# Let's talk about fishing!



## Insanity (May 23, 2015)

Man its dead quite on here so every one must be fishing. 
So what's every one fishing for? 
If it swims IL fish for it. Mostly bass. But crappie and gills are so much fun also. If I can just learn to find them now that I have another boat.
Got pics of your haul or [email protected]'s.


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## JMichael (May 23, 2015)

When it comes to fish, my main target is crappie. Secondary is bream/bluegill and third would have to be catfish (preferably flathead). The last couple of years, the weather has been so messed up, it has caused the crappie to move/spawn abnormally and it has made it a real challenge to find them in numbers. I didn't do well with the bream last year but this year is looking good so far. The males are just now starting to dig their beds and the females should start showing up soon. I don't like the bream as much as crappie, but my brother loves them and will eat every one I can catch. And I enjoy catching them.... so. I'm hoping this year will be a repeat of 2013, it went something like this on a daily basis, for a while.


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## Insanity (May 23, 2015)

Had an assum day last week. But my stupid water proof phone got wet ( two days I a row!) and wouldn't take pics of the big girls I released. Had a 6 and 7 pounder. And serval more 4 s. Missed or quick released a bunch. 
These are three I kept to stock the wife up on bass fillets as that's what she likes best. Now i need to find me some crappie or big gills.


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## Insanity (May 23, 2015)

Wow JMichael. That's a lot of gills. I'm digging for the pic of a few I had two weeks ago but I haven't found it yet. Stupid phone put it somwhere weird again.
Here's some white bass from winter.


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## JMichael (May 23, 2015)

When the spawn is on and the weather is right, we normally bring in anywhere from 60 to 100 a day (50 per person per day limit here). Pre spawn like now, we're lucky to get 2 dozen, post spawn will be a little better on a good day.


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## Insanity (May 23, 2015)

JMichael said:


> When the spawn is on and the weather is right, we normally bring in anywhere from 60 to 100 a day (50 per person per day limit here). Pre spawn like now, we're lucky to get 2 dozen, post spawn will be a little better on a good day.



Are you live baiting or jigging. I'm wanting to get into jigs for them. But have had limited success in past years. They always take a worm over the jig for me. But I here tell you can catch big ones during the summer on jigs.


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## JMichael (May 23, 2015)

I use both, but mostly live bait (crickets and wax worms). I've found that they love crickets in the early spring/spawn but stop biting on them before the spawn is over and that's when I switch to wax worms. I also use artificial wax worms and "Bream Killer" jigs. I've got some artificial crickets that I plan to try this year. If they work out it would sure save me some time and hassle having to go get crickets all the time.

BTW What part of TN are you in?

This is what I like to see at the end of my fishing trips. There's nothing for scale in the pic but the 2 largest were pushing 3 lbs. There were a few in this pic that would have normally been tossed back, but they swallowed the hook too deep and weren't going to survive.


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## paper (May 23, 2015)

Got this bad boy (31") Thursday afternoon, just hanging a shiner under a bobber. Still amazes me the power a Northern has.. When they want to leave, they do!!!

I had just gotten home from being gone from work for a week and just wanted to get out.. I had too many projects to do after fishing, so adding fish cleaning to the list didn't seem like a good idea so I tossed it back in.. A couple pumps after putting it back in the water, it left in a hurry, and now someone else can catch it and it can make more little Northerns for me to catch at a later date..


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## Insanity (May 23, 2015)

Clarksville middle tn. Lots of water here to fish. 
I used to use wax worms and crickets. There much cleaner to use. 
But i can cast a inch long piece of night crawler weightless better.
I want to get into fly fishing this year I love to see them pop the bugs off the surface.

