What did you Catch Today?

[Don]

So are you saying that circle hooks are not required as I have plenty of 2, 1 and 1/0 bait hooks. I'm thinking I had heard that they were required but perhaps that is for the ocean run fish of the Delaware River and Delaware Bay.
Thanks for the help. I know it ain't easy typing along to the beat of too many questions. If you think of something else that I should know but that you didn't want to tell me there will be time tomorrow

 

[pabassman]

Those sizes sound more of what you need. Circles are not required but a good idea for catch and release. I've passed on what I can think of. The lures and a couple spots. A slow steady retrieve is best. Fish will be in or near the bushes so dont be afraid to get right in there. Hatlight/headlamp, biggest net you have, and rain pants are all good to have.

 

[Don]

 

[pabassman]

Waiting to hear tales of the adventure!! I'll post mine in the morning! It has the looks for a good bite tonight.

 

[Don]

I forgot the worms at home. Six dozen. So I bought 2 doz
mat the sport shop you mentioned. Busy place. It’s so warm that the minnows were dead before I launched. I used half the worms before they were goo.
I caught allot of rock bass some were the biggest I’ve ever caugh. One 10” perch and a handful of various sunfish. Small side.
do I use the smaller rock bass and gills for bait later. Channel cats maybe?
then I got a bunch of plastics from the guy and the corresponding jig heads.
a-5 left me plenty of other hooks and jig heads as well. I have tasty wachy worms. Lastly lots of lures. I feel like Gremcat…. I got more than my house has room for. From now until dark it’s fflyfishing.

 

[Don]

Amazing the changes at dark. All the pleasure boat are gone. Fish boats coming in by the dozen. Bait every where. Love it. Shall I use the small sunnies for bait?

 

[pabassman]

Amazing the changes at dark. All the pleasure boat are gone. Fish boats coming in by the dozen. Bait every where. Love it. Shall I use the small sunnies for bait?

So you fished Saturday? Lake was a ZOO. Fish Commish really made a mess in the parking lot. Redesigned the layout and it flat out doesnt work!! Fishing was BAD last night. We won striper with a 7.7 my son caught. Thats very small for a winner. Only 2 brought in. We didnt get a walleye, only a couple of those brought in. Traffic was steady til at least midnight. BIG boats running around.

 

[A-5]

I fished yesterday. Very tough day. Lily pads are gone at Nockamixon. They must have killed them. I was very out of place expecting pads. I guess my deep game needs improvement

 

[Don]

I just woke up and feel like a drunk as I'm not used to the all night thing. I felt that the zoo qualities were normal summer craziness and is largely why I have rarely gone there. Typical fish commish. they have the nerve to ask to see your boat and license but they refuse to police the ramp. The high amount of drunks that come and go plus the loud stereos are hard to take. Then just after dark Mary Juana stinks the place up as well. The Commish would not need to have done anything ( I heard allot of folks complaining) it they would do their job and kick out drivers that can't back down the ramp on their first try at it without crossing lines. Thats the way some Jersey ramps used to be......you show up, the assign you a lane and it you blow it youre outta there. pretty embarrassing that people cant back a long skinny trailer. Okay this was my Mr Negative post.

Next is the Good stuff. Out in the cove where I was at I hopped around and really enjoyed weaving in and out of the shoreline nailing pans. I hadn't caught Rock bass in many years and a few were size able. I was surprised that no catfish showed up.
The first bait balls showed up a hr before dark with no predators there until 9-9:30. I fished the to and the bottom along the shoreline and as deep as 40' and Nothing. No bumps, no catches, just Jumping everywhere. I couldn't hook up. I also saw no boat catch any, so I feel vindicated. I'm sure they did catch some but I never hear one guy say he hooked up. The shore fishermen did better with a few 7 lb'ers showing up. Footballs and regulars. One guy used only Rapalla ( I got a nice Repala out of a tree that someone had just lost as it was brand new). Would I catch more if I spoke Brooklynite?
I'll go again but not soon. They said that the bass will be there through mid-judy. Is that true. Would a blackjighead worm have worked. I'm 62 and have never ever caught a fish on the KiTeck crap they alway sell me. Waste of money. Now once again I have rotting melting plastic crap in my box. I could have bought Repala for the same money and they store well.
I caught as many or more Pans on the fly as I did on the worms. Saw lots of snakes and a couple turtle.
All in all it was a great night out and I'll do it again sometime soon but hopefully with family.
Many thanks to A-5 for all the hooks jigs and good vibes.
Battery was dead and had to row in.

