Fishing Rhino

I've witnessed something similar years ago when I was a lobsterman. We came across a sixty-five foot dragger ablaze about thirty miles offshore. Called the Coast Guard, gave them the loran bearings then headed directly into the breeze, and found the only person who had been on the boat in a cork life raft. After getting him and his raft aboard, we went back to his burning vessel. It was a wood boat. When we got back, the wheelhouse had fallen into the hull and you could see the fire through the spaces between the planks that had burned away. The Coast Guard arrived and tried to put the fire out. Why, I have no idea. When the water from their deck mounted, remote operated water cannon hit the fuel tanks, they ruptured and exploded. It looked like a nuclear explosion. A column of flame shot into the air with a black smoky mushroom cloud at the top. Out of the mushroom spewed tiny chunks of smoking wood, spiraling like tendrils back to the ocean. Then, it was over. No dragger, no fire. Nothing but an oil slick and small chunks of wood on the surface of the sea. I have a question regarding the red "patrol" boat in the photos. What's up with its outboards. They are facing in different directions.

Amazingly, for a bonehead like me, nothing yet. But, I did sleep at a Holiday Express last night. I came very, very close to losing my trolling motor off the stern, because in my haste to get fishing, I failed to tighten the clamps. I had been fishing for almost two hours when I turned the motor at ninety degrees to make a turn, and turned it on to full speed. The clamp on one side lifted off the stern. Quickly shut it down, and tightened it down. I might not have lost it, even though the water was quite deep. I don't use alligator type clips to connect it. I use the eyes that came on the cables, and clamp them tight with the nut on the battery stud.

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_90833____SearchResults?ordProd=Y&CMID=BOTTOM_selectitems#itemDetail

You won 't see many us guys showing you they we fishing with a Bubble Gum Fluke type bait, we fish them but we don 't want you to see us fishing with a chick color bait. :-X I wouldn't be caught dead, fishing with anything pink! But I'm still alive ;D Roger The pink fluke is OK, but those shirts..................?????

A Yamamoto Flappin Hog. 90 gazillion? He exaggerates. edit: And, I'm heading back to that pond in about a half hour. Cloudy, breezy, with a chance of showers. Going to resume the hunt where we left off at the north end of the pond.

UPDATE: Went to the pond today with a friend. The fish were in a cooperative mood. There was a gusty wind blowing from the northeast, more across the pond than lengthwise. Though it gusted to 25 at times, there were also lulls, so a serious chop never developed. Caught some everywhere we stopped. Both large and smallmouth varieties. Tried the "hump" between the two points on the east side of the pond. Marked the north and south points of the top of the hump. A couple of drifts produced two fish. Subsequent drifts, nothing. After working the hump, we proceeded to the point of the hump to the north. We caught a few there, the nicest being a largemouth between three and four pounds. Then we worked the shoreline on the north side of the point in water from six to twelve feet deep. The bottom was covered with short vegetation, maybe a foot or so deep, and the bottom was very lumpy. Joe caught a nice smallie of about two pounds, and I caught another small bass. Then I hooked up with a nice smallie that weighed in at just over four pounds. On the next drift, Joe hooked into a fish that just kept peeling more line off his spool than he could gain. He finally got it to the boat, hidden in a huge mass of the vegetation from the bottom of the pond. It turned out to be a large pickerel that would have easily gone five pounds. Joe finally got all the grass picked off and was about to slip his fingers beneath the gill plates when the line parted. I got both of my large fish while drop shotting, using a flappin hog. Joe got his on Zoom lizards, and senkos. I also caught some on a Yamamoto skirted double tail grub, and the Fat Ika. Thanks for the assist. The advice offered was right on. Will post a picture of the smallmouth, when it gets emailed to me.

