Fishing Rhino

I had not thought of upside down rigging. Another goody to try. Tell you what I have been doing lately. I've got several packages of the small *** flukes, three and a half or four inches long. I wacky rig a senko type worm, then nose hook the fluke. On the retrieve, it looks like the fluke is chasing the senko, even though the senko is larger. I've done the same, using a three inch senko type as the chaser, but the root beer colored *** fluke works better.

Thanks Tom, well said! However; Man can under fish, especially in man made impoundments, where the fish are no longer stocked and self sustaining.You can cause an overpopulation of very small and sickly fish if the quotas the 'managers' have set for harvest are not met. This is a different situation from the ocean.The oceans and the natural lakes and rivers have evolved , over eons to where they are. Most of the reservoirs talked about here ; are man made and less than 100 years old, big difference in management needs. You are correct. I should have included natural bodies of water as a caveat. Whether impoundments or man made reservoirs, man has already "meddled" with the balance of nature, and needs to make "adjustments" to compensate for his actions.

How did fish manage to survive all the years before they had man to manage their populations. Man can only overfish. He cannot "underfish". I fish within the law. If you do as well, I have no problem with you. You're not a bad guy for taking them, nor am I a bad guy for putting them back.

Congrats. Hope it's only the start of bigger and better things to come.

My experience with the craw has been just the opposite. They were killer in May and early June. Fished the weighless in the shallows and with an Owner keel weighted hook in the deeper water. They flat out produced. What is interesting is that I started with the Space Monkey, and when things slowed down with that, I tried the craw, and things picked up again. Perhaps it was just the coincidence of the bite picking up. In one area, my canoe was anchored in the shallows and I was casting into a drop off in five feet of water. I'd count to ten when the bait hit the water. When I'd take up the slack there would be a fish on. If not, they usually hit it during the first couple of twitches. If they didn't hit then, I'd retrieve it quickly and cast again. In one such spot, I pulled in eight bass without moving. Who knows, maybe a wacky worm would have produced as well, or better. Right now, a finesse worm on a shaky head, a jig, and a t-bone wacky are my baits of choice.

I've been "playing" with the Strike King Caffein Shad the past couple of weeks. First, I rigged it on a ShakE2 jig head, and got good results. Then, fishing it in a coontail laden pond, I rigged it weedless on a weightless Owner Twistlock, 4/0 hook. It went through the dense stuff flawlessly, but produced more fish when it would rise when jerked, but suddenly dart downward when given slack in the line. At times, it may be more desirable to have it dart to the surface, and then settle slowly. The problem, how to rig it to produce two or more distinctly different, even opposite actions to your input. I took my cue from the Rage Tail (among my favorite baits) instructions for their toad, and space monkey. For them to work as designed, they should have a slight bow or bulge toward the belly side of the bait. This bulge occurs naturally when the back of the bait is straight, not unlike the fluke. If it's humped up, it will tend to dive and twist. I applied that to the Caffein Shad, and rigged it humped upward. Sure enough, when the bait was jerked, the pull on the line would cause it to rise. As soon as the line was given slack, the bait would violently dart back toward the bottom. Rigged with a slight downward bend, which it will have if the back is straight, and as it is intended to be fished, it will regularly break the surface when jerked. Want to add another action to the equation? Have the hook point exit the top off center, then Texpose it with the point penetrating at the opposite side of the center. This will create a slight offset, producing a sideways darting action to the upward or downward tendency of the bait. To date, my limited experimenting has favored the humped up rigging, and the diagonal placement of business portion of the hook. Don't allow yourself to be locked into what you believe to be the only best way to rig the fluke type baits. Have an open mind, and have fun experimenting. Subtle changes can produce dramatic results.

Nice pics, especially those of your sounder, and the vegetation, showing the different echoes they produce. Here's a phenomenon that you'll find interesting, and one I never would have noticed with the old paper recorder. Another tale from my lobstering years. In the spring, and early summer, we'd leave the dock about an hour before sunrise, to get to the gear at daybreak. Inshore fishing regs prohibit hauling lobster gear at night. When I first got the color sounder, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. When we left the dock, it was still dark, without the slightest trace of dawn in the sky to the east. That pale green light appeared two or three miles after we cleared the harbor and were headed for Buzzards Bay. Simultaneously with the appearance of that faint light on the horizon, the bottom echo on the screen began to get larger, 'til it about doubled in thickness. Then the line would separate, and a portion of it would rise, making it look like there were two bottoms. Over the next five minutes, maybe fewer, the upper line would gradually vanish. It occurred without fail precisely at the same point during the transition from night to daylight. It did so without regard to the phase of the moon. This threw a monkey wrench into the amount of light theory since there was more light from the full moon than the hint of light in the eastern sky. Nonetheless, it was connected directly to the sunlight, even the feeble light from the green tint in the sky. After a bit of research, it turned out the second echo was caused by photoplankton rising from their slumber on the bottom in unison, producing the second echo which vanished as the plankton dispersed throughout the water column. Amazing that a light, so feeble above the surface, produced the reaction of the plankton in twenty or thirty feet of water. There was not the same graphic show at sunset. Probably because they settled like sediment to the bottom, not forming up just above the bottom, then settling to it as one. One other thing. We would get echoes from underwater vegetation, particularly strong from plankton, but only during the slack tide, or nearly slack tide. The strength of that return was due no doubt to the air pockets within the plant. When the tide was running, it would lay the plants along the bottom.

