little_stephen

So, I'm about to jump into the world of canoe purchasing....... my tax refund came in! and i was wondering..... how bad of an idea is it to try and put a trolling motor on a canoe? Ive seen some good pictures of homemade trolling motor mounts that consist of a piece of bracing bolted to the support bar behind the rear seat. they extend outward, and have a piece of wood mounted vertically that the motor clamps onto..... is this a stability issue? i fish from the canoe standing..... if im looking at tipping over ten someone let me know! im also not sure how to set up an anchor system that will allow me to fish and still move without too much trouble by myself.......a two anchor system would be ideal so im not drifting off my spot. & at one point the idea of a hand cranked winch crossed my mind... but i dont know! just if anyone has any good ideas..... let me know.... the only thing thats set in stone is im finding a way to get that trolling motor onto that canoe and im going to try and get small portable fish finder as well. and no.......... sadly i dont have the canoe picked out yet. but im assuming it wont be a flat stern..... but none the less..... lets have the ideas!

sorry for getting a little jumpy.... i just dont think its ok to jump down peoples throat about things they post...... this is a cool group of people, and i dont like that someone decided to poke fun at me while i was trying to give constructive help and advice to someone..... all is forgiven. but still..... go do your homework. u supported my point earlier in the thread, then u poked fun at urself by making fun of my post! lol..... anyhow. just stick to tropicals to start with! its safer and a slightly less devistating learning curve for new aquarium owners....

well if u dont act like a jerk...... have a look at the recent articles in bassmaster about gizard shad getting to monster size...........then yes..... ud realize that given the right conditions..... just about any fish can get to a huge size compared to its average under a balanced ecosystem....... I had a dalmation molly in my tank at home that got twice as big as any of its friends at the pet store.......... as a bass fisherman. you should stop shooting off smart comments and think....... given the right temps, propper growing season length...... plenty of prey to eat, and a few other things...... a california bass can get four times as big as one of the bass here in ohio............ when you have a tank thats temp controlled and you keep feeding the fish in subject, it will get big....... often times ALOT bigger than what you'll see in the wild because nothings trying to eat it! so ha!

im going to kinda go basic here to start with. i tought myself to fish from shore then graduated to canoe fishing. which alot of time is very similar.... but heres what i learned very much by trial and error. -Cast as parrallel to the shore as possible unless youre targeting a specific piece of structure. -find any points on the lakes shoreline and fish them! (again. if you can work the point from any diff angles then do! -Lilly pads are great shore fishing options if theyre in ur lake! -Dont carry too many lures. (I carry two planos worth of lures, and three little boxes with hooks, jigs, and terminal tackle. also two or three spools of diff lines. a parka, pliers, kinfe, and wire cutters. some sort of spike it, and a lure retriever in a book bag) its a pain, they tend to bogg u down! and usually (from my findings) you can just keep tying on the same lure if its working in an area. -two rods is ussually enough for me. one with braid, one with floro. -have lures ready to cover water quickly- topwater, subsurface, medium, deep/bottom at hand so you can quickly cover an area to see if theres bass. So, now that ive spewed my basic rules..... heres what ive found that works well for me from shore (in my northern muddly lakes) -HORNY TOADS! cant go wrong around lilly pads! -buzz baits -light texas rigs & Carolina Rigs. -football & fliping jigs. -rattle traps -swim baits (great because they can be used at all sorts of depths) -grubs -poppers and propbaits I dont use alot of cranks. ive found they hangup too much for me. i shore fish quickly but still saturate an area. cranks for me are a very targeted lure. but they work!

