Bass fishing today

[Old Greenhorn]

Oh, it's worse than any drug. A long time ago we had a permanent site in a campground. The kids were small and my folks had a site across the road from us. It was what we could afford and a way to get the kids to have time with their grandparents. The camp had a 15 acre pond that was on my parents side of the road and we had a canoe dock there. We also had a few neighbors there who were tournament fisherman. They would go to tournaments and bring a few of their fish back to camp and release them in the pond. All the regulars at camp had fish tags and when we caught one, we would scratch our initials in a tag and release it back with the tag. Over the years we had quite a crop of nice bass. I caught a lot of fish, but never one with somebody's tag on it. They prospered.
 So one Sunday morning I take my son out in the canoe with me. He is 6 years old and had, literally, a Mickey Mouse fishing pole with the big Mickey Mouse float on it. I am catching and releasing some decent fish. My son hooks into a good one and it pulls the back of the canoe around. I know he has like 4 or 5lb. test on his line, so I drop my rod and start following the fish wit the canoe as I coach him through it. I know he is going to lose this fish in the heavy weeds, but we keep working at it. He is (as you might guess) extremely excited and shaky but he is also listening to me and very serious about getting his fish. I am trying to figure out how to console him when he loses this fish because I am sure he will. But we keep working on it and I keep coaching him and we work through a ton of weeds on his line. After about 15 minutes we boat this  fish. It's a 16" large mouth at about 6 pounds and came into the net with 10 pounds of weeds on the line. The fish was more than half the length of his rod. Turns out the camp was running a fishing tournament for the kids that weekend (we didn't know that) and he won 1st prize and a nice rod and reel. It's the only fish I ever had mounted and gave it to him for a Christmas present that year. He was hooked. That fish is still hanging on his wall.
 He has more hours bass fishing in the last 5 years than I've had in my entire life. It's as if I got my kid hooked on a drug.

[SawyerTed]

Catch a 4 pound small mouth in a river!  There's nothing like it.  I've caught some big saltwater and fresh water fish and none compares to a small mouth bass for pure fight!  I'm not too enthusiastic about large mouth bass.  But small mouth!  Wow!

A small mouth on 6 or 8 pound test in a river is like catching a lightning bolt without the pain!  Every nerve will tingle and sometimes picking up the fish is hard due to the shaking!

Tom, there's nothing like watching a kid manage a trophy fish!  When they start out catching big ones, it's no wonder they become lifelong fishers!  That's a great memory!

[barbender]

Finicky and obstinate, Robert. It's like looking in the mirror😁

[YellowHammer]

Yep, they sure are purty!

[SawyerTed]

Eeewwww!

[caveman]

I'm working less at the resort now than I was a few weeks ago.  As the weather warms up, fewer guests want to fish.  Yesterday morning, I took a Swiss family fishing.  The mom and daughter had never fished prior to yesterday.  I had to teach them how to cast a spinning reel.  After a few minutes, they were both catching fish.

The dad and brother were not incredibly adept casters, but they caught some fish too.  I took a pic of the son/brother and his sister with a couple of fish.  They were catching them so frequently that I did not have much time to take pics and on time it took me probably 10 minutes to get one hook tied on due to being interrupted netting and unhooking fish.  It has been taking me a little longer than normal to tie knots over the past week and a half (my tip of my middle finger on my right hand nearly got lopped off last week while tinkering with our blade sharpener).  It still does not have much feeling past the cut.

The Swiss girl and a respectable bass.

Her brother caught quite a few nice bass on a Chatter bait.  We had a good time fishing. 

After lunch, three of us guides fished another pit for a couple of hours.  As usual, it became competitive.  The young guy threw a topwater chug bug for the whole time and boated 20 or so bass.  I was surprised, since the sky was high and blue and many of the hits came in 8' of water or deeper. 

I'm not scheduled to work down there again until next Friday.

[Magicman]

That looked like a very successful day for your young Swiss clients and one that they will never forget.  You are making lifetime memories Sir. 

[YellowHammer]

Who else wants to go fishing with Caveman?! DanG, you catch a lot of fish.

