ITT: We love to fish

[J3T]

dear diary,

So disappointed with my local lake. its actually a dammed up river. Anyways, I cant catch **** there! I am not sure whats going on, but I can only think after a harsh winter or two winter kill has got to them.

I used to be able to go out and catch literally 30+ smallmouth an hour. Every few 5 casts or so! I have been out there 5 times this year and have maybe caught 15 fish. All my hot spots on the lake are resulting in busts! Everyone I have talked to are also reporting the same, this year has been horrible for fishing. About three years ago the lake was on fire. Last year, fishing was still "good" but i did notice the catch rates declined. This year, you're lucky if you catch 2 fish an hour.

Like i said, the last two years have had a harsh winters. My buddy walks his dogs on the lake and said during the spring thaw he literally saw hundreds of dead fish at a time, but thought they were all carp. The only difference this year is that is has been a very rainy summer. Could the fish still be there but just have gone deep? Any tips from smallmouth pro's appreciated. Ive tried shallow, deep, and drops off, but just cant seem to find any fish.

[ThatOneBigKid]

Hopefully you can see my rig in this picture. It has the metal prongs that make the hook weedless. Wonder what happened to this ones tail...
[IG]http://i.imgur.com/dQM0wt7.jpg[/IMG]

More than likely that is a male and the tail was torn up during the spawn. The males use their tales to sweep/clean off the beds so that the females can come and lay their eggs. That fish probably looked in really rough shape a few weeks earlier. Looks all healed up and back to normal now.

[JeannetteEmigh]

More than likely that is a male and the tail was torn up during the spawn. The males use their tales to sweep/clean off the beds so that the females can come and lay their eggs. That fish probably looked in really rough shape a few weeks earlier. Looks all healed up and back to normal now.

Oh I had no clue! I'll sound very smart whenever I have an answer for the next person who asks that. Thanks

[joshatfield]

For those of you who don't have the fish brain app I suggest it

[rtm0004]

Thats a really small motor, might as well buy a new 9.9 4 stroke for 1k and a bare used john boat for cheap.

Check all fuel lines for cracks ect, make sure primer bulb holds prussure after running boat

Look at wires under cowling for bad insulation on motor

Look over the boat for siliconed spots since the hull might leak

If it has a wood transom inspect it for rot

See if it takes a long time for the motor to start peeing, I would just replace impeller regardless

check if the boat is wired for running lights




Caught roughly 20 crappie and five 14 1/2 Walleye over the weekend. Surprised nothing seems to be biting on worms, minnows seem to be the hot ticket right now

thx for info, very helpful, on spread will try to come back and rep

[jj00ee]

ayyyyy lmao finally caught a keeper striper!

what method did you use to catch this guy?

going out on the chesapeake bay dis weekend for stripers.

[mgftp]

For those of you who don't have the fish brain app I suggest it

wasn't aware, pretty cool, repped

kinda annoying how the majority of catch posts are people overstating the weight of the fish then people arguing with them about it but I guess the tale of fishermen exaggerating holds true

[LiftBig315]

What hooks and leaders were you using? I use gamakatsus that will bend out of snags and won't snap, they won't however get anywhere near to bending on a fish. Owners st36 and Eagle Claws are the same (not as sharp as the gamas though imo). Leaders are either stainless steel or titanium, upto 100lb test if chucking big baits. They have NEVER failed on me and the pike don't spook off them either.

I had Eagle Claw hooks, I'm picking up some VMC before I head out again. I just tie 15# fluoro leaders. We were actually fishing for walleye, just had a few stray pike here and there.

[Vayne]

I always carry a little scale to weight the fish I catch but never think to weigh them.

[HairyScandinavian]

I haven't been out fishing since March, this is starting to bug me.

[cadetduke]

I haven't been out fishing since March, this is starting to bug me.

I haven't since May 16th. Might be getting talked into fishing the Ohio River on the 11th but have a muscle strain in my back that's killing me. Can't get to the lake by my house because the roads are flooded.

[KReyn]

Hopefully you can see my rig in this picture. It has the metal prongs that make the hook weedless. Wonder what happened to this ones tail...

So it's like a weedless wacky rig? Where did you get the hooks? Nice catch btw.

[Chairman7w]

That bass is lookin' thick, solid, tight...

nothing crazy but sore lipped 7 of em about this size today:



got a good case of dat bass thumb feelsgoodman

[pwoL]

unfcuknbelievable...

