Fishing Megathread: Looking For Big Girls Who swallow

[troph 24,905]

I had the tools I was in town and didn’t want to push it through without local. That pic was after local and the doctor pushed it through the skin, initially the hook was just half embedded into my finger. I coulda yanked it out, I coulda pushed it through, but why? I needed a tetanus shot anyway so I went to the urgent care 15 mins away. Here’s how it looked originally. 
 

 

Edited July 18, 2022 by troph

[fattyflattie 4,638]

1 hour ago, troph said:

I had the tools I was in town and didn’t want to push it through without local. That pic was after local and the doctor pushed it through the skin, initially the hook was just half embedded into my finger. I coulda yanked it out, I coulda pushed it through, but why? I needed a tetanus shot anyway so I went to the urgent care 15 mins away. Here’s how it looked originally. 
 

 

Yeah, pushing it thru was the hardest part about my knuckle. It didn’t make it thru originally, but we got there.  I saw your hook and figured best to go ahead and get that tetanus taken care of (figured that’s one reason you went) 

Have to be careful with that push down and yank out method.  It’s cool when it works, but I’ve seen it not work a bunch of times,  one time I saw it not work a bunch of times in a row.  Sometimes best to grit the teeth and push it thru (if able to)  

 

[Pescado_Rojo 19,428]

I have a pair of these compact Knipex bolt cutters. You'd be surprised at what they will cut. Spray them down with CorrosionX once and a while so they don't rust up in the boat box. 

[Lat22 4,015]

I'll never use the yank method (insert jokes here).  The hardest part is the push through.  If you have something with wood on it (knife handle, etc) and you can press it against where the point will come out, it makes it much easier.  You're pressing the hook into the wood instead of through your skin.  No idea if that makes any sense but it works.  And always carry wire/bolt cutters.  

[troph 24,905]

1 hour ago, Lat22 said:

I'll never use the yank method (insert jokes here).  The hardest part is the push through.  If you have something with wood on it (knife handle, etc) and you can press it against where the point will come out, it makes it much easier.  You're pressing the hook into the wood instead of through your skin.  No idea if that makes any sense but it works.  And always carry wire/bolt cutters.  

that does make sense.  I had local in my finger and couldn't feel a thing but I watched. I tried to pull it out the way it went in in the field, yeah no way not ever. watching him push it through, holy holy that looked painful.  urgent care was the right way.  now, if I was 3 or 4 hours away from a doctor, or worse off shore for 2 days or even just getting started on a full day off shore, I'd use the Lat22 method now that I know about it.  But I question anyone's intelligence if they are 15 minutes from a doctor and they chose to yank it or press it through.  that's the definition of stupid and insane.

[justhookit 4,191]

Back in college I was out throwing bass plugs around the Lake Austin docks one evening. Caught a pretty small bass that completely swallowed the plug and it’s pair of treble hooks. As I’m reaching in its mouth it flips and one of the trebles goes right into my thumb. My thumb is all the way down the throat and the other treble hook is still lodged in the fish so We are now one unit. Fish is flopping around and it hurts bad. I squeeze the fuck out of the bass to kill it. This is before cell phones so get in my car to drive to the nearest pay phone. Take my shirt off and wrap it around my hand so nobody sees me making a phone call with my thumb stuck in a fish. Call my dad who is laughing hysterically at my predicament. He wants me to drive to the emergency room and go in there fish and all. I’m like fuck no bring me a knife and scissors this thing is coming off. He finally agreed and I was able to go get just the hook cut out. He still likes that story to be told when we are fishing.

[troph 24,905]

I see no reason for barbed hooks in freshwater fishing, even inshore / bay fishing I’m not sure it’s needed. Maybe off shore. And fishing barbless has made my fishing noticeably more fun and enjoyable. 

[fattyflattie 4,638]

1 hour ago, troph said:

But I question anyone's intelligence if they are 15 minutes from a doctor and they chose to yank it or press it through.  that's the definition of stupid and insane.

