It seems a lot of you guys are fishing. I've been out quite a bit myself and have really gotten back into it after several years of very limited outings. I'd love to see some pics of what you guys are catching this year!! Tell us what you used, conditions, water temps, depth, etc.
My youngest son (13) just got a 17' Lowe fishing boat about a month ago. (With a little help from Grandpa). We have had it out several times and he is having a blast. It has been fun for me too because I used to fish all the time and had not fished 10 times in the last 10 years. We have been catching a lot of bluegills and crappies but nothing really big. He has become fascinated with bass fishing and had some excitement Monday when a 2 1/2 lb. channel cat hit a rapala. He was so excited, he wanted to know if we could get it mounted. lol Making some great memories with his old man and Grandpa. Some of my best memories of my Dad were when he had time to take me fishing. Good stuff.
Sweet!!! Some of my best memories as a kid were fishing with my Dad, hope you two get to really enjoy being out there.
Quick rundown... Winter/early Spring was steelhead. Flies included streamers, various nymphs, and eggs in a variety of colors. Streamers were swung on sinktips, and the eggs/nymphs were fished on a floating line under a bobber. Spring trout starts with throwing big streamers on sinking lines. Then the surface activity picks up. Hendricksons, sulphurs, and now drakes in that order. Also been hitting the lakes a little bit. Starts with bluegills on rubber spiders and small poppers. Then bass (smallmouth and largemouth) on streamers and poppers along with some pike.
I'll post a few pics too, but I'm mostly interested in what you guys have been doing. I mostly fish for warmwater species these days. I started in early March just after ice out focusing on bass. I did catch a couple of smaller pike during their spawn. Water temps in the 40's and climbed into the mid 50's by end of month. I managed to catch a couple of fish on a couple of the warmer days, mostly slow rolling spinner baits, suspending jerkbaits (pointers/x-raps), and also some really slow jigs on bottom in deeper water. No monsters, but below are a couple of pics of fish on one of the warmer days we had in March. Then striper season kicked in and most of my attention was on that. Took us half the season to figure out how to catch herring consistently (bait). Once we figured that out, I managed to get 3 runs in our last two outings, but I wasn't able to hook up. After 20 years of setting the hook on a bass, learning how to set a circle hook (or actually learning NOT to set a circle hook) got the better of me. I can't wait for next year. My fishing partner did manage to boat this 13lb fish, a dink compared to the 20-30lb fish that frequent the hudson. I'm absolutely hooked on this type of fishing. They fight like a giant smallmouth bass, except they don't jump. They just make these linebacker type of runs that you can't even begin to think about stopping.......you can't turn these fish with the heaviest tackle. It's a real fight and a real treat when you hook into one. Spent the last 2 weeks doing quite a bit more bass fishing. With a couple of hot days over the past 2 weeks, the spawn is mostly over now. The prespawn was good to me and I also managed to pick off quite a few pike after their spawn, mostly in 57-64ish degree waters.....most of my fish came in the 8-12' area. Sorry for the terrible self pics, it's not easy to take pics in a canoe by yourself with a phone camera! :D Also, some of you already know this, but I just sold my canoe and picked up an aluminum project boat. I built a trailer for it 2 weeks ago, and now I'm beginning to work on the boat. The plan is to turn this thing into a mini bass boat. Plans are to put a flat floor in it, coat the inside with anti skid paint, paint the outside, pedestal seats from the floor and rear bench, bow mount/foot control trolling motor, a 9.9ish on the transom, and lots of wiring. It's going to be a while till I finish, but it's in fishing condition now and doesn't leak, I can't wait to get the whole thing done. Should be lots more room than my old canoe, will get me onto waters where I wasn't able to deal with wakes and boat traffic before, and will certainly let me cover more distance with the 9.9 on the back. I bet this thing will do 20+mph with a 9.9 on the back, but it's actually rated up to 15hp.......not sure yet what I'll get, probably depends on what I get the best deal on.
Haven't done any fishing at all yet this year which Is a 1st for me. I'm hoping In a few days I can get out and hit the river behind my house and hopefully snag a few good northerns. This river also has a few smallies and walleyes along with Cats and a load of carp. The walleye opener here was the 2nd weekend of May and the fishing was slow. Water temp was only 51 degrees. The water temp has been rising and from what I'm hearing the fishing Is picking up because of It. When I fish the river here I usually use daredevils. Fishing In the river has It downs too, raps are too expensive to loose with all the snags and tree's below the water. Otherwise I'd use them allot more. I'm hoping to get out this evening or tomorrow, I'm pretty pumped!!
Most all of my fishing has been for trout at the local streams this year using a 5'6" Quantum Torsion UL with a Abu Garcia Cardinal 101 reel and 4lb Berkley Fireline casting 2" Yo-Zuri Pins Minnows. I havn't caught any big trout this year, I lost a giant brown the first Sunday and have had several close calls with 24" rainbows. My attention will be changing within the next two weeks and I will be using the same set-up except I will be targeting smallmouth on the streams with Manns Hardnose topwater frogs along with farm pond fishing for some giant largemouth.
I haven't caught any pic worthy fish yet. Actually haven't fished a ton yet either. I still plan to get out a good bit. Going to hit the trout with the fly rod & the smallies with tubes, cranks & top waters.
Here are some of this years pics....everytime I go I bring my kids so I haven't fished very much. BUT it has been a blast. I have also fished with my father which was great. I grew up a fishin fool, fishing in creeks, rivers, lakes, and ponds with my dad.
Awesome pictures guys, making me jealous! It's been pouring here so no fishing. Finally broke today and it's in the 70's. Gonna try to get the ol' man out on our lake saturday to strip some flies for largies.
A Couple i caught this past winter and some dumb stockies. I had my 2010 license in the one picture but didnt have it in my license holder. i'll try to remember to get some other pics from my work computer.
I am fairly new to fishing actually. Always did a little bit but the last two years I've started to get a bit more aggressive. I love ice fishing and used to trout fish a bit but now im stickin to the lakes and big rivers for walleye and pike and bass mostly. Haven't caught anything real nice yet, but I'm hoping. I've been using a scum frog for the bass, but only caught two so far in 3 outings
Been hitting local lakes nearly every weekend chasing largemouth since the end of March. Was in Southeastern Illinois 2 weeks ago and got into them pretty good, and last weekend was spent in Southern Illinois, but pleasure boaters and battery problems made the fishing difficult.
I'll be heading up in a few weeks to a nice mountain lake to chase trout. I just won a guided fly trip in the Sierras so the wife and I are going to go on that. Once we get back from the week of fishing with the girls I'll have to post.
