Fishing Rhino

Not really. If it was caught in an area closed to fishing, the fisherman broke the law by fishing there. I don't see anything silly about the rules stating that fish from closed areas are disqualified.

Hey guys, drop the "denial" stuff. I'm denying nothing. The title says I'm a recovering addict. How does that equate to denial? Why do smokers hate to see another smoker quit, or drinkers see another alcoholic go on the wagon? You should be happy for me, and encouraging me, not mocking me. Some friends you guys are.

Last Monday, I lost a jig when the bail flipped as I cast. On Wednesday, fishing the same area, I hooked into the jig. Came up with six feet of leader, and two inches of braid. Like a blind man finding the needle in the haystack. Yesterday, casting into the shallows, my wacky rigged jig head snagged the bottom. Could not jiggle or snap it free. Had to go after it. Up came the jig with a length of mono stretching north and south from the hook. Pulled on the line, and the south end parted. Pulled the line toward the other end, and up came a spincasting combo. Only partially covered in gunk. Clean it up, and if usable, give it to a kid.

I'd love to do it, but I doubt my wife would appreciate me leaving her and our older daughter waiting for me at T.F. Green Airport.

X3 Sounds like a poor connection somewhere in the line.

When I resumed fishing last year, it was like starting new. What of my old gear remained was no longer servicable. Needed new poles, reels, tackle, etc. Joined the forum, and read about all kinds of great baits and lures. I added to my arsenal, based on the recommendations I read on this forum. Bought Xraps, rattletraps, or their equivalent, jointed baits, top water lures, etc., etc. Every time I read a glowing report, I was tempted to run out and grab a few. Sometimes temptation won out. Now that I have learned to use some of what I have, and have enjoyed success with it, I'm no longer tempted to run out and buy the latest and greatest anything. For now, the only stuff I buy is to replenish that which is worn out, torn up, or lost.

And, it works flawlessly. I never miss a chance to plug the technique. It is unquestionably the most valuable thing I have ever learned about fishing. I know, the "ever" in the sentence above is not grammatically proper, or necessary. Threw it in strictly for emphasis.

Sit. Have no choice in my smaller canoe. I can stand in my wider, semi-vee canoe, but still sit. I have stood and cast recently, and the perspective is dramatically different. After sitting while fishing for many hours over the last year, when I stood, it seemed like I was about 12 feet tall. Sitting in the canoe makes me feel like a part of the pond. Can't beat it for handling the fish when you get them to the boat.

All the info on the blue/green algae is great. I am also curious about filamentous algae. Last year, sections of the pond I fish, had mats of the algae float to the surface, apparently buoyed by gasses trapped beneath. The filamentous algae, by my observations only, starts out looking like moss on a rock, but it gets very long and whispy. At some point, it turns a brown/maroon/purplish color. Last year, in places, the trapped gas was obvious in the thinner mats. The gas pocket caused part of the mat to look like a Cypress knee protruding above the surface. It made sections of the pond unfishable with any type of lure. This year it has not developed to any of the latter stages. It is however in the pond year round, unlike the blue. The areas that have it are fishable, as long as you keep the bait off the bottom. The mats of this muck are there year round. The stuff does not seem to break down, or disappear like the blue/green algae. Is the stuff dead, alive, or dormant during the colder weather?

Listen to your doc. Do not, I repeat, do not go by how you feel. If you mess up your recovery by doing something foolish, it will set you back more than the three to four weeks the doc told you to take it easy. A friend of mine had surgery, and the doc told him to take his pain meds for so many days, even if he thought he was pain free. A couple of days after the surgery, he felt pain free, and thought he knew better than the doc, so he stopped taking his meds. The pain returned, and his pills did not touch it. He ended up having to go back to the doc on an emergency basis, and get another high dose injection to get the pain under control where his meds could maintain it. Follow your doc's instructions to the "T". You'll never regret it.

