Messages

706

Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / Re: Snakehead and other cool fish from D.C. and Virginia

« on: May 18, 2016, 02:56:04 PM »

And yeah, that's a mean looking snakehead. Top water action on that guy? I've seen videos of how they absolutely blowup on top water plugs.

It hit a slowly retrieved dark olive chatterbait.  The one in the upper left.  The other ones didn't have blades, and they didn't get any follows.

707

Fishing Talk / Re: Visiting CA again

« on: May 18, 2016, 02:27:13 PM »

Sounds reasonable. As far as long rodding for the big stuff, I'm sure there's plenty on the board who could probably loan you more appropriate gear and join you. I can loan you some gear if needed.

I'm not surprised by the offer!  You guys are insanely generous.  However, I want to start working my way up the food chain more slowly this time.  Catching that big ray on Tom's gear was incredibly fun, but if I did it again with a big shark I'd start to feel like a mooch.  Long term plan is to move to CA permanently.  Once that happens I'll invest in gear for the big boys.

708

Fishing Talk / Visiting CA again

« on: May 18, 2016, 12:43:25 PM »

I'll be coming out to Escondido June 25th to July 11th!  My boss has agreed to let me work remotely.  He says if this two week trip goes well, then we can discuss doing more and/or longer visits in the future.  I'm pretty stoked about it!  My main fishing goal will be to learn to surf fish, both with lures and with bait.  My only "long" rod is an Okuma spinning 4-piece, 10 ft, MH.

http://www.tackledirect.com/okuma-nts-s-1004mh-nomad-travel-surf-rod-10-ft.html

I have a Shimano Baitrunner 8000oc to use with bait, and when I throw lures I'll probably just use one of my Penn Fierce 6000's that I've been using for everything saltwater.  The Shimano has 40 lb braid, and I'll add some 30 lb mono or fluoro on top so the braid isn't in the water.  The Penn has 20 lb braid, and I'll add some 12 or 15 lb fluoro on top.

http://www.tackledirect.com/shimano-btr8000oc-baitrunner-oc-spinning-reel.html
http://www.tackledirect.com/penn-frcii6000-fierce-ii-spinning-reel.html

For smaller stuff closer to shore I have a 7.5 ft Browning rod and Penn Battle 2000 with 6 lb fluoro.

http://www.basspro.com/Browning-Fishing-Safari-Travel-Spinning-Rod/product/1407030701442/
http://www.tackledirect.com/penn-btlii2000-battle-ii-spinning-reel.html

I don't plan on targeting anything bigger than a leopard shark.  Mostly I'll be trying to figure out the various surf species regardless of how big or small they are.  Any of the surfperch, halibut, corbina, croakers (other than yellowfin), guitarfish, and leopard shark would all be new for me.  As far as lures I have a variety of spoons, swimbaits, and jigs that I use for freshwater, and when I come out I'll pick out a couple of Krocodiles and Lucky Craft minnows to round things out.

Does my plan sound reasonable?

709

Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / Snakehead and other cool fish from D.C. and Virginia

« on: May 18, 2016, 10:45:03 AM »

Had a fantastic trip a week and a half ago to visit my friend Pat in D.C.  I can't share much info about the snakehead catch, but if you are ever in D.C., let me know and I'll get you in touch with him.  Pat is a great guy and is happy to take people around to his spots as long as you don't burn them.  The rest of the trip was spent chasing new lifers, and I ended up with 5 in total (snakehead, white cat, striper, eel, herring).  Originally it was supposed to be an American shad and hickory shad trip, but the Potomac River was crazy high so we had to come up with other stuff to do instead.

Northern Snakehead (Channa argus) - 30 inches!

 
Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides)

 
Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) - Potomac tidal basin version

 
White Catfish (Ameiurus catus)

 
Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis)

 
Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) - with no eye!


No eye cat.


I'm not giving away the spot am I?


Redbreast Sunfish (Lepomis auritus)

 
Cool iridescence on the dorsal spines.


Bowfin (Amia calva) - injured, caught by hand


Closeup of the tail spot.

 
Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)

 
Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) - tannin swamp version


Chain Pickerel (Esox niger)


The toothy end.


Pat's bowfin.


Flier (Centrarchus macropterus)

 
Mouth shot.


Tannin pond microfishing habitat.


Warmouth (Lepomis gulosus)

 
Eastern Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki)

 
Bluespotted Sunfish (Enneacanthus gloriosus)

 
Eastern Mudminnow (Umbra pygmaea) - netted

 
American eel (Anguilla rostrata)

 
Head shot.


Blue Catfish (Ictalurus furcatus)

 
White Perch (Morone americana)

 
Blueback Herring (Alosa aestivalis)


Plain #14 bronze hook is all it takes.


The Potomac River.

710

Tackle Talk / Re: RIP Okuma ABF65

« on: May 18, 2016, 10:21:28 AM »

On okuma baitfeeders, if the handle is near the position where it disengages the baitfeeder function, it will not disengage the main drag. If this is what is occurring, then moving the handle a 1/4 turn will enable normal baitfeeder functionality.

