Any Fisherman Here ?

[Chaotic42]

I caught a little croaker this morning. Other than that, it was a bust.

 

[purbeast0]

here are a couple that i caught this past weekend when i went out with some buddies. they were at 2 different locations. the first one the river was running a bit too fast but i still landed one. the 2nd one was probably 16" long or so. i didn't break out the measuring tape but i caught one right after that was significantly smaller and was 11" after measuring it.

http://i.imgur.com/v8mv5Nk.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/qoEj0aU.jpg

i also went out on wednesday and i saw some guys going out in an inflatable boat. while i was fishing from shore i saw this other guy real in a HUGE fish and i saw him holding it up, but i was across the lake so kind of hard to see. the guys in the inflatable boat went over to help the guy and took some pics of it. they were coming in as i left and i saw the pics on his phone and HOLY SHIT i had no clue there were fish this size in there. the guys estimated it was 6-7lbs but man, i personally would have thought it was bigger. it had to be at least 30" long and it was FAT. i hope to run into the guy again on the inflatable boat so i can ask him to send me the pics of the fish so i can show it to other friends too.

and after seeing those guys, i've decided that i'm going to get myself an inflatable boat too with a trolling motor. gonna pick this one up most likely:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CMBJ1VE/

waiting until i get back from vegas though, which will be on the 15th, and then probably take it out on the lake in the end of july. i know where he was fishing and i could hear him talking about how there are big rocks in the water and it drops off, and a lot of bass hang out there and he regularly catches 3lb bass over there.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Went out flats fishing yesterday morning off Rock Island Bay, just a bit south of Homosassa. There weren't many bites but I caught a black drum and a mangrove snapper. Both were too small to keep but they were still fun to catch.

 

[Durvelle27]

here are a couple that i caught this past weekend when i went out with some buddies. they were at 2 different locations. the first one the river was running a bit too fast but i still landed one. the 2nd one was probably 16" long or so. i didn't break out the measuring tape but i caught one right after that was significantly smaller and was 11" after measuring it.

http://i.imgur.com/v8mv5Nk.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/qoEj0aU.jpg

i also went out on wednesday and i saw some guys going out in an inflatable boat. while i was fishing from shore i saw this other guy real in a HUGE fish and i saw him holding it up, but i was across the lake so kind of hard to see. the guys in the inflatable boat went over to help the guy and took some pics of it. they were coming in as i left and i saw the pics on his phone and HOLY SHIT i had no clue there were fish this size in there. the guys estimated it was 6-7lbs but man, i personally would have thought it was bigger. it had to be at least 30" long and it was FAT. i hope to run into the guy again on the inflatable boat so i can ask him to send me the pics of the fish so i can show it to other friends too.

and after seeing those guys, i've decided that i'm going to get myself an inflatable boat too with a trolling motor. gonna pick this one up most likely:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CMBJ1VE/

waiting until i get back from vegas though, which will be on the 15th, and then probably take it out on the lake in the end of july. i know where he was fishing and i could hear him talking about how there are big rocks in the water and it drops off, and a lot of bass hang out there and he regularly catches 3lb bass over there.

Havn't been fishing in a few weeks but i will be going tomorrow and will upload some pics

 

[purbeast0]

bout to head out tonight around 7 or so back to the normal lake. was talking to someone there the other day who has been landing 3lb bass pretty regularly off of a boat using a swim jig and buzzbait. so i saw what he had and went and bought a setup pretty similar to his.

http://i.imgur.com/jYI81JC.jpg

gonna be doing it from the shore though in an area close to where he was in the boat. hopefully it doesn't get caught up on stuff in the water though lol. i'm used to fishing weedless, and even though this has the thing to try and make it weedless, it doesn't always work like that.

 

[Jeeebus]

Was at the beach this afternoon/evening with the family and we took a walk on the jetty just south of Port Everglades. Was fun... kids loved seeing a giant cruise ship and a cargo ship go by.

On the way off, there was a guy cleaning a long, slender fish he just caught. At first, I thought mackerel, but as I got closer he already had the head off and it was obviously a barracuda.

Made a comment like "oh, look kids, a barracuda" to which he responded "it's a mackerel!" Wasn't really sure how to respond without saying something sarcastic, so just walked away. I guess when he gets ciguatera poisoning tonight, he can blame it on the "mackerel."

We're not exactly talking particularly confusing fish:

spanish mackerel (delicious):

barracuda (not so much):

 

[purbeast0]

so i caught 1 bass today and had a pretty nice one hooked but it got off right at the shore.

i have a question about fishing jig heads - how the hell do you fish them without getting stuck on the bottom? i probably lost like 6 jig head hooks today. lost the one in i got a pic of above, as well as another football jighead, and then some tubes that i rigged up with the jig heads. i had my damn rod tip up the whole time but it just kept getting stuck.

very frustrating, but i did have a damn big fish on my hook that got away by the shore as mentioned above. but that was with a tube not the swim jig. the swim jig i got a couple hits but nothing landed.

 

[purbeast0]

so i ended up breaking the tip of my shimano rod. i'm not exactly sure when it got weakened, but it snapped when i went to snap a line that snagged on the bottom. it's just the very tip of it, so it still works, but i've lost A LOT of sensitivity, which is pretty critical when bass fishing.

while i was there fishing i was talking to this other guy who had a st. croix rod. i had never heard of those before but he told me that it was like $200 for the rod. but man the flex on the rod is incredible, just from watching it.

i'm curious if anyone here has used a st. croix rod and how they like it. i saw some for like $100 or $120 that i'm thinking about possibly checking out in a few weeks. i plan to use my shimano reel though because i like the feel of it.