Yes, regular bass boats and runabouts can be launched there. It's a sandy ramp. If you back your rear wheels to the edge of the water, you will have to push a bit, but the boat will float off the trailer. You can beach your boat as long as you tilt the motor. You may have to do a bit of wading to launch and load however. I've got a 55 pound thrust trolling motor, but it's still slow going. If you like the looks of that pond, check out the amazing number of ponds on the Cape and mainland side of the canal, Plymouth, Bourne, etc. There are scads of ponds within an hours drive with similar or even more structure. I haven't been to my favorite pond in three weeks. Been trying new places and new techniques. Here's the page with the pond listings. It's not exhaustive by any means. Check out Cliff Pond in Brewster. http://www.boatma.com/pondsonline.html

I'm not surprised by the presence of largemouth bass on the western hump, because the contour lines in the area tend to be somewhat less compressed. The greater the compression (convergence) between the 5 & 25-foot contour lines, the harder the bottom and the steeper the slope. I think you might be pleasantly surprised by the northern point, we'll call it "Polaris" Roger The slopes are smooth, with no irregularities. This pond, like most in Plymouth, Bourne and the Cape, are kettle ponds, So I'm not sure the steeper slope is necessarily a harder bottom. In a river, the current scours the bottom from bank to bank, picking up and depositing sediment according to the track of the river. Some of these ponds are shallow with a maximum depth of five or six feet, while others have maximum depths approaching a hundred feet. They were formed when a chunk of ice settled, burrowed, or was pressed into the land surface. When the ice melted, the hole remained, and a pond was formed. Some ponds have inlets and/or outlets, others don't. Some exit into Cape Cod bay, and other saltwater estuaries and are spawning grounds for herring. A lot of them are trout waters, some with salmon. Most have one or both types of bass. The Cape, and the mainland on the other side of the canal are primarily sandy soils. There are some rocks which were carried by the glacier which formed the Cape, and covered the mainland. There is little or no stone ledge as there is on this side of the canal. In fact, wells can be dug by hand. Place a well tile ( a concrete cylinder about three feet in diameter) on the ground and start digging. As the hole is dug, the well tile settles. When it is nearly level with the surface, another tile is place on top, and the hole is dug out as before. At the appropriate depth, a well point is then driven into the sand, and the pump and plumbing are installed. At some point in time, the Cape will be nothing but a sand bar on the ocean floor. I'll work the steeper banks, but I need some advice on how to approach it. Drift down the bank using a drop shot? Casting a jig, or a shaky head jig? Cast to retrieve into deeper or shallower water? All of the above, or something I haven't mentioned?

I have fished the first (southern) point along the east shore with good success. I drop shotted the shoal area surrounded by deep water along the western shore, and caught a few there, most right on top. That's as far north as I've worked on the pond. Haven't gotten to the northern point on the east side of the pond. Notice the ten foot circular hole in the cove to the west of the launch area. There is a small rocky point just above it. To the east of this hole there is a patch of grubby bottom that goes toward that point that has produced fish. Along the west shore heading north from that point has produced well, and the submergent vegetation extends to ten feet. Further north, the depth contours shown on the site are wrong. Between the point, and the shoal area to the north, there is another shoal area of bottom. It is broken with vegetation, and drifting it using a drop shot produces fish as well. To my surprise, the last time I tried the pond, I caught as many largemouth as I did smallies. As for structure, aside from the points and the shoal areas, there isn't much. The bottom, while it slopes more steeply in some areas is rather featureless, with no shelfs, irregularities, or noticable changes in bottom composition. In a canoe with a trolling motor, prospecting is a slow process. A five minute dash in a bass boat can take an hour or more in my rig. But it has its pros and cons. The downside, lack of speed, is obvious. The upside is it makes me more thorough in working an area. It also makes me pay more attention to my surroundings.

The place that sells bait should be your best source of info. Any tackle joint worth its salt will be able to give you the basics of what works best in your area, as to type of hooks, depths at which to fish, and how to rig the live baits. Some work best hooked through the lips, others through the back below the dorsal fin. Sometimes its personal preference. Other times the fish will tend to prefer one or the other.

Think of it this way. Other than bugs, most of a bass's forage is other fish, crawfish, etc. Most have fins and spurs which are harmless if swallowed the correct way. Fish, headfirst, craws, tail first. Trying to remove it, requires pulling it against the spurs, and the sharp spines of fins. My experience has been that fish do regurgitate things they have swallowed. But somehow, the stomach knows how to turn the object around prior to regurgitation, or, it is decomposed to the state that the spurs and spines are either gone, or soft. I remove the hook, and release the fish. Nature will take care of the rest.

