The fishing thread

Nick said:

I guess what I meant to say is the entire point of fishing is to catch the fish, right?

You wouldn't go hunting and just shoot animals and let them walk it off, right :lol:

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Again, it's a personal preference. I go fishing as much for the recreation and the being outside as I go to catch fish. Don't get me wrong, I go for the catching too, but I don't consider the day a failure if I get skunked. After all, it's called fishing and not catching.

And to give you a better glimpse of my mindset, I've never hunted and probably won't ever. I'm not a gun guy and I'm not much for killing. That's why I like fishing...I can release the fish and not kill them.

Cannonball said:

Great fun. Recreational permit in MA is only $40. You can easily make that back in just a few trips. I've switched over to mostly freediving for lobster instead of SCUBA. A lot quicker and easier. Actually, that's not entirely true....I've mostly switched over to having a few traps. that's a LOT easier. But it is fun to snorkel or scuba and get all hands-on with it.

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How many traps can one have for recreational purposes?

Don't think I'd dive for Lobster. I'd be too freaked out about getting pinched.

JimG. said:

Again, it's a personal preference. I go fishing as much for the recreation and the being outside as I go to catch fish. Don't get me wrong, I go for the catching too, but I don't consider the day a failure if I get skunked. After all, it's called fishing and not catching.

And to give you a better glimpse of my mindset, I've never hunted and probably won't ever. I'm not a gun guy and I'm not much for killing. That's why I like fishing...I can release the fish and not kill them.

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I'm in the same boat as Jim, pun intended.

Though I do think I'd keep salt water fish. It's a different story when one giant Striper can feed a family many, many meals, as opposed to one average smallmouth bass that might feed 2 ppl.

JimG. said:

Again, it's a personal preference. I go fishing as much for the recreation and the being outside as I go to catch fish. Don't get me wrong, I go for the catching too, but I don't consider the day a failure if I get skunked. After all, it's called fishing and not catching.

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Just because I'm not catching anything, it doesn't mean I've got anything better to do.

At the 175 bridge in Woodstock, caught a 8lb sucker on Sunday. Retrieved the hook and sent him on has way, don't think he would taste good.

Kristen has caught many nice sized Rainbow Trout so far. Can't wait for Maine, land locked salmon, big trout!

deadheadskier said:

How many traps can one have for recreational purposes?.

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Ten

With an Avatar like mine I guess I can't miss this thread. I caught that Dorado ( Mahi Mahi ) in Cabo San Lucas this Spring. We`also caught about 30 Yelow Fin Tuna ( about 30# each ). I am friends with the guy who owns a few boats there ( The " Bob Marlin" ) and I can help set people up with a great day of fishing. Sure, it's a long drive, but....

ctenidae said:

Just because I'm not catching anything, it doesn't mean I've got anything better to do.

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That's funny and highly accurate!

A potential bumper sticker.

lolkl said:

With an Avatar like mine I guess I can't miss this thread. I caught that Dorado ( Mahi Mahi ) in Cabo San Lucas this Spring. We`also caught about 30 Yelow Fin Tuna ( about 30# each ). I am friends with the guy who owns a few boats there ( The " Bob Marlin" ) and I can help set people up with a great day of fishing. Sure, it's a long drive, but....

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Wow, 30 or so 30lb tuna would make for a great night's sleep I'm sure.

Sometimes I'd rather just photograph than fish. Some herring the other day in a local stream....

Cannonball said:

Sometimes I'd rather just photograph than fish. Some herring the other day in a local stream....

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Cool, I just got an underwater digital camera im pretty excited to put it to use. Im not sure I would want to photograph them instead of catching them though. Id like to be able to take underwater photos of someone catching/fighting a fish.

I've got a waterproof Pentax, but that purchase was mainly in case I had an epic wipe out while skiing. After 4 years I haven't once tried it under water. Cool photo Cannonball

Cannonball said:

Great fun. Recreational permit in MA is only $40. You can easily make that back in just a few trips. I've switched over to mostly freediving for lobster instead of SCUBA. A lot quicker and easier. Actually, that's not entirely true....I've mostly switched over to having a few traps. that's a LOT easier. But it is fun to snorkel or scuba and get all hands-on with it.

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Lobster is gone from Buzzards Bay. The water temps warmed up a couple of degrees and they all walked offshore. It does make it easier boating since I don't have to watch for lobster traps. I haven't had my own traps since I was a kid.

Cannonball said:

Sometimes I'd rather just photograph than fish. Some herring the other day in a local stream....

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Cool photo.

You seem to have an interesting occupation what with being on research vessels in Alaska, diving, and underwater photography.

JimG. said:

Cool photo.

You seem to have an interesting occupation what with being on research vessels in Alaska, diving, and underwater photography.

