Fishing Season 2k15!!!!!!!!!!!!!

divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
4,795
385
107
Pittsburgh, PA
Yeh, vicius teeth haha. I have gill gripped alot pike and zander. Zander is a bit harder because their is less room in the gill, but pike are not that bad. I think they have about the same teeth as musky. When i do urban fishing, i land all my pike by hand, and im not gonna tell you their are no risks involved. I have gotten one quite deep wound in my little finger, i placed a pike back in the water for release and it instantly swam away, and my littlefinger got stuck. I usually get some small scrapes, but you can use kevlar reinforced gloves coated with rubber, as long as they are thing, still with risk tho. My good friend landed a pike in the gillgrip, with kevlar reinforced gloves and he got a deep wound down hes whole thump, how it happened i dont know, but its 2 months ago and he still doesnt have full movement in hes thump, dont know if theres gonna be permanent damage, its getting better but slowly. He must have had some real sucky kevlar gloves, cause on teeth went straight trough the kevlar reinforced part.

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I always thought that gill gripping would be more painful for the fish than by the mouth, I guess it varies by fish though. But you're the Pike expert here not me, I'm a Trout, hopefully Walleye (if the bite ever turns on good in erie), and rough fish type of guy :). Although hopefully come this fall I'll be picking up a few pike and musky in the lower allegheny river at home.
 

Karl K

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Feb 10, 2014
1,102
3
53
Denmark
QUOTE="divemaster99, post: 7333497, member: 120225"]I always thought that gill gripping would be more painful for the fish than by the mouth, I guess it varies by fish though. But you're the Pike expert here not me, I'm a Trout, hopefully Walleye (if the bite ever turns on good in erie), and rough fish type of guy :). Although hopefully come this fall I'll be picking up a few pike and musky in the lower allegheny river at home.[ QUOTE]

Thanks for calling me expert hahaha.
There are a couple of different factors of why boga grips arent good.
You can offcourse always **** a gillgrip up and then it might be worse, like if you break a gill or something. But there are lots of good guides of how too do it, one tip is unless its like an 1meter pike just use a couple of fingers not the whole hand. If you dont support the fishes belly with a boga grip it can break its neck or back, this of course counts too a degree also with the gillgrip, so if its a good fish you wanna support the belly. The boga grip can also do alot of damage to the mouth, even if its a rotating one, i have seen some fish with some seriously bad damage from boga grips. There are things you do to make boga grips better, like putting alot of rubber on the grabbing ends, and having a rotating one, but there is still risk of damage. A good kevlar reinforced glove and a gillgrip for photos is definetly better. Landing with a net is definetly easier haha, plus you have a place for the fish to rest while you get weighing equipment out. I land with gillgrip too and its definetly not that bad, can be done easily. One thing i always liked about the bogas are the abillity to weigh a fish quickly, but the damage to neck and mouth you risk its really not worth it, you can just use a weigh sling. Of course it all depends wether or not you do catch and release, if you dont it doesnt really matter. I dont think pike tastes that well, but of course its up too opinon and how you cook it haha. Dont know if Walleye tastes the same as zander, but zander can be real good.

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divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
4,795
385
107
Pittsburgh, PA
QUOTE="divemaster99, post: 7333497, member: 120225"]I always thought that gill gripping would be more painful for the fish than by the mouth, I guess it varies by fish though. But you're the Pike expert here not me, I'm a Trout, hopefully Walleye (if the bite ever turns on good in erie), and rough fish type of guy :). Although hopefully come this fall I'll be picking up a few pike and musky in the lower allegheny river at home.[ QUOTE]

Thanks for calling me expert hahaha.
There are a couple of different factors of why boga grips arent good.
You can offcourse always **** a gillgrip up and then it might be worse, like if you break a gill or something. But there are lots of good guides of how too do it, one tip is unless its like an 1meter pike just use a couple of fingers not the whole hand. If you dont support the fishes belly with a boga grip it can break its neck or back, this of course counts too a degree also with the gillgrip, so if its a good fish you wanna support the belly. The boga grip can also do alot of damage to the mouth, even if its a rotating one, i have seen some fish with some seriously bad damage from boga grips. There are things you do to make boga grips better, like putting alot of rubber on the grabbing ends, and having a rotating one, but there is still risk of damage. A good kevlar reinforced glove and a gillgrip for photos is definetly better. Landing with a net is definetly easier haha, plus you have a place for the fish to rest while you get weighing equipment out. I land with gillgrip too and its definetly not that bad, can be done easily. One thing i always liked about the bogas are the abillity to weigh a fish quickly, but the damage to neck and mouth you risk its really not worth it, you can just use a weigh sling. Of course it all depends wether or not you do catch and release, if you dont it doesnt really matter. I dont think pike tastes that well, but of course its up too opinon and how you cook it haha. Dont know if Walleye tastes the same as zander, but zander can be real good.

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Thanks for the info, and yeah Walleye tastes amazing and we normally keep them for the freezer or dinner. Really any fish in the Sander genus tastes good I think :).
 

divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
4,795
385
107
Pittsburgh, PA
Pretty good long weekend in Erie, could've used a few more walleye and perch for the freezer for this winter but I'll settle for what we got. Saturday we headed back out to the Canadian border and trolled for all day for one 27" 8 pound eye. Got a tiny dink perch on the way back in the bay and two tiny white perch off the pier that night but that was it. Sunday was a bit better, we headed west off of walnut creek and got a double on small walleye (19" and 16" lol) once we hit a decent sized school, after that got a yellow perch on a spoon and several trophy sized white bass (14-15") plus an average sized Drum. Finally today we headed back to the border but it got rough in a hurry so we headed back to shore after 40 minutes of being beaten around and having the lines tangle. Tried fishing shallower on the way in for perch but no luck there either. Thought today was going to be a bust but we headed in to the lagoon in the bay and I FINALLY got my first northern pike. Not very big at 18" but I'll gladly take it :). I actually had one hit before I caught this one which annoyed me that I didn't hook it. After the one I caught I had two more strikes but neither took the hook either. Just glad the one really pounded my spinnerbait which it broke after I landed it. Here's hoping for a good Fall Esox season!

