Who's ready to go fishing???

[Zoub]

What you need now is a pair of chest waders. You can use them in both streams or ponds and lakes. It will open a ton of water to you. Yesterday I caught around 50 smallmouth and lost just as many. I used a kayak but the two main spots I caught them in were within walking distance if wading. Wading also allows you to connect the dots by seeing spots up close and developing patterns.

 

[EggFooYoung]

Went walleye fishing Saturday in Marblehead, OH on Erie. We got into a mess of them just accross the border. 30 in less than 2 hrs. 6 guys and captain hit boat limit. Going to be eating some cheeks and frying filets this weekend!

 

[22rssix]

Just thought i would share my Blue from late last summer.

I was on a private pond down in KY. I got 4 of these guys, I think this was the 2nd biggest. The biggest one broke my line. Some hit on spinner baits and some hit on soft dog treats. It was a blast!.

This one was only 16lbs and about 36 inches long.

 

[bwframe]

[video=youtube_share;470Jk5av7ac]http://youtu.be/470Jk5av7ac[/video]

 

[SigFan07]

How do you deal with Indiana bass when it gets cool like our current weather? Do you have to wait for it to warm back up or do you have to wait for the bass to become accustomed to the cool weather for three or four days before they start biting again? I've read bass will go on a feeding frenzy before a cold front hits, but how many hours before the cold front does the feeding frenzy take place? How soon do bass know the cold front it coming? Twelve hours, twenty-four hours? Two days? More?

 

[SigFan07]

I think it's some kind of scientific fact - bass love plastic worms over all others. I can't catch bass on anything but plastic worms. When I catch my first bass using a spinner bait I'm going to celebrate. lol. Jigs, spinner baits, tubes, nothing. Yum watermelon colored plastic worms - my bass catcher!

 

[DarkRose]

I think it's some kind of scientific fact - bass love plastic worms over all others. I can't catch bass on anything but plastic worms. When I catch my first bass using a spinner bait I'm going to celebrate. lol. Jigs, spinner baits, tubes, nothing. Yum watermelon colored plastic worms - my bass catcher!

Same here for the most part, watermelon and pumpkin Yum dingers. I have VERY rarely caught one one a plastic minnow with spinner, but very rarely, and usually very small...

 

[SigFan07]

Break out the party supplies! I finally had some success with a spinner bait. I told myself when I catch my fist bass using a spinner bait I will celebrate! lol. Well, I sort of caught two bass, sort off. More like one. But more like
1/2.

I've been going to a city park that the state stocks bass in. I've been having success with plastic worms in the past so I figured I would try a spinner bait this evening. It took ten casts but near shore a small bass grabbed on and I reeled in some but it let go. So I guess that bass does not count. Later I was using the spinner bait again and this time near shore a small bass grabbed on and I pulled up on the rod and it pulled a little bass out of the water onto the shore. But once it landed on the shore it got unhooked and it quickly flopped back into the water. I'm counting that bass as one I caught even though I did not have it in hand.

Now my question is - what's the deal with that spinner bait not holding onto those bass? Do you have to set the hook hard with spinner baits? The spinner bait I was using was one of the first I bought in spring so the hook is a
little rusty but not too bad.

 

[rkesar]

Depending on the size of the spinner I sometime use a trailer hook and that make a huge difference in hook ups

 

[danielson]

Treble hooks are the work of the devil... lol

 

[pjcalla]

I've been fishing the White River for the last few weekends. Until Sunday morning, all I've caught were little dinks. Bluegill and two small smallies. I was starting to get frustrated, trying different access points, different flies, etc. I stopped at Orvis to pick up my repaired rod (their warranty is great) on Saturday morning after a frustrating session on the river. I asked the fishing manager what flies to use, since I was essentially striking out. I had been using terrestrials, drifting them around down timber, rocks, seams, etc., and streamers in deep pools, just like you would fishing for trout, but could not get consistent takes (except for little bluegill). He suggested the "Sneaky Pete" in chartreuse and another fly that was sold out at the moment. I thought, "what the hell" and bought one. I like wading in the river better than standing on the shore of local ponds, but the lack of fish was starting to wear on me.