Shock absorbing seats sound like a good idea to me. Think about the long haul trucks. Years ago, the cabs and seats were bolted onto the chassis. The drivers butts and internal organs absorbed the impact of every pot hole and rough road surface. Hence the expression, "rides like a truck". Then they started building them with the cab mounted on springs, and seats mounted on springs and shock absorbers as well. Made driving these rigs a lot more comfortable. The same principle should apply to boats. You are right, concerning your back. The less shock the discs have to absorb, the better. Now, if you could get one with gel seat cushions, you'd really have something. Gel cushions are very heavy, but they distribute impact pressures evenly, taking the stress off of pressure points.

Half a month already! I don't know what a pack costs where you are, but here in Mass, it's almost six bucks per pack. If a fisherman was a pack a day up here, and quit, that would be 42 smackers per week that could be spent on fishing gear. Not saying it should be, but it could be without affecting the finances any differently than smoking had. When you get a chance, pm an address where I can send a care package of baits for your Serenity Bassers. I'll put together a variety of the excess stuff that I have, and send it along.

I hope you are still having success in your effort to quit smoking. I've been thinking about you. I'm glad that is one thing I never started. Tried it a couple of times with my buddies. We'd light up as we walked to the Boy Scout meetings, of all things, but am grateful that I never got hooked. I tried inhaling a couple of times, but gagged and choked. One of my friends told me I'd get used to it. Never could figure out a sensible reason why I'd want to do it 'til it stifled my coughing reflex. Here's some good thoughts for your continued success.

New techniques which I have learned and am comfortable, though maybe not proficient with include, the jig and pig, the shaky head jig using a ShakE2 megastrike jig head, tubes, finesse fishing using a Jackall Wacky Jig Head, and drop shotting. Next on the list, crankbaits. I hope to wipe out that goose egg on my catch scorecard within the next week or two. Three of my favorites from last year, spinnerbaits, chatterfrogs, and Mepps spinners have gone largely unused, and are feeling neglected.

Here's the pond. Any suggestions are welcome, and thanks for your prior input. http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/habitat/maps/ponds/pdf/dfwgrea.pdf

I'll give the Fat Ika a shot, and try giving the business end of the hook more exposure. I went to another nearby pond with a friend, and we couldn't catch a cold, so we headed to the pond I'd fished the past two days. I make a better guide than a fisherman. I started at the weed beds and told him where to cast. On his third cast he caught one that topped three pounds on a crankbait. Two or three similar sized smallies followed the hooked fish to the boat. Another cast, another bass. Meanwhile my dropshot rig and the Flappin Hog only produced one hit. Off to a piece of broken bottom I stumbled across yesterday, and we dropped a couple of markers. Again, I told him where the bottom was, and like clockwork he caught four more bass on the crankbait and lost a couple of others. I again, struck out. When that slowed, we tried a few more areas, with nothing to show for our efforts. If we'd gone to this pond first, who knows? All in all, still a good day, even though I got a lesson in humility.

Most of my fishing has been for largemouth bass. I have caught some smallies, but not targeted them specifically until the last few weeks. When I fished for them years ago, we used Mepps, Daredevles, Jitterbugs, Hula Poppers, and Burke's or was it Berke's plastic worms. The kind that ate up plastic tackle boxes. Yesterday, I went to a new (to me) pond, and after some prospecting, I found them in five to nine feet of water, in and around weed/grass/or the algae that looks like a plant, beds. I caught seven or so, and lost as many, maybe more. But, that's OK. It's how we learn. The rig that worked best for me was a flappin hog on a Jackall Wacky Jig Head with a weed guard. I push the hook through the body and exit it so that the "nose" of the hog is tight to the round jig head. Goes through the junk nicely with only an occasional hangup. But, I am not getting a good ratio of hookups. Do I wait longer, or strike sooner compared to largemouth fishing. The mouth on the smallies seems to be a bit harder. I don't use a "come out of my shoes" hookset on largemouths. Tough to do since if fish sitting, but I don't really try to cross their eyes. Should I put more gusto into hooksets on the smallmouths? Drop shotting has worked well, particularly when casting, as opposed to drifting. I'm using a four inch SK finesse worm. They seem to like grabbing it by the tail. They don't steal the bait from the hook, but they don't get into my canoe either. Today, I caught over twenty, with a couple that went about two pounds, but feel I should have had ten or twelve more. Owner hooks and the Jackalls which seem plenty sharp. New hooks today, just in case. I'd appreciate being schooled on the subtle and not so subtle differences. Hey, at 68, I don't have a lot of years to learn this stuff by experience. The quicker I learn, the better. This pond is supposed to have some nice lunkers, but they are hard to catch at this time of year. The herring that were spawned this spring are prime smallmouth food, and easy pickings for them. I want to be as prepared as possible when the big boys and gals don't have the herring buffet set out in front of them.