I can’t think of the last time I’ve fished that close to civilization, but unless it is deep and can’t be dealt with, I’m going to finish the trip if I can.  I’m always up to date on my shots due to work and seemingly finding a nail to run thru my foot every few years. 
 

1 hour ago, justhookit said:

Fish is flopping around and it hurts bad. I squeeze the fuck out of the bass to kill it.

This happened to my fishing partner when we were in high school.  Fishing corkys and 51s in the surf and crushing trout. While landing a lower 20’s fish, the fish sort of rode a wave into his forearm. Both trebles buried into his left arm, very green trout still  connected. Rod in mouth, he squeezed the life out of it, and did the swim/wade/tippy toe back in from the third bar. We went to his mothers work because her coworker was a “tournament fisherman” and knew how to do the push/yank trick.  3 tries later and it was off to the ER to have the hooks cut out.   Had to trim the dead fish off with a filet knife before we left the beach.  

[troph 24,905]

I started at 4pm, it was 9pm and about as close to completely dark as you can get under the trees exiting a creekbed and I was walking through brush back to my truck so I didn't stop fishing, I was done.  but believe me, you can be more of a man about it, not my concern.  y'all certainly should yank 'em out, I'll go to the urgent care and flirt with the cute nurse.

[CHIEF 5,095]

I've used this trick I learned from Jimmy Houston to get hooks out, and it works. I've done it on my son, Dad, a mutual friend of Brisket and I. This video is from 2017, but I had seen it on his fishing show in the 90's.

CHIEF

[fattyflattie 4,638]

45 minutes ago, CHIEF said:

I've used this trick I learned from Jimmy Houston to get hooks out, and it works. I've done it on my son, Dad, a mutual friend of Brisket and I. This video is from 2017, but I had seen it on his fishing show in the 90's.

CHIEF

I can tell you first hand what it looks like when it doesn’t work.  And then a few more times of it not working.  But yeah, it’s nice and easy when it does.   My fear is a dorado or other crazy green fish ruining my day far offshore.  There was a fwd:fwd:fwd email a few years ago about a guy that somehow got a hook from a Black Bart Marlin rig that went thru his palm. Like dead center of hand, all the way thru.   Ugh.  

[DougO 5,256]

I seem to remember when a package of hooks came with a diagram printed on the back on how to remove a hook with the loop method as illustrated above. However well it seems to work in demonstrations, still looks like a bunch of fuck that noise to the human psyche. 

[Kennythetiger 9,441]

6 hours ago, CHIEF said:

I've used this trick I learned from Jimmy Houston to get hooks out, and it works. I've done it on my son, Dad, a mutual friend of Brisket and I. This video is from 2017, but I had seen it on his fishing show in the 90's.

CHIEF

I wonder how Bill Dance would do it. 

[davidg 4,038]

Mrs. Jimmy Houston definitely ain’t no bitch.   Took that like a champ.

[fattyflattie 4,638]

24 minutes ago, Kennythetiger said:

I wonder how Bill Dance would do it. 

Would have to amputate an arm after he was done. 

[hookemATL 11,847]

So grateful to be able to put food on the table for my family, even in these lean times. 

[ohchaucer 1,443]

Whatta ya call that monster? And where’d he come out of?

[hookemATL 11,847]

4 minutes ago, ohchaucer said:

Whatta ya call that monster? And where’d he come out of?

It's a guadalupe chestshitting chiclid.  very rare find.  picked him out of Brushy Creek.

Edited July 19, 2022 by hookemATL

[Kennythetiger 9,441]

1 hour ago, hookemATL said:

So grateful to be able to put food on the table for my family, even in these lean times. 

Beautiful fish. 

[DougO 5,256]

I have long wished I had a huge aquarium full of native sunfish. But screw all that maintenance and expense.

[hookemATL 11,847]

Just now, DougO said:

I have long wished I had a huge aquarium full of native sunfish. But screw all that maintenance and expense.

the creek is like an aquarium that you dont own.