I'm just thrashing the water into a froth here, trying to act like I know what I'm doing, but here's the trip this week.  I found a couple nice schools of smallmouth, they are just as golden bronze as can be, and whacked em with a crankbait.  I caught 11 smallmouth, which for me and smallmouth, is a real good half day trip.  Here are a couple, and of course, I let them all swim away.  I was prac-tizin (southern slang for practicing) with my sonar later in the morning, and spotted a couple big balls of shad about 10 feet deep being whacked by some adolescent largemouth, threw a swimbait to them and caught a couple of them, too, just like the Pros do on any Sunday Bassmaster TV show.  So with me feeling like Bill Dance, I spotted another ball of shad on the sonar, saw another fish cutting into them, and threw the swimbait to it, dragged it right in front of what should have been a nice bass and and wham!  Up comes a surprised catfish that was impersonating a bass!  So much for me being Bill Dance....oh well.  I mean you can still see the surprise on the catfish's face, and I was surprised too.


  

[caveman]

I don't have sonar on any of the boats that I fish out of.  I'd love to have you down here with me fishing-I'm sure I could learn a lot from you.  We smacked them pretty good yesterday in the points pit.  Big fish are still eluding us, but we landed several over 4 pounds.  I spend most of my trips having golfers catch bass.  Most have only caught fish flyfishing (evidently, that is a thing for rich folks).

I tried to get JMoore to go fishing today instead of doing sawmill work.  We spent most of the day trying to create our own lubemizer, to only have a solenoid failure.  We should have gone fishing.  Fish will be eaten for supper tomorrow night (bass and specks).

[YellowHammer]

It doesn't sound like you need sonar, you just keep whacking and stacking them!

And yes, what the heck is it with fly fishing??  For Bass?? I couldn't imagine a more handicapping technique in a southern impoundment.  Sure, it does well for trout and stuff on the local streams, where it is more optimum, but when I see a guy wading a lake and just blind casting out, the first thing I think of is I hope he sees that snake in the tree behind him, and I guess he got bored mowing his lawn.

[barbender]

I love flyfishing for trout. And I would like to try it on the small local lake that is loaded with aggressive and decent sized bass. But my trout fly rods aren't heavy enough for bass. 

Fly rods are rated by the "weight" of line they are designed for. On the small mountain headwater streams Iike to visit (when out west) I have a 2 weight Cabela's combo that my wife bought me back when Cabela's had great gear. A 2 weight would be like a really small ultralight spinning rod. 

On an "average" stream, a 5 weight is normally recommended. But for bass, I think guys are using at least an 8 weight. For Northern Pike, 9 and 10 weight. 

I've thought about getting an 8 weight to harass those local bass with. 

The draw for me is top water hits. If that gets you going, then fly fishing is where it's at. There's lots of other techniques that fly fishers use, but all I've ever really been drawn to with a fly rid is dry flies and surface fishing.

[WV Sawmiller]

Robert,

   Was that you thrashing the water on Guntersville Lake and the Tennessee River last Thursday along highway 69? We left West Point/Cullman and drove that route up to the NE corner of the state on our way back to WV and I thought about you as we passed all the fishermen fishing by the pilings, docks and Rip Rap along the road.

[caveman]

I have one fly rod and reel.  I bought it as a combo at Wal-Mart back when I was a kid.  The whole shebang was less than $18, if I remember correctly.  You know it is high quality when it comes with line already on it.  We used to use them to catch bluegill during the mayfly hatch.

I have caught bass on the big bumblebee popper flies.  I landed one in my pond that was over 10 lbs on it once, but she had nowhere to go.  I have no idea what weight the rod is.  I often considered taking it to the coast to try to land a ladyfish or mackerel, both of which are a hoot to catch on light tackle.

[YellowHammer]

I wasn't at Guntersville on Thursday, but I fish it routinely, it is 75 mile long, and I bet I have fished every inch over the last 40 years.  It's a very high biomass lake, the fish density is amazing, but that's why it is the most tournament fished lake in the country.

I was fishing up in the Tennessee mountains, because this is the time of year of the "shad spawn", and it's like a Mayfly hatch, the fish are very active feeding on the shad who are careless and have there mind on other things, and I'd rather catch a bunch of smalljaw bass than a wad of largemouths, if for nothing else, for grudge payback for the tough trips I had this winter, when it was January cold and the fish were laughing at me.  Stupid fish.....