I've got a Larance 4 dsi. And I still can't find the crappie. I'm looking in the wrong places I think. Lol


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## Insanity (May 23, 2015)

The shell cracker where on beds at the local pond a couple days ago. I'm fighting the ederge hard rite now not to go take a few. Lol
I'm trying to leave them alone this year so they can multiple. Counted 40 I could see. Big fat ones to. 
I'm gonna go bass fish it in a few. But im not taking nothing but bait casters to make sure I don't harass them. :mrgreen:


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## Captain Ahab (May 23, 2015)

I have been mostly chasing Strip[ed Bass in the ocean and black drum as well.

Did red drum last month - wish that were a closer fishery for me!


In FW I have started my night tripping - lots of males as the big girls are still doing the sex thank round here! 


Need to go look at the DE river smallies very soon


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## fishnpreacher (May 25, 2015)

I'm in NE Ga, and the bream bite was ON about 2 weeks ago. I fly fish and there are not many things as fun as bedding bream on the fly. I fished the last 2 hours of daylight, never moved the boat, and caught 40 or so, all on a little yellow foam spider.
And just for good measure boated a few crappie by trolling as I headed back to the ramp. My wife doesn't like to eat fish, so they were all released to fight another day.


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## bcbouy (Jun 5, 2015)

spring fishing for trout. its full on mayhem since early april.we bought a new camper so we've been out camping every weekend.the wife kicked my butt last year but this year its all me  .she's not happy.last weekend me 9 her 1.


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## Keystone (Jun 5, 2015)

Walleye, Northern Pike, Channel Cats and Perch are what I target. But like many I am just happy to be on the water and maybe catch something....


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## Insanity (Jun 5, 2015)

bcbouy said:


> spring fishing for trout. its full on mayhem since early april.we bought a new camper so we've been out camping every weekend.the wife kicked my butt last year but this year its all me  .she's not happy.last weekend me 9 her 1.



Man I miss those days. We had an airstream parked on a seasonal site a few years ago. Theres nothing like camping and fishing every weekend. 

IL admit it I've been striking out lately. Fishing creeks that feed into the main river here. And the fish have moved out. My daughter's been going with me and I don't feel comfrontable taking my little boat out on the main river with her with me.
Going back to a small lake this weekend. See if they can hide there. Lol


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## FishingForSupper (Jun 5, 2015)

Fish mostly for panfish when the weather lets us, this year it's been so cold and wet we haven't been out much. If it doesn't stop raining here I'll be using the boat or kayaks to go to work! Seems the spawn was late this year so hopefully I can get back out and get some crappie and bluegill and maybe a catfish or three.


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## breachless (Jun 5, 2015)

Been fishing a lot up here... Lot's of Bass, a few Walleye, and plenty of Northerns as always (caught by accident of course, but still a ton of fun none the less).

My brother and I had a hell of a weekend 2 weeks ago. We had 5 17" to 17.5" fish in the boat in the span of two hours. Here is one of them:




And then I hauled in this nice 18.5" hawg:


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## Captain Ahab (Jun 5, 2015)

Nice fish! 

From a few ago - my son reeled in one of many blues that day! 


LM Bass has turned on here - I already have two over 5 lbs this year which is nice and about a zillion less then that


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## FL Angler (Jun 6, 2015)

I've been fishing for drums...red or black.


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## Jim (Jun 6, 2015)

Great pictures guys! =D>


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## PsychoXP18CC (Jun 7, 2015)

We fish the spawn for White Bass (Sandbass here in Tx), and catch them as a by-product of fishing freshy Striped, and Hybrid Striped Bass. Here are a few pics.


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## H20hawgs (Jun 8, 2015)

Been River Striper fishing in Ga. Kids love the jet boat ride and catching fish. This is my youngest daughter. Loves to reel them in but won't hold one for nothing... I'd say I've been 90 percent successful...lol


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## breachless (Jun 12, 2015)

Dear god fishing in the south looks like fun...


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## Fishin Aint Easy (Jun 12, 2015)

Captain Ahab said:


> Nice fish!
> 
> From a few ago - my son reeled in one of many blues that day!
> 
> ...


