It's quiet around here...

[ReCycled]

With Winter gone I guess there's projects to do. What's everybody doing?
 

[haunted]

I've been working on quite a few projects lately, most are 1-nighters though. I plan on walking miles down the beach tonight past hundreds and hundreds 1k-10k / week tourist cottages with a few bottles of liquor, people partying memorial day / week being the dependent variable.

Aside from that hmmmmm...

Renovating my dad's old 35" commercial fishing boat, in addition to transforming it into a speed boat. This is a longgggg-term project, being that aside from the inboard to outboard change, 2 V8 350's for boating are kind of costly...

Then I have my usual gardening aimed towards not having to buy produce the entire summer....or just for making things that I particularly like to eat. I even have a lime tree for making my gin and tonics. 

Then there's my musical projects.......

[ReCycled]

Yikes...you are busy. I'm still renovating my old farm house. Torn out all the crap framing in the basement and replaced it with nice new 2x8's. Working on the second floor now. I must have like 12 steel jack posts holding things up. I had to sever the floor from the walls to replace stuff. The house uses balloon-framing, an old building technique not used anymore. I have at least 2 more years work in this house until it's more-or-less constructed properly. Then on to the nice stuff like new kitchen, bathrooms, the trims. paint, and so on.
 

[|iR|Focalor]

My garden got started late as hell this year. I didn't start my seed trays until the first of May because I figured the weather wouldn't cooperate. I seeded the okra directly into the ground about a week or two ago, it's finally popped through the soil and starting to grow. If it will hold off on raining for a little while, at some point this week I'll be able to transplant out the rest of my seedlings, although I may have to end up going to the store to BUY some tomato plants, the tomato seedlings aren't looking too strong.

I bought an old 1978 Harley Davidson Shovelhead from a guy who works with a buddy of mine at an auto shop. It was in several pieces. The guy planned on making a chopper out of it but never got around to it. It all looked like an unholy nightmare, covered in grease, oil, and filth. It was a total steal though, my friend managed to talk him down to 1000 bucks. We've been spending some time here and there taking it apart further to clean everything up really good and see what needs replacing. So far, everything is in decent working condition. It needs some paint, a new seat, a little trim work, and new cables, but nothing really serious. I already took the baffles out of the straight pipes in anticipation of annoying the living shit out of the neighbors when I get it running, although I may swap them out for some 2 in 1 pipes that my buddy has.

Been fishing a little bit too. I don't know what the deal is, but the fish don't seem to be as active this year. I only fish at the pond behind my house. In the last 2 summers, the fishing has been really good. I'd get bites all afternoon and evening long. After about 3 hours of fishing, I'd usually count about 20 to 25 fish that I'd pull out. This year has been really slow. I went to the bait shop down the road a few weeks ago and picked up about 7 dozen medium sized live shad minnows to keep in my aquarium so I could just dip some out whenever I felt like going down there and hooking a few bass. I think I only ended up catching maybe 5 bass total off of all 80 of the minnows. Buzz baits aren't working, spinners don't work, frogs won't work, nothing.

[ReCycled]

In all my years of fishing I've found the most productive lure under most circumstances is Mepps spinners. Particularly the gold spinner with the bushy tail. I just tailor the size of the lure to what I'm after. Which is usually bass, pike or walleye.

[|iR|Focalor]