While Ive never kept any non-tropicals. ive got alot of expierence with tropicals..... ANY fish can get huge & ANY fish can get costly to feed given proper tank size & abundance of food. I do know a few people who have successfully kept bass in small tanks. they all said it wasnt very exciting because when u limit a fish like that to a small space ur limiting the predatory nature of the fish...... but none the less. I cant say from first hand expierence. i have seen a ton of people keeping bluegill, shinners(mostly for bait reasons), bream & perch. theyre cool. easy to maintain, and fun to watch bc of how social of a fish they tend to be. what i will sya is this. dont cheap out. if you arent investing in at least medium quality fish tank supplies. ur asking for more trouble than its worth. on a side note. look into tropicals. theres TONS of cool looking freshwater tropical fish that are really easy to keep and take care of. And they look cool! most of them can be purchased at a local pet or aquarium store!

ok, so I got lucky last weekend at the lake, and was rowing back against the wind (HARD ROWING) when i started hearing little popping sounds and noticed lots and lots of ripples on the surface. I instantly thought Shad (no it cant be shad, its too cold up here in ohio) so i tossed a small spoon to see if i could catch a bass that was obviously chasing the school through the creek bend i was on. Instead, I landed two of these little bait fish on my treble hook. one hopped off the hook, but i snapped this picture so i could confirm what i thought it was. Im thinking Cisco? SO, my question is this..... does anyone have any good ides on how to mimic these things my best efforts only gave me a stiff bite that i missed. I started with a spoon. switched to a spinnerbait that had a silver tube on it instead of a skirt. then tried a slashbait. then a rattle trap..... no luck.... next time around its going to be a hollow swimbait. I just didnt have one nearby.

my answer is honest and three fold step one. decided to teach myself to fish for bass, being tired of the occasional trip with my dad to shore fish for bluegill while the other guys were bass fishing step two. subscribing to what has been the first source of information on fishing. magazines. BASS Master. BASS Times, In Fishermen, & Bassin' step three. Joining this site and networking out to EVERYONE I can find. to date. Ive met a great local organizer of small scale tourneys. and a new friend whos taking me under his wing and offered to take me fishing and teach me how to use what Ive learned!

so springs only halfway here in ohio...... the other day i drove past my home lake to see how she was doing..... iced over still of course. but.... the suns been shining the last few days and the marina had completely thawd out.... the water dripping off of it cut thru under the marina and now theres no ice there. the only way to get out onto the ice safely(and comfortably) is to walk out onto the lake frm the launch ramp next to the marina(coverd by a puddle of 1inch thick water) there are 4 signs, all saying "KEEP OFF ICE!" and yet theres 2 guys out on the lake both of whom walkd right thru the puddle and next to the opening in the ice to get to their spots. that same day that group of guys got stranded on lake erie when the ice they were fishing on seperated and floated out onto the mainlake...... this is why i dont ice fish. sadly, it got up to 60 today, and rained like it was full blown spring..... BUT old man winter prevaild and the lake is still iced up. guess my lines gunna have to wait a little while longer to go for a dip in the lake....... *sad sigh*

Ok, so Ive been trying to refine my fishing skills. I started fishing with artificails whn i randomly tossed a topwater poper. (i didnt do well) since then, my goto bait has become zoom horny toads. recently i started fishing buzzbaits and ive just missed the few strikes i got b4 the season ended. So heres what im wondering. the lake im going 2 be fishing has alot of lilypads and Tons of mixed weeds(i think hydrilla). SO im wondering if theres a beter lure to start off with? -buzz baits -horny toads -or topwater frogs ? obviously im going to have all of the above with me. but given the cover is there any general one bait to start with?

Good Topic! MY goals are fairly simple. 1. Learn to fish a zara spook. 2. Start fishing the right lure choices for the conditions instead of running straight to my goto lures (horny toads & buzzbaits) 3. Explore @ least 2 new lakes in my area (not as easy as it sounds when you dont have a boat!) 4. Catch a bass off a jig. 5. Learn to fish Shad Patterns. 6. Catch More Fish! 7. Take the friends from work who Ive got thinking about going bass fishing with me! That seems like alot I know, but over the winter so far I've been doing my homework. I've read and re-read, and again re-read all of my Bassmaster, InFishermen, & Bassin' Magazines. Ivee been hard 2 work reading both of KVDs books. Ive learned alot, now its a mater of putting it to practice. Then there's the other two goals. These aren't really fishing goals but theyre important to me none the less. 1. Work hard so I can buy my cannoe. 2. Keep my stress levels down by going fishing twice a week(weather permiting).