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## Fishin Aint Easy (Jun 12, 2015)

Snakehead from a recent trip back to my mother land of southern MD.


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## bcbouy (Jun 15, 2015)

we just got home from 4 days of kokanee fishing.stopped at one of our favorite rainbow lakes on the way home,caught 4 in 2 hours,then headed on home.good weekend.


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## duckfish (Jun 15, 2015)

My younger daughter was able to get off work and come home for the weekend to spend some time with the old man for his birthday. She didn't have to ask twice when she said she wanted to go fishing. Turned out to be the best afternoon of fishing I've had on the middle Susquehanna in probably 10 years. We caught a dozen smallmouth and quite a few more than that catfish. 6 or 8 of the catfish and 3 of the bass were on live minnows, a couple bass on Craw Pappi's, but the hot bait for both was actually 4" Gulp Emerald Shiners. We probably lost close to 10 bass throwin lures on jumps. I was as excited as a school boy at recess. It's been too many years since I've seen that many bass jumping at the end of my line.


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## onthewater102 (Jun 15, 2015)

Bass fishing in CT has been really off this year according to just about everyone on my CT fishing forum - we had a late ice out (beginning of the 3rd week in April) with the water breaking into the 40's only in the last week of April, but from there on out the season's been in a mad dash fast forward. Within the first three weeks of May we saw the entire pre-spawn movement pattern, followed by the actual spawn with nests everywhere, and onto a post-spawn funk by the Memorial Day weekend (which was about the time of the last full moon). 3 weeks from start to finish!! There are tens of thousands of fry in all the weeds at this point - so it was a successful spawn, I just can't remember it ever progressing as quickly as it has from the point the water hit 40 degrees and the fish started to wake up to the point that everything is back to being lazy again.

Add insult to injury and the real aggressive bite that usually follows the post-spawn scatter funk (when the water hits 68-70 and their metabolism maxes out) never materialized. Instead they've gone straight into the heat of summer lazy-all-day gorging down at night despite the fact that we're about to hit the new moon which usually puts the skunk on a night bite...

Very very wierd year.

Still haven't managed to break 4lbs, a few 3's but nothing really picture worthy. I took a quick pic of a <2.5 just to have something to show I didn't get skunked on my report from last Friday...





The little guy sure shows off a 3lb fish nicely!!!






Same size fish in the hands of one of my other fishing buddies...not nearly as impressive looking. This fish was a big round girl who still hadn't spawned as of last Wednesday afternoon. Sunfish were on their nests already, so she's just too late to the party this year...






My only non-pickerel prize for 4 hours on the water last Friday morning...long skinny spawned out girl in desperate need of a crawfish buffet...sad...at least the tinny build-out is exceeding my expectations.


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## H20hawgs (Jun 29, 2015)

Went out and flipped some Shad for rockfish aka striped bass...

https://youtu.be/hUl0U1Z_m34


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## Captain Ahab (Jun 30, 2015)

H20hawgs said:


> Went out and flipped some Shad for rockfish aka striped bass...
> 
> https://youtu.be/hUl0U1Z_m34





Great video - loosk like fun.

Next trip have you fishing partner toss a bait behind the fish you are reeling in - those striped carp like to "follow the leader" and there is likely another fish behind the hooked fish


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## H20hawgs (Jun 30, 2015)

Captain Ahab said:


> H20hawgs said:
> 
> 
> > Went out and flipped some Shad for rockfish aka striped bass...
> ...


Yes they do.... We double up a few times. I just put up a clip of pitching. Fun day. No doubt.


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## BigTerp (Jul 6, 2015)

Caught my personal best channel catfish over the holiday weekend. 10# 6oz. Was fishing right up against a large dam in the Upper Potomac River in Maryland. Was by myself, so didn't get the best pictures


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## Captain Ahab (Jul 6, 2015)

Nice catty


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## onthewater102 (Jul 6, 2015)

AWESOME!!! There is a dam at the head of the impounded lake I fish quite often here in CT, and I've heard it's the spot for cats if you're going to find them anywhere, I just don't know the first thing about targeting them - any tips??? I know there are white cats in there, not sure if channels have made their way in yet or not, but no-one really targets them so it's hard to say.