Sunday morning, my buddy and I went out both armed with the Sneaky Pete, and we were on fish! We fished the same spots that I had before, but we were getting takes. All told, in the first hour of fishing, I had landed four, he two, and they were quality fish. My biggest two were every bit of 20", maybe a bit bigger and two in the 16-18" range. He landed his first bass on a flyrod ~16". Man, I love catching smallies on the flyrod! Anyway, here is the only pic I took, the first 20":



The pic really doesn't do it justice, and you can see the sneaky pete in the water below.

 

[SigFan07]

Pretty cool. I joined the Izaak Walton League and received my pass and key a few day ago. I'm going to check it out and fish at the ponds/lakes for the first time this evening. I joined for a year and have a canoe. So I will get
a chance to use all my jigs and spinner baits and other things and see if they catch fish as well as plastic worms.

I also bought a Crappie fishing kit for $5. I figure I need to start going after other fish along with bass. Crappie fishing looks fun so I will give it a try.

 

[SigFan07]

Is anybody still fishing this fall? I am! I just yanked off two reels of P-Line Floroclear. 8 pound from a spinning reel and 12 pound from my baitcaster. I lost the biggest bass I ever caught at Lake Waveland last week. I was using my spinning reel with eight pound P-Line Florclear. I had on a Texas rigged plastic worm. I thought I was snagged but I heard my drag moving. I was confused. I reeled in more and heard my drag move more and I was really confused. Then it struck me, I might have a fish on the line. Then the fish jumped. I reeled it to the canoe and grabbed the line with one hand. Right then my line broke!

I will take the blame though. I probably should not have grabbed the line with my hand. This is the third or fourth time this has happened and I think two or all four times I was using that eight pound Floroclear. Still, I think eight pound should have been enough. Anyway, all I'm using now is mono. Eight pound Stren Lo-vis green, ten pound Stren Lo-vis green, and twelve pound Sufix Elite mono on my baitcaster. I'm going to buy me another spinning reel for twelve pound line. Then I can leave the baitcaster at home and not deal with backlashes anymore. I still like my Shimano baitcaster, but there is that constant threat of backlash you hardly ever get with spinning reels.

 

[Gabriel]

My 3/4 acre pond didn't have any fish to speak of in it last year, so my neighbor threw in a half dozen bass. I've noticed in the past three weeks a ton of little bass jumping out of the water during the evenings. My neighbor has been out fishing almost daily and said he's been catching tons of small bass (and putting them back, since they are so small). The ones that I see out in the water are about as big as my hand. I've also noticed small bullhead under the lily pads. Later this it'll be month my neighbor is stocking the pond with red ear also.

I haven't fished in at least fifteen years, so I don't really know what I'm doing. Having a small pond with fish in it literally fifteen feet out my back door is more than I can bear, so I'm going to have to get a fishing pole.

 

[pjcalla]

Is anybody still fishing this fall? I am! I just yanked off two reels of P-Line Floroclear. 8 pound from a spinning reel and 12 pound from my baitcaster. I lost the biggest bass I ever caught at Lake Waveland last week. I was using my spinning reel with eight pound P-Line Florclear. I had on a Texas rigged plastic worm. I thought I was snagged but I heard my drag moving. I was confused. I reeled in more and heard my drag move more and I was really confused. Then it struck me, I might have a fish on the line. Then the fish jumped. I reeled it to the canoe and grabbed the line with one hand. Right then my line broke!

I will take the blame though. I probably should not have grabbed the line with my hand. This is the third or fourth time this has happened and I think two or all four times I was using that eight pound Floroclear. Still, I think eight pound should have been enough. Anyway, all I'm using now is mono. Eight pound Stren Lo-vis green, ten pound Stren Lo-vis green, and twelve pound Sufix Elite mono on my baitcaster. I'm going to buy me another spinning reel for twelve pound line. Then I can leave the baitcaster at home and not deal with backlashes anymore. I still like my Shimano baitcaster, but there is that constant threat of backlash you hardly ever get with spinning reels.

I'm still fishing. Don't grab the line, as you have figured out, instead, grab the lower lip and pull the fish up out of the water. The best option, however, is to get a landing net to put in your canoe. You can pick one up pretty cheap, probably for the cost of new line. I picked up a nice(er) one with rubber mesh for $30 from Wally World, but there were cheaper ones with nylon mesh for half that cost.

