So after I wrote the post National Boathing and Fishing Week the writer of the blog Small Stream Reflections left a comment saying that he plans to do the same thing he always does (fish as much as possible). I plan to do that same thing, but the part that makes this week different for me is the fact that I will be traveling and it happens to fall on a week that is meant to promote fishing and boating nation wide.
In my post I planned to kick this week off by taking my wife fishing for free fish day again (second year in a row). We borrowed a canoe and hit the water, and instead of me putting a couple pictures around a nice story maybe you just read my wife's account of the afternoon. She posted this on her blog and it is a great telling of what happened on Saturday afternoon. The title of her post is Free Fish Day. Be sure to look at all the pictures, she is talented with that camera and I have been trying to get her to come along and take more fishing pictures for me.
Well I hope to post a lot this week and maybe that will help my posts stay really consistent for a while. Stay tuned for a really successful trout fishing trip, the trip was successful on more then just a catching fish level so come on back for find out more.
-Bruce
Showing posts with label spin fishing warm water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spin fishing warm water. Show all posts
Monday, June 6, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Home Field Advantage
So I have been spin fishing again. For the past four years the only rods I owned were fly rods, and all I have done is fly fish for trout and pan fish. Since we moved to a place where trout fishing is not the norm, I have been trying to figure out how to consistently land bass on my fly rod. This challenge is proving to be a tall order for me for some reason (I guess I just think like a trout most of the time).
In an effort to figure out what types of flies I am going to need to consistently land bass, I bought an old cheap spin rod to chuck rubber worms in the meantime and I have been fishing with John, a member of our church. You may recall my post on how I am still a fisherman first - on that trip I caught a lot of bass and one big one. John caught four or five big ones, but nowhere near the numbers I was catching.
This past Friday, John had a day off work and the weather was amazing, so we loaded up the bass hunter (a cool little boat for still water fishing) and hit the water. As nice as the day was, the fishing was kind of slow. I hooked up with a big pickerel, but as it tangled itself in the weeds and rolled around it cut my line. It was a good sized fish and kinda threw me for a loop for the next couple hours.
Meanwhile, John was in the back of the boat hooking up with some bass and pickerels and doing well. I was having a bad day for catching fish, but honestly, bobbing along on a pond with the weather in the high 70's and a breeze, I was fine with just being there. So finally on a cast next to some lily pads, just as the worm hit the water there was a thump on the other end of the line. I set the hook hard and hauled in a bass that was the size of the fish I caught last Sunday. A nice, healthy, big bass and I felt much better about my day. After checking the power on the battery the captain made the call to start heading to the truck. We were getting near the rock I caught the big fish off of the last time we went out and I got a knot in my line and was not able to cast to it.
So John lobbed one toward it, and I looked back just in time to see him setting the hook (in same hole I caught my monster in less then a week ago). As soon as he set it we both saw a big splash of water and as he got it to the boat we realized just what he had on the other end of his line. My fish last week was a hair over 15 inches and a little over 2 lbs. The lunker John hauled in Friday was close to 19 inches, and weighed a hair over 4 lbs. (4lbs 2ozs to be exact). I guess if you fish a body of water long enough you get to know the fish and end up catching big ones on a more regular basis.
All in all John fished like a champ on Friday and probably caught close to 20lbs of fish. I guess sometimes it pays to have a little home field advantage.
Well done John, but next time I will land the monster.
-Bruce
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| This was our fishing buddy for part of the afternoon. (it's a Cormorant) |
In an effort to figure out what types of flies I am going to need to consistently land bass, I bought an old cheap spin rod to chuck rubber worms in the meantime and I have been fishing with John, a member of our church. You may recall my post on how I am still a fisherman first - on that trip I caught a lot of bass and one big one. John caught four or five big ones, but nowhere near the numbers I was catching.
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| This just goes to show that I catch bluegill on everything, even a giant bass hook and worm! |
This past Friday, John had a day off work and the weather was amazing, so we loaded up the bass hunter (a cool little boat for still water fishing) and hit the water. As nice as the day was, the fishing was kind of slow. I hooked up with a big pickerel, but as it tangled itself in the weeds and rolled around it cut my line. It was a good sized fish and kinda threw me for a loop for the next couple hours.
