Fishing Season 2k16!!!!!!!!!!!
- Thread starter divemaster99
- Start date
Lol. Everyone says that. I don't know anyone that finesse fishes like me here. But I enjoy light tackle finesse fishing. It's more of a challenge. I was taught that way. Landing big fish on light tackle is incredibly rewarding to me. If they get away then they deserve it. Trust me most don't get away... I have to be way outclassed and under gunned. Lol. I wasn't really prepared yesterday, but caught what I needed and decided to take a chance and go big! It was awesome to land that bonefish on such light line. The fight was incredible!TIME FOR HEAVIER MONO!!!!
I have a secret spot that I venture to that I haven't yet been able to bring up a monster. They just go nuts and don't stop. I've turned them before and have had glimmers of hope... But in the end they turn right around and pull me into some kind of cave... I've upped my leaders to 25 lb Seaguar flourocarbon and still have been worked. I am pretty sure they are uluas (giant trevally). One day I will bring out the big guns. Lol. No worries I have big game setups too.
Got a maw view for those who wanted to see the last thing many small fish, arthropods, amphibians, reptiles and mammals see before the end. This is a moderate size Flathead catfish in the 30" range. I kept forgetting this shot, so luckily my fishing buddy had a few in his phone so I could post for you guys to awe.....AWE THE MAW. You can see the rows of small fine sandpaper-like teeth n the front for gripping, then in the back the purplish-colored shapes are the "crushing plates" just behind the gill-rakers, about the closest thing fish have to molars.
2 of the larger Smallmouths we caught today. I got a total of 8 - 5 Smallies, 3 Largemouths, and these were the only 2 that weren't dinks. My friend (the same who took the catfish gape picture) also got about the same 6-8 plus a half-dozen Sunfish he kept for Catfish bait but nothing of any size, unfortunately. He also just informed me by showing me a picture of a a 47" Flathead he caught last month ....that in merely a few months of Flathead fishing ( I introduced him to the species in May) he smashed my largest fish that took me over 3 years to get
Anyway, these were taken on 4lbs test w/ wild caught Shiners - 13"L, 9" Girth, 1lb. 2oz (pic #3) and 16"L, 11"G, 1lb. 8oz.(pic. #2) They were a breeding pair from Spring that stayed together, and as I was fighting one, the other was right along side the entire time until I lipped it, and a 3rd even joined in during the last fight, but he must have got smart and avoided us, cuz he was in the same size range. Mind you, this creek was about 20 feet across in most places, 6 feet across in others and at the DEEPEST, 30-36". We would walk several hundred yards in ankle-deep water to find another hole deep enough to harbor fish. Spent more time searching/walking than actually fishing
Still waiting for my cousin to e-mail the pix from Wednesday evening, but they're coming. i'm so addicted to Smallmouths right now.....last week started our 3-4 month trophy season in SE PA and i'm going to be taking advantage of it now. CHeers
2 of the larger Smallmouths we caught today. I got a total of 8 - 5 Smallies, 3 Largemouths, and these were the only 2 that weren't dinks. My friend (the same who took the catfish gape picture) also got about the same 6-8 plus a half-dozen Sunfish he kept for Catfish bait but nothing of any size, unfortunately. He also just informed me by showing me a picture of a a 47" Flathead he caught last month ....that in merely a few months of Flathead fishing ( I introduced him to the species in May) he smashed my largest fish that took me over 3 years to get
Anyway, these were taken on 4lbs test w/ wild caught Shiners - 13"L, 9" Girth, 1lb. 2oz (pic #3) and 16"L, 11"G, 1lb. 8oz.(pic. #2) They were a breeding pair from Spring that stayed together, and as I was fighting one, the other was right along side the entire time until I lipped it, and a 3rd even joined in during the last fight, but he must have got smart and avoided us, cuz he was in the same size range. Mind you, this creek was about 20 feet across in most places, 6 feet across in others and at the DEEPEST, 30-36". We would walk several hundred yards in ankle-deep water to find another hole deep enough to harbor fish. Spent more time searching/walking than actually fishing
Still waiting for my cousin to e-mail the pix from Wednesday evening, but they're coming. i'm so addicted to Smallmouths right now.....last week started our 3-4 month trophy season in SE PA and i'm going to be taking advantage of it now. CHeers
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Went out for Cats this morning, started at 6 AM.....got a 29"L, 16"G, 10lbs 2oz almost immediately, followed by another small 4lb 2oz Flathead and 2 Channel cats - the larger of the 2 was 21"L, 13"G, 2lbs 9oz.......
then about 9am this one rolled on in 35"L, 22"G, 17lbs 10oz
then about 9am this one rolled on in 35"L, 22"G, 17lbs 10oz
Hit up our little farm pond for an hour tonight. Had 4 bass and 12-14 sunfish.