I've been going to the White River the last few weekends to feed my new addiction...smallies on the fly. Sneaky Petes in chart. seem to be the ticket still. They are starting to get a little lethargic, but will still hit the top water. Saturday, after all the rain, the water was pretty mucky and fast, so they weren't really feeding on the top. I tied on a cone-head woolly bugger in green, and caught a nice (~17") on the bottom. Had a few more takes, but I missed the hook set.

 

[Zoub]

I've been going to the White River the last few weekends to feed my new addiction...smallies on the fly.

If your addiction wants to hit the buffet then I suggest the South Fork of the Flambeau River or as I like to call it, my backyard. River is up 1-2 feet in past few days so I am jumping in the kayak tomorrow and head up or down stream, not sure. I have had days where I landed 50 smallies between 1/2lb and 2lbs and lost just as many.

I am on the opposite end of the learning curve, living here with all these Smallies has made me want to finally truly learn fly fishing. I have some old gear that was old when I bought it in a garage sale in 1983!

You will love my redneck fly fishing system. I take a fluke rig, not a lot of flounder in Wisconsin, put a Yamamoto twin tail grub on it and cast it with a heavy spinning rig. The fluke rig is heavy enough test to handle a pike or musky but the "fly" sinks slowly around sunken timber. Doing this all summer is what convinced me bass and pike on a fly would be fun. I hooked a fish on one of these that I guess was 20-30lbs. I wanted it to be a Musky but I am pretty sure it was a catfish or sturgeon. It pulled my kayak upstream right into a deadfall and eventually the 8lb test line on my rod broke. That is when I decided the redneck fly worked but needed a heavier rig to cast it. Before the big fish now known as Godzuki, that same day I caught 7 Smallies between 16" and 20" and 3 Pike between 3 and 5lbs all on the redneck fly.

This week we may see a rematch if I go back down stream.

 

[Zoub]

I reeled it to the canoe and grabbed the line with one hand. Right then my line broke!

You know, in 40 years of fishing and boat ownership I have noticed one thing. Often my live well net will be better than a lot of nets you see in smaller boats or canoes. Hard to understand why that is. When you read on kayak forums it si funny to see guys who really know how to fish say things like "yeah after 3 years fishing in a kayak I finally realized I needed a net." WTF? The cost of lures you lose at the boat alone pays for the net. Boating the big fish priceless. Don't get a long net or an expensive one for your first net. In a canoe it does not need to be longer than your arm, thus doubling your reach but easy to use with ONE hand.

Do the math on fishing line. 8lb test max. Weaker at the knot. Reeling in against your drag really puts wear on your line which tends to be increased at the knot. Lifting the line by hand takes away any give or dampening of the rod and places all the stress right on the knot. Adjust your drag properly, be patient, use your rod to tire out the fish by keeping your line tight with a bend in your rod. The rod stays loaded up in an arch which keeps tension on the line and hook as the fish moves in all directions. All you do is keep the slack out.

When my brother was young, around 8 to 10 and I was 15-17 it got to the point where I told him the next time he flipped a green pike in the boat both he and the Pike were going back in the lake together. He still remembers that lesson like it was 1978.

 

[SigFan07]

What's bad about catching pike? I've only caught bass so far (my first year fishing) but I watch In-Fishermen on TV and they are always going after those big Pikes. It looks fun.

I was going to buy a new at Gander Mountain a few days ago but the nice ones were seventy dollars! For a net? Yikes!

 

[pjcalla]

What's bad about catching pike? I've only caught bass so far (my first year fishing) but I watch In-Fishermen on TV and they are always going after those big Pikes. It looks fun.

I was going to buy a new at Gander Mountain a few days ago but the nice ones were seventy dollars! For a net? Yikes!

Nothing bad about catching Pike. Flinging them into a boat is the bad part...they have teeth and can do damage, especially when they are flopping around inside the boat you are sitting in.

Go to Wal-Mart they have cheap nets that would fit the bill.

fishing net - Walmart.com

 

[bwframe]

Amazon's ratings have helped me quite a lot on such things:

Amazon.com: Frabill Folding Net with Telescoping Handle (18 X 16-Inch): Sports & Outdoors

Then google the best results to make sure Amazon is the best place to buy.