Meanwhile, John was in the back of the boat hooking up with some bass and pickerels and doing well. I was having a bad day for catching fish, but honestly, bobbing along on a pond with the weather in the high 70's and a breeze, I was fine with just being there. So finally on a cast next to some lily pads, just as the worm hit the water there was a thump on the other end of the line. I set the hook hard and hauled in a bass that was the size of the fish I caught last Sunday. A nice, healthy, big bass and I felt much better about my day. After checking the power on the battery the captain made the call to start heading to the truck. We were getting near the rock I caught the big fish off of the last time we went out and I got a knot in my line and was not able to cast to it.
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| There it is! The only bass that I got on the boat. |
So John lobbed one toward it, and I looked back just in time to see him setting the hook (in same hole I caught my monster in less then a week ago). As soon as he set it we both saw a big splash of water and as he got it to the boat we realized just what he had on the other end of his line. My fish last week was a hair over 15 inches and a little over 2 lbs. The lunker John hauled in Friday was close to 19 inches, and weighed a hair over 4 lbs. (4lbs 2ozs to be exact). I guess if you fish a body of water long enough you get to know the fish and end up catching big ones on a more regular basis.
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| Here is the monster fish, and the guy who has home field advantage on this pond. Maybe I'll put a fly rod in his hand and stand him in a trout stream sometime to show him that I can fish for something just not bass. |
All in all John fished like a champ on Friday and probably caught close to 20lbs of fish. I guess sometimes it pays to have a little home field advantage.
Well done John, but next time I will land the monster.
-Bruce
Monday, May 23, 2011
I'm Still a Fisherman!
That is right I am still a fisherman and this weekend was a prime example of how I am still a blogging rookie. Saturday morning I went fishing with John and Kyle from our church. We only had a couple hours in the morning, but John and Kyle are from here and took me to a local spot that they knew we would have some luck at and helped me out with some spin fishing tactics.
We started out catching crappies, I caught two right out of the gate and was feeling good. Then John got one and we kept moving. As time was running out John caught a couple small bass and a couple small pickerel. Then it was time to get the boat out of the water and head back to the house.
Sounds great right? Now that I recapped the morning there would normally be some pictures of the trip right? Well here is where my rookie status comes in - I had a camera in my gear bag, and never took it out. In theory, I did not catch that lunker so it really does not matter right? Well yesterday after church and a post church clean up day, John asked if I could get out and fish again, and I said yes before even thinking about my evening plans.
Once again time was limited but we had a good two and a half hours and so he took me on another great guided trip. We hit a different body of water this time and once again I was out of the gates fast. He was still putting a hook on as I was setting the hook on the first bass. I hit a bunch of little bass in the first half hour. Then John got in the game with a bigger 2 pounders and a couple pickerel. We both went cold for a couple minutes and John moved us to a spot that he promised would have plenty of fish. Once we got there he put another big bass in the boat. I missed a couple, got some knots in my line and John started to catch more fish. Finally I was back to fishing and he pointed out a rock that always holds fish I missed a couple off of it before we moved on.
After some hits off a rock I decided to fish a big rock at a new spot. I cast my rubber worm out and let it sink a couple seconds, then gave it a couple twitches and gave a big hook set (the kinda stuff you see on tv shows). After setting the hook I thought that maybe I got stuck on the bottom, but then there was a head shake and I knew it was a good fish. I started to work it to the top and John was very helpful reminding me that "it would be a shame to loose a nice fish like this one".
I got it to the boat and admired it for a minute, then measured it to be a little over 15 inches and weighed it in at 2 lbs 13 oz. By far the biggest bass I have caught in over 4 years - but did I think to take a snap shot of the big guy? NO! Does this make me a blogging rookie? Yes.
One thing this weekend showed me is that as much as I think I am a blogger, the truth is I am still a fisherman first, and sometimes it is fun to just fish.