If you could, WHERE? I can. So right in my honey hole which in a direct line from my house is only a drive, fairway metal, and a seven iron across the road. There are dozens of places I'd love to try, but I don't have them listed according to priority. But this one thing I am sure of. If I had no access to the pond I regularly fish, it would be at the top of my list. Fish like these are routinely caught on a day's fishing. I am extremely grateful to have access to this natural, unmanaged pond. I doubt ten percent of the town's residents know it exists. It has produced this kind of fishing year after year for decades. The only change is that it was once a smallmouth pond.

You got it! How long will you be out of commission for fishing?

Well, that's one thing I don't have to worry about enraging me. I don't have an ex. But, in 44+ years of marriage there have been moments................................................ The guy I used to work for years ago had this saying regarding his wife. "I wouldn't take a million bucks for her, but I wouldn't give you a dime for a dozen more just like her." I suspect there are wives who share that thought regarding their husband.

Here's the simple way to make it dive when it gets slack line after being jerked upward. Rig it weedless, and Texpose the hook tip. Then pull the tail end down on the curve of the hook. It creates the upward bow needed to make it dive. The further you bend it, the more violent the dive. It's a quick and easy adjustment. It holds pretty well until it gets struck by a fish, which tends to move it around on the bend. Even then, all you have to do is "reset" it where you had it before the next cast. It will dive and dart through the thickest coontail, rarely getting hung up. When it does, it's usually the tag end of the knot which grabs a strand of vegetation. This occurs less than once every twenty casts. If you find it catching the vegetation frequently, trim the tag end shorter, or use a tiny drop of super glue, and bond the tag end to the line, eliminating the hang.

A "test wheel", at least as I remember them from fifty years ago, is used in place of the propellor. It doesn't move water like a regular propeller, but provides resistance when the motor is revved or tested while in gear. Here's an image of some test wheels.

It's been a while since I've caught more than a couple of dinks in a day's fishing. Today, I caught plenty of them, and had a ball doing it. That may sound strange to some, and downright ludicrous to others. But that's fine with me. My enjoyment is neither enhanced nor diminished by what others may think of that "logic". I've been catching plenty of nice bass, averaging over two pounds per. Catching them on shaky head jigs with finesse worms, jigs, wacky worms, and fluke type baits. Today, windy, cloudy, occasional deluges, and one thunderstorm which drove us to the beach and the shelter of my truck, was a different day. Took a friend, and for some unknown reason, felt inclined to toss a Jackall Wacky Weedless Jig Head rigged with either a three inch *** bait, or the small *** shad in root beer color. I did not fish it exclusively, and alternately used the shaky head/finesse worm, and the fluke, SK caffein shad. While I caught some nice fish in the deeper water using the shaky head, I was intrigued with the number of dinks, some no more than six inches long, maybe even a few shorter than that. Why was I so "thrilled" to be catching dink after dink? Simple answer. Those dinks are the future of the pond. The pond is a great fishing hole today, and from the looks of things, will be into the forseeable future. I started lobstering before escape vents became mandatory on lobster pots. The escape vent law is one of the best things the government has done in the managing of the fishery. In the pre escape vent days, it was common to see traps come up with "bumble bees", the term for lobsters that were not even close to the legal size. While they were a nuisance, fishermen were glad to see huge numbers of them, because they were the future of the fishery. The beauty of the vent is that it allows the small lobsters to escape from the trap while on the bottom, where they find shelter. Numerous fish, among them codfish, stripers, and tautog/blackfish, will eat lobsters when the opportunity to do so presents itself. Lobsters have a very slight negative bouyancy, which means they fall very slowly from the surface to the bottom, not unlike slow falling baits. How many lobsters have been grabbed by predators during that trip from the surface to the bottom? No one knows, but the vent went a long way toward eliminating that loss, simply because the small lobsters once had no way to escape, and were brought to the surface, only to be returned to the sea. I loved to see plenty of short lobsters in the trap, and today, I loved to see plenty of dinks on the end of my line. But, having seen them, and now knowing they are there, I'll go back to hunting their larger brethren,............. and sisteren.

