everythingthatswims

English, and a little French, but I doubt the French will stick with me for long...I speak fluent "fish talk", I have one friend at school who speaks it too and sometimes our friends ask if we are speaking English. For example: "I was swimming a caffeine shad rigged on a 3/0 weightless screw lock swimbait hook in shallow water over some hydrilla that hadn't formed mats yet, but they weren't committing, most of the plenty of swipes and boils but few hook ups. Must have had something to do with the cold front that came through last night." doesn't even sound like fishing to the average person

That vegetation on top looks like ice starting to form...gonna give me nightmares...

Many a bass have fallen victim to the walmart spinnerbaits and buzzbaits

I catch a few nice fish (2lbs plus) every time I fish, but the average size around here for me is 12-14"...Even on big swimbaits

Try using 2 or 3 baits instead of switching a bunch of times. Location>Lure

If that fish was shaped like a cali bass I bet it would have been a world record!

Does it hurt the population when slot fish are kept? Meat hunting is pretty typical in saltwater from my experience, I keep lots of saltwater fish but I always obey regulations...

Despite what the spool says, a 3000 reel (at least shimanos) in no way shape or form will hold almost 200 yards of 12lb braid. I use 10lb braid on my sahara 3000 and I can barely fit 150yds on it. But still any fish that can pull that much line is a beast, no salmonid in Virginia is capable of that!

On a 1/32 or 1/16oz marabou jig I have caught: Crappie, White Perch, 5 or 6 different kinds of sunfish, Largemouth, Smallmouth, Bullhead, Channel Cat, Freshwater Trout Trifecta, Bluefish, False Albacore, Redfish, Spotted Seatrout, Pompano, Spot, Croaker, Black Sea Bass, and Spanish Mackerel. If you fish the right way with the right tackle, they will catch anything! (the right tackle being a light or ultralight spinning rod with 4-6lb test.

Try throwing gotcha plugs from a pier and flukes/walk the dog/jerkbaits will feel like a walk in the park. I usually try to adjust the way I grip the rod/reel and it helps.

My friend and I kept 5 dinky 12" bass from a lake full of stunted fish one time. When I cleaned them, most of them were full of crawfish and a few baby bluegill...And then there was this stupid one that decided he would just eat senkos instead, I don't remember how many were in his belly.

"One spear fisherman swore that if someone had offered to amputate his stung foot, he would have accepted the invitation gladly" “It won’t kill you, but it’ll make you wish you were dead” That was probably a good idea, these are quotes from an article on lionfish...

I use EWGs for 75% of my fishing, and all my hooks are offset shank (straight shanks look silly when you rig them IMO). I will use a "regular" gap on worms usually...But regardless of what hook it is, the hook set is way more important than the hook.

I'm in the Outer Banks this weekend, and I will do a full post soon.... Water was rough today and we could only make it to a wreck about 8 miles out for an hour or so, anchoring wasn't an option so we couldn't target seabass and triggerfish. We decided to do a few drifts over the wreck before heading back in. I dropped down a 3" live spot to see if anyone was hungry. Soon as my rig hit the bottom something thumped it and I swung into a solid fish. After a 15 minute battle I got this Amberjack to the boat. But the best part is the rod I caught him on...a 7'6" flippin stick w/ a diawa millionaire 250 spooled with 40lb power pro. Those who have caught AJs will understand! He almost spooled me 3 times and I don't know how/why he didn't take me into the wreck. I ended up with a bruise about the size of a golfball where I had the butt of the rod jammed against my stomach.

Carolina rigged shrimp with just enough weight to hold bottom. Small hooks and small pieces of shrimp. If you see fish chasing bait throw the same baits you would use for schooling largemouth.

Yep, lionfish. I know they are invasive in US waters, not sure where they came from. Poisonous spines so nothing eats them, they are supposed to be very good eating though, you just have to clip the spines off before filleting.

I would stick a 12" mullet on a circle hook in a heart beat!

I highly doubt there are shad in that pond, you probably caught golden shiners

We can shoot carp with a bow but we can't snag them here in VA...Stupid law

My brothers and I got to ice fish this past winter haha. (to all you guys up north, this doesn't happen much in VA) Small pond by our house that we stock with trout in the cold months (catch them in stocked creeks and bring them to the pond). Also caught some bluegill....I hope we get another cold snap this winter so we can do it again! I usually get a handful of bass December-February and then it gets easier again.

Yeah the red snapper ordeal in the gulf is ridiculous...Desk jockeys in suits shouldn't be making the decisions about the fish...

You would think a copy cat company would have made a cheaper version by now...I wouldn't be apposed to $10 tubs of "Chomp! 4" Swimming Minnows" haha

No need to break their jaw, just fish with sharp hooks and good line! Nice fish, 4-6 is definitely a good one.

So the only thing I ever have had consistent luck on inshore fish (seatrout, redfish, flounder) with has been gulp, I use the 4" swimming mullet (curly tail) and rig it on 1/8-1/2oz jigheads, depth and current dependent. I usually catch more fish on the gulp than I do with live finger mullet (flounder are the exception), and non-gulp products will catch a few fish for me, but never as many as gulp. The problem is that gulp is crazy expensive and gets torn up quickly by all the various salty critters nipping at the tail, so I end up spending way too much $$$ on gulp, and would love to fish with something else...Any suggestions? Here are some various gulp victims my little brother and I have caught...

Yeah burn that BBZ shad around cover during low light periods (the closer you get to the cover, the better), you should see some explosive strikes! Everyone I fish with thought I was crazy for getting a bull shad...then they saw the fish I catch with it