I do not regret not taking a picture of these fish because I had a ton of fun, and after thinking about the spin techniques that worked all weekend I think I can dream up some fly patterns to do the same. So stay tuned for that.
-Bruce
We started out catching crappies, I caught two right out of the gate and was feeling good. Then John got one and we kept moving. As time was running out John caught a couple small bass and a couple small pickerel. Then it was time to get the boat out of the water and head back to the house.
Sounds great right? Now that I recapped the morning there would normally be some pictures of the trip right? Well here is where my rookie status comes in - I had a camera in my gear bag, and never took it out. In theory, I did not catch that lunker so it really does not matter right? Well yesterday after church and a post church clean up day, John asked if I could get out and fish again, and I said yes before even thinking about my evening plans.
Once again time was limited but we had a good two and a half hours and so he took me on another great guided trip. We hit a different body of water this time and once again I was out of the gates fast. He was still putting a hook on as I was setting the hook on the first bass. I hit a bunch of little bass in the first half hour. Then John got in the game with a bigger 2 pounders and a couple pickerel. We both went cold for a couple minutes and John moved us to a spot that he promised would have plenty of fish. Once we got there he put another big bass in the boat. I missed a couple, got some knots in my line and John started to catch more fish. Finally I was back to fishing and he pointed out a rock that always holds fish I missed a couple off of it before we moved on.
After some hits off a rock I decided to fish a big rock at a new spot. I cast my rubber worm out and let it sink a couple seconds, then gave it a couple twitches and gave a big hook set (the kinda stuff you see on tv shows). After setting the hook I thought that maybe I got stuck on the bottom, but then there was a head shake and I knew it was a good fish. I started to work it to the top and John was very helpful reminding me that "it would be a shame to loose a nice fish like this one".
I got it to the boat and admired it for a minute, then measured it to be a little over 15 inches and weighed it in at 2 lbs 13 oz. By far the biggest bass I have caught in over 4 years - but did I think to take a snap shot of the big guy? NO! Does this make me a blogging rookie? Yes.
One thing this weekend showed me is that as much as I think I am a blogger, the truth is I am still a fisherman first, and sometimes it is fun to just fish.
I do not regret not taking a picture of these fish because I had a ton of fun, and after thinking about the spin techniques that worked all weekend I think I can dream up some fly patterns to do the same. So stay tuned for that.
-Bruce
Saturday, May 7, 2011
My Week In Fish
Sorry it has been over a week since I posted anything, but if you look at the garden link you will see I have been working on the garden a little, and I have been fishing as well. Sarah asked me the other day why after catching two new species and trying a new travel method I have not written about it. Well here are the cliff notes version of the week.
I spin fished a reservoir from the shore early in the week, and landed two new species (Chain Pickerel and Yellow Perch). The other thing that is new is that we are back to being a one car family for about a month. We did this for two years in Atlanta and did just fine so we will make this work till we get the cars and licenses switched to the new state. In the mean time I grabbed my new bag, and my Redington and my TREK. That is right, it is peddle power for about a month. Okay enough typing here are some pictures of my week I caught a lot of trout but only took pictures of a couple of them.
I spin fished a reservoir from the shore early in the week, and landed two new species (Chain Pickerel and Yellow Perch). The other thing that is new is that we are back to being a one car family for about a month. We did this for two years in Atlanta and did just fine so we will make this work till we get the cars and licenses switched to the new state. In the mean time I grabbed my new bag, and my Redington and my TREK. That is right, it is peddle power for about a month. Okay enough typing here are some pictures of my week I caught a lot of trout but only took pictures of a couple of them.
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| This month's mode of transpotation! |
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| The waters are tinted red/orange here and I think that is why the fish are darker here. |
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| Cahill is still a very popular fly |
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| OKAY friends does this fish look wild or was it stocked this year? |
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| Got this guy on a spin rod, but I'll be on a boat/float tube soon, and that's when I'll be throwing flies at them! |
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| Perch! |
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| This was taken with my phone, and this trout was taken on a quick trip one evening this week. |
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