[4th and 5 4,915]

Y'all remember, if you can get it through, you don't necessarily need a tool to cut the hook - if you don't have a tool to cut the hook, smashing/breaking/filing down the barb and backing it out also works. 

[Mac8111 2,115]

Blew off work and fished Lake Austin this morning with a buddy on my annual freshwater fishing extravaganza. I landed two small mouth. Beautiful day on the lake. Didn’t get a single work call.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sam Lin 3,560]

6 hours ago, Mac8111 said:

Beautiful day on the lake. Didn’t get a single work call.

Pro Tip: If you drop your phone in the lake, you don't get any work calls.

[troph 24,905]

16 hours ago, hookemATL said:

the creek is like an aquarium that you dont own.

I hadn’t fished brushy creek in 35 years. Going back Sunday. It was a blast. I walked up on moving water and fish of all types and sizes I could actually see that were alive and looked happy. Sight fishing with a fly rod is the pinnacle regardless of the fish size and 2+ hours of late afternoon perfect sunlight for it, man it was delightful. 

[Jerry Callo 8,722]

37 minutes ago, troph said:

Sight fishing with a fly rod is the pinnacle regardless of the fish size

Agreed.  A lightweight flyrod make catching little fish fun.

Did you manage to catch any Rio Grande Cichlids?

[hookemATL 11,847]

Ive got my own special spot where there are never any folks around, so I have a good 100-150 yards or wadable water with lots of pools, riffles, etc.  Bonus is that its a 5 minute drive from my house, and since I am 100% "WFH" I often have occasion to get out there to wet a line.

Water is very clear right now and there are fish everywhere.  Slab sized sunfish and plenty of bass.  Still figuring out how to get the big bass to bite consistently but I am getting there. 

[troph 24,905]

13 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said:

Agreed.  A lightweight flyrod make catching little fish fun.

Did you manage to catch any Rio Grande Cichlids?

no, I think one small guad, I think. I tossed him back before studying enough. hit so quick I was just estatic to see that much action with fish trailing my fly from the get go.  one small mouth at the end of the day, the rest were various sunfish species.

2 minutes ago, hookemATL said:

Ive got my own special spot where there are never any folks around, so I have a good 100-150 yards or wadable water with lots of pools, riffles, etc.  Bonus is that its a 5 minute drive from my house, and since I am 100% "WFH" I often have occasion to get out there to wet a line.

Water is very clear right now and there are fish everywhere.  Slab sized sunfish and plenty of bass.  Still figuring out how to get the big bass to bite consistently but I am getting there. 

I ordered 4x about 6 colors of clouser minnows sunday and hoping they arrive this week.  The small minnow types were blowing up. BUT I was only really attracting sun fish apparently.  maybe guads, small mouth, large mouth are just less prevalent?  maybe I'm stripping wrong for them? maybe the minnows and streamers I use are too small. hence the clousers, it's probably the number 1 fly to have for any situation if you had to take only one so I'm going to give that a whirl this weekend.  but I'm serious, it could be the best fishing spots in all of central texas.  happy fish, fish willing to eat in July at 4pm. yeah, give me more.

[troph 24,905]

so any help on attracting the more mature large mouth/small mouth combo please chime in. juvies are dumb and hungry so they are fairly indiscriminate it seems. clouser though is my next step with moderately fast and short strips and then ad lib if sight fishing when the fish is coming at it - act scared, freeze, same strip, etc. etc.

Edited July 20, 2022 by troph

[UncleBuck 6,455]

38 minutes ago, troph said:

so any help on attracting the more mature large mouth/small mouth combo please chime in. juvies are dumb and hungry so they are fairly indiscriminate it seems. clouser though is my next step with moderately fast and short strips and then ad lib if sight fishing when the fish is coming at it - act scared, freeze, same strip, etc. etc.