I went down to the ocean again huntin stripers. I hooked a massive one, easily felt like it'd be my personal best... over 40" I'd guess. She put up such a good fight, making my reel sing. It took a while but I tired her out and she was near the jetty. Then as she was ~10 feet away from me she spit the mother ****ing hook out. One of the treble hooks looked pretty ****ing bent outwards. I was devastated misc fish brahs, I wanted to cry lol. I caught a couple smaller ones, but damn was that a sad 50 minute ride home It's still bothering me quite a bit lol. Owell till next time.

The tug is my drug

[BorisTheCat]

unfcuknbelievable...

I went down to the ocean again huntin stripers. I hooked a massive one, easily felt like it'd be my personal best... over 40" I'd guess. She put up such a good fight, making my reel sing. It took a while but I tired her out and she was near the jetty. Then as she was ~10 feet away from me she spit the mother ****ing hook out. One of the treble hooks looked pretty ****ing bent outwards. I was devastated misc fish brahs, I wanted to cry lol. I caught a couple smaller ones, but damn was that a sad 50 minute ride home It's still bothering me quite a bit lol. Owell till next time.

The tug is my drug

Faaaawwwk brah, it's happened to me too.

Was fishing in a stocked lake for trout. I was maybe around 10 at the time... Caught a few average sized rainbows in an hour, chit was cash.

I'm trolling behind the boat and then my rod tip just frikkin dives. I started reeling, and whatever was on the other end was a beast. I kept reeling, and the reel was lighting up as this thing was running with my line. As a 10 year old, I didn't know chit about setting drag. Just as I saw the flash of a huge fish (I think it was a kokannee) I tightened the drag waaaaayy too much. My rod snapped, and the fish broke off a few seconds later.

It was probably the most exciting and disappointing day of fishing in my entire life.

[pwoL]

those feels.. powdered toast man brah

I'm sure we all have our "the one that got away" story. I've lost a couple nice fish over the years, but none of them ever bummed me out like this lol. I guess that's just the way she goes amirite.

[Tormoz]

those feels.. powdered toast man brah

I'm sure we all have our "the one that got away" story. I've lost a couple nice fish over the years, but none of them ever bummed me out like this lol. I guess that's just the way she goes amirite.

Was fishing for Lingcod with my younger bother off LaPush and the kid kept snagging. His 4th snag and I was about to throw the kid into the water (Those jigs are almost $10 a piece) but I was able to pull the thing out, albiet slowly. Felt like a starfish or kelp+rock.
Anyway, as it is with boat fishing, the line went under the boat over to the other side. My brother start screaming, im like wtf, go look over, and this lingcod, probably 5 feet in length, is trying to spit out this jig. My dad tried to gaff it but as soon as that ling broke the surface all we were left with was the jig. So that you guys know, 5 feet of lingcod is almost impressive. Almost.

[WSG1]

Salmon season opens up in less than 4 weeks. CANT FUKING WAIT. Hope to fill this thread up with chromes

[JeannetteEmigh]

So it's like a weedless wacky rig? Where did you get the hooks? Nice catch btw.

Yup. They're from bass pro. I don't remember the brand... I'm going Sunday and I can snap a pic if you have trouble finding them

[sloop]

unfcuknbelievable...

I went down to the ocean again huntin stripers. I hooked a massive one, easily felt like it'd be my personal best... over 40" I'd guess. She put up such a good fight, making my reel sing. It took a while but I tired her out and she was near the jetty. Then as she was ~10 feet away from me she spit the mother ****ing hook out. One of the treble hooks looked pretty ****ing bent outwards. I was devastated misc fish brahs, I wanted to cry lol. I caught a couple smaller ones, but damn was that a sad 50 minute ride home It's still bothering me quite a bit lol. Owell till next time.

The tug is my drug

Geeze if that doesn't punch me right in the gut.

I was steelhead fishing a river up along Lake Erie a couple years ago, knee high water, early fall, just gorgeous out. Several guys in close proximity to me not catching anything. I was swinging purple & black streamers and I hooked into a fuking goliath of a steelhead. The thing takes off downstream like a scud missile and everyone around me pulls in their lines to watch the fight and see what kind of hog I hooked into.

Within probably 15 seconds I was out of leader and down to the nylon backing and the fish was still pulling away. (I think I was only using 6wt line so I really couldn't torque on it too hard) So I decided to make my way from the water to the river bank and start reeling while giving foot chase to recover some of my line so I didn't run out. I'm walking down the river's edge, rod over head frantically trying to recover line, all eyes on me because this thing created such a commotion everyone was curious what it was.

To make a longer story short, I chased it down stream and caught up with it, fought it for about 6 or 8 long minutes and had it within rod's length away when it swelled to the surface and I saw it was the biggest stealie I had ever seen, probably 40"+ and fresh off the lake full of vigor and fight. One of the guys watching waddles out with his rickety ass net to try and land it when we think the fish is tired out, he dips his net into the water, the fish sees it and spooks and with one last burst hauls ass back downstream and breaks me off at the last second only a few feet away and a few seconds from landing.