Thanks!  That's very good to know.

711

Tackle Talk / Re: RIP Okuma ABF65

« on: May 17, 2016, 11:58:15 AM »

I have an ABF65 as well.  Haven't caught any monsters with it, but I've been using it quite a bit for river fishing.  Last time I used it I noticed the baitfeeder lever wasn't disengaging the primary drag.  Took it apart, couldn't find anything wrong, put it back together, and now it seems to be working ok.  I'm nervous about using it now though.  Point is, make sure you check that the primary drag is actually disengaged before you walk away from your rod, especially if it's propped up against a bridge or pier railing instead of being in a rod holder.

712

Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Re: Cinco de mayo siete del diablo!

« on: May 06, 2016, 12:31:19 PM »

Awesome, congrats!!!

713

Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / Re: big Illinois fish!

« on: May 01, 2016, 10:52:39 AM »

Hooray for Flickr!

714

Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / Re: big Illinois fish!

« on: April 30, 2016, 09:17:04 PM »

Not showing up.

Damn.

Ok, I'm moving to Flickr.  This photo showing up?

715

Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / Re: big Illinois fish!

« on: April 29, 2016, 10:46:15 AM »

Can someone let me know if these photos don't show up?  I've been having some issues getting photos to show up on forums ever since google retired Picasaweb.  Google Photos' URLs don't end in ".jpg", which seems to be the problem.

Last weekend I caught some nice carp at an old abandoned lock on the Illinois River in central Illinois.  The grass carp was a real surprise because it picked up corn off the bottom.  Usually they feed on vegetation or stuff floating on the surface.



This one weighed in a 9 lbs 10 oz.



Didn't get a weight for this one, but it was bigger than the one above.



Corn was the bait of choice if you wanted to stick with carp.  All together my buddy and I caught about 15 of them, and all but 2 of them were probably over 5 lbs.  Nightcrawlers got picked up by small freshwater drum.

716

Fishing Talk / Re: Blue Cat Intel

« on: April 29, 2016, 10:37:23 AM »

Larger fish want cut bait.

This has been my experience with blue cats. Big chunk of gizzard shad is the way to go.  If you don't have gizzard shad, any oily bait fish should work fine.  I've caught them on fillets off dinky channel cats when I can't find other bait.

717

Tackle Talk / Re: Lots of Penn reels on sale

« on: April 25, 2016, 12:25:39 PM »

I picked up a 2000 size Battle II, because currently all my light tackle spinning gear is freshwater.  Going to try it out on American shad in the Potomac River in 2 weeks. 

718

Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / Re: Catfish PB 4/9

« on: April 11, 2016, 05:49:35 PM »

Congrats on the PR!

719

Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / Re: big Illinois fish!

« on: April 04, 2016, 08:16:19 PM »

Some nice fish, but the scenery aint so hot. Gues you have to fish where the fish are.

Yup, that's what it comes down to.  Can't really think of any spots that are scenic and have big fish.  Plenty of scenic spots with small fish though.

720

Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / big Illinois fish!

« on: April 04, 2016, 03:01:45 PM »

On Saturday I fished a power plant cooling lake 30 mins from home in central Illinois.  The wind was nuts, but at least it meant it wasn't too crowded.



I was throwing a small silver Little Cleo spoon hoping for hybrid striped bass.  Some people next to me were fishing with live minnows and catching them, so I felt confident I could get one too.  I did not end up catching one, but what I did get was this massive buffalo.  I've heard rumors from several sources that buffalo will hit spoons in the spring in this lake.  If only one person told me it I'd be skeptical, but I've heard it from several credible people, and now I've seen it with my own eyes.  It must be some sort of pre-spawn feeding frenzy.



I wasn't sure if it was a smallmouth or black buffalo, so when I got home I fired off the photo to a couple of biologists.  The consensus is that it was a hybrid between the two.  I've been trying hard for a pure black buffalo for my lifelist, so this bummed me out immensely.  It was still an awesome fish.  I didn't get a weight, but it may very well have been the largest freshwater fish I've ever caught.



On Saturday I drove down to a spillway 2 hrs and 30 mins from home.  Pretty much everyone else was crappie fishing, but I set up with corn and alfalfa pellets to try for carp and buffalo.  Didn't take long for the carp to show up.



Weird black colored carp.



I tied on a small jig to try for crappie, and my first hookup was another carp.  This was my first carp on an artificial, so that was cool.



The guy next to us snagged a huge female walleye on accident.  The weight was 11.5 lbs (or 11 point something, can't remember exactly).  I've never seen a walleye this big.  The state record is 14 lbs, so I would guess that most people haven't.



The crappie finally cooperated, and I ended up catching quite a few.  Here's a textbook white crappie.



And here's a black crappie.





There were also bluegill and yellow bass mixed in.  The bluegill are always pretty sad looking here.





I kept seeing muskie surface, so finally the desire got the best of me, and I switched to a large silver swimbait.  Believe it or not, I hooked up on my 2nd cast.



It was a crazy weekend!  I hope this is the start to a really awesome spring and not me burning through my fish karma early, haha.