 

[Don]

A-5 how was the new boat?

 

[A-5]

um. I wired something wrong so it almost burned down. But other than that it was great loved it. I have to issues one I can solve and the other I can solve but need to look at it. But they aren’t boat related lol

 

[Don]

I hope thing work out for you. I got in deep dewdews for staying out all night. It will take years to live this down.

 

[pabassman]

I just woke up and feel like a drunk as I'm not used to the all night thing. I felt that the zoo qualities were normal summer craziness and is largely why I have rarely gone there. Typical fish commish. they have the nerve to ask to see your boat and license but they refuse to police the ramp. The high amount of drunks that come and go plus the loud stereos are hard to take. Then just after dark Mary Juana stinks the place up as well. The Commish would not need to have done anything ( I heard allot of folks complaining) it they would do their job and kick out drivers that can't back down the ramp on their first try at it without crossing lines. Thats the way some Jersey ramps used to be......you show up, the assign you a lane and it you blow it youre outta there. pretty embarrassing that people cant back a long skinny trailer. Okay this was my Mr Negative post.

Next is the Good stuff. Out in the cove where I was at I hopped around and really enjoyed weaving in and out of the shoreline nailing pans. I hadn't caught Rock bass in many years and a few were size able. I was surprised that no catfish showed up.
The first bait balls showed up a hr before dark with no predators there until 9-9:30. I fished the to and the bottom along the shoreline and as deep as 40' and Nothing. No bumps, no catches, just Jumping everywhere. I couldn't hook up. I also saw no boat catch any, so I feel vindicated. I'm sure they did catch some but I never hear one guy say he hooked up. The shore fishermen did better with a few 7 lb'ers showing up. Footballs and regulars. One guy used only Rapalla ( I got a nice Repala out of a tree that someone had just lost as it was brand new). Would I catch more if I spoke Brooklynite?
I'll go again but not soon. They said that the bass will be there through mid-judy. Is that true. Would a blackjighead worm have worked. I'm 62 and have never ever caught a fish on the KiTeck crap they alway sell me. Waste of money. Now once again I have rotting melting plastic crap in my box. I could have bought Repala for the same money and they store well.
I caught as many or more Pans on the fly as I did on the worms. Saw lots of snakes and a couple turtle.
All in all it was a great night out and I'll do it again sometime soon but hopefully with family.
Many thanks to A-5 for all the hooks jigs and good vibes.
Battery was dead and had to row in.

It was just a bad night. Most of the guys in our tourney last night were regulars there. Big sticks for stripers. All couldnt how bad the bite was. Boat traffic was heavy til well after 11. I did hear the fish commish pounded on several people pretty hard. 2 dui's, atv in the lot and several parking issues. Was glad to hear it. The launch/load thing is just out of hand. There is NO love for the"front platers". They have a bad reputation and far too often live up to and often exceed it. This striper & walleye bite will last another few weeks. Bass will always be in there. If you mean Keitechs they are a favorite bait there. 4.3 and 3.8s catch plenty of stripers and walleyes.

 

[Don]

In spite of the fact that I had a blast I've never caught a fish on any version of the Keitechs. Not even hits. Which tells me that it is far down the list, very very far down, of what they're after as food. I've had hits or even caught fish on virtually all other lures. I have or had reams of these rubber things off and on for years. Never any luck. I wish I had spent the same money on Rebels or something else. The guys fishing on land, adjacent to me, were nailing them on Live Minnow ( either Herring or shiners, 4"-5") and Raps. What I often see of Spinning fishermen, Maybe its the case or not with you, is they stand on the boat and cast one after the next after the next. I guess if one casts enough they'll eventually catch something. If they cast 10 times as much as I did they are likely to fare 10x's better. To me that is not fishing but more like 'chance'. Next time I go I'll be fishing Keitecks and Repala's at each end of the boat and will compare. While it could be that I'm Mr. Crankypants I'll have to actually catch something to know for sure and what action to impart. I've never caught any Bass family or Pike family on cheap rubber and over-weight jighheads. Perhaps some methodology from you or other members will be the ticket to change my game and negative opinion some but for now I will just have to keep swinging until something hits and I develop confidence in it. I Couldn't think of a nicer place to learn than Paupack to learn as that cove was alive with fish. Thanks for the help with this.

