The Fishing Thread

#326
#326
tonybologna said:
Me & my catfish buddy Matt will be heading out to our two favorite catfish holes next weekend. They should be hitting really well right now. He went about 2 weeks ago on a Saturday night & caught 4 pretty good sized catfish.

2 were flatheads & 2 were bluecats. The biggest was a 22 lb. flathead but that's nothing compared to what he catches including the 45lb. one I uploaded a couple photos of a few pages back.

He caught both flathead on live bluegills as big if not bigger than your hand & the 2 bluecats on cut up chunks of bluegill about 2 inches round. Right now is primetime around here to catch a monster.

The photos I provided was from about 2-3 months ago but we've hooked bigger ones than that but lost them either to the hook breaking or them getting off right at the boat.

There was one last year that he hooked that had to be 50+ lbs. We lost him right as we were getting ready to put the basket/net right under him. There's actually been several that we've lost close to the boat in the 45+ lb. range. Can't wait to go next weekend. Thanks!
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Awesome, those big cats are fun to catch.
 
#328
#328
joevol33 said:
Awesome, those big cats are fun to catch.
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They sure are. I like to catch any type of fish. Those true Bass fishermen call every other fish trash fish. I disagree! I like catching them all. Carp included but I won't eat those at all!

The best fighting fish pound for pound is the hybrid bass though. Man, those bad boys are all muscle. Carp, Striped Bass & Catfish aren't too far behind in fighting strength.

Me & my buddy will be heading out this coming Saturday night to try those cats again. Hopefully we can get into some big ones. Haven't been in a while so looking forward to it.
 
#329
#329
tonybologna said:
They sure are. I like to catch any type of fish. Those true Bass fishermen call every other fish trash fish. I disagree! I like catching them all. Carp included but I won't eat those at all!

The best fighting fish pound for pound is the hybrid bass though. Man, those bad boys are all muscle. Carp, Striped Bass & Catfish aren't too far behind in fighting strength.

Me & my buddy will be heading out this coming Saturday night to try those cats again. Hopefully we can get into some big ones. Haven't been in a while so looking forward to it.
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Post pictures if you land a big one!
 
#332
#332
Me & my buddy Matt that caught that 45lb flathead I posted a picture of are going back out again this Sunday night.

I don't know what this cooler weather will have done though. Usually when it starts getting cooler these catfish where we hit these 2 different holes start to taper off biting.

They completely quit by middle-late October. He went about 3 weeks ago & caught 6 catfish. 3 flathead & 3 blues. They weren't any really big ones though. 12 lbs. was the biggest one he caught & it was a flathead.

He said his battery had ran down completely on his phone so he couldn't take any pictures. We will this Sunday night if we catch any worth having pictures taken of though.

I feel this might be the last chance we have at these catfish this season because October is just around the corner when they totally stop biting.
 
#334
#334
Anybody know where I can get a good deal this weekend on Humminbird electronics? I've looked around and the sales on them aren't that big of deal. Anybody know a good site?
 
#335
#335
Bassmaster_Vol said:
Anybody know where I can get a good deal this weekend on Humminbird electronics? I've looked around and the sales on them aren't that big of deal. Anybody know a good site?
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Can't really help you on that one but I would like advice on a baitcaster that people really like. Plus, my current set up of rods and reels Is:

7'0" MH Abu Garcia 5.1:1 Spinning reel
6'9" MH Abu Garcia 6.4:1 Baitcasting reel
7'0" MH Lews 7.5:1 Baitcasting reel

And does anyone have idea how to match certain baits with certain gear ratios?
 
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#336
#336
RockyTop411 said:
Can't really help you on that one but I would like advice on a baitcaster that people really like. Plus, my current set up of rods and reels Is:

7'0" MH Abu Garcia 5.1:1 Spinning reel
6'9" MH Abu Garcia 6.4:1 Baitcasting reel
7'0" MH Lews 7.5:1 Baitcasting reel

And does anyone have idea how to match certain baits with certain gear ratios?
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I'm a poor man so I buy cheap and I have had great success with abu Garcia silver and black max. I have one Lews that's over $100 and it's nice but I like the abu Garcia's just as well.

