Fishing Rhino

That's great about the map. I plan to order one from the site Mike posted. It will help with my impatience for May 2 to get here. You can be sure I'll spend hours poring over it, looking for likely spots to fish. I'll highlight the spots, just in case I get my boat in time for the trip. When I arrive, I want to hit the ground running, not studying a map. Not sure how much good it will do, but it will help pass the time. It could end up being a humbling experience. But, I'm humble enough to admit it, and arrogant enough to doubt I'll be humbled.

A boat is just a platform on the water to get you to the fish. Finding the fish is the first priority. Once you find them, they don't care if you're floating on an inner tube, or a hundred thousand dollar boat. Put the right bait in front of their noses, present it the right way, and voila, fish on. Don't worry about your level of skill. There will be others in the same shoes, and there will be others with experience who will be more than happy to help out. This is not a tournament. It's a chance to meet members of this forum who share a love for fishing. The full fledged "bass boats" are designed primarily for tournament fishing. Fast, and with decks that allow a fisherman to quickly move about. Their forte is efficiency, allowing a fisherman to make more casts and cover more bottom, thereby increasing the catch. That boat is more than adequate to get you to the fish. And we have been assured that anyone who needs a seat will have one. Think of the road trip as a fishing seminar, with the opportunity to learn a lot, and to enjoy the company of other fishermen. What more could you ask for?

That was a short several weeks Mike. Glad it's up. You'll be getting my form with check in the time it takes the mail to get from MA to OK. OK?

It opened fine, and could fill out all the info, 'til I got to the comment box. The cursor stays at the center left of that box, and everything that is typed stays on that line. It will only print what is visible on that line. If necessary, I'll leave that blank, and once I print the form with the rest of the info, I will print my comments by hand. OOOOPS! Nevermind. When I typed this the notice of the problem was not on the thread. Will try later.

Try this next year when the pads are just starting to grow. A few may have reached the surface, but most will be somewhere in the water column. Depending on the size of the bed, you may want to mark the perimeter of the bed, just for reference. This is especially helpful when the glare or ripple of the water surface hinders the visibility of the few that have reached the surface. Try your toad. I had great success with a Rage Tail Space Monkey, and also caught them on the Rage Tail shad and toad. I also used an Owner Twistlock keel weighted hook. I skin hooked the monkey to make it weedless. This particular bed was in five feet of water. I'd cast into the bed, count to ten, and start my retrieve. Half the fish I caught were on when I took up the slack. You can feel the bait rooting around through the stems, but it never gets hung. And when you do hook a fish, it's much easier to fight them than it is when all the pads have grown to the surface. If I recall correctly, there was about a ten day to two week period from the time the pads started growing, 'til they had all reached the surface. I don't know if it corresponds to the bedding/spawning season or not. All I know was there were no dinks. One day I caught six on a dozen or so casts, and they were all over three pounds. The smaller beds yielded similar results, but fewer fish as you might suspect. I can't wait for late April or early May when the pads start to show. I want to try a shaky head in those beds, as well as a few other things this spring.

I don't know if you are referring to mats, or the vegetation that grows upward in tendrils that will allow a bait to sink to the bottom. But, if you are here are a few methods I have used that worked well for me. Drop shotting. Use a 3/16th or 1/4 ounce cylindrical drop shot weight. Use an Owner #1 or 1/0 weedless drop shot hook ( http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/fish-hooks/840125.aspx ) with the two weedless flex nylon guards. I allow a tag end below the hook of at least three feet, as much as four. This allows you to fish the bait at various distances from the bottom. For bait, you can use a small Senko type worm wacky rigged, a finesse worm with it hooked through the head, plastic craws, four inch Zoom lizards, flappin hogs, fat Ikas, etc. You can jig it while drifting, or, the method I prefer, swim the drop shot. It's easy enough. Make a long cast, allow it to settle to the bottom and remain for a few seconds, take up the slack and use various twitches while retrieving. Be sure to allow slack between twitches to let the sinker settle to the bottom. Generally, the preferred method is to apply minimal input to the bait when drop shotting. But, there are times the fish prefer something different, so mix up the retrieve until you find what they want. My preferred worm is the Strike King Elaztech four inch coppertreuse worm. Even though you hook only a quarter inch or so of the head, they will not tear off. The only times I've lost one of these worms is when the entire rig gets parted off. The next method is to use a Jackall, or similar, weedless wacky jig hook. ( http://www.extremelures.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=165 ) Again, you can fish this many ways. Here's one. I use a Yamamoto Flappin Hog, and even a Fat Ika at times. Pierce the end of the Flappin Hog, and push the hook along the center line far enough so that when you exit the point of the hook to expose the business end, the blunt end of of the hog should be snug agains the jig head. A drop of crazy glue is not a bad idea. Keeps the bait in place, and it will last considerably longer. You put the Fat Ika on the same way, but you should have the tentacles forward, against the jig head. You can also wacky rig this. Don't hesitate to experiment. The last thing I'll recommend is plastics on Owner Sled Head weighted hooks. ( http://store.tackleandrods.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=FLT&Category_Code=OWNERJ ) Favorite is the four inch Zoom lizard in chartreuse or watermelon red. I pierce along the centerline of the bait to the point where the hook starts to bend, and exit it out the bottom. Bring the bait to the twistlock, with the top up. Three turns will bring it snug to the jig head. Then rig the bait weedless, and you're good to go. Again, you can use your favorite baits. Cast, allow to settle to the bottom, and use a very slow retrieve with varying movements of the bait. I try to keep it in contact with the bottom. It goes through the grasses and tendrils flawlessly. The first two are not totally weedless, even with the guards, but once rigged properly, snags are fairly rare. Certainly not often enough to be discouraging. If you have any questions, or something isn't clear, you can pm me for clarification.