LOL. If I were to do that, it would be a case of where the head goes, the body will follow. Even more refreshing, but very humiliating, unless of course, there is no one to witness it.

Cheating? I suspect that every advancement from a sharp stick was greeted with howls of protest from the "purists", as cheating. What makes an underwater camera different from the original "flashers" to the paper recorders, to the CRT screens to digital, to side view, to GPS, etc., etc., etc. Some even detest the use of a landing net. If it's not illegal, or prohibited by club/tournament rules, it ain't cheating. Did these advancements take some of the "sport" out of fishing. No doubt they did, but everyone fishing in developed countries takes advantage of those advancements to some degree.

Elaztec is a great product. I use SK finesse worms made of the material. They are indestructible. I have yet to change one. I've caught over twenty bass on a single worm, and it still looked nearly new. The only time I've needed to use another is when I've lost the rig due to a hangup in the rocks. I find it best to pierce the head about three quarters of an inch deep into the center of the head. I use a safety pin heated with a candle. Makes it possible to install on the stand alone barbs like those found on the ShakE2 jig heads. There is one downside, that should be prominently displayed on all Elaztec packaging. DO NOT ALLOW ELAZTEC PRODUCTS TO REMAIN IN CONTACT WITH OTHER PLASTIC BAITS. THEY WILL MELT/DISSOLVE. KEEP ALL ELAZTEC PRODUCTS IN SEPARATE CONTAINERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That it is a municipal pond is probably a good thing. It is the responsibility of the municipality to maintain it. It depends on resources. Most communities and cities are stretched quite thin these days. Still a good idea to involve residents. The more, the better. The louder the voice, the more pressure on officials to act on the problem, and hopefully put measures in place to prevent a recurrence. If you check, I think you'll find fish kills do pose a health hazard, and will require a cleanup of the dead fish at the very least. I wish you well in the endeavor. Go get 'em.

Here's an interesting side note, regarding the pond I fish. Last year, the algae bloom started in July and got progressively worse into September. As the weather cooled, the algae decreased. It wasn't until late October that most of the algae had disappeared. This year, the algae bloom started in May. At times it was so thick on the surface that when you reached into the water, your hand would become a slimy green mess. But, the algae was only in the top few inches of water. Beneath, it was clear, stained, but clear of algae. In the past three weeks the algae began to disappear, and has been totally gone for a few days now. I can put my five foot plus canoe paddle straight down, and still see the blade. Surface temp has been hovering around 80, so it isn't cooling that eliminated the algae. We've had over ten inches of rain in July, much of it in torrential downpours. Could that account for the disappearance? I don't know. We had a few downpours last summer, and they produced no noticable change in the algae, but the algae was throughout the water column, unlike this year. One possibility. An unusually large "spat" of mussels could account for it, or at least some of it. Mussels are filter feeders, and one of the things they filter is algae. Over the winter the otter had eaten large numbers of mussels. I saw the shell piles this spring before the vegetation leafed out. How badly the decimated the mussel population I do not know. It's all speculation on my part. But, since the algae bloom never extended to the depths of the pond, filtering mussels on the bottom could be the reason. All the shells in the piles were large. It's just possible that in the past few years, the mussels had a large year class of spat, that this year have started filtering the water in earnest. I've seen it happen with bay scallops, steamer clams and hard shell clams/quahogs. I've seen steamer clam spat so thick when you scooped up a handful of bottom sediment, what looked like coarse grains of sand, were actually seed clams. I've seen scallop seed so thick on the eel grass that the grass looked whitish. While the bay scallop, like its cousin the sea scallop is free swimming in the adult stage, when the scallops spawn, the larvae attach themselves to the eel grass with a byssal thread until they develop to the stage where they can deal with water currents. It's all guesswork, based on "possibilities", on my part. Right or wrong, I'm not complaining about the disappearance of the algae. On Tuesday, I caught a bass on a shaky head and finesse worm. As I worked the fish close to the boat I could see four similar sized bass (about two pounds) trying to get the dangling worm from the hooked fish's mouth.

