2018 Fishing - Year of the big one

[solamente73 1132]

On 6/20/2018 at 3:13 PM, JohnnyShotgun said:

Hey Fellas, my nephew just graduated high school and is going to Marine boot camp next month. I asked what he wanted to do before he goes and he said "go fishing with you Unc". Damn near made me tear up. Now I'm a pretty good bass fisherman, but he doesn't know shit about catching fish. I want to take him to a spot where we could just walk around the water, cast a line and have a good chance at landing a fish. So my question is do any of you guys have a tank or pond some where we could go around Austin and fish for a couple of hours? I know it's a long shot, but I thought I would ask. It goes without saying that we would be completely respectful of your property and your fish. We aren't interested in eating the fish, just catching and releasing. Thanks for reading and your consideration.

Try posting in the Hunting thread.  A lot of those guys have property, or might be able to point you in the right direction.

[JohnnyShotgun 34]

I thought I would try, no big deal. My buddy is taking us out on his boat Saturday morning, we will try and put him on some fish.

[Mac8111 2108]

I completely blew off work today and fished from sun up to sundown with the old man. Ran all the way to Baffin and fished all points in between. I personally caught 25 undersize trout. Only had one keeper. He had two keepers. Still was a blast. Caught 8 trout on 8 straight casts with the same Molten shrimp gulp.

Good day overall.

[Sbbruin 21865]

We fished the backside of Catalina Saturday, and just landed a half dozen calico bass and only one keeper.  Didn't take any pics with my phone though. 

BTW, I am on an email list with HUK gear,  and today's deal is for a t-shirt maybe one of y'all would want:

https://www.hukgear.com/collections/feature-of-the-day/products/huk-kc-scott-tx-star-redfish-tee?variant=1321381691406

 

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

y'all want to see any fish porn from alaska or nah?

[Pescado_Rojo 19427]

7 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

y'all want to see any fish porn from alaska or nah?

[Kennythetiger 9416]

54 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

y'all want to see any fish porn from alaska or nah?

Does the pope shit in the woods?

[RMac5 1551]

Hell yes we do.

[Brisketexan 105186]

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

[Brisketexan 105186]

Dude...I’ve always wanted to catch a Grayling.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

52 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Dude...I’ve always wanted to catch a Grayling.

they're amazing fish. pictures never do any fish justice, but it's especially true with the subtle, translucent coloring of a grayling. redfish had sat atop my 'will eat anything' list...until i met graylings. they are so hungry. 

[Braff Zacklin 13636]

Alaska grayling >>> Idaho grayling.

[RMac5 1551]

Those are some awesome fish, where were you? Headed to Lake City n about two weeks, cannot freakin wait to crawl into a stream.

[Braff Zacklin 13636]

Pro tip: Henson Creek outside of Lake City, on the road toward Ouray.

[krevo 142]

Going on a meat haul at Canyon Lake tomorrow.  Anyone got any recommendations for catfish out there?  We were going to put in at Cranes Mill and fish around the river mouth.

[Brew 3049]

For those that fly with your fishing gear, what do you use to transport tackle? Do you use a particular type of box/bag? Do you just carry the individual plastic cases in your checked bags or keep them in the rod tubes? I’ve got a trip coming up and can make do with a small number of lures but then with leader, pliers, etc sticking with a tackle box sounds like a better plan. What I have now will not work, but I don’t see much out there other than maybe the backpack style that will work to check.

[Schulz2.0 28997]

Went to HS with this guy. First redfish he ever caught. Caught it by Pensacola. Claims it was 37 lbs.

[Pescado_Rojo 19427]

9 hours ago, Brew said:

For those that fly with your fishing gear, what do you use to transport tackle? Do you use a particular type of box/bag? Do you just carry the individual plastic cases in your checked bags or keep them in the rod tubes? I’ve got a trip coming up and can make do with a small number of lures but then with leader, pliers, etc sticking with a tackle box sounds like a better plan. What I have now will not work, but I don’t see much out there other than maybe the backpack style that will work to check.

If I'm flying with gear I'm either fishing with someone I know that's local to where I'm going, or fishing with a guide so I bring minimal gear beyond rods. I usually carry on my rods, and will put the basics in a zip loc and stuff it in my carry on. That way if my bags are delayed I'm not dead in the water. If you want to bring more than the basics, I'd stick it in my checked baggage. 