A start it is. Congrats. You have to walk before you can run.

Try both. If you're fishing the shallows and among vegetation as a topwater, or just beneath the surface, you can work it slower which will result in more hookups. I fish them deep, using a retrieve very similar to what I use when fishing a jig, feeling the bottom on the retrieve. The weighted version will keep it in better contact with the bottom. Fishing in lily pad beds, where you want it to drop into the openings, and possibly stay there on the rest of the retrieve, the keel weighted hook will be helpful, while a weightless hook will allow it to rise to the surface, even if your line is on the edge of a pad. There's a time, and a place for each hook.

Absolutely. I would do it again. By the way, about that fish I lost yesterday and ruled out a pick because I hadn't caught one in a while. I had a similar hookup today. Not quite as strong, but it did peel line from the spool and fought in a very similar manner. I landed it, and it was a pickerel, so that "large bass" of yesterday was most likely a large pickerel. Neither the one yesterday, nor the one today, made the blazing runs for which pickerel are famous. I wasn't sure about today's fish until I got it to the boat, and could see it. I think he's about fifty, give or take a few years.

Not me. The only time of the year I take a "break" ( not because I want but I have to ) is in December. Here 's why: December 7 .- Significant other 's B-day December 19.- Her wedding anniversary December 24-25.- Xmas eve & Xmas December 27.- Li Raul 's B-day Dec 31-Jan 1st.- New Year 's Eve and New Year. We celebrate b-days and anniversary not the exact date but the next immediate Sunday, for Xmas and New Year we 're too busy preparing house and food n 'stuff for the celebration. I don't mean to be nosey. OK, I do, but you listed HER wedding anniversary. Did you mean OUR (yours and hers, not yours and mine) anniversary? Dang, I take a break almost every weekend. My wife works during the week. She brings work home with her which she does every evening. She is on 24 hour call. But I do get out sometimes. (If she is getting a manicure and a pedicure, then a facial or off to the hairdresser, I go fishing. Some Sunday afternoons, she's tied up with hospital work, so I go fishing then. But sans that, I'm off the water those days. She and our older daughter are off on their summer excursion. To Sedona this year. They leave this coming Saturday, and return a week later. I get to fish this weekend, and next Saturday, plus evenings during the week, as well as daytime. Remind me to encourage them to do it more often.

was the thought that went through my mind. The stepson of the lady who is gracious enough to allow me access to my favorite pond has been here on vacation. I offered to take him fishing while he was here, which I must admit, I had hoped he would decline. Nonetheless, in appreciation for her hospitality, it was more than a fair bargain. When I arrived this morning, he was ready and raring to go. he had with him some spincast rig that looked like it came from a bargain bin at a yard sale, complete with a little red and white bobber, and all. I anticipated as much, so I brought a couple of my spinning rods with Shimano Saros reels for him to use. I had to switch the handle to the opposite side since he likes to reel right handed. He brought his tackle box, which was quite sad as well, just in case. We ventured forth and he began to cast. His casts were as ungainly as you can imagine. He cast so that his line came out at a right angle to the pole. Then, he held the pole at the base rather than at the reel. Be patient Tom, what's the worst that can happen. Maybe I'll get lucky, and he won't catch a fish. Alas, that was not to be. I set him up with a t-bone wacky worm rig, figuring there was not much he could do wrong with that. It was the only thing I was correct about. Give the bait a few seconds before you begin to retrieve it. Retrieve it with a twitch and pause or a jerk and pause. But he just reeled at various speeds, barely moving the rod at all. The first bass he caught, which was about a pound, he reeled in, right to the tip of the rod. Thank goodness it was a small fish. I explained that he needed to leave at least five or six feet of line between the rod tip and the fish. That way, he could grab the twenty pound leader, and haul it over the side. I caught a solid two pounder in the deeper water. Then using his poor technique, he boated three more bass. While his casting was unorthodox, his distance was excellent landing his rig right at the edge of the emergent vegetation. His aim was so so. He could manage to keep the bait within forty-five degrees of his intended target. His handling of the fish improved, as he continued to catch them. Then I realized it. This guy is kicking my butt. Retrieving it like a spinnerbait, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, sometimes in between, totally against the book. But his count kept piling up, while I was adding to my total here or there. He landed a few over two pounds. By the trip's end, I had overtaken his stats, in count and size. It had been a fun day. It would have been even if he had continued to kick my butt all over the pound. He was having the time of his life, lost nothing, and broke nothing. It doesn't get any better than that.

