help would be appreciated, especially because fish out of that body of water don't have eating warnings associated w/ them.

Really, I'd love anyones guidance on any type of freshwater fish from the ohio river valley. We used to pull catfish out of the river all night w/ chickenliver...now I haven't successfully caught a cat in that river in like the last 4 trips. Anyone have something better? My dad's from south louisiana, his grandad swore by cornmeal and beef blood. Anyway, I digress. I'd like hints/suggestions for a poor man...I've got lots of warmish, swiftwater (dams and locks), as well as plenty of still water. Bait, methods, things to avoid? I'll hopefully be getting a kayak this summer, but that's not exactly a bassboat.

Lastly...2 quick stories:
1. My dad's family is from around the Texarkana area, a few years ago I was down there and went to the lake that USED to be Lake texarkana. I forget what it is now. Anyway, most people were fishing w/ 2-5 giant treble hooks on a line, and simply hanging the rig over the wall and snagging HUGE fish. Sometimes they'd jsut get a scale, but I'm talking scales the size of quarters or bigger.
2. My parents have very good friends in a small town nearby. They have 2 small ponds. The bass fishing and panfish there is unreal. I'm talking perch bigger than both my hands. A few years ago they dredged one of the ponds to put in a geothermal system, and relocated all the fish to the upper pond. They moved a 34 and a 38 inch largemouth out of that pond. To this day I still can't really fathom a bass that large.

 

Hi neph,ispy is your uncle?...I didn't know that..what a small world we live in.

That cat looks like a morph between a big leach and a catfish...weird.I wonder what that thing weighed.It mustv'e taken a couple hours to land that beast.

@ispy tarpon on a fly?? wow what a fight that must be.. whewww...I'm getting tired just thinking about that battle

Hey saugmon,walleye fishing went great.We usually fish the Missouri river,its only a 150 miles from where I am, and the lake fishing around these parts just plain sucks.So driving that far is worth it.We rarely get skunked at the mighty Mo. This year the wife and I caught several limits(four 14 inchers or better, per fisherman or fisherwoman,as the case may be)I love springtime fishing,the walleyes just about jump in your boat when you find them.

I like fishing when I can pull bottom bouncers and spinners while I'm trolling with my Autopilot,in other words I'm kind of a lazy fisherman.he he he

I usually just run 2 rods out the back of my 17 foot Crestliner,and vertical jig with either leadhead jigs, or floating jigheads with a lindy rig off the side...sometimes I use slipbobbers,they all seem to work with walleyes.With walleyes the biggest problem is finding the fish,after you find them,they will take just about anything.

As the temp rises, the walleyes go deep, and aren't as obliging as they are right after spawn.So then you can spend all day, and your whole paycheck on gas, pulling plugs around, and only catching a few fish.I have a decent kicker, but I hate using it, and I'm not real wild about fishing with crankbaits(see the lazy fisherman reference)We have planerboards, a drift sock and the whole nine.But if I have to work that hard to get them, I would rather be sitting under a tree drinking a cold one.

We went out last week and caught our limit by noon.I had forgotten that there was a tournament that weekend, so the river was just lousy with boats.We had a 26 inch walleye in the livewell,along with several nice keepers.We had a friend with us who caught it, or that big eye would've gone back in the water,as fast as we landed him/her(that big of a walleye is kinda mushy and doesn't taste as good as the 14 inchers,not to mention the future spawning potential)

We were having a good time just tooling around showing the tourney fishers that nice walleye,nobody else was catching a thing...he he he
Some rich guy in a big old Lund boat offered us 500 bucks for that big fish...let me tell you, we thought long and hard about the proposition and decided against it.I wouldn't wanna be tourney fishing and have somebody win with an eye they didn't catch....the sportsmen in me overruled the greed in me.. damnit. LOL

We were on our way back to the dock when we passed a little cove and we saw what looked like boiling water.It turned out to be white bass(some call them silver bass) just busting up the surface, going for baitfish.We trolled into that cove, and caught 75 whites in just under an hour.These fish look like an overgrown crappie, and fight like mad.If you cut out the red flesh in them they are mighty tasty too.Catching all those whites that fast, was absolutely the most fun I ever had with my pants on.
I have fished at night for whites, using submersible lights, and never had that much action.

Once the surface temp gets too much above 70 the walleyes get lock jaw,The northern pike will bite afterwards but I don't even like pulling the slimy things in the boat,even though they are great fighters.

So I find something else to do until the fall and then go after the wallhangers.

As for the polution problem,I guess that is one of the perks of living up here in the sticks,there isn't any warning, or limit on how many fish you can eat without dying of mercury poisoning.LOL

@TomMelee,that is just unreal how limited eating fish in your neck of the woods is...I think I would pick another hobby, or just catch and release.

@codydog no worries, I stopped using that gif about a year ago since a mod told me it was too big.

Good luck to all of you in your fishing endeavors.
Stealing a line from my friend ispy....tight lines guys

 

TomMelee:

I've never normally fished for sauger or walleye in a river. I do pull an occasional saugeye out of the miami river while I catfish.