As far as gear ratio, it depends on what your doing. For instance, if your punching grass mats or throwing a frog over heavy grass, or flipping into a brush pile, you want a fast gear ratio so that you can get it out of the grass or brush as quickly as possible. Any type of flipping presentation is good to have a fast reel. I also like faster reels on buzz baits to help keep it on top of the water. For cranking, it's the opposite. You want to keep the crankbait in the strike zone as long as possible so a slower gear ratio is better, something like a 5:3:1. But if you just don't want to worry about it, get a 6:4:1 and you'll be okay, just reel slower when fishing crank baits with it but that's a good all purpose speed.
 
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#337
#337
Bassmaster_Vol said:
I'm a poor man so I buy cheap and I have had great success with abu Garcia silver and black max. I have one Lews that's over $100 and it's nice but I like the abu Garcia's just as well.

As far as gear ratio, it depends on what your doing. For instance, if your punching grass mats or throwing a frog over heavy grass, or flipping into a brush pile, you want a fast gear ratio so that you can get it out of the grass or brush as quickly as possible. Any type of flipping presentation is good to have a fast reel. I also like faster reels on buzz baits to help keep it on top of the water. For cranking, it's the opposite. You want to keep the crankbait in the strike zone as long as possible so a slower gear ratio is better, something like a 5:3:1. But if you just don't want to worry about it, get a 6:4:1 and you'll be okay, just reel slower when fishing crank baits with it but that's a good all purpose speed.
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Great informative post. I really appreciate the advice.

Right now I have a 5.1:1 AG spinning reel on a 7'0" Medium rod (I said Medium-Heavy in the last post, my apologies), 6.4:1 AG bait casting reel on a 6'9" MH, and 7.5:1 Lews bait casting reel on a 7'0" MH. So I should set it up something like this:

5.1:1 spinning = square bill cranks, lipless cranks, deep-diving cranks
6.4:1 baitcasting = spinners, jerk baits
7.5:1 baitcasting = jigs, topwaters, texas rigged soft plastics

How does that look? And what do you think about braid vs. fluorocarbon on the 7.5:1?
 
#338
#338
RockyTop411 said:
Great informative post. I really appreciate the advice.

Right now I have a 5.1:1 AG spinning reel on a 7'0" Medium rod (I said Medium-Heavy in the last post, my apologies), 6.4:1 AG bait casting reel on a 6'9" MH, and 7.5:1 Lews bait casting reel on a 7'0" MH. So I should set it up something like this:

5.1:1 spinning = square bill cranks, lipless cranks, deep-diving cranks
6.4:1 baitcasting = spinners, jerk baits
7.5:1 baitcasting = jigs, topwaters, texas rigged soft plastics

How does that look? And what do you think about braid vs. fluorocarbon on the 7.5:1?
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Sure that looks fine. Eventually I'd upgrade to a bait caster for cranking applications tho, just easier. But that's more personal preference. As far as braid and fluro, just depends on what you're doing. If you're fishing in grass or thick cover braid is what you want. But if you're just fishing in a lake with no grass, 20 pound fluro is better because it is less visible. I only use braid for frog fishing, punching grass mats, and some top water stuff. For instance, just started fishing a whopper plopper and I use braid with that cause it's a heavy lure.
 
#339
#339
I fly fish and know next to nothing about spin-casting. I was at the beach in NC a few weeks ago and swung by Bass Pro and picked up an 8' Penn Battle II 5000 Combo. The guy said it was versatile and could be set in a spike to surf cast. Perhaps I got lucky but I killed it, landing a bunch of bull reds over 24". The rod was barely in the spike.

Anyway, I'm going to Hawaii (Oahu) in a couple months and would like to do the same there. Really just to set up somewhere and relax, and if we're lucky, catch dinner. Most likely fishing from rocky coast line, potentially on the beach. So I don't have any specific fish to target. The most popular game fish is the Giant Trevally, and they can reach 100+ lbs, but I don't think we'll be set up to appropriately fish for them since a) those spots are treacherous out on rocky bluffs over breakers b) they take large bait, and the best way to catch them is slide-baiting, which means you cast a line with a sinker and then feed bait down the line. Outside of that, the biggest fish we could encounter from shore is probably a Barracuda but certainly not targeting them, moray eels are also possible, and they get large as well. If that happens I'd just cut the line.