The link won't work with the period right after com in the address. This should work for those who want to go to the site. www.atlanticmapping.com

It's a vision thing from having their eyes crossed too often during hook sets.

This is my favorite picture from this year. The splash and the boil from a nice fish is tough to beat. You can only see the back of the fish. But it catches the joy of fishing from a canoe on my favorite pond. It's hard to beat being able to lip a fish without performing gymnastic gyrations from a deck a foot above the water. By the way, it got off right at the boat.

How many know that Ted Williams had written a book about great fishing holes in America? Here's an intro, and an excerpt. " Editor's Note--Ted Williams, arguably the best hitter who ever played the game of baseball, died on Friday, July 5, 2002 at age 83. Williams was a Hall of Famer, hitting .344 lifetime with 521 home runs. What would his numbers have been had he not lost five seasons serving in both World War II and the Korean War as a Marine pilot? He hit .406 in 1941 (the last major leaguer to hit .400 in a season) and .388 in 1957. On his last at bat as a major league player, he hit a home run. But Ted Williams had a love even greater than baseball. Williams was an outdoorsman par excellence. He loved hunting and fishing--especially fishing. In the May 1989 issue of POPULAR MECHANICS, Williams shared his favorite fishing spots with readers. We reprinted the article in our centennial book, The Best Of Popular Mechanics 1902-2002. We republish it here as a tribute to Ted Williams. I'VE BEEN ASKED a hundred times if I can compare the highlights of my career in baseball to the thrills of fishing. It's a tough question to answer because I've devoted myself to both sports and they're fundamentally different. Is making a good cast to a fish and fighting it skillfully similar to hitting a home run? I'd be lying if I said yes. There's no feeling in the world comparable to hitting a baseball out of the park in front of a home-town crowd in a big game. Yet, I firmly believe there's no greater outdoor activity available to human beings than sportfishing. You're never too young or too old to participate, and the excitement, pleasure and challenge are always there. It doesn't matter if the fish you're after is a 2-ounce bluegill or a 200-pound marlin. If the tackle is right for the size of fish, it's always a sporting proposition, and a d**n fine one at that. Some people have called me a "flag waver" for the good ol' U.S. of A., and I've never denied it. They're probably aware I've served as a fighter pilot in World War II and in the Korean Conflict. They're also probably aware that I don't hesitate to speak my mind on subjects regarding the role and status of the U.S. in the world. Well, to paraphrase a recent president, here I go again: The United States, in my opinion, is the best angling country in the world, because the abundance and variety of fish found here is unmatched anywhere else. I might get an argument from my Canadian friends, who know I've spent a considerable amount of time casting flies at Atlantic salmon in the paradise-like pools of the Miramichi River, in New Brunswick." You can read the entire article here. http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/adventures/1277861.html

Gadabout Gaddis, the flying fisherman. If not the first, he was one of the first who brought sport fishing to a regular tv program. Goes back to what, the 60s? And, speaking of old timers, how many know that Ted Williams was an avid fisherman, quite accomplished at fly fishing, but also enjoyed fishing for Stripers, and just about anything else that swam.