Not a fly guy but was using a small presentation via small spinning setup on the Nueces and the larger guys were just so much more finicky. Finally had one shoot out of nowhere and bite on a lure I kinda made on the go. I had rigged up a small 3/4"-1" pink shrimp from a sabiki rig. Popped a small split shot weight ahead of it just to get some distance on my cast. that pulled him out of the underbankage.

[Jerry Callo 8,722]

55 minutes ago, troph said:

so any help on attracting the more mature large mouth/small mouth combo please chime in. juvies are dumb and hungry so they are fairly indiscriminate it seems. clouser though is my next step with moderately fast and short strips and then ad lib if sight fishing when the fish is coming at it - act scared, freeze, same strip, etc. etc.

That is not a bad plan.  Also, you should look into some flies that can be worked slowly and on or near the bottom.  Leaches, Slumpbuster, and weighted Clousers will work for that.  Using bigger flies will help target the bigger fish, too.  If you haven't stopped at Living Waters in Round Rock, you should.  Chris Johnson put out a map/guide for fishing Brushy Creek which is helpful for access points and other fishing tips.  

[troph 24,905]

2 hours ago, Jerry Callo said:

That is not a bad plan.  Also, you should look into some flies that can be worked slowly and on or near the bottom.  Leaches, Slumpbuster, and weighted Clousers will work for that.  Using bigger flies will help target the bigger fish, too.  If you haven't stopped at Living Waters in Round Rock, you should.  Chris Johnson put out a map/guide for fishing Brushy Creek which is helpful for access points and other fishing tips.  

I stopped by there before heading to Brushy Creek. their flies didn't work on the bigger fish. their smaller clouser types were on fire though hence my idea of buying the bright patters of the larger clousers (white, silver, chartreuse).  cray fish patterns on the bottom did nada. maybe its the case the biggies are just "eff you, it's July, I ain't doing shit" and that's that. I will say I hooked one small sunfish and watched a large bass come out of no where to chase it as it was on my line. that little booger tossed the hook in no time and darted off.  I have half a mind to bring in a big ass red fish fly too.

[hookemATL 11,847]

12 minutes ago, troph said:

I stopped by there before heading to Brushy Creek. their flies didn't work on the bigger fish. their smaller clouser types were on fire though hence my idea of buying the bright patters of the larger clousers (white, silver, chartreuse).  cray fish patterns on the bottom did nada. maybe its the case the biggies are just "eff you, it's July, I ain't doing shit" and that's that. I will say I hooked one small sunfish and watched a large bass come out of no where to chase it as it was on my line. that little booger tossed the hook in no time and darted off.  I have half a mind to bring in a big ass red fish fly too.

I tried some poppers and got some long looks and follows but no takes from the bigger fish.  I have a number of closers as well and will attempt to go midwater/bottom next time.  Water is very clear where I fish which should make it easier.  

[Jerry Callo 8,722]

23 minutes ago, troph said:

maybe its the case the biggies are just "eff you, it's July, I ain't doing shit" and that's that.

The larger fish likely aren't swimming around in broad daylight eating.  They might bite if you can get a fly to them in the shade.  You might have a better chance in the morning.  Give those crawfish patterns another toss in the early morning.

I usually have the same pattern in several sizes.  If I'm catching too many little ones, I'll go up in size until they little ones leave it alone.

[troph 24,905]

23 minutes ago, hookemATL said:

I tried some poppers and got some long looks and follows but no takes from the bigger fish.  I have a number of closers as well and will attempt to go midwater/bottom next time.  Water is very clear where I fish which should make it easier.  

I love the poppers, this particular trip no takers. usually get a nibble from the interested smallies at least. 

10 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said:

The larger fish likely aren't swimming around in broad daylight eating.  They might bite if you can get a fly to them in the shade.  You might have a better chance in the morning.  Give those crawfish patterns another toss in the early morning.

I usually have the same pattern in several sizes.  If I'm catching too many little ones, I'll go up in size until they little ones leave it alone.

early morning ... ugh, I do need to commit. home waters I prefer late afternoon.  I bet your right though. the little to larger pattern is why I'm buying the larger clousers.  the 10 inch small mouth I caught was on a larger streamer near 9pm when it was almost fully dark.