I need to buy a rod for my dad, so I was looking at an 8' Ugly Stik Bigwater and the Daiwa BG 5000. Anyone have opinions on whether that will be suitable? Is there a versatile combo that would serve well for dunking bait and maybe throwing some lures? I'm capped at a 8' 2-piece rod because it will fit in my golf club case. There's one spot that where depth can reach 70' within casting range, but it's mostly likely that I'll be in water less than 40'.

I've perused some other message boards but haven't found a lot of recommendations on this. Most of the rods they recommend in Hawaii are very large... Even for catching relatively small fish
 
#340
#340
What's the best fishing in Upper East Tennessee currently? Coming home for two and a half weeks. Fishing, hiking and golfing are the current agenda
 
#342
#342
golfballs said:
I fly fish and know next to nothing about spin-casting. I was at the beach in NC a few weeks ago and swung by Bass Pro and picked up an 8' Penn Battle II 5000 Combo. The guy said it was versatile and could be set in a spike to surf cast. Perhaps I got lucky but I killed it, landing a bunch of bull reds over 24". The rod was barely in the spike.

Anyway, I'm going to Hawaii (Oahu) in a couple months and would like to do the same there. Really just to set up somewhere and relax, and if we're lucky, catch dinner. Most likely fishing from rocky coast line, potentially on the beach. So I don't have any specific fish to target. The most popular game fish is the Giant Trevally, and they can reach 100+ lbs, but I don't think we'll be set up to appropriately fish for them since a) those spots are treacherous out on rocky bluffs over breakers b) they take large bait, and the best way to catch them is slide-baiting, which means you cast a line with a sinker and then feed bait down the line. Outside of that, the biggest fish we could encounter from shore is probably a Barracuda but certainly not targeting them, moray eels are also possible, and they get large as well. If that happens I'd just cut the line.

I need to buy a rod for my dad, so I was looking at an 8' Ugly Stik Bigwater and the Daiwa BG 5000. Anyone have opinions on whether that will be suitable? Is there a versatile combo that would serve well for dunking bait and maybe throwing some lures? I'm capped at a 8' 2-piece rod because it will fit in my golf club case. There's one spot that where depth can reach 70' within casting range, but it's mostly likely that I'll be in water less than 40'.

I've perused some other message boards but haven't found a lot of recommendations on this. Most of the rods they recommend in Hawaii are very large... Even for catching relatively small fish
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Go on and add 3' to that rod.
 
#345
#345
Toujours Pret said:
Get a 3 piece.

I'm just giving you ****, get the sand out of your mussy.
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? No sand. Just asking a question. A lot of forums I've read people recommend just buying a cheap rod there and leaving it behind. I'd hope to avoid having to do that because it's beginning to turn into a regular trip.

Ugly Stik doesn't have any 3 piece rods over 7'. Any other recommendations?
 
#347
#347
I just sold a Saint Croix travel 10' as I'm offloading most of my saltwater stuff before I move. I think the MSRP is around $200 but it's really a cherry.

I think Cabelas makes a 3 piece 10 or 11' also, I'm a fan of their stuff for the price.
 
#348
#348
golfballs said:
Should I just get 2 rods- one for surfcasting, and the other for light tackle?
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Really depends on how much you're planning on fishing. There's advantages to a middle of the road setup for sure, but all of my salt fishing is stripers and bluefish so I just go heavy as I'm usually throwing 2 ounce spoons or big poppers.
 
#349
#349
Toujours Pret said:
Really depends on how much you're planning on fishing. There's advantages to a middle of the road setup for sure, but all of my salt fishing is stripers and bluefish so I just go heavy as I'm usually throwing 2 ounce spoons or big poppers.
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Twice a year. Surfcasting in NC and whatever presents itself in Hawaii. Sounds like most surfcasting w bait isnt most effective during the day so if possible want a rod I could do both. Not sure if that's practical though
 
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#350
#350
what's an example of a middle of the road setup? Is the handle of a regular spinning rod long enough to be set in a beach spike?
 
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