to the above mentioned trolling motor comment. Im broke. and the marina dsnt rent them. plus i like the workout of rowing. helps me get in my cardio while i enjoy my fishing..... and actually to the sling like rockets comment. Ive got my rocket slinging down just fine...... just kidding. Ive got my favorite baitcaster dialed in and its my best friend when im on the water. I can chuck baits further than i thought i could. but youre right in this situation..... the first thing i can get into firing range probly is the best idea. i can do the lipless plugs! theyre so freaking simple. I guess id better start doing my research on how to walk the spooks. and ive never really been able to cast them that far...... how would a spoon work in that situation?!

so far common sense has me stocked up with flukes. mostlywhite, silver, things like that. i was thinking topwater popper. im not at all comfrtable with zara spooks. im notgood with the whole side 2 sidewalking tech. rattle traps aresomething else i was thinkng because of the depth control issue. which realy ifu think about it isnt an issue. because i have no electronics so i have no knowledge of thefishs depth. thts why im thinking my buckeyelures su spin with a fluke on th backend?

the answer to that is two fold.......... first, myhands down choice is a zoom horny toad. rigd with weightless screwlock style hook. expiermnt wth dff colors once youve got the idea. but theres nothing to it. toss it out over ANY kind ofweed cover thts broken or at the surface & just reel it in. id recomend a baitcasting reel tho. it takes some speed toget a good action outof them. next you need to look @ what kind of weeds youre fishing. that makes a big diff too. i mostly use horny toads over lilly pads ive gotten bites out of hydrilla & grass thatwas just @ the surface. make sure you usea heavy action rod & braided line. idrecomend berkely fireline. its tough and easy to learn on. and MAKE SURE YOU SKIN HOOK THE FROG WITH THE TIP OF THE HOOK other wise your in trouble. you'll catch weeds more than fish!

ok, i recently started fishig a local resv. its electric only, and ive been renting a canoe. so, im limitedto my four rod carry rack. because i travel ready 2 switch styles im trying to solve a riddle! This is the first placeive been that has shad! I was fishing shoreline structure whn i noticed this group of gulls diving at the surface. all my hard work & studying paid offwhen i realized they were feeding on a shad school! by the time i rowed there, the frenzy was over. but my question is this. What one kind of and what specific bait is going to be best to keep on to be ready forthis opportunity? I prefer plastics, but ill try just about anything! So whats your take on this? what should i keep tied on for this situation?

past the snake i caught the one time i just got another. i basically pulled myself & my canoe over to a HUGE branch that had sunk when i hung a jig on it just before it oo old to fish 2 weeks ago. I muscled the monster up outta 5feet or so of water to be suprised that the branch was longer than my canoe. THANK GOD FOR BERKLEY FIRELINE! that thing was a monster, i used another rod tip to bust my jig free and watched that big old branch sink down and turn up a ton of silt when it hit bottom! so i basically like to say that i reeled in half a tree! ;D

as anothe ohio basser i second that. I mostly shore fish or fish from a rented canoe. but the marinas all close early here. so i find tht targeting any vegitation left in my shallow home lake usually does the trick. Here that means dragging a buzz bait up along the remaining lilly pad edges into super shallow water. The last remaining vegetation always seems to draw bass that are hanging shallow filling up for the cold. here that means shore fishing is actually easier because the bass have less options available to them than in summer when theres more weeds. Luckily, alot of those weed lines are really accessable by shore fishing. my suggestion is this. Toss on some good jeans and boots, get urself a small hatchet or machete and chop out a fishing spot for urself right on the edge of the weedline. fish inside the weeds, on the edges and everywhere else you can get to. Also, if youre fishing smaller resvs. try hitting embankments that restrict water depth, like a dike with a tunnel thro it, or steep drop offs by bridges, where water drops off quickly and that gives the fish alot of depth options to choose from. ive been finding alot of bass there kind of waiting for the full transition of ohio winter to roll in. you however have 2 find out what best suts your siuation. example, the lake is basically done for the year here.weve had snow and ice o & off(mostly on) for a few weeks now. good luck. let us know how u do!