Edited July 20, 2022 by troph

[hookemATL 11,847]

yall really gonna make me go fishing again today? le sigh.

[Jerry Callo 8,722]

23 minutes ago, hookemATL said:

yall really gonna make me go fishing again today? le sigh.

Yeah.  All this talk has me contemplating a morning trip to Brushy Creek this weekend.

[troph 24,905]

I'm going sunday evening.

[Cajun 11,722]

Old school.  Circa 1985-ish in Cabo.  Lat22 & your’s truly bringing in the biggest bull dorado I ever caught…

 

 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Cajun

[fattyflattie 4,638]

18 minutes ago, Cajun said:

Old school.  Circa 1985-ish in Cabo.  Lat22 & your’s truly bringing in the biggest bull dorado I ever caught…

 

 

Lol at “buenas noches”. 

[4th and 5 4,915]

I Can’t Tell You Why might be my favorite Eagles song

Nice bull

[justhookit 4,191]

Yeah that’s a great and funny video for so many reasons. Nice fish. My first trip to Cabo was ‘83 but all I’ve got is a few pictures.

[HollidayHorn 274]

Had a blast catching these little brookies using a tree limb as a rod, about 15 foot of line and a pinch of worm under a small cork. Probably caught around 40 in a couple hours out of my buddies ponds in Wyoming. 

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12,301]

1 hour ago, HollidayHorn said:

Had a blast catching these little brookies using a tree limb as a rod, about 15 foot of line and a pinch of worm under a small cork. Probably caught around 40 in a couple hours out of my buddies ponds in Wyoming. 

That's awesome...what happened to the trees in the background?

 

 

 

[Pescado_Rojo 19,428]

Just now, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

That's awesome...what happened to the trees in the background?

 

 

 

It took a lot of trial and error to find the perfect branch...

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12,301]

Just now, Pescado_Rojo said:

It took a lot of trial and error to find the perfect branch...

Ahhh nature.

[4th and 5 4,915]

Not for the squeamish, media from 

thequalifiedcaptain 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CgSYPY-B_0b/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[HollidayHorn 274]

3 hours ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

That's awesome...what happened to the trees in the background?

 

 

 

There was a fire 10 years ago. Burned around 50,000 acres.

[Damor 1,237]

On 7/12/2022 at 9:19 PM, RMac5 said:

What part of Colorado? I’m envious for sure.

Salida.  We're heading out from here to Gunnison tomorrow. It's been awesome as always.

Since I suck at fly fishing, we went out with the guides from Arkanglers.  When we went wading my younger one caught a nice cutbow just north of town:

Then when float fishing, their guide took him and my wife down Brown's Canyon (!) and they hauled in 25+, including a 20" rainbow for him:

My older one and I didn't do nearly as well south of town, but I was happy enough with a few decent browns

And of course I goofed around in the river park on the days the boys were playing. While this fish isn't anything special, it was a hell of a lot of fun on the 3wt fiberglass rig:

This town is so great. I can never decide if I like it better here or in Gunnison. We'll see what happens next. 

[Chewbacca 7,782]

Salida.  We're heading out from here to Gunnison tomorrow. It's been awesome as always.



Since I suck at fly fishing, we went out with the guides from Arkanglers.  When we went wading my younger one caught a nice cutbow just north of town:


Then when float fishing, their guide took him and my wife down Brown's Canyon (!) and they hauled in 25+, including a 20" rainbow for him:

My older one and I didn't do nearly as well south of town, but I was happy enough with a few decent browns

And of course I goofed around in the river park on the days the boys were playing. While this fish isn't anything special, it was a hell of a lot of fun on the 3wt fiberglass rig:

This town is so great. I can never decide if I like it better here or in Gunnison. We'll see what happens next. 

Sunny Gunny is a cool town. I have spent a few months down there and really like it.