[HairyScandinavian]

unfcuknbelievable...

I went down to the ocean again huntin stripers. I hooked a massive one, easily felt like it'd be my personal best... over 40" I'd guess. She put up such a good fight, making my reel sing. It took a while but I tired her out and she was near the jetty. Then as she was ~10 feet away from me she spit the mother ****ing hook out. One of the treble hooks looked pretty ****ing bent outwards. I was devastated misc fish brahs, I wanted to cry lol. I caught a couple smaller ones, but damn was that a sad 50 minute ride home It's still bothering me quite a bit lol. Owell till next time.

The tug is my drug

Always upgrade the hooks on those lures. Most of the stuff we buy down here will have the hooks straightened in short order by a decent Red so even on the Trout baits we'll upgrade the hooks. Topwaters are the worst, Top Dogs and Skitterwalks and especially Super Spooks all need to have the hooks replaced out of the box.

[pwoL]

Always upgrade the hooks on those lures. Most of the stuff we buy down here will have the hooks straightened in short order by a decent Red so even on the Trout baits we'll upgrade the hooks. Topwaters are the worst, Top Dogs and Skitterwalks and especially Super Spooks all need to have the hooks replaced out of the box.

Yea that's what I've been reading... sucks I'm learning this just now lol (well I did hear about people upgrading the hooks on these lures but I just assumed the stock ones would be alright for what I do). I'm researching stuff now, trying to find the best hooks for my minnow plugs/top water stuff. Gonna go through them all and upgrade every hook.

[HairyScandinavian]

Yea that's what I've been reading... sucks I'm learning this just now lol (well I did hear about people upgrading the hooks on these lures but I just assumed the stock ones would be alright for what I do). I'm researching stuff now, trying to find the best hooks for my minnow plugs/top water stuff. Gonna go through them all and upgrade every hook.

Look for the 4x strong VMC trebles in appropriate size (usually #4 or #2) and never look back. If it's on a suspending bait, keep in mind the stronger hooks will be heavier so maybe downsize a notch. For topwaters it's no big deal.

[ThatOneBigKid]

Had a bass tournament on Wednesday night. My partner (2zzgtte - Also a Miscer) and I won the tournament on this lake last year and found good fish in pre-fishing so we felt pretty good going into it.



We placed 2nd out of 24 boats with 10.98lbs. 1st place beat us by only 2 ounces. The two biggest in the pic are both 3lbs 9oz. We each got a check for $160.

The advanced division of our tournament series is fishing the same lake next week, so we are going to fish it as a pick up event and try to cash another check. Our spot had good fish on it and is the only real thick patch of milfoil on the lake so the fish should hold in it over the next week.

[SomeAlphaName]

Had a bass tournament on Wednesday night. My partner (2zzgtte - Also a Miscer) and I won the tournament on this lake last year and found good fish in pre-fishing so we felt pretty good going into it.



We placed 2nd out of 24 boats with 10.98lbs. 1st place beat us by only 2 ounces. The two biggest in the pic are both 3lbs 9oz. We each got a check for $160.

The advanced division of our tournament series is fishing the same lake next week, so we are going to fish it as a pick up event and try to cash another check. Our spot had good fish on it and is the only real thick patch of milfoil on the lake so the fish should hold in it over the next week.

Those are some pretty fish, GJ. I don't bass fish often what do you have the best success with? Whenever I do bass fish its off jigs.

[ThatOneBigKid]

Those are some pretty fish, GJ. I don't bass fish often what do you have the best success with? Whenever I do bass fish its off jigs.

the three largest fish there were caught on a Green Pumpkin jig. The two dinks were on 10" worms in GP. too.

[SomeAlphaName]

the three largest fish there were caught on a Green Pumpkin jig. The two dinks were on 10" worms in GP. too.

I've basically always been catfish on a spin rod, trout on a fly rod guy (not that I havn't fished for/caught others) but I think its time to expand a bit haha. Ty for reply

[captiontom]

leaving this weekend for a fishing trip with my dad in Alaska. We will be fishing for halibut and salmon if the salmon season opens up. I'm excited for it

[JeannetteEmigh]

Lazy Friday night at home watching the fishing channel. Saw this fish and thought of the misc

[JeannetteEmigh]

So it's like a weedless wacky rig? Where did you get the hooks? Nice catch btw.

These are the hooks that I've been using. 3/0 size
http://m.basspro.com/VMC-Wacky-Weedl...2060205060033/