Outdoors with Jarrett or is it Jason Edwards. Gettin' Schooled with JP DeRose is one of my favorites, when I get to watch it. And if you can get past his giggling/laughing fits, Dave Mercer's facts of fishing contains some useful nuggets of information. I'm not sure I could tolerate a day's fishing with someone who constantly carried on like that.

There are plenty of bass fishing shows, for both smallmouth and largemouth. How good they are depends on one's personal tastes. Some seem downright juvenile others are very informative. Some are infomercials, maybe most are infomercials since the hosts are dependent upon their sponsors. Some are informative, others merely entertaining. It depends on what channels are available to you. Any given show may air several times in a day or week. Best bet to get most or all of them is via one of the satellite, Dish or Direct, services.

Got any extra garter belts? I'd like to try 'em. Do you rig 'em on a worm hook, jig head, shaky head, etc.? I suspect a circle hook might work best since the stretch of a garter belt would not allow for an eye crossing hook set. Naw....... I use a limerick hook, as an old salty I'm sure you know what that is. Here's a salty limerick. There once was a man from Nantucket. Who kept all his cash in a bucket. His daughter named Nan Ran away with a man. And as for the bucket, Nan tuck it.

I have seen times when color was critical, but they have been on salt water. There used to be a popular squid type of bait called a Hoochie Troll when we lived on Cape Cod. I had red and orange versions in the two sizes that were available. They were also available in hot red, orange and pink fluorescent colors. There were times you couldn't buy a hit on the regular colors, but took the fluorescent versions as soon as they hit the water. I suffered through a couple of hours one Saturday morning when the fleet was killing them on Billingsgate Shoals in Cape Cod Bay off the Eastham and Orleans shores. I wasted a couple of hours dragging the plain versions around before hightailing it to Wellfleet Harbor and bought a couple of the fluorescent models. Went back out and promptly caught one after another. I quit fishing a couple of hours later when my arms turned into pasta noodles.

Got any extra garter belts? I'd like to try 'em. Do you rig 'em on a worm hook, jig head, shaky head, etc.? I suspect a circle hook might work best since the stretch of a garter belt would not allow for an eye crossing hook set.

My advice. Get the best your budget will allow, and study, study, study. This may sound strange coming from someone who has a 99 dollar portable Eagle Cuda and a canoe. But, I've had decades of experience reading bottom echoes as a lobsterman. My first two machines were paper recorders. My last was a Furuno color sounder that cost over 2000 dollars in the mid eighties. During those years I developed a very critical eye for reading bottoms and transitions. It became so much easier with that Furuno color sounder. Things that were subtle on the paper recorders, (monochrome) stood out like a sore thumb on the Furuno. By the way, the paper recorders were also Furuno as were all my other electronics, save for the Icom vhf. I'll be getting a new boat by July to use on larger bodies of water, though I suspect most of my fishing will still be done from the canoe. My first order of business is to establish the budget for a turnkey operation. Then the highest priority will be to select the fishfinders. What's left of the budget will determine what I get for a boat. That fishfinder will be your best friend, once you get used to operating and reading it. I wish you well in making your selection. I'll make one other suggestion. Get some marking floats. When you find a small piece of bottom that is producing fish, put out a float or two. You can work that area without having to keep an eye on the sounder at the bow. And, when you find an interesting patch of bottom as you are traversing the body of water, toss a float over the side, and keep moving 'til you reach the perimeter of that bottom or travel fifty or sixty feet. Drop a second float, then work that area. It won't take long until you can see what type of bottom and depth holds fish on your pond.

My, notice I said my, not necessarily the fishes' favorite colors are, in no particular order, watermelon with red black flake, chartreuse, coppertreuse, watermelon pepper/ chartreuse laminate. I have not done well with june bug except for the space monkey. I recall that well. The lily pads were sparse and only a handful had reached the surface. Water depth five feet. In one small patch of pads, I pulled a half dozen nice size, all over three pounds, on about a dozen casts using the space monkey, june bug color, on an owner keel weighted hook. Cast it into the pads, count to ten, and start the retrieve. Half the bass were on when I took up the slack. When the fish lost interest in the space monkey a few days later, I went to the Rage Tail craw. Using the same technique, and hook, I caught them on several different colors, including watermelon red, and a couple of the craw, maybe bama and Texas craws, but not with the june bug color they had aggressively hit only days before. Years ago, fifty or so, black worms were hot numbers. Haven't done much with black the past couple of years, save for black and blue jigs. Then again, I haven't fished them much. That might be part of it.