Hmmmm, good question. I'm not sure. Whatever is working is what I use. I don't change because the surface water temp varies. The sheltered sunny side of a pond will always have higher surface temps than the opposite side where there is shade, and the wind stirs the surface and the cooler subsurface water, giving cooler temps on the surface. I'm looking forward to the answers from those in the know.

I wish I had an answer for you. If there is an inlet, it might carry oxygen rich water, and the fish in the vicinity of the inlet might survive. Judging from your photos, it looks pretty extensive. I'd suggest forming a pond association of some type whose purpose is to prevent this type of thing from happening again. While the algae looks gross, it's quite harmless unless it depletes the oxygen. From my reading, maintaining oxygen levels is a pretty straightforward process, and economically feasible. Talk to the landowners. Nobody wants a fish kill in their backyard. Do some research on the solutions. Speak with biologists in the field. Get everything in place to prevent such a recurrence, then seek permission to restock the pond. I have no idea of how involved this would be. For sure if it impacted me as it has you, I'd be on the march, learning as much as I could, then print up an informational page or two, and go door to door in the neighborhood and pass them out. Recruit some help while you canvas the neighborhood. Many hands make light work, and they do have a vested interest in the project.

Man can effect their habitat however, reducing the amount of food and cover available to support their population. This can also effect predator populations which throws nature out of balance. Nature will restore the balance, but its not "nice" how she accomplishes this. Populations dying off from starvation and disease is a slow and painful process. This is especially true with something like Deer hunting where man has decimated the predator population and habitat. Without hunting to take up the slack, the deer die a slow and painful death. I've seen the effects and its not pretty to say the least. I agree. I have no argument with a single point you make. But the topic is catch and release. My comments are about catch and release only. Even what Muddy said about impoundments, reservoirs, etc., needing management. They need it only because man has set targets for populations of game fish such as bass. Left on their own, even these waters would reach an equilibrium. But it's not man's concept of an ideal equilibrium, so the body of water is managed to obtain that result. Were there to be a survey done of my favorite pond, I have no doubt the results would absolutely stun the biologists. Beyond a doubt, it has the largest biomass of fish per cubic measure than any other pond or lake in this area. I'll guarantee it's not even close. This has been the case for decades. It has large populations of crawfish, mussels, pan fish, pickerel, and best of all, bass. It is surrounded by private property, and there is no public access. You either own property or must have a landowner grant you access. There is very light fishing pressure. Yet, none of the fish in the pond are stunted. The insect hatches are tremendous. Yesterday, on the dock, I witnessed a spider skittering along on the surface, making a bee line for the shore. A medium size bluegill saw it and gave a half hearted pursuit, just out of curiosity, not hunger. There were dozens of small blue gills in a tight school and not one other even bothered to take a look at the easy meal. I've been on the pond with the mist rising from the glassy surface and seen wall to wall larvae hatching. Not a single rise to any of them. The fish had been feeding all night and had their fill. There are schools of white perch so dense that I have seen the screen on the sounder completely black. Muskrats. otters, and mink are common sights along the shore in the early spring before the vegetation leafs out. Ospreys, herons, egrets, an eagle, kingfishers, cormorants, and fishhawks all have easy pickings. Yesterday a fish hawk dove, captured a fish, and lit in a tree to eat it. A few minutes later it repeated the process. This pond has reached a natural equilibrium commensurate with its fertility. It's natural equilibrium is the stuff most fishermen only dream of.

The gunk on the surface looks like blue/green algae. Algae, in sufficient quantities can deplete the oxygen, which will result in a fish kill. I'm guessing there was, or had been a southerly wind, which will push the surface algae to the northern shore. If the die off is due to oxygen depletion, there is a simple solution to keep the oxygen level up in small bodies of water. Two or three fountains spread out on the pond will keep the water saturated with oxygen. The water falling into the pond drives air into the pond, and the oxygen is dissolved. To late for the fish in your pics. That is indeed a bummer. I know how I'd feel if it happened to my honey hole.