fishva

I wouldn't dip my lure in a bowl of it, but I have a hard time imagining a little residue would hurt much.

That's photoshopped! Just kidding. Beautiful fish. Have fun targeting other species.

Now that is interesting! Do largemouth do the same thing? Or do they keep their distance?

I took my kayak out to a local state park this morning, and hit the creeks I've known to hold bass over the last couple weeks. Instead of finding bass in those areas, I found rather large carp. Now, I see a carp from time to time in this area, but I've never seen so many as I have today. Virtually every spot I checked, there were a pair of carp patrolling together. I haven't seen anything like it before. My question for you is: A ) Were the bass not there because the carp were there? B ) Were the carp there because the bass weren't?

Walk towards your dominant cast side. For example, I am right handed and cast to the left with much more strength and accuracy than I cast to the right. So I walk ponds counter clockwise, allowing me to cast to spots I haven't walked by yet (meaning I probably haven't spooked off the fish in the area I'm casting to). If you did it the other way and still casted in your dominant direction, you'd be casting to where you've already been, and potentially already spooked the fish in that spot.

I caught bass on a jig. I was always intimidated by them before.

Most the time. Other times, they threaten to stab you with a filet knife. We get all sorts. That's usually good. Sometimes, not so much.

Set the hook sooner.

Thanks, guys. I ended up picking this one up, and can't wait to give it a try. Friday can't get here fast enough.

Do what other people aren't. For example: I don't tournament fish, but from what I've seen of tournament anglers is they like to fish fast and cover lots of water. If you observe the same thing, fish slow. Observe what others are doing and do something drastically different. It's no guarantee, but at least you know your presentation is different.

Probably a cliche, but slow down. I can't tell you many more fish I caught once I learned the value of patience. I still have to remind myself each time I go out to slow it way down, and it almost always pays off. It took a long time for me to grasp this philosophy, but here's what I believe now: You catch more fish by placing your bait in front of as many fish as possible. There are two ways to get your bait in front of more fish. 1. Make more casts. This can work, but casts are disruptive and can scare fish. 2. Make fewer casts and slow down. Fish move. If you're casting where the fish are, fish have a better opportunity to see your bait when you move it slowly rather than quickly. For me, once I started focusing on making higher quality casts (but making fewer of them on account of working slow), my time on the water became so much more productive.

I feel your pain. I went out on Friday. I was fishing a creek in my kayak. Underwater is full of hazards like fallen trees and limbs, so getting hung up is a really common occurrence. Probably 20% of my casts ended up snagging one thing or another. I'd caught a lot of fish that day, but nothing more than a couple pounds (not complaining, just how it was). I cast my line out, and *thought* I saw my line twitch a little bit, but wasn't sure. Still, I reeled in the slack and set the hook. Then there was no movement at all. I gave my rod a few jerks, and decided I was hung up yet again. I actually said out loud to myself, 'how many times am I going to set the hook into a log?' I tightened the drag on my rod all the way, and started to reel in while trying to get myself unsnagged. All of a sudden, I see that I'm not snagged. I'm pulling in what would have easily been my personal best bass, belly side up. It doesn't put up a fight at all, until it gets up near the surface of the water. It's probably 3-5 feet away from my kayak at this point, and I can't believe my eyes. Then, suddenly, it jumps in the air and dives deep. My line snaps instantly, on account of me tightening the drag all the way to unsag myself. I couldn't believe it. I sat there with my face in my hands for a couple minutes, and it's been eating me up inside all weekend. So I know how you feel.

Let em have their fun. Won't hurt anything, except maybe themselves, and that's just part of growing up. I used to jump off a dock, mess around in the water, and catch fish in the same spot 5 minutes later.

Find something else fun to occupy your time. Too many fun things to do in the world.

Bass are vulnerable in the shallows -- the environment negates many of their strongest survival qualities. So they don't stick around there longer than they need to. They will still come shallow to feed when they need to, but often choose to 'hang out' in environments that offer more protection and provide more ambush opportunities than the shallows do. That said, bass aren't hiveminded fish, so you may find some anywhere on any particular day:) But generally, they will go where they can make best use of their strongest traits.

Not sure what your boat situation is, but Bear Creek Lake has some great bank access if you don't mind hiking the trails a bit. The Powhatan Lakes are also close, but most of the lakes aren't fishable without a boat. You could also try Twin Lakes park. Pretty small water, but about half is bank accessible.

Today, I packed up my kayak and my gear, and headed off to a local state park for a couple hours of fishing. When I got there I unloaded the kayak and was ready to launch. But something about the boat didn't look right. Then it hit me -- I'd forgotten the seat at home. If I'd loaded back up and headed home and then came back again, I would have had only an hour or so to fish. So I just said to hell with it and went anyway. It hurt sitting in that plastic shell, but the bite was on. Glad I stuck it out, but I sure am paying for it now. What have you left behind?

Depends. In April, I was bank fishing a pretty large reservoir and catching some pretty nice fish. Every now and then, someone would pull up to where I was fishing on their bass boat, and they'd usually ask how I was doing. I'd tell them I was getting skunked, only because they had the whole reservoir at their disposal and I was limited with where I could go. Didn't really want them hanging around longer than they had to. Now, if someone fishing the bank had asked me the same question, I would have been honest with them, because they aren't going to get in the way of my casts.

It's mostly sweet. But now I can't impress them anymore. I'll come back from a great couple hour fishing trip, and they'll ask me how I did. I could tell them I caught 15, and they'd just shrug their shoulders because they've outdone me. Hah.

In terms of quantity, I took my kids out one evening about 2 years ago. I didn't even get to make a single cast, because they were reeling in bass after bass and all I could do was be their first mate. Still, probably the best time I've had fishing.

I'm looking for a fish finder for my kayak. I'm trying to find something that's nice enough that I won't get the urge to upgrade in the next few years, but not something with so many features that it completely breaks the bank. I've been looking at the Lowrance Elite 4 HDI. It seems like it has everything I would need, but I haven't used a fish finder before so it's hard to say for sure. Do you have experience with it? Does it work well? Easy to use? Think it would keep me content for awhile?

My personal best is a joke that haunts me. It came at night on a cool spring evening with my plastic worm 6 inches from shore, while talking to a friend. There was no fight, I just had to lean over and pick it up. So yeah, they bite then. And yeah, I can't believe I'm still chasing the most accidental fish I ever caught.

I was one of those people at one point in my life. When I was a kid, we would catch catfish while camping and always ate them. For me, catching fish meant eating the fish for a really long time, regardless of species. Didn't know any different. Only once I started learning more about bass did I start to appreciate them and respect them. Once the respect kicked in, I became a catch and release guy, save a few 1 pounders I might keep on a camping trip.

Cool video. Got me even more pumped up to pick up my first kayak tomorrow.

Now that's a day on the water.