I mentioned a fishing outing in another thread, and Wartime Consigliori asked me this:
…And I thought to myself, “dang, there’s some good questions.”
First of all, I’d like to hear what you folks are fishing for and how (there’s a trouser trout joke in this thread somewhere).
Second, let me provide an answer to your question, Wartime.
It was on the Potomac River, fresh but below the tide line (TR Island, to be precise), plastic lures known as Bass Assassins, 4-pound test on a 4 1/2 foot one-piece Berkely with a Shimano 1000 ultralight reel. Hook sets are extremely challenging, because of the lack of leverage and the fact that I’m usually wading the upper Potomac, so I stick with Gamakatsu hooks. It’s a setup that makes river sunfish feel like like lunkers and a big, pissed off smallmouth feel like trying to reel in an angry biker–still on the bike.
I caught nothing at all, not even a cold. An excellent outing, all around, but I can see a lot of things that I need to change.
Sofa King said:
“I caught nothing at all, not even a cold”.
To which I reply: "I hope you at least caught a buzz"
I am glad you at least had a good time fishing. I think you deserved it. I will try to do my Bill Dance/Al Lindner impressions on this very thread sometime tomorrow, at which time (I hope) Mrs. Consigliori will not be offering the following choices, one of which I must select forthwith:
Choice (A): Get your ass to bed now, ya struntz
Choice (B): Be sleeping with those damned fishes!
I hope you understand why I must say, “Uhh, I’ll talk to ya tomorrow”.
Well, I try very hard to emulate the habits of my prey.
Smallmouth bass have overdeveloped eyes for spotting prey in murky water. Therefore, I stick to the shadows.
Smallies also are very concerned for their own selves, as they are not the biggest predators out there. Therefore, I look for places where they can safely lurk in shadow.
Smallies are constantly immersed in liquid and can be considered to be drinking constantly. Therefore…
I don’t catch many fish, but I have a damned good time not catching them.
[Jeff Foxworthy]If you’ve ever been too drunk to fish, you might be a redneck[/Jeff Foxworthy]
I have a creek on my property and catch and release fish from it every chance I get. Sometimes it is fun to pull junk out of the fridge just to see what the crappie will bite. So far I have caught fish using the following foods for bait:
bread, corn, bologna, raw bacon, cheese, cheerios, chicken skin.
Things I thought would work but haven’t (yet) include:
cooked spaghetti (hey, it looks like a worm), chewing tobacco (I was trying for catfish), apple skin, banana peels.
So crappie don’t dig on fruit, eh? That’s pretty interesting.
Here’s a problem you folks might be able to help me with. I live five minutes by foot from the Potomac, just across the river from Georgetown. There is a large, healthy, largely unfished population of smallmouth bass in that section of the river. Unfortunately, I can’t get at 'em from the bank (I don’t much like bank fishing anymore, anyway). I need a boat, but my requirements border on the ridiculous. It must be:
extremely small–small enough to stand in a corner of my apartment;
light enough for me to carry roughly a half-mile uphill;
able to handle some pretty hefty powerboat wakes (I’m thinking I might be able to devise some folding outriggers;
preferably of solid-body construction, since I use sharp hooks.
Since there is a moderately strong current, I think a canoe-shape would suit me best. Has anyone ever seen anything like this?
Fishing (fish’ ing) 1. noun
The art of casting, trolling, jigging or spinning while freezing, sweating, swatting or swearing.
Hey, anybody ever go after largemouth with a fly rod? A little Pop-R or a wooly bass bug early in the morning…
I normally stick with topwater lures and spinners, using a spinning rod with 6# test. Even if I don’t catch anything, it’s nice to just get out in my 12’ flat bottom canoe with a trolling motor, out in the back waters. Though I’m usually guaranteed to at least catch a buzz.
This is what happens when you wait 5 minutes before hitting submit.
Sofa King, I used to use an inflatable. It had 4 chambers, and was a very heavy grade rubberized canvas. I never worried much about sinking a hook in it, and it was sturdy enough that I could attach a trolling motor.
Not that you’d want to lug a battery and motor half a mile, but you get the point. I used one of those hand pumps that inflated on both strokes, so it didn’t take much time to get it inflated. When deflated and rolled up, it was about the size of a 5-gallon bucket, and weighed maybe 40 pounds. I used to carry it, with the foldable paddles, in an old army duffle bag.