my lesson learned...... as demonstrated by my correct but slightly girly way of holding my fish in the picture to the left....... to my defense.me and my girlfriend were fishing from a cannoe and she isnt exactly the most stable person in the world whn it cums to multi tasking. so i was kinda trying to keep from tipping over and losing all my gear! and im proud to report that hauling in these nice little 2.5lbsers is now my norm! i like these little ohio fish!

thanks for the reminder. i will admit that i was quite frightened whn i hauld in my biggest largemouth to date, it was about 4lbs ish..... i didnt have a scale. but the equation said so. she wasnt happy to be outta water and i was holding her wrong. she jerkd hard once and i heard a loud snap..... i dont know what happened to ehr. i put her back shortly there after. but it was an "enlightening" expierence!

ok, so this sounds retarded....... but keep in mind noone showed me how to fish. i tought myself. (with lots of help from BASS, magazines & this site!) so here cums the stupid question..... i think i have the general idea of how to clean my catch down.......... is there anything i should really be aware of, or any tips to make this learning expierence more pleasant? ...help please! :-[

first things first, where are you from-water conditions, describe your spots, and ill see what youre doing compared to what im doing...... ive got the same kind of setup....... the problems could be simple, small ponds for me only hold bass in two places in the summer, drop dead center, as deep as it goes, or lodged way into the lilly pads(which are a monster mess here in ohio) plus water clarity and bait size plays alot of roll too. fish want an easy, chunky meal this time of year that they dont have to work hard to get. let me know what your situations like!

im gunna pull into my bag of tricks here from when i spent a year as a psych major...... you feel bad becuse for ALL of us. the largemouth bass means something special to us. its different for each of us, but theres something about it that makes it hurt when we lose one..... thats also the basic reason we fish for bass in the firstplace..... think about it. if it didnt mean something special.....wed all be out hunting for the biggest fish we can find! Largemouth is by no means the biggest fish available to any of us......... we catch them because theyre important for one reson or another. were sad when we kill one bc they mean alot to us........ feelin your pain. but it happens..... its one way the foodchains been warped a little by us evolving......

by the way im the short one in from the end on the left..... looking down because i kid you not one of the cuties in the band was making really inapropriate faces at me and my assistant section leader evan-the tall one the entire time we played for the band...... kind of a demo for us to "motivate" them into working harder than we do....

percussion..... by that i mean a variety of things. drumset. mallets. you name it. but i love marching...... love it! the only thing i get more of a thrill out of than catching a bucketmouth was my pregame solo at a home game marching for the university of akron...... GOD I LOVE TO PLAY!

So, heres an interesting thought, i was at the lake the other day, and i was just looking at the differnet types of cars and trucks that were parked in the parking lot..... plenty of trucks, a few jeeps, many with trailers. some cars, and then there was my little stationwagon...... it kinda stook out. but you know what, i dnt care, im proud of my little car. because when the guys at my small local lake see it pull in they know a friend has arived. So that got me thinking..... whats your bass-mobile!? lets see 'em.... and try to keep the egos on the downlow...... im just cruious to see who takes what to the lake! sadly, my bass-mobile got the windshield smashd up and a nice dented hood by a really nasty storm! hail bigger than golf balls...... very sad! So there she is, my baby...... 1994 Ford Escort Station Wagon. shes got over 180,000 miles on her and she still hauls a**! Love my car! plus plenty of room for my gear and lots of roof space for my impending cannoe or kyack purchase.....

no, i should have, but i took "Everything but the kitchen sink, and the tapemeasure....... its never been important to me. so far its just about getting to the fish, getting them to bite, then getting them outta the water. ill worry about my bests in a while..... lol