The Fishing Thread

^^^Some good hauls.

This keeps reminding me I need to take my dad fishing. He moved after retirement and bought a house just down the road from a state park that had a lake with awesome bass fishing, it's 5 minutes away at most. Soon after he moved the dam blew out after rain of a tropical storm. That was 2 years ago and they just opened the lake up to boat traffic but no fishing. Still another 3 years I think before they open it to fishing. Talk about bad timing. It was a great time to buy a boat tho. He said he saw lots of sale.

They have another lake about 30 minutes away on national forest property made just for bass fishing that Bill Dance designed. I think the record there is 13 pounds now. But he doesn't like driving up there etc...He's not a big fan of riding in the boat with me either. So I put in at the closest ramp and putt out there and run the trolling motor a lot.

Hoss_sl said:

Smelt is bait. But next time, tell those people that perch is bait too if you're fishing for something big.

DanDain, what does 5000 ft have to do with the spawning? Strictly speaking, you can't watch anything happen at 5k ft in 'most places'.

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Just an extra rare fact about those specific fish, few salmon runs ascend 5000 feet+ from sea level. I just have a soft spot for those fish, and find them amazing. They are a keystone species in the forest I frequent, just thought I'd share them here. They are a nutrient conveyor from ocean to mountain and feed so many species, plants and animals from birth to death.

Gavinmad_sl said:

What does the water do, protect it from freezer burn? I can't remember the last time I fished up enough to eat, much less with surplus to freeze.

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Get your American Inventor ass out of here

Dandain_sl said:

Just an extra rare fact about those specific fish, few salmon runs ascend 5000 feet+ from sea level. I just have a soft spot for those fish, and find them amazing. They are a keystone species in the forest I frequent, just thought I'd share them here. They are a nutrient conveyor from ocean to mountain and feed so many species, plants and animals from birth to death.

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Amazing fish to watch. I love salmon fishing, the fight, the acrobatics once they are on a hook. I spend most my summer filling the freezer with salmon, the late run Sockeyes, Pinks, and Chums are showing up right now, and Cohos are just a week or two away.

Chinese Mackerels are back this summer in Hong Kong. Went out saturday and they were feeding aggressively. One actually took a prawn on a paternoster rig reeling in off the bottom. just saw a flash of silver, an explosion on the water right beside the boat, and then the reel went a'screamin. I also saw a dorado swimming with the mackerels, which I have never seen so close to shore (was less than a mile offshore).



Below: chinese mackerels (two bigger ones), golden threadfin bream (red), yellow grouper and rock grouper

Tarrant_sl said:

Man thats awesome. I don't know what I'm looking at but it looks delicious.

It's on my bucket list to go out ocean fishing (never even seen the ocean) and cook the catch right upon returning to shore.

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There are easy ways to do this, and more fun ways. I went once with my kids in Florida on one of those boats where you have about 100 people fishing at once - everyone just drops their line over the edge. We caught enough to feed all of Vietnam for a week, and they clean it right on the dock when you get off the boat. Easy, other people do the hard work, you pull in about 20 fish in a half hour, most of them keepers.
It wasn't so expensive, either. I think about 40$ a person. It was a riot for the kids, they were pretty little when we did it.

Of course, you want to go the other way, and charter a personal fishing expedition to get big game fish. That's more like 600$ for a couple hours. But holy crap is that fun. It's exhausting to pull in really big fish.

In a Alaska, your looking at 200-350 according on season, to take your all day on a 6 pack boat.

Last weekend fishing results - Actually caught a flower crab on a bottom rig. Damn thing just wouldnt let go! Fine by me, steamed him up and was delicious. Also caught a relatively uncommon three banded sweetlip, and the usual floral croakers. A nasty moray eel was also landed (the boatman wanted it, apparently he loves the eel fat).

I've got a #2 fly rod that is super light weight. I've never caught anything of size on it, and I'd probably be screwed if I did. It's so much fun, every fish is a battle, it's like landing a perch with a noodle.

Went charter fishing in Phuket recently, managed to catch a Longfin Tuna on the troll, and the staff made sashimi right there on the boat. Devoured it with wasabi and soy after 1 hour in the icebox to cool it down/bleed out.

That's pretty sweet! I've been thinking of getting one. What kind of motor does it have?