I had encounters with power boat wakes, but it rode them out well. No worse than my canoe, but that’s why I like to stick to backwaters. There’s no way I’m going out on one of these gigantic Tennessee River impoundments in a dinky canoe.
I’ve got rods (from ice-fishing minis to 9-foot surf casting), reels (from cheap Zebco spin casting to backlashing casting to big ol’ Penn open face), line (spools ranging from 2-lb to 30-lb) and lures (from little plastic Mr. Twisters to Jawbreaker musky lures).
And I can’t get to my favorite fishing spots because all of the rivers are still wayyyy above flood stage. The Corps of Engineers has banned boat traffic on the Mississippi for 400 miles.
Lakes? They’re OK, but I like river fishing better. Greater variety and generally faster action.
I got two bass ponds on my property! I love fishing.
Sofa:
I would recommend either a small aluminum canoe (puddlejumper size) or if you’ve ever seen folboats, or funyaks, they might work.
If you want o be cheap, by a tractor inner tube, (big) and cut a piece of plywood to fit on top. drill holes in it so that you can secure it to the inflated tube with rope. Pack a portable air compressor, to blow it up on site.
I had a setup like that that could seat two comfortably, was easily manueverable with a paddle, and weighed less than forty pounds, altogether.
Yeah, a small aluminum canoe is really what I’d prefer. So far, the smallest I’ve found is about twelve feet. I’d really prefer something smaller than that, if they can even be made stable that small. I’ve also been looking at Pakboats, similar to your folboat suggestion, Scylla.
Two bass ponds, eh? Dude, I worship you. What do you like to use on 'em?
One pond is fed by runoff, and only has smallmouth in it. THey’ll bite anything, and they’re smallish as they feed primarily on bugs. I like to go fly fishing there, but when I bring guests I may set them up with worms. They’re guarranteed to catch something.
The bigger pond is spring fed, and has Largemouth, Bluegills, and snapping turtles in it. Every spring I get Clorox bottles and steel leaders, attach bacon to big hooks, and try to get rid of the snapping turtles.
The bluegills will go after anything, and getting the bass recquires some skill.
I use largish rapallas on an ultralight set up, and try to make casts into the shadows or where I know there is a sunken log. There are a couple of true monster bass in there. Some I’ve caught several times.
I almost cried one time when I gill hooked one of these guys and killed him.
Sofa,
I don’t know how much you are looking at spending but here is a link to some awesome little boats that sound like they might be perfect for you. http://www.busterboats.com/wagon.html
I had a friend who had one and I fished off of it and all I can say is wow. Very cool boat, extremely stable, and well worth it. As others have mentioned, there are also some great inflatables out there, and also some awesome “float tubes” if you are looking for something a little less “permanent”.
My son caught a 24" redfish wading in the intercoastal just north of Sebastian Inlet FL Sunday, using live shrimp. I didn’t even catch a buzz. I love redfish, great taste and fun to catch. I look forward to a late summer charter off of Long Boat Key (west coast) to stock up my freezer with 'em. [highjack]Duhbya promised not to drill for oil off Florida, but never said anything about Alabama. The leases he is considering are some 200 miles off of St. Pete, but west of the state line. I’ve got to get to the gulf coast as much as I can, before it’s all ruined.[/highjack]
The lakes around Orlando are dangerously low, and the largemouths are hard to get to unless you’re an eagle. Alas, it’s impossible to launch a bass boat and my air boat is out of commision until it starts raining. Bummer!
We fish for snook and redfish in the intracoastal waters around Tampa Bay. I haven’t been lately, but my hubby goes a lot. We fish at night, around the dock lights. My biggest catch so far was a 29 1/2" snook.
We do fish for bass occasionally, but waters in the lakes and rivers here in central FL are very low, as Equality 7-2521 stated. We cannot even launch our boat. We tried a couple of weeks ago and got stuck in the ramp. :rolleyes: However, I plan on going just as soon as the water levels recover to a decent point.
I know it makes us fuddy-duddies, but we don’t drink alcohol in our boat (we’re very safety conscious), so I can’t even claim to catch a buzz when we’re otherwise skunked.