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I'm a marine ecologist. Back then I was doing work in Prince William Sound related to the Exxon Valdez spill and in the Beaufort Sea related to oil leases (ANWR). These days I'm doing local river restoration work (dam removal, salt marsh restoration, etc). Plus the oyster farm....

The pics are from a GoPro, which I bought for skiing but is amazing underwater.

Cannonball said:

I'm a marine ecologist. Back then I was doing work in Prince William Sound related to the Exxon Valdez spill and in the Beaufort Sea related to oil leases (ANWR). These days I'm doing local river restoration work (dam removal, salt marsh restoration, etc). Plus the oyster farm....

The pics are from a GoPro, which I bought for skiing but is amazing underwater.

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Impressive. I wish my job was as impactful on the environment and life in general.

Heading out tomorrow afternoon to fish the Farmington..Pretty much fly fishing, but not a purist..If nothing is happening I will break out the spinning rod...Hows everyones spring going??

Steveo

powhunter said:

Heading out tomorrow afternoon to fish the Farmington..Pretty much fly fishing, but not a purist..If nothing is happening I will break out the spinning rod...Hows everyones spring going??

Steveo

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Sadly I have not wet a line yet. Too busy with kids.

But soon bassing begins. I have some good shots from last season I never posted.

Can you post here from an iphone?

JimG. said:

Sounds very nice. I normally don't discuss lures, but one of my favorite bassing lures is the Big-O. It's a deep runner with superior action and BB's in the body that rattle like crazy during the retrieve. It's a killer lure. Top action lures like the Jitter Bug and Torpedoes are also favorites, especially on calm evenings. I'm also a big fan of the Flatfish, especially on the slow troll.

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I'll second that the Big-O is my go to for bass fishing. Especially good at twilight when the sun is going down and the bass come out of the shadows. That being said my biggest bass was over 6.5# on a live shiner. Best on artificials was a 4+ pounder on a jointed Rapala.

Last couple years I've been trying to flycast a bit more. It's not pretty but can get the fly out there and have caught a few trout in moving water.

Not sure wy I never thought about looking for a fishing thread here before lol. I have fished on and off for most of my life. I started in freshwater as a young kid learning everytihng myself as there were no fishermen in my family then transitioned to saltwater as a teenager and then stopped for several years until I got a house on Lake Zoar in CT which is a dammed section of the Housatonic. The place was filthy with LSB and SMB. My biggest LMB was 8 pounds but I "cheated" lol. I had a friend of a friend out and we got skunked and he kept complaining that there were no fish and that I didn't know what I was doing etc really pissing me off so we got back to the dock I ug up a worm and promptly had a bluegill on the hook as I'm telling him see there are fish lol. Next thing I know a huge bass darts out from under my dock and slams the bluegill. After a couple of minutes I had my first true hawg. that shut him up for good. I did catch a 6 pound SMB on a perch pattern shad rap in that lake.

Since then I've been back in the salt for a decade or so. I own a boat with a buddy on the east end of LI and we do a good amount of bass weakfish blackfish and fluke fishing with the kids. I also do some trips up north for cod and some canyon tuna trips. I attached a few pics from my work computer.

1) Biggest weakfish at 15.2 pounds.
2) 9 pound blackfish
3) 2 ncie cod caught out of Glouchester
4) decent yellowfin in Hudson canyon

June 4th = not very much hiking action = blackflies!

Nice stuff everyone since here last...
Well I can talk about our planned intentions, with either sightseeing with the 4wd [+ hiking][+ paddling(canoe/kayak)]...but with the quantity of moose, deer, and hawks out the area around the Penobscot's North Branch headwaters is always pretty amazing.
The blackflies were hot(to say the least)..combined with the brilliant move of forgetting my headnets and flydope..drove around on new & old cutting trails and small roads sighseeing the moose and deer. A few useless casts for trout(high water from the last week of rain) as the fish up there only cooperate with good water levels and weather..
Had a good time though...although none of the many moose and deer seen gave me any chance to load up for pics....were pretty close to the 4wd with deer very wary and the bigger bulls(moose) having no fear at this time of year...if they wanna cross the road in front of you...they just stride across. Avoiding anykind of confrontation while they give you the chance to observe them usually keeps my hands on the wheel...so I usually end up with 0 pics.. Will get some next time up.
Just a couple ultra-short videos...#1) wanted to see where one little road would end up..brought me to the usual multi-day rains = overflowing brooks. Had I had my mudtires on...might've opted to follow further, but with the everyday all-terrains' softer 50%-worn tread I opted to keep the day a relaxed sightseeing tour for us...;-)
#2) Second one is just a little stretch of brook that connect two bogs, that is usually a little lower & slower. One my favorite bridges...btw. You're ~20mi out away from the main woods road on old cutting roads. Nice that it has the sturdy under layer;-)
$.01...


http://s1071.photobucket.com/albums/u513/bigspencer12/NBrPenob_06042012/


http://s1071.photobucket.com/albums/u513/bigspencer12/