Zero Two 16 foot Old Town canoes. One a square stern with a trolling motor for when I bring a buddy. the other, a double ender, that's nowhere near as stable as the square ender, but a breeze to paddle. A days fishing, not counting gear lost, is less than a gallon of gas round trip to where I put in, and whatever the electricity costs to charge up the tm battery. I'd have no more fun, probably less if I had boat payments hanging over my head.

I've got two canoes. One, I paddle, the other I use with a TM. I have a paddle with the blade fiberglassed, since it is used to fend the canoe off the rocks or as a push pole among the rocks. Too abusive on wood alone. The paddle goes back and forth between the canoes. The larger canoe is used when someone goes with me. The smaller when I fish alone on the smaller ponds. One anchor. One first aid kit, etc. Takes all of five minutes to transfer gear between the two. Even if I had two boats with trolling motors, I would not get a motor and battery for each. I carry my canoe in the back of my pickup. To load it, the battery comes out, and the motor comes off, and gets stowed behind me. The battery gets secured in the back with the canoe. If I had a second boat, carried in the back, or even on a trailer, it would make no difference. I'd swap the TM and battery back and forth all day for the hundreds of bucks it would cost to have seconds of each. In the end, it boils down to this. For you, is the "convenience" worth the expense of an additional TM and battery?

You should come back during a hot summer! This summer has been very mild relatively speaking. It wasn't this summer. It was twenty some years ago, '83 or '84 would be my guess. The only thing worse, heatwise, I've experienced was lobstering on dead calm, hot humid days with a mile or less of visbility. It was like being in an oven. The heat from the sun, the glare off the water, the heat from the exhaust of the 8-71 Detroit Diesel combined were hellish. But, I got relief by filling my hat with seventy degree water from the lobster tank, then quickly dumping it on my head. Did that several times an hour on those kind of days. Thank goodness there were only a couple of them per year. One day, my deckhand asked me to keep one of the six compartments free of lobsters. When we finished up hauling, and the boat was washed down, he stripped off all of his clothing, took the cover off the tank, and settled down to his neck in the compartment with no lobsters. During the day, he kept dousing himself with the deck hose.

It's a jig for me.

In a way, it does suck. But, for me anyway, it's better to hook into a large fish and lose it, than to miss it altogether. I still had the excitement of a large fish on the business end of the line. She would have been released anyway, so things are as they would have been, had I got her into the boat. I would have liked a good look at it nonetheless.

I'm from southeast Mass. There are some good tackle shops around here but they primarily deal in salt water gear. I suspect it's much of the same in your neck of the woods, unless you're well inland from the coast.

All in a few hours. Got out this afternoon. Wanted to try the SK Caffein Shad as a jerk bait in the muck bottom patches along the shoreline. You cannot let anything get to the bottom or it loads up on the filamentous algae muck. I usually toss spinnerbaits or chatterfrogs into those areas, and keep them from the bottom. My two favorite baits from last year have not been good producers for me this year. Sooooo, I needed something I could fish mid-water, at various speeds without it diving or settling into the muck. The Caffein Shad did not disappoint. While it did not "slay" them, it produced enough hits and landed fish to know that with some practice, and further experimentation, I'll find the technique that the fish want. From there I moved to another area, and caught a few on a wacky rig. Got to a rocky ridge, and tossed the ShakE2 jig with the SK finesse four inch worm, and caught a few more. Worked close to the shore, and tossed the wacky along the edge of the hyacinth. Something, I suspect a bass because the pickerel have been shut down for a few weeks, took the bait. At first I thought it was hung on a rock, so I tried to jiggle it free, and the line began to move away from me along the weed line. It pulled of a few yards of line, then turned and headed toward the boat. As it neared the boat, it changed course for the open water, once again pulling line from the spool. At first, I could not move the fish. The rod just bent. But after a bit, I began recovering line, and got the fish near the boat. Then the knot joining the braid and leader showed, and it was about over. That's what I thought. The fish had different ideas. It rose a little, then burrowed downward. A huge boil on the surface resulted. Then, it was gone. It had shed the hook, and gained its freedom. It didn't move fast enough for a pickerel. I never got a glimpse of it, but I had a great time while the hook stayed attached. Back to the ShakE2 and finesse worm and seven more nice bass were the result. But the fish of the day, of the year, perhaps of my life, is out there, laughing at my futile attempts to bring her to boat.