 

[pabassman]

In spite of the fact that I had a blast I've never caught a fish on any version of the Keitechs. Not even hits. Which tells me that it is far down the list, very very far down, of what they're after as food. I've had hits or even caught fish on virtually all other lures. I have or had reams of these rubber things off and on for years. Never any luck. I wish I had spent the same money on Rebels or something else. The guys fishing on land, adjacent to me, were nailing them on Live Minnow ( either Herring or shiners, 4"-5") and Raps. What I often see of Spinning fishermen, Maybe its the case or not with you, is they stand on the boat and cast one after the next after the next. I guess if one casts enough they'll eventually catch something. If they cast 10 times as much as I did they are likely to fare 10x's better. To me that is not fishing but more like 'chance'. Next time I go I'll be fishing Keitecks and Repala's at each end of the boat and will compare. While it could be that I'm Mr. Crankypants I'll have to actually catch something to know for sure and what action to impart. I've never caught any Bass family or Pike family on cheap rubber and over-weight jighheads. Perhaps some methodology from you or other members will be the ticket to change my game and negative opinion some but for now I will just have to keep swinging until something hits and I develop confidence in it. I Couldn't think of a nicer place to learn than Paupack to learn as that cove was alive with fish. Thanks for the help with this.

Well when your fishing lures you need to cast. retrieve, repeat. Things like tubes, worms, jigs and many soft plastics can be shaken, dragged, hopped slowly along the bottom. Swimbaits and other hard baits need to be cast and retrieved to impart action. For stripers and walleyes at night just a slow steady retrieve. Nothing fancy. I'm a power fisherman at heart. Lots of guys work an area slowly and methodically almost force feeding a fish. I dont. I hunt for active, feeding fish. Long standing motto "he who makes the most casts wins".

 

[Don]

Well I guess then that is what I have to learn. I don’t like being skunked. I do like eating fish. I had a good laugh at one point. I had a gigantic lure on for a while. Papa something or another. I managed to snag two herring and then caught a rock bass smaller/shorter than the lure.

 

[A-5]

Paddle tail/Shad/fluke/keitech. Top three baits I throw. Are you using a weighted hook. I put them on non weighted hook also. Put them on spinner baits,Jigs, and o on. Early morning and evenings

 

[Don]

Why. They don't work, hahahahaha. but seriously the guy sold me 1/0 weighted Jigs. Black gloss. Why would I not use what the 67 yr old Pastor sold my, Hmmmmmm? Okay with me. I'll try it. If I catch nothing I''ll at least be even with the Kietech. But that is for Black bass. The Stripers aren't even in Early morn and Eve. Their office hours are over 3-3:30 am. Why Spinner Jigs when everyone else has told me to drag them on the bottom negating any spin action. I'll try it Brothuh. Just sayin.........Remember, I'm on my way to becoming a "Power Fisherman".

 

[Don]

Pa Mentioned to bring my biggest net. While seeing the catch last night I drew the same conclusion that I did with many other species........no net needed. On the chance I might catch a large Pickerel or Freshwater Bluefish I carry one anyway but will go back to the standard Size I had used for Bluefish in Jersey. The one in the photo I found floating in Raritan Bay Just off Perth Amboy. The lures I used for Bluefish lures are in the photo (excepting the little Repala type lure, which I found in a tree last night). Some of the hooks need replacing and I think I'll go with single heavy hooks when I do. The guy at the bait shop suggested that I carry a black sharpie for blackening these lures to night fish. Sounds reasonable for a couple of them.

 

[Gremcat]

I forgot the worms at home. Six dozen. So I bought 2 doz
mat the sport shop you mentioned. Busy place. It’s so warm that the minnows were dead before I launched. I used half the worms before they were goo.
I caught allot of rock bass some were the biggest I’ve ever caugh. One 10” perch and a handful of various sunfish. Small side.
do I use the smaller rock bass and gills for bait later. Channel cats maybe?
then I got a bunch of plastics from the guy and the corresponding jig heads.
a-5 left me plenty of other hooks and jig heads as well. I have tasty wachy worms. Lastly lots of lures. I feel like Gremcat…. I got more than my house has room for. From now until dark it’s fflyfishing.

I’ve got more house than stuff, it’s just going to be tough if we downsize and as kids grow other adults seem to move in LOL. My glorious 2k sq ft 2 floor mancave with knotty pine all around including a 15’ bar has become my brothers Apt. Now my Mom is scheming to retire early and move in wherever I am.

I asked if she spoke Mandarin , LOL, might be posting international trout pics soon.....