I don't know if y'all ever call them the same thing, but I usually call that type of lure a "rooster tail". I can usually do pretty good with rooster tails. Well... provided it's a black body with a black tail. I usually catch brim with it, but every now and then a smaller bass might go after it. If I use a yellow one or a gray one or any color other than black, I usually get zero hits on it. I used to have an old one with a gold spinner on it that they'd go after like crazy, but I snagged it in the cattails and lost it. I usually end up losing them pretty quick whenever I get one, I'll sling it in the tree hanging over the dock or something. I can't find them with gold spinners anymore, the only ones they ever have at the stores are silver. They don't make them like they used to either. My old one would spin on every single cast. Half the time I toss out one of the new ones, by the time I get it back to the dock I see that the spinner is hung up sideways and the lure is just dragging along. For bass, I have a larger one that just has steel weights for a body and no tail with a silver spinner. Used to belong to my grandfather, so there's no telling how old it is. Works perfectly, spins about 95% of the time. I try to be extra careful with it and never never ever cast it anywhere where I might accidentally wrap it around a tree branch. One of the monster catfish grabbed it up one day and took off across the lake with it. I was praying to god that I'd be able to reel him in before he darted off one good time and snapped my line. I lowered the drag a good bit to try to keep him from breaking the line. About the time I worked him up to the dock, he slung it out of his mouth and swam off. I would've never thought that one of the cats would've gone after it to begin with. I should've known some shit like that was fixing to happen though, the fish were biting pretty good for a while and then just stopped all the sudden. I've noticed that they tend to clear the fuck out whenever the catfish come out from their holes and start doing their hunting.

[haunted]

I love fishing. Anyone would who lives here though. We're the closest point to the gulf stream in the world, and right now off-shore fishing is so hot. I went the other day and we couldn't even get more than 2 lines out before we had a gaffer dolphin on (mahi). They've been so thick, but there's also been plenty of wahoo, yellow-fin tuna, blue marlin, white marlin, as well as many other billfish. The inshore fishing is just as good, huge red drum (channel bass) and cobia are thick right now, as well as the usual bluefish, spanish mackeral, and gray/spec. trout. To top it off, freshwater fishing owns here too. The ponds are small here in comparison to other places, and there's so many big large mouth. Bluegills the size of dinner plates, 7-12lb large mouth (that i have been fortunate enough to see, here), and 50-65 lb carp.

In all types of fishing, salt or freshwater, I've always said that live-bait is king.. from my experience. That being said, I usually kind of bend this rule using live-bait for pretty much anything, except if I'm going after a dumber fish. Yeah, all fish are somewhat on the stupid side, I know... but, any avid fisherman knows that some fish are hundreds and hundreds x smarter than others. An example would be a bluefish. I have been out on the boat when the bluefish are right(thousands and thousands of bluefish in a small area, hundreds breaking the water simultaneously at any given time...) and someone threw a beer can in the water. The can was being attacked at around 20 different angles until it was raped into submission and capsized. An even better story with bluefish is from my dad. Him and a friend caught em' really thick one time like I just described, and literally tied rags on the end of their lines. No hooks, no bait, or anything.. just a dirty rag. They were reeling up bluefish left and right, often a few on the same rag.

Nothing beats live-bait though. I love being in clear water and watching something like a flounder or large mouth slowly creep up on it and watch it for a minute or 2.. then finally inhale it. Any kind of fresh water live-baiting I do is always with the same homemade rig: bobber with a 3.5 ft liter. Salt water I use a sinker 95% of the time, being that the surface hitting fish I could go after with a bobber could most of the time be caught much more easily with an artificial lure, especially with some good wind (average wind is 17mph here)

I catch my own bull-minnows for bait. They are by far the best imo solely do to their resilience. You can freeze them in your cooler in a baggie then revive them the next day and they will slowly kick back to life. You can use them in freshwater just as easy.. and they can pretty much stay out of the water for 5 minutes and be totally fine.



I am looking at loads of these things and jumping mullet in the water next to my boat as i'm typing this sitting on my porch...(brought my laptop out here) As for spinner baits, I have used them and they are decent lures, but they aren't needed really with the types of fishing around here.

Anyone whoever vacations to the outer banks can hit me up to do some serious fishing. I have too much of the best fishing gear to count for any type of fishing, and I open up one of the few marinas around here too 5 days a week. We'll be covered for all fishing needs.. At this very second I could go out in my boat and stop about 3-4 minutes out, and in about an hour I'd have a dozen 1-2lb spec. trout and 2 5-gal buckets full of bay scallops............... 