All ElaZtech (3X) baits are floaters. You can use a keel weighted hook, or a jig head, to sink the fluke style baits. A jig head will make it nose dive, while the keel weighted hook will make it tend to glide. I have two types of Strike King fluke type baits, the Elaztech version, and the Perfect Plastic Caffein Shad. The Perfect Plastic Caffein Shad will sink slowly on an unweighted hook. The Caffein Shad can be made to dive, or dart to the surface, when jerked, depending on how you rig it. Rig it with the back straight, and it will dart toward the surface when jerked. Rig it with the back humped up, and it will dive. Give it a sharp tug, then slack line immediately. It will initially rise, but as soon as there is slack in the line it will do a 180 toward the bottom. In thick weeds, like coontail, I rig it weedless on an Owner 4/0 or 5/0 unweighted Twistlock hook. You can make it dive into the stuff and come up clean ninety percent of the time. When you do catch a strand of the stuff, it's usually the tag end of the knot that grabs it. Eliminate that by using a tiny drop of Super or Crazy Glue to bond the tag end of the knot to your line, or trim the tag end close, and use a drop of the glue to make sure the knot doesn't pull loose.

Sensitivity is the ability to transfer vibrations, impact, etc. Not a whole lot different than the way sound is transmitted. Air is a very poor conductor of sound. I travels better in less elastic substances. Sound travels faster in water, than air, and carries further. It travels faster yet in an iron rod. It is transmitted poorly in a rubber band, unless it is stretched taut. Mono, by nature cannot be a good transmitter of vibration, or shock since it tends to absorb, and cushion them. Want sensitivity, try monel wire. It won't cast well, however. I used it years ago for striper fishing, and you'd feel everything. It was used primarily for getting lures and baits down deep w/o having to stream out a hundred yards of line. The other line I used was lead core. Doubt they make it any more. It sunk quicker than regular line, but nowhere near as quick as mone. The lead core line was a braid wrapped around a strand of lead. The neat thing was that it was colored in 10 yard increments. Helped in getting the lure at the desired depth consistently. I know what you mean about the "feel" of braid. Makes a perfectly smooth reel feel like a coffee grinder. Except for a couple of uses, I stick with the braid, and a fluoro leader. On a spinning reel, ten pound braid casts like two pound mono. And, you can get many more yards of line on a small spool.

I would suggest one addition. A chin strap just for insurance that the hat does not fall off your head, and go splash. For sure, it would happen to me.

Pickerel, white perch, yellow perch, crappie, bluegill, and yesterday, a first for me, a rainbow trout in 37 feet of water while dropshotting.

Methinks someone is experiencing a smeltdown.

Golf? Golf may actually be worse than fishing. In the 1960s, I lived in Holliston, MA. We played golf at a public course named Saddle Hill in Hopkinton. Bill Russell of the Celtics played there. I don't know why, he could have joined and played at much nicer courses. But, he chose to play there. He was a horrendous golfer, and everytime he hit a bad shot you could hear him cursing no matter where you were on the course. Where I play now, there is a member known to our group as Mr. Meltdown. He goes berserk after a few bad shots. I've seen clubs broken, cursed at, and tossed into a water hazard. Golfers are every bit as passionate as fishermen. There is probably the same percent who cannot control themselves when adversity strikes in either group.

That's it! Cannot comment on its performance, but it sure looked like it had great action in the videos. Then again, who would post a video of their bait that had the action of a rubber boot. Then again, maybe a rubber boot has a very attractive action to a fish. :D