Fishing!

[Paul B]

Seriously? Is all that blood his?

I was about to ask the same thing. Big fish!

That one woulda made for a nice night of fish and chips. I have only had catfish a few times, blackened is yummy!

 

[SkwerI]

Yeah, I'm not so enthusiastic about fishing any more since I pretty much gave up eating fish out of the local lakes. If you gut hook the fish it's probably gonna die anyway and I'm not keen on killing animals for sport.

 

[OTGBOSTON]

. If you gut hook the fish it's probably gonna die anyway .

catch-and-release is an art I only use single hooks on my lures, and circle hooks for live/cut bait. I'll keep an occasional Striper or Blue from the ocean, but all freshwater species go back.

I put in some serious time at the river last night, but got skunked

Every year we get a massive herring/shad run. The stripers chase them up stream about 8 miles to a waterfall where they feast. It is really cool to be standing in 2' of water casting to huge stripers.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Fortunately, fish don't often take flies to the gut, so it's not a problem for me, which is nice. I do fish barbless thought. Goddang that makes it so easy to release and work with the fish. Hook rates are better too.

 

[The Branch Doctor]

Seriously? Is all that blood his?

Yeah it is unfortunately. It looks worse in the pic than it actually was. The blood is from a small puncture it got on the bottom side of its jaw when I pulled it out of the water. I use an ice hook, with a rounded off tip of course, that I slip up their gills from the under side. Until last night it has worked great for landing kitty's in the rocks without causing ANY harm but that fish last night kept fighting and thrashing hard well after it was out of the water.

Anyway, I was going to keep it because it was bleeding so hard at first but then the bleeding stopped and I could see that it wasn't hurt as bad as it looked. It was far from life threatening so I opted to let him live.

What really sucks is I use 1/0 circle hooks to avoid hurting the fish (and he was perfectly lip hooked too) but I guess sometimes chit just happens.

 

[OTGBOSTON]

What really sucks is I use 1/0 circle hooks to avoid hurting the fish (and he was perfectly lip hooked too) .

 

[SkwerI]

That's cool. With that much blood, I figured he was gut hooked.

 

[sawinredneck]

Those big cats seem to bleed like stuck pigs!

Man those would have been some nice steaks!!!
Nice fish!

 

[The Branch Doctor]

I think I'm going kitty hunting again for a few hours.... beats the hell outta watching the idiot box all evening.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Cool. I just saw that dark, clotted blood, and it looked like cut gills.

I know cats are tough fish like sharks.

 

[OTGBOSTON]

Hey Doc, whadda you use for bait for them cats?

 

[sawinredneck]

Anybody done any "bay" fishing?
The charters sem reasonable, but I am wondering if it's worth it, or just find a long pier?

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

For what species, in what part of the world? I'm guessing you're talking about Texas....

If the prices are reasonable, I'd go for it. You can catch fish off a pier, but having a guy in a boat take you out and put you on fish, and provide gear, bait and services is nice. Especially when you're not in your own waters, and maybe don't have everything down pat.

 

[sawinredneck]

Not sure what they have here Jeff? The locals are catching small fish off the docks, which is fine I can't keep the boy that interested for long. I've got my 7' surf pole with 50# test in the van, most of what, if not all I need for rigging, just need some bait!
I remeber down in Florida catching blacktip shark off the beach (12-16") all day while building sand castles with the kids. That might keep him and I happy But him on a boat (3yr old) might be a handful!!!
BUT as you say, they put you on fish, and for $90, it's a tough call!!

 

[sawinredneck]

Well I tried a bit of surf fishing today, the surf won!! MAN it was rough out there!! White caps, two and a half foot breakers on the beach. I tied on an eight ounce weight (no idea why I had it) but it didn't even hold it for a tightline!!!

Bubba had fun though

Jeff, the guide book lists: Gafttop, Redfish, Speckled Trout and Flounder from bays, shore or warfs.

 

[sawinredneck]

Bub and I needed out so we found a couple of tackle shops to hit.
One was having a Shimmano sale, 15% of rods, 10% off reels!!! I couldn't help myself!! I got a 6'5 med. 6-14# rod and 2500 series spinning reel spooled with 12# for $62 out the door! It will be a nice replacment for the one my "buddy" never returned
He said the best time for surf fishing was around 4am, he said the bay gets hot and the larger fish all move out to deeper water by 6-7am.
I gues I am going out at 3am Should hopefully be worth it!
Any tips or sugestions are greatly apreciated!!

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Never fished down there, but know that flounder will take spoons and just about anything presented correctly. Reds will take spoons and shrimp or crab patterns. Trout will do baitfish patterns or spoons likely. I have no idea what a gafttop is.

For $90 I'd make sure what's involved. That's exceedingly cheap. That might only be for a couple of hours, no gear included, etc. Full day charters should run you at least $300, and that's cheap. If I was down there, I'd be expecting to pay $400 for a full day of fishing from a boat inshore. Offshore I'd be looking at $500-$700 for a day.

There's guides and charters that can do it on the cheap, but $90 won't even fill a guy's boat with gas for a day. Unless that's a share price, and you'll be fishing with four or five other guys in one boat. That's doablbe, but a gamble. You may get a boat full of drunken clowns all crammed into a 20' Boston Whaler with one guide to take care of the whole lot. Or you could get another father and son out for a day of fishing and have the time of your life. But for sure make sure what's included-lunch, hours, gear, licenses, cleaning, processing, etc.

For surf, watch the tide. An incoming tide in the afternoon can bring fish up onto the flats as the tide brings cooler water and baitfish. You may go fishing at 4 AM on an outgoing tide, and the flats are flushing, and you're left with 4" of water over marl and matted grass.

 

[sawinredneck]

Yeah, the $90 deal, it's, ummm, UGLY!!! It's a 35ish foot schooner $30 a head, I doubt gear, maybe bait. I've seen it putting around, sounds like a P-51 going down! Three hour deal, 8:30-11:30am, then a pm one, I think I'll pass.
I'm going for the early am surf fishing. He said the name, I can't remember but I bought some the other day (unknowingly) they look like a cross between shrimp an centipedes, creepy looking things about three inches long. He said that was THE bait. I asked about spoons or other casting bait he said just to set it out and let it ride unless you are trolling.

 

[TheTreeWiseMen]

So finally managed to skive off yesterday afternoon and get in some sea fishing with a landscaper mate of mine. Drifting just off Jones Beach we started with some skates, then some robin fish and just as we were about to try a different spot.....the striped bass (our intented catch) started biting. Great afternoon, I got sunburn on my forehead and we BBQd the striper steaks later that evening.

 

[TheTreeWiseMen]

Back at quay side. Another pic of the striper in pic 3 above, came in at 28"....and tasted f*ckin' great!

 

[Paul B]

Well done! get you a hat for the sun!

 

[TheTreeWiseMen]

It was overcast on the way out, then the sun came out while we were drifting. It wasn't until this morning that I realised how red my face/forehead was. Hat next time.....

 

[Paul B]

I hear you. Heading out the door yesterday morning it was pissy rain and 9C, by noon it was cloudy and sprinkling lightly, 5 oclock brought sun (about 18C) and a breeze, this AM we are again in the rain.

 

[vharrison]

Back at quay side. Another pic of the striper in pic 3 above, came in at 28"....and tasted f*ckin' great!

Nice fish! The others were very interesting!

 

[OTGBOSTON]

nothing like catching a keeper sized STRIPA.....