I agree. It's quite possible. On the other hand it's possible, remotely to be sure, but possible for the newbie to kick everyone else's butt. I told this story when I first joined, but I'll tell it again, because it fits the topic, and your comments. The year was 1968. My wife and I travelled with my parents to visit my uncle (dad's brother) and his family in Huntsville, Alabama. My uncle was an engineer, and an avid fisherman. I'm not sure if it was Wheeler, or Gunthersville, but it was one of those two that my uncle took us fishing on. My uncle had a nice fishing boat with trolling motor. If memory serves, that was the time when crank baits had exploded on the fishing scene down South. Early in the a.m. long before dawn, we headed to the ramp of the area we would be fishing. Man, I'd never seen anything like it, let alone fished anything like it. In place sheer stone ledge with shelfs here and there plunged into thirty or forty feet of water. In other places there were narrow inlets and coves that looked like they held wall to wall fish. I had my trusty Shakespeare WonderRod which had all the stiffness of cooked spaghettii. My tackle box held a small assortment of Berk's or Burke's worms, some Mepps spinners, a couple of Daredevles, Hula Poppers, Jitterbugs, Creek Chub Plunkers, and some Rebel lures, one of which was a small solid gold lure. No black back. We fished for a few hours without so much as a hit. I had about exhausted my options and was down to the Rebels. I tied on the small gold Rebel, and started catching Kentucky or Spotted Bass, one after the other. Deep water, shallow water, it mattered not. My uncle, and my dad were shut out. I filled the cooler with the limit for three on that little gold Rebel lure. My uncle had laughed at my gear. He was using heavy, fast action rods, which meant nothing to me. It was the first I'd heard of that nomenclature. On the way home, we stopped at my uncle's favorite tackle shop where he had loaded up a few days earlier with all the latest and greatest, guaranteed, cannot miss lures. The owner came out to see the catch, and said something about how well the lures he sold had worked. My uncle showed him the little gold rebel and told the guy to order him a half dozen. When the owner asked why, my uncle told him that lure had caught all the fish. Then he showed him my buggy whip with its Pfleuger Freespeed spinning reel. The guy just shook his head. It's what makes fishing so great. Some days you're a hero. Other days, you're a zero.

That is kind of what we were thinking... we just had not heard any thunder so thought we were still ok. But when that stuff started happening we did just that... high tailed it to the launch and got off the water. Around here, you usually get ample warning when a line of t storms is approaching. But, and this is the big but, there has to be a first lightning strike somewhere. At times that may be in your locale.

LOL. On Cape Cod, there is Hyannis. Come on up and you can say Hy to annis. Hmmmm, will I get in trouble for that one?

No summer hiatus for me. Bad enough that I don't fish in Dec. Jan. and Feb. I am considering giving it a shot in December, before the pond ices up, just for curiosity sake. If you add half of November, and half of March to the other three, that amounts to a third of the year. But, I feel your heat. We went to Old Williamsburg, and a few other of the sites, including D.C. in June. I'll never do that again. Got on the bus which was not air conditioned for the ride back to our hotel, and thought I was going to suffocate. The heat and humidity was that bad. There was a delay for some reason, and we ended up sitting on the bus for about twenty minutes. I almost got off the bus. Came darn near having a panic attack. I can fully understad, and appreciate your hiatus. That experience was when I was more than twenty years younger.

The most important thing to consider with hook size is to have sufficient distance between the shank and the point to get a good purchase in the fish's mouth. The thicker the bait, the larger the gap you need. Most of my fishing is done with 4/0 and 5/0 hooks. But I also use the Wacky Jig Head which has a tiny hook by comparison, and have caught some big bass on that tiny hook. http://www.extremelures.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=165

You'll go nuts with colors, if you heed what everyone says. But, since you asked. Watermelon/red or watermelon/red,black, chartreuse with black flake (also called pepper, I think) You mentioned the green/white laminate, but I prefer the green/chatreuse laminate. My favorite colors at the moment are coppertreuse for the SK four inch finesse worm, and baby bass or smokey shad for the SK Caffein Shad baits. Space Monkey, watermelon/red, or junebug. I've used most colors. The above are my personal preferences, because they appeal to me. The fish? Who knows? The colors you mentioned should be adequate most of the time. Oh, and one other, bumblebee (black and yellow). *** color, available in the four but not the five inch senko style worm.