They love night crawlers-so a worm harness may work pretty good. If in a boat and deep water-I'd run an erie dearie worm harness behind a 3 ft leader with a heavy bottom bounceer and troll. It's called a poormans downrigger setup. Get's you deep.

They should hit leadhead jigs with twistertail grubs. Charteuse is the hat color. Also firetiger-all I use and/white/or yellow. I make my own jigs,so I can customize my hooks.

Spoons and crankbaits also very good,depending on the depth.Walleye lover storm wiggle warts,and they run about 15'- 18' deep.Hot n tots also good. Shallow water: Bomber Model A firetiger A02 1/4 oz.

Nighttime- Rapalas (floating) on the surface,and reeled in so they go down a couple feet.

JD: Those white bass have a very bloody meat texture. Usually I soak them in saltwater at least 24 hrs before I eat or freeze them.They're also oily,so the saltwater helps for that. I didn't hit the run quite right this year.



Years ago,we'd go to Fremont where the sandusky river ran through it.
1 day of fishing and you were cleaning fish for 8+hrs-per person. The last 10 yrs,commercial fisherman net the white bass up at the mouth of the sandusky river in lake erie. Not any good anymore.

70 degrees? These saugeye love it up to the lower 80's in water temp,which it is until the 4 th of july. After that-they vanish. I don't have a temp guage in my boat. I use a pool thermometer and throw it in my live well. Then I pump in the water and see what it is.This would tell the temp of a foot below the surface. Crude,but very effective. Last week it was 63 degrees,but it got hotter than hell ever since-smokin!

I love pike fishing. I also get one every now and then in the miami river-using my normal catfish rigging. You practically catch anything in that river. You know how you get a pike in the boat and they start thrashing around? Those saugeye do the same thing. Get them in the boat,get the hook out,and let them thrash all they want, LOL. Mean SOB's!

 

AWESOME info, thanks.

I'll have to try some of that in the outflow from the dam's. I appreciate it greatly.

 

Thunderstorms all night,rained all day until the afternoon-and everything flooded. A buddy was suppose to go fishing with me after work and backed out. I got my dad to go. I was hoping the lake didn't get any mudier and it looked ok.

We ended up with 10 saugeye. 2 short of our limit. 3 were 17",1 at 14" and rest between 15 and 16". They were hitting like hot cakes for an hour and a half,and dead after that. Lost 3 and one may have went 20". We did a heck of a lot better than expected. The gf had my camera,so no pics. They weren't hardly touching the planer board. More storms are forecasted for all weekend, UGGH!

40 in the boat so far! Way ahead of schedule.

 

Sounds like you made a pretty good haul saugmon.
A friend wants to go to the river Sunday, with my boat, and see if we can't catch some topwater fish. I think it's supposed to storm. I'll go if the weather turns out alright. If I get anything to report, I will.

 

Just getting up for the usual saugeye trip. Up at 4am est. Leave to get my boat at my dad's house at 4:30. Don't know if he's going,so I may be solo today? Camera is ready.

I printed off a couple of pics of last weekend's haul,and some of the people at work couldn't believe that lake had fish like that.I told them this was just the beginning,a few weeks and the big ones will start to hit.
It wasn't the cleanest lake when I grew up. Majority of houses had their sewer lines run directly to the lake.Took a long time to learn it,but still learning. I may have to try ice fishing this winter?

Topwater bass action: I love it. Nighttime is a blast. Just cast and listen to the surface to break, LOL. I had this old heddon lure that I can no longer find. Not a zook,but a top water plug,and the front was a V shape. It'd dive down a foot or so and float back up. It also glew in the dark on the bottom. It was a free lure I won in a heddon fishing contest and a deadly topwater bait. After that,then comes the rapalas.

My lake is loaded with bass,but I catch a few trolling. Never quite get them in,but a blast of my rigging of spiderwire, 8 ft salmon rods,and line counter reels. A saugeye don't rip off much,if any line. A 3 lb bass,oh yea. There's 20 yds ripped off in 2 seconds, LOL

Oops, time to go!

 

Got 10 keeper saugeyes,but none to brag about. all between 14-16 inches.Total of 5 hrs fishing-very slow biting. Did get 2 nice crappies trolling-1 over a foot.

By 10 am,back to wearing shorts. Just love ohio weather. 25 degree temp change in 3 hrs.At least I didn't sweat my ass off like last weekend's near 90 degree/90% humidity weather.

2 more weeks before my Vacation!

Anyone got any fishing vacations planned?

Total=50 in the boat.

 

Nephilim,
I work a couple of days a week in a tackle store here in the UK.its very common for UK anglers to go to the river Ebro in Spain for the catfish,I have buddys who have had them to 190lbs,the best bait now is 28mm Halibut pellets,the reason for this is that anglers were using them to catch the carp for bait,now the cats have got a taste for those instead of carp.Its not unusual to put 20lbs of Halibut pellets into the water where you are fishing to bring them into/onto the feed.

 

WHO gos fishing when there cold beer to drink.....