I got my first flyrod when I was kid, and I terrorized the resident bream and juvenile bass population.  But I quickly learned it was a specialty niche technique down here, pretty good for only a few weeks or even maybe, a month of the year, when the water temps hit 70F, but before and after that, there are other techniques that are far more efficient and productive.  I still use it in my pond occasionally, but at the Big G?  Nope, although I'm sure I could probably catch something, I still like conventional techniques.  

[SawyerTed]

I used to fly fish a lot on the streams and rivers in the NC mountains. I am in remission.  

Fly fishermen can be a curious crowd.  Some how there's a thrill in catching a 6" trout in 8" of water with a spider web strung from an expensive bamboo stick while fishing a ditch you can step across.  

On the other hand, I have caught false albacore aka Little Tunny on a fly rod in the ocean.  It's a challenge for sure. 

[barbender]

I don't why small trout in small streams excite me. Probably because of the usual locations 😊

[YellowHammer]

Last summer, my SIL and I went trout fishing, 2lb line, spinning gear, Trout Magnet lures, me in my cute little hip boots, him in an old t shirt, shorts and sneakers, and we were slaying them on the Elk River.

We came up in two fisherman, both looked like matching mannequins at the Orvis fly fishing shop, fully matching waders, even with cute little landing nets, vests, hats and even wicker creels.  Wicker creels?? Didn't those go out of style in the 1800's when they found a better insulating material than grass?  These days, Igloo makes these newfangled things called "coolers".  And landing nets? For fish the size of the bait I use when I go saltwater fishing?  We were using 2 lb line and my golden rule is landing nets are not allowed, following in the tradition of Ray Scott.  And why were they keeping trout anyway? My philosophy is catch them, let them go, and if we are hungry, stop at Zaxby's on the way home for chicken fingers and fries.  Anyway, since we were done and heading back, they asked if we were catching and I said yes, probably 20 or so, mostly rainbows, a brown or two and one brookie, between the two of us.  The guy exclaimed that even with his guide, they had barely caught any, and asked what we were using.  Guide?  He had hired a trout guide? A guide to wade along a little bitty stream and tell you where to cast to catch a stupid trout that has the brains of a carp? I wondered how much the guide cost?  More than their fishing costumes?  Anyway, they didn't look to be "from around here" which got my fun streak going, and I mentioned we had been using "gravel fleas" for bait and that we had caught a mess of the little critters in a riffle about a half mile up the creek, "where the red shist gravel turned to Chatanooga Shale, you can't miss it" because I had to make it sound good and technical.  Now I knew these guys were flyfishernan, and looked down on us lowly spinner guys, especially ones using bait, (we were actually using lures, but they still classified us as spin fisherman heathens) so I couldn't help it, teasing them.  I couldn't help myself, i commented on their cute little matching trout nets, and mentioned I was surprised they were catching fish small enough to fit in them.  Anyway, as were we wading away, I heard the guy ask the guide if he had any "gravel flea" flies and what the heck Chatanooga shale looked like. 

Anyway, when we were back at the truck, my SIL asked why I did that, and I said, I don't know, but it sure was fun, trout fisherman were more fun to catch than the trout.  Here is our trout stream, in this video. Maybe one day I'll fish a real trout stream, maybe have someone show me what all the fuss is about.  As long as I can find gravel fleas, I know we will catch them.   

 

[SawyerTed]

 That's funny, Robert!   I think I ran across those guys at the coast a while back.  Some guys asked what bait I had caught a bunch of black drum on.  When I told them clam snouts they thought I was lying.  

There are probably more fly fishing snobs than any other kind of fishing snob.  It's fun to be top rod wearing a no name vest and cheap waders.  

My older brother aspired to be one of those Orvis models.  Seemed like when we fished together I had to follow him because...well because he was an "expert" trout fisherman.  

Back then a few extra dollars to go fishing were hard to come by.  I had a no name vest, clunky boot foot waders, my flies were in 35 mm film canisters and I wore a dark green hat with a tractor logo.  My rod was a fiberglass Heddon combo I bought on clearance from Roses department store for $8.  

He was in his stocking foot waders, wading shoes, high dollar Orvis vest, graphite rod and $$$ reel.  His flies were in aluminum fly boxes, his vest was bristling with hemostats, leader dressing patches, little retractable gizmos and once used flies on the drying patch.  Most were either gifts from his in-laws or purchased due to prompting from his now first ex wife. 

