The fishing thread

Smaller than the bait, but biggest of the year! Lost a female about twice his size :/

Go with light tackle, and I bet those will be four times more fun!

In reply to Brett_Murphy :

My weapon of choice is the girls’ $7.00 “Frozen” rods.

poopshovel again said:

In reply to Brett_Murphy :

My weapon of choice is the girls’ $7.00 “Frozen” rods.

But if you use the Frozen fishing rod, no matter what you catch you'll have to... Let it go, let it go.

Brett_Murphy said:

poopshovel again said:

In reply to Brett_Murphy :

My weapon of choice is the girls’ $7.00 “Frozen” rods.

But if you use the Frozen fishing rod, no matter what you catch you'll have to... Let it go, let it go.

<insert slowclap>

Some of you are Carolina coasts, right? I'll be in Ocean Isle Beach all next week at my uncle-in-laws with full access to their boat. If anyone wants to join me out on the water for a time, I'd love some local insights. can message here or josh.sennett at the mail of G.

Bluej- I understand the blufish bite is HOT right now. There should still be some in a week. Good luck, and please let us know how you do.

Brett_Murphy said:

Bluej- I understand the blufish bite is HOT right now. There should still be some in a week. Good luck, and please let us know how you do.

great! thanks for the heads up. I haven't specifically targeted blues before. any tips?

In reply to bluej :

Bluefish dont seem to rate high on the Tasty Critter list. Nice looking sport- fish though.

I don't seem to be getting the fishing bug this year.

Pete

We caught a few little blues last summer.  I think we soaked 'em in milk, seasoned 'em and baked 'em.  I may not have a discriminating palate, but to me it tasted just like fish.  

I will say this:  Fresh-caught bluefish tastes better to me than most of the sketchy "fresh" and frozen fish you'll find at your local grocery store. 

In reply to bluej :

The bluefish were biting like crazy most of the week while we were down in Corolla last summer - like I'm talking you could stand on top of the dunes and watch about a dozen large schools just within eye sight moving up and down the beach. That was the first time I've caught or eaten one and I didn't think they tasted bad at all, in spite of their reputation. Apparently it helps to get them on ice ASAP, which I did.

The big thing to watch for is they have these ridiculously sharp teeth, so definitely use a pair of pliers getting the hook out and use a strong leader on your line. I tried a variety of top water lures and didn't find anything in particular to be any kind of magic bullet for me. They're a lot of fun to catch and it's a sight to behold when a school gets into a feeding frenzy! That's all I got, good luck!

I think we caught ours off the end of Jeanette's Pier down around Nags Head.  There was a "magic bullet."  Pretty sure it was these:

Thanks, guys! I did a few minutes reading and saw Spanish Candies recommended as well. I'll probably do a split of channel/bridge/structure fishing from the boat, and surf fishing while I hang with my wife. If I can land some blues, I'll probably trying smoking them. I love smoked fish dip.

The thing with blues is to eat the smaller ones (cocktail blues at the biggest), gill and gut them and get them on ice and keep the COLD.

poopshovel again said:

In reply to Brett_Murphy :

My weapon of choice is the girls’ $7.00 “Frozen” rods.

My favorite rod right now is the little 30" Zebco "Dock Demon" rods my boys got a few years ago. They have moved up to 60" rods with open face reels, so I used the little Zebcos. So easy to pack and tote to the fishing spot. I know I can have any rod/reel combo I want, but for some reason I like a minimalist approach now. Probably because I'm also juggling three kids who are all trying to fish in the exact same spot, regardless of how much water is in front of them.

I keep an ultralight rod and a small box of gear (five small lures) in my car. I've done this for 41 years. A 10 minute fishing break can be fit in almost anytime.

I'm trying to teach my hids how to use spinning gear. They won't practice, and they get frustrated when they're not experts at it.

Brett_Murphy said:

I'm trying to teach my hids how to use spinning gear. They won't practice, and they get frustrated when they're not experts at it.