 

Hmmmm the ones on the left of the pic look a bit small (the beers I mean)
I started a fishing Thread over on DVDrip about 18 months 2 years ago it proved to be 1 of the most popular threads.
Angling is the biggest participation sport here in the UK

 

Man I love to fish. I started fishing with my Dad as a little fry down in the Atchafalaya Basin. It's where the Mississippi would like to go to enter the Gulf but the Corps won't let it (large swamp with hundreds of oilfield canals). My favorite, then and still, is Sac-a-lait. What we call crappie and white perch. Usually with tube jig or shiners (minnows)under a cork. Nowadays I fish with my brothers in law. Either for sac-a-lait or saltwater fish out of Leeville in the Timballier bay-marshes and Gulf. The favored species is speckled trout. I don't particually like to eat fish so my favorites are bull red fish about 39" long on 18lb line and light action Castaway baitcasting rod. They'll bend that sucker almost in half. You can fight one for 20min before they get tired or yourself, depending on the beverages consumed the night before, no alcohol allowed in the Gulf, too many things can and do go wrong. Weather being one in the spring and summer in south Louisiana. I live in one of the best areas of the country for fishing, no doubt about it. Crab, Shrimp, Crawfish, Fish, Oysters to die for. Down on the gulf you can buy fresh Shrimp from the boats if they're not fishing at the time. My brother in law's camp at Leevile was demolished by Katrina and then by Rita. Slowly it's being rebuilt and shortly I'll be back down to fish again.

 

11 saugeyes today. One at 18",1 at 14" and rest between 15-16"
1 catfish at 16". Much better than yesterday.
We lost at least 5 fish,and 1 still has my bait in it, LOL

Rough,windy,and we got wet.

Total: 61 in the boat
Target: 200 by 4th of july

Those are a couple of fine sets of bottles ireland.

garmoon: I've fished in the atlantic for red snapper. That's about the furthest I went,and I was only 14 yrs old then, LOL. I'd love to try the gulf of mexico.

Here's my dream fishing trip:

Fly-in trip to alberta/manitoba/or saskatchewan and leave for a week.You can eat all you want,just can't bring anything home.

Neph: I cooked those 2 crappies up yesterday and 3 saugeyes,yummy! I still got leftovers I'm getting ready to eat in a short bit.

Edit: I forgot the pic, Doh!

 

To the right of that pic,is my new electric fillet knife-pc of sh*t. My other knive had dull blades.It's cheaper to buy a new one than the blades alone. Those electric knives are excellent for filleting fish-even catfish.Should only take 10 mins to fillet those 12.

But,it took 100 lbs of pressure to squeeze the trigger on that new knive-so I had to use my old pc of crap knife, LOL. I think I got carpal-syndrom from that knife.

I took that GE knife back to wallyworld and got a black&decker-$10

Next trip-tuesday. I got the day off of work. Just gotta find someone to take so I can get my 6, plus most of theirs, LOL.The weather forecast looks sweet for tuesday.

What are you doing tuesday neph? LOL! I need a good net-man. The big ones keep getting away.

 

My friend and I went today, to a creek. We put my boat in, and within 15 minutes, I had my biggest bass of the day (about 2 1/2 lbs.). I caught 3 more little ones. My friend finally caught his first bass, ever. It was about 10". )

I'm trying to teach him to bass fish. Last trip, he had one on a worm, but didn't set the hook good, and it got off. So this time, I tied a buzzbait on for him. I figured a fish would hook itself with that, and he could catch one. It worked. He's hooked now!

I've had a problem with the gas motor. Last trip, an alarm kept going off. I think it's the overheating alarm. I think I need to have a new impeller put in the water pump. I hope that's all it is. Being out of work, I don't have the money now. That's why we went to a creek, and fished it all day. He said he'd pay for it, and let me pay him back. I don't like to do that, but may end up having to, so we can fish more.

Anyway, that's my story for this week. It was a fun day, watching him catch his first bass!

 

Was the motor spitting out a steady stream of water,or little spurts?

Probably the impeller.

Hooked on fishing! Nothing like catching fish on artificial bait. I use to lose a lot of fish on rubber worm. Buzz baits never worked for me,or spinnerbaits. Can't beat the lead head jig with twister tails and rapala's for a bait.

 

Every time I looked, water was coming out of the pee hole. But my friend said there were times it didn't. That's why I think it's the impeller.

A buzzbait is my all time favorite bait. I'll throw one all day long, if they're biting. I think it's the best big fish bait there is. Some say a jig & pig, but I, and a few pros, say the buzz bait. The buzz bait is why I got to be known as "Big Fish", in the bass club I was in.

I do throw other baits too, when needed. But during the spring, summer and fall, I mainly throw a buzz bait! )

 

hows it going my fishin Bud's. havent been on in a few days(work sucks) but i did go out saturday to find that ne fishin hole(catfishermans paradiseII)its about a 45 min ride from me, but its a nice looking place. they have 3 lakes the smallest of the 3 stock only channel cat, and the other 2 lakes have the big blue's and shovelhead. while i was there a 32lbs shovel head was caught and right were i parked a guy just caught a 16 lbs Bluecat.... i will be there this comeing weekend