Size thirteen boot for size reference-
Size thirteen boot for size reference-
LOL I wear a #13 too
That's a nice Bucketmouth, Kid.....What were you using as bait or lures and what type of tackle were you using (rod, reel, line, etc)??? I had a full weekend fishing, my best friend and I went Friday, and Saturday evening for a few hours at a time, and started today at a spot in the river for Cats, and came back for lunch, change up our tackle and bait, and went back out to a different stream for Bass, and Esox from about 2:30pm until around 7:30. Waded upstream through a good mile or so of meandering creek, and when we found a park w/ a dam, decided to find the road and GPS where we were thinking it would be quicker than back-tracking through tons of rough terrain.......ended up back at our cars in 10 minutes! lol couldn't believe it. Took us 5 hours to work our way up and 10 minutes back.
My friend who caught nothing at the river got 1/2-dozen or so Smallmouths between 6"-10", a handful of Panfish, incuding one particular Redbreast that had partially healed teethmarks that could have only been inflicted by an Esox member. He generally keeps the smaller Panfish for next trip's Catfish bait, but I convinced him that a fish that survives an attack from a super-predator like an Esox is a survivor and deserves to be released
. He also caught a Stone cat (Madtom?) by hand that was swimming at the surface, going downstream w/ the current looked like it had some type of lighter-colored fungal infection on it's face and whiskers....then when he put it back in the water it stayed next to his calf, swimming around it, basically rubbing on his leg like he rescued a stray dog haha it was pretty cool. I caught a 12" Smallie on a WC-Shiner and a 2.5" Smallie on a 1.5" Rebel Crickhopper.Also found 3 Northern water snakes, caught 2 of them and got bit by 2 of them at least 6 times so I could get a few photos to post lol He caught an Eastern Mud Turtle (or a Stinkpot Musk Turtle) and photographed it as well.
I also saw the biggest Smallmouth I ever saw in my life whie we were fishing the stream......he ALMOST took my Shiner, but followed it too close , saw me and changed his mind. THIS FISH, .....I almost mistook it for the 24"- 36" Carp and Whiite Suckers that were all around us, then as he swam past me, I noticed the black border on the tail and red eyes. I love my Berkley polarized sunglasses.......the bass had to be at LEAST 24", 6-7lbs, but I think it was closer to 26" or 28"....I NEVER seen a Smallie like this in over 30 decades of my life.....and this was a stream merely waist deep and I could effortlessly cast a weightless shiner from one bank to the other side.
INCREDIBLE day today.....I'll catch that monster bass or die trying
.....and the best part about it is no one fishes there except us, and it really doesn't have many other places to go nor does it have any reason to leave where it is at, he/she's probably been there 10-15 years, i'd bet.More pix later.
Just a little beetle spin on my backpacking rod. The rod is a glass telescoping Shakespeare with an ice fishing reel that has on 6lb fluorocarbon.LOL I wear a #13 too
that's funny.....my friend brought his 4.5" telescopic UL when we went today. Beetle spins are great, I like any spinner or bladed lure that you can attach a small plastic trailer on, particularly curly-tails,....bigger isn't always better. You should pick up some of those Crappie-Spin miniature sized spinnerbaits I mentioned in my "Fail-safe Lure" thread. I watched my great-uncle pull a 6lb'er out of a farm pond with one of those ....3x bigger than anything I caught that day w/ live bass shiners. I had a whole RACK of Spinnerbaits of all sizes - even had a hanging tacklebox made specifically for them, and he picked that one out without even finishing looking over the rest of the spinnerbait options. After that, I keep several different colors of them, for clear or dingy water, bright sunny days or overcast days and various colored blades too. If you need a tiny bit more bulk on them, a curly-tail grub or bantam/panfish-sized plastic trailer works wonders.
you ever use Roadrunners?
My uncles neighbor who used to be a tournament bass fisher was showing me what all he had amassed from 20+ years worth of fishing and one of the things he pulled out was a 30 gallon tote of just spinnerbaits in all varieties and colors.
I don't use roadrunner because my go to inline spinner is a rooster tail. I'm a big fan of a half a live night crawler or a red wiggler for trailers.