[Brew 3049]

Can you carry lures on? I assumed they would have been kicked out at security. I only need a few different spoon varieties, a couple of top water, and a couple of swim baits plus pliers and I’m good to go for this trip. I’m carrying 7.5 foot spinning setups so I was going to get a bazooka style tube to check for them.

[Sbbruin 21865]

The boy and I slayed the calicos, including this 22" lunker.

[Sbbruin 21865]

That definitelynothollywoodcolt guy is giving the original Hollywood Colt a run for his money.

[El Diablo 4232]

I like watching these guys on Saturday mornings, they get me enchubbened bigly. They've got a pretty good show and cover the entire Texas Gulf Coast with reports. Good YouTube channel too.

 

[Pescado_Rojo 19427]

18 hours ago, Brew said:

Can you carry lures on? I assumed they would have been kicked out at security. I only need a few different spoon varieties, a couple of top water, and a couple of swim baits plus pliers and I’m good to go for this trip. I’m carrying 7.5 foot spinning setups so I was going to get a bazooka style tube to check for them.

I've carried on flies, no idea about big hard baits. I also carry on 4 piece fly rods, not 1 piece conventional gear. If you've got to check your rods, you might as well stuff a small plano box in your checked baggage. 

[Goofyboy 3293]

My son and nephew worm fishing for pearch and bluegill. They can still catch pretty steady for about an hour late in the evening. Those little fish are fun to catch. My son is on the right.

[williemackgarza 1826]

Great pic GB!



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[4th and 5 4915]

Crushed the trout to 23” wading in SPI all week. Some on superspooks, some on live perch and shrimp. Kings are not at the jetties yet.

[JohnnyShotgun 34]

19 hours ago, Goofyboy said:

My son and nephew worm fishing for pearch and bluegill. They can still catch pretty steady for about an hour late in the evening. Those little fish are fun to catch. My son is on the right.

Love the picture Goofy, but it makes me a little nervous seeing your nephew without some sort of life jacket or floaties. I'm a father of three boys and maybe I'm being too cautious, but my 3 year old would have something on to save him if he went in the water.  Other than that, I love that the boys are fishing and having a great time!

[Goofyboy 3293]

Thanks for the concern. It’s not deep right there and his mom was right out of frame. I’m usually sitting right beside them. They wear a jacket when it’s fish and swim time. We are super cautious at our lake house.

[huge 3795]

Good times.  Headed out of Surfside offshore Wednesday bright and early. 

Buddy's company has a Viking.  Spending the night Wednesday.  They have caught multiple Marlin already this year on top of the usual snapper, mahi, tuna and wahoo.  They actually caught a swordfish back in March.  

Cant wait.

[Atxracer 797]

6 Rounds of 3 on the line at a time in an hour and a half-ish span with me and the wife (no pics).  Great fun.

  

 

Turned directly into this upon returning to shore.  

[Sbbruin 21865]

Awesome work on the footballs.  

[krevo 142]

Kinda late on this one but Shimano is rolling out a Curado DC for the US market (they've been around in the JDM market for years now)

The braking system is controlled by a digital chip which can apply spool braking based on a number of factors (type of line, weight of bait, rotation speed of spool, etc) and can almost completely eliminate backlashing in windy conditions.  I have a few of the JDM models in my arsenal and will be picking up one of these and another Exsence as soon as they drop.

 

 

Edited July 12, 2018 by krevo

[Hank_Hill 18893]

Doing a three day kayak trip on Devils river and have been looking for an excuse to get a new bass rig. Suggestions for one that’s kayak friendly and <~$100?

Edited July 12, 2018 by Hank_Hill

[crash_davis 23114]

on the DC reels, i always wanted to try or buy one but they were always way too expensive.  plus i chunk enough arties to know how to account for weight, wind, etc.  

 

how precise are the DCs?  will it help with distance?

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

floated with a buddy and his son yesterday. his son hadn't fly fished much and had never thrown streamers before. these were the first 2 fish he caught. unreal.

[huge 3795]

 

 

 

 

 

14 snappers, 10 dorado, 3 white marlin. Left from Surfside on Tuesday night and got back Thursday afternoon.

 

Have some video of the marlin. Need to upload those.

 

 

 

[krevo 142]

22 hours ago, crash_davis said:

on the DC reels, i always wanted to try or buy one but they were always way too expensive.  plus i chunk enough arties to know how to account for weight, wind, etc.  