 

[weirdichi]

My bro likes St. Croix, but for largemouth, he prefers Shimano and GLoomis. Of course his GLoomis poles are $300 each. He says it's a bit more sensitive and a bit lighter.

I have a Cabela's 7' medium fast action pole that works fine (about $80).

 

[Jeeebus]

St. Croix rods are great - though I only fish saltwater. I think I've got a Mojo or something like that which ran about $120.

 

[Arcadio]

Went to the Bayside Marina in Queens this past weekend. Caught nothing.

 

[purbeast0]

this came today...

http://i.imgur.com/fttrtjs.jpg

hoping to get my battery and register it and get it in the water on saturday and catch me some bass!

 

[Chaotic42]

this came today...

http://i.imgur.com/fttrtjs.jpg

hoping to get my battery and register it and get it in the water on saturday and catch me some bass!

Nice, congrats. You have to register it?

 

[purbeast0]

Nice, congrats. You have to register it?

depends on the state, and my state you do, so yeah. only have to register it though cause of the motor. if you just use oars you don't.

 

[purbeast0]

so today i went to walmart to get a battery for my boat and i was looking at the rods and found a 7' med action ugly stick for $30 so i grabbed it since my shimano rod tip broke. this rod is NOTICEABLY more flexible/sensitive than my shimano one. i could tell big time just from flicking it in the store.

i had planned on just using my shimano reel on this one, but i was wondering if anyone here has any specific reels they recommend for bass fishing that aren't going to cost an arm and a leg.

 

[spidey07]

Nice reels start around 200 bucks and are worth every penny. Shimano Curado and Abu Garcia Revo

 

[purbeast0]

Nice reels start around 200 bucks and are worth every penny. Shimano Curado and Abu Garcia Revo

and these are for bass fishing mainly? total nub here when it comes to this stuff.

and can you explain a bit what is better about them?

 

[spidey07]

and these are for bass fishing mainly? total nub here when it comes to this stuff.

and can you explain a bit what is better about them?

They're low profile bass reels.

What makes them better is the drag, solid hook set and overall just how butter smooth the casting is. Better backlash/brake/clutch control. I'm really spoiled by nice reels and at first couldn't understand why anybody would spend so much. Now, all my baitcasting rods have those on them and it's pure fishing pleasure. I can never go back.

I have to really try to backlash my curado and revo reels and when I do it's totally my fault for doing something stupid (like not resetting the brake when you change lures or cathing a tree limb on your wind up not realizing it.

zzzzzzzziiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnng *POOF*
birdsnest

 

[purbeast0]

They're low profile bass reels.

What makes them better is the drag, solid hook set and overall just how butter smooth the casting is. Better backlash/brake/clutch control. I'm really spoiled by nice reels and at first couldn't understand why anybody would spend so much. Now, all my baitcasting rods have those on them and it's pure fishing pleasure. I can never go back.

I have to really try to backlash my curado and revo reels and when I do it's totally my fault for doing something stupid (like not resetting the brake when you change lures or cathing a tree limb on your wind up not realizing it.

zzzzzzzziiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnng *POOF*
birdsnest

lol i really have no clue what you said other than your first sentence. no clue what backlas/brake/clutch control is on a fishing rod. i've really only ever used spinning reels and never used baitcasing reels. i always just assumed the spinning rods were the ones you wanted to use for bass fishing.

 

[jjsbasmt]

Deep sea fished a lot when I lived on the Gulf Coast, Hawaii, Panama, and Puerto Rico, otherwise not much inland or river fishing other than the deep cold lakes that feed the Panama Canal. kinda miss those days too.

 

[weirdichi]

I have the Abu Garcia Revo STX with a Kistler custom 7' medium heavy fast action spinning rod with 10lb Powerpro braided line. My brother gave me the pole and the reel cost me $125 a few years ago, discounted from $199.

As spidey07 mentioned, once you use great spinning reels, you don't wanna go back. The cast is smooth and you get better distance. Of course you have to set it accordingly or you'll bird's nest it every time. I used to wonder how people can spend that much money on a rod and reel, but after actually fishing with the higher quality poles, the difference is very noticeable.

I fish mainly for bass so these do fine for me. My other pole is a 7' medium heavy fast action Cabelas pole ($80) and a cheap Shimano Sedona reel ($50). The pole is great, but the reel broke after a few years. I would recommend spending that extra money on a decent reel. Shimano makes great reels, but the entry level ones broke on me so I personally avoid them now.

 

[purbeast0]

how difficult would you say it is going from a spinning reel to a baitcaster? what are the benefits of the baitcaster over the spinning one? since i'm comfortable with spinning reels i'd probably prefer one of those, but if there are benefits to baitcaster then i'd also be interested in them as well.

 

[Jeeebus]

I've always wanted a baitcaster and will eventually get one, but for me there are currently no advantages since I generally fish with live bait. You basically want to stop the reel from letting out line with your hand before your lure hits the water - otherwise you have a bird nest because the bait stops and the reel keeps spinning. Doing that, however, causes live bait to rip off the hook.

If I wanted a dedicated lure rod, I would probably pick one up. For ocean purposes (all I fish), a casting rod can hold more line and it's easier to torque a fish with the line guides on top of the rod (casting) than below (spinning).

 

[purbeast0]

hmmm i have never stopped my line from going out before the lure hits the water and that is all i fish with, and i've never had a birdsnest happen because of this. i have always used spinning rods though, is this something that happens with baitcasters only?

 

[Jeeebus]

is this something that happens with baitcasters only?

Yes. A spinning reel is not "spinning" as you cast your bait. A casting reel is spinning, at a very high rate. Once your bait hits the water, the bait is no longer moving, but the reel is still moving. Hence, the bird nest.