My kids are reluctant fishermen, and I blame myself, though I've tried.  Some of it may be the whole video game/cell phone/social media culture.  If it's not non-stop action, it's boring.

The high point may have been many years ago when my youngest caught a small perch on a rig I made for him by tying some line and a hook with a worm to a toy Star Wars light saber. 

Brett_Murphy said:

 

I'm trying to teach my hids how to use spinning gear. They won't practice, and they get frustrated when they're not experts at it.

See also: My wife....and all my “city folk” friends who come up once or twice a year. I end up un-berkeleying bird’s nests more than fishing. Next time they all get Frozen rods!

Get better line if they're putting birds nest in a spinning rod. I can't remember the last time I had a real birds nest from anything that wasn't a baitcaster.

EDIT: Or my wife for that matter, and she's super clumsy--as soon as I got her using one of my spinning reels, instead of one of her dads with 20 year old line, she was perfectly fine. Braid all the way for me--I even use it on my baitcasters.

mtn said:

Get better line if they're putting birds nest in a spinning rod. I can't remember the last time I had a real birds nest from anything that wasn't a baitcaster.

 

I have to replace my line at least annually. The line gets stored in the house, but the rods get stored in the garage (or in the cars) so it gets cooked. If it comes off of the spool in coils, it's probably time to replace it. 

Also, line twist is not your friend. Let out 50 yards or so of line with nothing tied to it at all downstream or drag it behind a boat and leave it for a minute or so. It will untwist itself.

mtn said:

Get better line if they're putting birds nest in a spinning rod. I can't remember the last time I had a real birds nest from anything that wasn't a baitcaster.

 

EDIT: Or my wife for that matter, and she's super clumsy--as soon as I got her using one of my spinning reels, instead of one of her dads with 20 year old line, she was perfectly fine. Braid all the way for me--I even use it on my baitcasters.

Good call. Love braided for my “good” saltwater rods, but for creek-fishin, it seems kinda silly, especially when getting hung in trees/on rocks, etc is pretty common. Might give it a shot though.

poopshovel again said:

mtn said:

Get better line if they're putting birds nest in a spinning rod. I can't remember the last time I had a real birds nest from anything that wasn't a baitcaster.

 

EDIT: Or my wife for that matter, and she's super clumsy--as soon as I got her using one of my spinning reels, instead of one of her dads with 20 year old line, she was perfectly fine. Braid all the way for me--I even use it on my baitcasters.

Good call. Love braided for my “good” saltwater rods, but for creek-fishin, it seems kinda silly, especially when getting hung in trees/on rocks, etc is pretty common. Might give it a shot though.

Honsetly, that is a good reason to use it--pull hard until you break the branch/move the rock. 

Also, in my experience it lasts much longer than mono/floro. I've never had it age out, I've only replaced it because I've cut too much off over time as it gets frayed. 

In reply to mtn :

Good point. Never thought of it that way! Are you using a flouro leader though?

poopshovel again said:

In reply to mtn :

Good point. Never thought of it that way! Are you using a flouro leader though?

It depends.  On the waters I fish, I have a chance of hooking into 4’+ sturgeon, so I do use one with my microlites so I don’t break the rod. I’ll also use one trolling, but only to get the line down deeper—around now, the trout are still shallow enough I wouldn’t, same with the walleye. In general though, no I do not. I know the arguments to use them, but frankly I think I lose less fish with straight braid than I do with a leader. I like the sensitivity. 

EDIT: I’m in the minority with that opinion as far as I can tell. Doesn’t seem to matter. 

My contribution to this thread. Last summer, we stopped in at my grandparents farm in southern West Virginia. My grandpa dug his own farm pond that’s fed by an underground stream. My uncle caught a few large mout bass about a decade ago and now the pond is packed with examples like this one. Caught this after putting together a rod and reel from piles of junk in the barn. This year I’ll go back with better bait and tackle.