Well here you go. If it matters, there's sure to be a color in these things the fish want. If it doesn't then these should work as well as anything. Got my Barlow's catalog this week, and these were in it. Couldn't find them in the online catalog to post, so searched and found it, and wouldn't you know, it's from Barlows. http://www.barlowstackle.com/spike-a-delic.html

Off topic, but I have to ask. Fishes in trees? Would those trees be Basswood trees?

Eventually, the trade off would be worth it. When I replace the paper recorders with the color sounder, it was hypnotic. It was amazing how much it improved lobstering for me. But, like anything else, you have to apply yourself to understand what you are seeing, and to look for differences in the bottom be it contours or composition. There is a pond I fish near Cape Cod that has smallmouth and largemouth bass. Last summer, I found them in grassy patches of bottom. The grass was found in six foot depths plus or minus a couple of feet. Some grassy patches consistently produced fish, while other areas did not. Try as I might, I could not distinguish any different bottom characteristics on my 99 dollar Eagle Cuda, or is it Cuda Eagle? I'm hoping that with a better unit I can detect the difference, even if it's only some variation in the bottom echo. The grass provides cover, and also holds forage. That some places produce while others don't tells me that those areas which don't lack something that attracts the forage on which the bass feed. If the latest and greatest can show me some difference in the bottom, then I will know which vegetation areas are more likely to hold fish.

Found it. Thanks.

When I carry my rods, with reels, in the back of my truck, I spread an old sheet on the floor and wrap a rod with reel for a couple of wraps. Then I place another rod and reel with the reel toward the opposite end, and roll the two rods a couple of times. Repeat, and you can tote up to eight rods like this. Some plastic, electric zip ties at both ends and the center secures everything. I alternate the rods to provide protection for the tips. Works great in the back of my truck. For air travel, use the same method, but w/o the reels, then place in the tote tube. As long as there is a couple of layers of material between adjacent poles, they will not be damaged if bounced around. Use sheets for queen or king size beds to handle seven foot rods. Fold the extra length over the ends then secure it and the rods with zip ties. The zip ties keep everything together nicely so they cannot rattle against each other.

I clicked on that link, and got this. "Document Not Found Sorry, the document you requested is not available. Please click here to visit the Yahoo! Groups home page." Are some characters missing in that link?

I think we are talking about two different types of zoom. If I speak in fathoms, please understand that's the terminology commonly used among commercial fishermen, at least in this neck of the woods. There were several ways of setting the bottom display. You could have twenty fathoms on the screen, and the sounder would automatically adjust so the bottom was displayed. It stayed at a twenty fathom range on the screen If you went from fifteen to a thirty fathom depth, it would automatically change from 0 to 20 fathoms, from 20 to 40 fathoms. My el cheapo Eagle Cuda will automatically "zoom" and change the settings for the display. It starts at a ten foot range. When the depth approaches ten feet, the setting changes so the display shows from 0 to 20 feet. As you go over deeper water, the display increases in ten foot increments, so in 52 feet of water, the display will give readings from 0 to 60 feet. This is necessary for finding fish suspended in the water column. If it only read from 50 - 60 feet on the display, it would not show fish that are suspended above the 50 foot depth. But the zoom I mentioned is different from either of the above. The bottom always shows as a straight line regardless of contours. So, if that type of zoom is employed, you could have the display set at ten feet. The bottom would be displayed on the screen in a greatly expanded visual, maybe a couple of inches wide. When the bottom composition changes, say from a pure mud bottom, to a mud/gravel, or mud/shell or a mud/short vegetation bottom, the change stands out starkly. Set in the standard display, showing bottom contours the bottom line would be relatively small, a quarter inch or so. Those changes would be hardly noticable. When fishing offshore bottom, with very slight contour changes, being able to expand the bottom display to a wider line made all the difference. There were places where I had several trawls in thirty fathom of water. Some caught five to six pounds of lobsters per trap, while others caught only a pound or two per trap. The bottom was perfectly flat, and looked the same on the normal display. When I zoomed to expand the bottom image, you could plainly see the differences in the type of bottom that produced more lobsters than that which produced fewer. My eyes were always fixed on the display as we fished. Whenever we passed over the "good" bottom, I'd record the loran bearings, and when we had a trawl that wasn't catching lobsters as well as others, I'd move it to that piece of bottom. Even slight color changes in the bottom echo reflected subtle changes that made a big difference in the catch. My years of studying the bottom as revealed in the image on a sounder, cause me to be more interested in bottom changes, and I tend to get more excited over bottom changes, than marked fish. I'm a green rookie regarding fish marking on a sounder, but, I plan on learning how to read that.