I believe my appearance embarrassed him a bit. My first ex sister-in-law was definitely mortified by me on various levels and certainly by my trout fishing gear! 

He tried to instruct his less sophisticated amateur younger brother on how and where to fish.  I listened with one ear because his fishing approach made no sense.  So I dutifully fished along behind him with him being the expert and all.  

After two or three trips, I decided I would fish my way but still fishing along behind him.   It was tough, he tended to whip the pools into a froth casting to and fro.  I started seeing where the trout either stayed or fled to due to his "casting."  I started catching fish where he didn't. 

Another two or three trips went by with me catching a 7 fish limit and him catching 2 or 3.  Little did he know little brother had been learning fly fishing on his own.  
Seems like he lost interest in fishing with me.     That was 30 years ago.  We've fished together only once since.  

I did later upgrade my gear somewhat but never owned any Orvis gear but the hat my neighbor gave me.  

[Jeff]

I'd like to go fishing with all of you!

[YellowHammer]

I have a small, spring fed creek on our farm, I was thinking of making my own trout stream, our even just a trout pool, but I figured the spring floods would wash them out.  Has anybody done that?  Of course I'd have to stock it with gravel fleas to feed them.  

I apologize for being so tongue in cheek for the real trout fisherman out there, I kind of look at it as an amusing hobby for me, I mean I am in Alabama, trout are kind of not native here, but I've been fishing for them for more than 30 years.

To put it in perspective from my point of view, here is some of my saltwater stuff, it fills up half a room, the bass fishing tackle fills up the garage.  However, the trout "stuff" barely covers a table, and fits in a Cabelas fanny tackle pack, and it's so cute.        

[SawyerTed]

As I mentioned, I am in fly fishing remission.  

The Dan River here in Stokes County and the Hanging Rock State Park Lake are stocked with hatchery fish.  Between April and July a person can look up the sticking schedule and fish accordingly.  It is mostly spin fishing.

It's something to go do as, Yellowhammer so appropriately described, an amusing pastime.  

I've had to consolidate my off shore and near/inshore saltwater tackle and merge with my crappie and catfish gear storage.   Mine only takes up a room in the basement and one long wall in the garage.  

My bass fishing gear really could fit in a shoe box and 4 pegboard hooks.  My trout gear is about the same. I've given away most of both.  My oldest daughter fly fishes and my son bass fishes some. 

If I lived closer to the coast I would gear up for fly fishing for false albacore.   It's fun to catch a few every once in awhile.  Cape Lookout is known for the spring and fall runs.  

I used to bass fish two natural lakes in Hyde and Tyrrell Counties here in NC.  About this time of year the grass and weeds would grow in huge mats.  The bass would gather in the holes in the grass.   A good fly fisherman could land a popping bug on top of one of those holes and the bass would slam them. The grass made it challenging but it was fun seeing that top water action. 

[barbender]

For me, fly fishing is usually up in the mountains out west. That is 90% of the draw for me. Southeastern MN has highly rated trout streams, it is farm bluff country along the Mississippi River valley. It's pretty, but it's not out West. I never seem to get down there.

[caveman]

My grandson has a random Tuesday off of school tomorrow.  My oldest daughter asked me if I could watch him.  I told her yes, but we're going fishing.  I've got the boat hooked up to my truck and the rods are ready.
The boy is big on snacks, so I asked my daughter and my wife to take care of that stuff.  
This ole dirty skiff needs a bath.  We finally got some rain this weekend, but not much.  The dust layer on this poor old boat is significant. Rather than wash it today, John and I rebuilt the hydraulic steering cylinder on the center console, and I swapped a couple of reels to new to me rods.

Jeff, if you make it down here, I'll take you fishing...a lot.

[customsawyer]

I'm not going fishing with you guys. You'll laugh at my Zebco 33 and Dollar General rod. That and the fact that a lot of y'alls fishing sounds like work. You guys fish hard. I hit a few local ponds around here and enjoy them. One we have been working on making into a trophy bass pond. Not sure how well it's working, but the fish are getting bigger.

[caveman]

It's fun seeing ponds improve.  We used to stock every pond within bicycle range of here when we were kids.  I've caught a lot of good bass on a Zebco 33.  If my daughter will hurry up and get here with my grandson, we'll be off on our adventure.

My wife is packing his requisite snacks.