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fatboy8

Piranha
MFK Member
Mar 9, 2012
794
245
76
Philadelphia
That brookie is a looker, nice job! You should fish some of the native streams up in Potter, all wild Brooks and scenic beyond belief. Average is 3-10" but I caught my personal best on my favorite stream up there this July at 15" on a 3-weight fly rod. That thing was HUGE for a wild native Brookie and we normally never see them over 12".
Lived in tioga county for 4 years while at college. I used to fish pine creek between Wellsboro to the other side of Galeton in the Sweden Twp. area. Never did too great on Natives in there but I've caught monster Bows and Brownies. Probably heading upstate either this weekend or next to fish it again
 

divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
4,795
385
107
Pittsburgh, PA
Lived in tioga county for 4 years while at college. I used to fish pine creek between Wellsboro to the other side of Galeton in the Sweden Twp. area. Never did too great on Natives in there but I've caught monster Bows and Brownies. Probably heading upstate either this weekend or next to fish it again
That's awesome man, Galeton is where we always stay in Potter. I don't think we've ever fished streams in tioga but we always head over there to a small diner for breakfast in the morning. Yeah I've heard that some of the larger streams are good for brownies and even bows but we very rarely fish any stream more than 5' wide and they're usually 2-4' wide haha. The natives up there are real beauties though, and so are the creeks once you're up in the mountains in the dense woods having hiked 5 miles from the nearest dirt road :). But if you lived up there I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Now I've got myself wanting to go to potter, only one month or so until the next trip if weather cooperates :D.

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fatboy8

Piranha
MFK Member
Mar 9, 2012
794
245
76
Philadelphia
That's awesome man, Galeton is where we always stay in Potter. I don't think we've ever fished streams in tioga but we always head over there to a small diner for breakfast in the morning. Yeah I've heard that some of the larger streams are good for brownies and even bows but we very rarely fish any stream more than 5' wide and they're usually 2-4' wide haha. The natives up there are real beauties though, and so are the creeks once you're up in the mountains in the dense woods having hiked 5 miles from the nearest dirt road :). But if you lived up there I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Now I've got myself wanting to go to potter, only one month or so until the next trip if weather cooperates :D.

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I caught my biggest bow to date in Galeton at around 24". Pines nice because the bows and browns are wild since it stays cool enough for them to hold over in the stretchs before Wellsboro. I also use to hit a few streams near Mansfield but spent a lot of time on the Tioga River that held a lot of natives but they maxed at around 8". There are a few places I want to hit which probably won't be for around three weeks. Would like to fish more creeks in Potter since they have a few more class A streams then Tioga
 

Karl K

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Feb 10, 2014
1,102
3
53
Denmark
Pretty good long weekend in Erie, could've used a few more walleye and perch for the freezer for this winter but I'll settle for what we got. Saturday we headed back out to the Canadian border and trolled for all day for one 27" 8 pound eye. Got a tiny dink perch on the way back in the bay and two tiny white perch off the pier that night but that was it. Sunday was a bit better, we headed west off of walnut creek and got a double on small walleye (19" and 16" lol) once we hit a decent sized school, after that got a yellow perch on a spoon and several trophy sized white bass (14-15") plus an average sized Drum. Finally today we headed back to the border but it got rough in a hurry so we headed back to shore after 40 minutes of being beaten around and having the lines tangle. Tried fishing shallower on the way in for perch but no luck there either. Thought today was going to be a bust but we headed in to the lagoon in the bay and I FINALLY got my first northern pike. Not very big at 18" but I'll gladly take it :). I actually had one hit before I caught this one which annoyed me that I didn't hook it. After the one I caught I had two more strikes but neither took the hook either. Just glad the one really pounded my spinnerbait which it broke after I landed it. Here's hoping for a good Fall Esox season!

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Congratulations on the first pike :)
Spinnerbaits can have really bad hook up rate on pike. I had one day a 2 months ago where i had 5 strikes on spinnerbait with noone hooked more than 10 seconds, but nice little guy, and good color on it!
 

divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
4,795
385
107
Pittsburgh, PA
Congratulations on the first pike :)
Spinnerbaits can have really bad hook up rate on pike. I had one day a 2 months ago where i had 5 strikes on spinnerbait with noone hooked more than 10 seconds, but nice little guy, and good color on it!
Actually all three of the fish that hit and didn't take the hook all hit a rapala shadow rap Jerkbait and the only one that took the spinnerbait bit down on it hard! Albeit it did break the spinnerbait after I landed it but it was worth it for that fish, plus the spinner was a cheap-o $2 one I just picked up at cabela's in Michigan with the budget I had left for lures, glad I did too haha.
 

Karl K

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Feb 10, 2014
1,102
3
53
Denmark
Actually all three of the fish that hit and didn't take the hook all hit a rapala shadow rap Jerkbait and the only one that took the spinnerbait bit down on it hard! Albeit it did break the spinnerbait after I landed it but it was worth it for that fish, plus the spinner was a cheap-o $2 one I just picked up at cabela's in Michigan with the budget I had left for lures, glad I did too haha.
Oh weird haha. Crankbaits usually have a great hookup rate, atleast for me, and i kind seem to hook anything with spinnerbaits haha. You should definetly try some rubber lures too.
 
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