 

how precise are the DCs?  will it help with distance?

This will be the first DC reel released on the USDM market with a retail around $249.  The previous iterations of the Antares or Calais DC were over 500 bucks.  

This particular DC system will absolutely increase distance and allow you to cast directly into headwind on the coast.  The chip detects rotational speed of the spool and gradually adjusts brake force as the bait changes speeds or slowly or abruptly.   There's a video at iCast on Facebook right now of a guy throw a lure directly at a wall at full speed without thumbing.  No backlash.


I have the JDM variant of this reel release about 18 months ago.  It has a 1, 2, 3, 4 setting and then has a setting for braid, flouro, big baits (heavy lures) and a SP mode.  The SP mode is great for using at night or when you really need to just bomb the shit out of a lure and will completely avoid a backlash so long as your spool tension is properly applied.  

I use it on my frog rod at night where I'm throwing a frog on a 7'4" heavy rod in pitch black and rarely do I ever need to anticipate my bait hitting the water.  If you haven't owned one before, this reel will be a 100% game changer.  The only thing even close is Daiwa's Alphas SV w/ Magforce Z braking.

[Pescado_Rojo 19427]

8 hours ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

floated with a buddy and his son yesterday. his son hadn't fly fished much and had never thrown streamers before. these were the first 2 fish he caught. unreal.

[Mac8111 2108]

Would love to test out the DC reel,but I would be worried about wading with it in saltwater. It doesn’t sound like something cheap to repair once I fuck it up.

[huge 3795]

Lets see if this works. One of the three whites we caught.

[JohnnyShotgun 34]

Nice video! Looks like an awesome time.

[krevo 142]

On 7/14/2018 at 11:01 AM, Mac8111 said:

Would love to test out the DC reel,but I would be worried about wading with it in saltwater. It doesn’t sound like something cheap to repair once I fuck it up.

The Shimano Exsence (which is a 150 size Core-based reel with an 8.0:1 ratio and the same DC chip they are using in the Curado) is designed for catching sea bass.  I've have that reel and used it for 3 years heavily, fresh and salt.  I clean and lube once a year in the winter and pretty much only do a freshwater rinse and wipe after salt trips.

I've had the JDM version of this Curado for a few months but haven't fished it a lot in saltwater thus far.  I mean - a Curado is 180.  This reel is 60-70 more.  Still less than than a Chronarch.

[bmbmd 1027]

I caught a fish.

 

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

i usually do most of my damage up in the high country during late summer. that's been moved up with our main fisheries basically un-fishable due to water temps/oxygen levels. i went up to my favorite creek yesterday, it's full of brook trout that are absolutely stunning and will eat anything. pictures never due them justice, but i tried to capture their coloring here:

oh and a pro-tip: don't buy simms intruder wet wading boots.

spent the last 4 miles hiking barefoot down a rocky trail. brutal.

[davidg 4038]

Leukotape is your friend even with wet feet. 3' wrapped around an old hotel swipe key is the foundation of my first aid kit.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

15 minutes ago, davidg said:

Leukotape is your friend even with wet feet. 3' wrapped around an old hotel swipe key is the foundation of my first aid kit.

I’m lucky if I remember to bring water.

[Dry Elbows 142]

On 7/12/2018 at 3:46 PM, crash_davis said:

on the DC reels, i always wanted to try or buy one but they were always way too expensive.  plus i chunk enough arties to know how to account for weight, wind, etc.  

 

how precise are the DCs?  will it help with distance?

A guide I'm friends with is on the Shimano prostaff.  We were out one day talking about the new Shimano reels and he pulled out a Metanium DC.  Put a Corky Fat Boy on and BOMBED that lure out there.  There was some tail wind, but I don't think I've ever seen a Corky cast that far.  Based on what he showed me with a couple of casts, you do gain distance.  He didn't thumb the spool at all. 

[Chewbacca 7780]

Sitting in Seattle airport right now, waiting for the connecting flight to Sitka to go Salmon fishing with my dad. Will post pics when we are back.

[Braff Zacklin 13636]

Spent most of spring and June floating reservoirs and wading small creeks for cutts on the fly. Flows were finally low enough to wade some big water on Friday and had a wonderful time. Caught several middling smallies, a few yellow perch, and various rainbows, including this 21-inch hen. Hopefully, more to come.

 

Edited July 22, 2018 by Braff Zacklin