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## Jim (Jul 6, 2015)

nice job!


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## BigTerp (Jul 6, 2015)

onthewater102 said:


> AWESOME!!! There is a dam at the head of the impounded lake I fish quite often here in CT, and I've heard it's the spot for cats if you're going to find them anywhere, I just don't know the first thing about targeting them - any tips??? I know there are white cats in there, not sure if channels have made their way in yet or not, but no-one really targets them so it's hard to say.



I really just started targeting catfish this year. Mostly out of frustration at my lack of smallmouth success. I used to just fish any old spot in the river with chicken livers and similar baits. Always did well with catching a lot of smaller channels this way. But I've always heard that fishing right against the face of the dam could produce some big ones, along with using cut bait. What I've been doing recently is catching my own sunfish and bluegill and cutting them into three sections. Head, tail and midsection. I don't use the tail and if the fish is big enough you can get 2-3 pieces out of the mid section. I use a 4/0 kahle hook with a 1/2 or 1 oz egg sinker (depending on current) carolina rigged. I hook the head through the eyes and it seems to stay on for ever. The mid sections I hook right below the spine. A lot of times I cast right into the dam face itself. But I also look for calmer water right below the dam that usually indicates a deeper hole of some sort, and cast right at it. Using cut bait seems slower for me and I don't catch as many fish, but the ones I catch (and miss) are always bigger than on any other bait.


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## Captain Ahab (Jul 6, 2015)

Use those bluegills whole and alive for bigger cats!


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## WaterWaif (Jul 6, 2015)

Great cat Terp!
If you have flatheads there they prefer live fish like bluegills or maybe a small, 12" or under, stinky sucker depending on how big of cats...


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## BigTerp (Jul 13, 2015)

Catfishing has still been producing. Took my little brother (14) Friday evening and he caught his first catfish. A 5#10oz. channel. He was fired up!! I followed up later in the evening with a 12#10oz. flathead and right after another flathead at 11#4oz. He's already trying to find another weekend to go with me. Which I'm looking forward to as well.


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## JMichael (Jul 13, 2015)

Nice haul on the catfish. Flathead cat is by far my favorite to eat of all the catfish family. The meat is so white and flakey when it's cooked properly. I personally prefer the ones 10 lbs or under. Maybe it's just my perception (several friends agree), but something in the texture of the meat changes when they get much larger than that. But they're all fun to catch and I eat all of them including the blue and channel and or those at 30+ lbs, because even if they aren't my "preferred" size flathead, they still taste pretty darn good. :mrgreen:


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## BigTerp (Jul 13, 2015)

JMichael said:


> Nice haul on the catfish. Flathead cat is by far my favorite to eat of all the catfish family. The meat is so white and flakey when it's cooked properly. I personally prefer the ones 10 lbs or under. Maybe it's just my perception (several friends agree), but something in the texture of the meat changes when they get much larger than that. But they're all fun to catch and I eat all of them including the blue and channel and or those at 30+ lbs, because even if they aren't my "preferred" size flathead, they still taste pretty darn good. :mrgreen:



Those were my first flathead. Didn't even realize we had them in that stretch of the river. They are considered invasive and the Maryland DNR wants you to keep everyone you catch. I released both of mine. Didn't realize that until I was reading up on it  They also don't recommend eating any of the larger ones over 30" because of pollutants and heavy metal contaminants.


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## JMichael (Jul 13, 2015)

I've heard about that problem with chemicals in them, and from what I've read, it appears to get worse the closer you get to the northeastern part of the country due to the heavy industry and more pollutants in the water. The game and fish regularly monitor that around here and there have been times when they've issued warnings for the fish in a certain area, but typically they give a green light to eating any and all sizes here.


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