[reaper]

my best lure has been a plain shiny hook, with nothing on it.  I'd drop it in the water and instantly have a bite, just crappie though

[|iR|Focalor]

I agree, live bait usually works the best for me. Little pinks or the big fat nightcrawlers work pretty good in a river with a decent current. I'll attach a big tear drop sinker to the snap swivel to keep it in place on the bottom. I tend to usually feed the worm on the hook length-wise to where most of the shank is surrounded with the worm, otherwise they tend to nibble it off too soon. The nightcrawlers at the Happy Hooker bait shop (hell of a name, huh) are a good deal. They're enormous, so I can usually cut them into halves or thirds and have more bait.

I don't have as much luck with worms in lakes and ponds though. I mainly like to use crickets and grasshoppers in a lake, especially grasshoppers and the larger brown ones with wings. Crickets are pretty squishy and can be nibbled off easy. With grasshoppers, I'll start the hook in it right between the head and that first section of exoskeleton, then feed it all the way through the length of it until the barb finally comes out the end of the ass section. The more of it that's wrapped around the hook like that, the less likely the fish will nibble it off. Plus, like I said, grasshoppers have a harder shell for an exoskeleton that makes them more difficult to nibble off.

Shad minnows work pretty good for the largemouth bass. If they're fresh, I tend to hook them through the middle of the upper back so they'll stay upright even if they refuse to move. If I've kept them a while in my aquarium, they tend to get really stressed and try to escape when I dip them out of the tank and end up swimming into the sides of the glass giving themselves brain hemorrhages. So those I'll usually hook through the tails just to make sure I don't accidentally hit the air sacs. They usually don't work too well unless they're good and strong and really trying to swim. The movement of the bobber lets me know whats going on. If it's just moving slowly in circles, then I know he's just swimming around, which is good because the vibrations attract the bass. If the bobber is moving erratically back in forth or in circles, I know that there's a bass either making a pass by it or trying to swallow it. When the bobber slowly starts to sink beneath the surface, I know one has grabbed it. I don't immediately set the hook when that happens. If I do, 80% of the time he'll spit it back out. I usually wait about 5 to 8 seconds for him to take it down a bit and THEN give it a good tug. Unfortunately sometimes I get a bass that has taken the hook so deep that the barb is stuck in the tissue leading to its stomach. I hate that shit because I can't be 100% sure that the fish will live. I end up cutting the hook at the shank and leaving it in there.

[Whirlingdervish]

I've come to the conclusion that if a fish eats the hook too deeply to retrieve it without turning them inside out, he wants to go home with you and be eaten. It sucks and can be slightly illegal to do depending on the size of a fish, but if I guthook them I'll take small ones home and clean them before I'll throw them back to die horribly with my tackle inside them.

I really hate throwing a smaller fish back, only to see them float by later, deader than a doornail.


 

[Mya]

job hunting for a summer job
making a scrapbook
pulling weeds & mowing the lawn, ugh
reading for pleasure :3 and non pleasure

[metaL]

Haunted we're the closest to the stream if you don't count Florida 

[metaL]

Focalor, it all depends on what hook you're using and where you've hooked the bait fish when deciding whether you should set the hook immediately or let him have it for a moment.  If I'm using a bull minnow like Haunted described, I'd set the hook immediately or close to it, just due to the size (assuming you're using a standard hook shaped like a capital J).  Chances are they will take in the whole fish and not just part of him from the get go, and since some fish get timid during the approach/bite (this can be heavily influenced by the liveliness of the baitfish and how well you hid the presence of the hook, among other variables), you often have to strike when the iron's hot or be SOL.

In contrast, sometimes I'll go to a pond with nothing but some small, strong hooks and a few nightcrawlers so I can catch a few small bluegills/sunfish and just use them as live bait.  You'd be surprised how fast a bass will hit a fish he might have previously ignored that very day when he sees that it is injured (bass know something is abnormal when a fish that would normally be hiding is up near the surface - it certainly draws attention).  These baitfish are usually too big for an early attempt on setting the hook, and after I see the bobber head under I give it about 3-5 seconds before i set the hook.  Keep in mind that many times fish like to swallow their prey head-first.

Something tells me that freshwater fish might be done for with a hook left in their mouth.  I've often heard that if you leave a hook in a good sized saltwater fish, it'll eventually rust up and fall out (I don't know if this is 100% true or not, but i'm sure it's happened before).