Jonister

@stk44 I do quite a bit of tying already! I have gotten into tying bugs and such, along with some bass jigs. Thanks guys for the help! I have a ways to think on this as I'm waiting till the holidays are over. I think I'll try to get an aluminum reel. I do like the okumas now that I look at them.

I have just gotten into fly fishing this past summer with a very cheap 5 wt combo. It is amazing fun, and i would like to add a decent 8 wt to my setup when bass fishing. i currently know very little about brands, reels, fly lines, etc. My plans are to use this rod/reel for lighter saltwater use, bass, carp, shad, I also have some great steelhead water around me and would like to maybe mess around with that one day. I was hoping someone who knows their stuff (or more than me, ) might be able to point me in the right direction towards a good rod and reel or a combo that is in the 250$ range. I don't want to drop to much but would like something with enough quality to last me a while and provide quality enjoyment. I also know absolutely nothing about fly line besides the fact that some float and some sink. What kind do i want? size? etc. I am kind of hoping to end up with the "power Pro" of fly lines. something that can touch on everything. Im basically looking for the all around do most 8 wt. Any suggestions are great! Thanks guys!

Honestly I agree with the people above who say to get a real biologist evolved. you would really kick yourself if you introduced something and couldn't get them back out. ie perch . they eat a lot and that could mean disaster if they all spawned and overtook the pond. it also sounds like you only have permission to fish. I mean honestly I'm sure the owner wouldn't think it a bad Idea to try to grow the bass but maybe talk to them first, and then get a real biologist in there to check it out. even if they can't give you a definative survey, they might suggest something less drastic. maybe a few sterile fish could help, or they might have just got back from the quarry over and might have some simple yet good tips. you really would feel bad if you exterminated the bass in whole by adding something else.

The invasive species laws actually help a lot more than one could think. They make it illegal, because people create their own stocking programs, use live bait, etc. There is a popular trophy trout lake up here called Diamond lake. Some idiot (or a few) thought tui chubs would make for fun live bait.... It ruined a productive fishery and caused the state to go to measures of poisoning it and restocking a few times. Now they are trying tiger trout to predate because the stupid things are coming back, so I'm excited for that. Another lake got perch, so it gets tiger musky, also excited for that. The river got freshwater prawns. I tell you, I have never caught so many football smallies in one year. I mean they have their pros and cons, but it only takes one guy with different fish values to try to stock the river with something illegal and then you end up with something like the Asian carp in some areas.

Thanks guys! I went out again today to try to get my anchor back after losing it yesterday in bad current. Had to abandon it. I did notice today that even on the peak incoming, water was still moving out. I only brought one rod today and caught some sturgeon, I mainly wanted my anchor back. Same thing though, bait mid-level down about 12 ft up, and down stream of the adjoining slough in 56 degrees. I think I will have to try the jerk bait, and some slow stuff next time.

I could definitely try that. It's kinda hard to disect out there, as most of it is 60 foot deep. There is some knarly structure out there, and steep ledges and flats though. I can also think of a few other areas out in the river that I noticed this summer, that might hold fish. Do you think they would move 10 miles to winter? There are some pretty deep holes closer up this slough. Up the slough it's mainly 20-40 foot as far as the main channel goes, but there are a few holes to 70 ft. Any ideas as to what I could fish that deep? A Texas rigged crank bait? a drop shot?

So I was out in my kayak today, in a local river. Now I say river, more like a tributary of a very big river, but big enough to be it's own river, say a slough. 3 weeks ago it was a fine 70 or so degrees. After a very good rain, and some chilly weather, it has dropped to 55 or so. I was thinking it would be in the mid sixties, as the water was last year this time of year, but it wasn't so I found myself kinda stuck, and not catching fish. Now there are large mouth here, but they are few and far between, so I was mainly targeting smallmouth. Anyways, I fished all day, throughout both tides, bank beating with spinner baits and crank baits, and then off shore with plastics. I sturgeon fished for lunch, and then went for bass again. After no luck, I went looking for warmer water and found it went from 55.6 to 56.7 in a creek arm so I fished there. I could not scrap up a single fish throughout the whole day. Not even a dink. Towards the end of the day, I started marking shad (American shad migrating out to the ocean) up this creek about 300 yds in. I thought about putting on a spybait, or perhaps a jerk bait, but ended up going in. (Today is homecoming, otherwise I'd still be out there) so my question is, what should I have done? I feel I was a step in the right direction looking for bait, and with the warmer water, but couldn't connect on fish. Any help is greatly appreciated! Any lure suggestions? What to do? Thanks! One more thing, around here we have crawfish, and Siberian prawns as the main food source. I have just noticed the prawns this year, but the bass have been stuffing on them. Once a year in the fall to about late November, the juvenile American shad also are around Migrating to the ocean. There are also little congregations of panfish, or usual minnows and such.

If your stocking a private pond, buy some bass from a hatchery. Don't take ones public fishery and take from it to benefit yourself. It's also pretty cheap to stock a pond yourself, and you know the strain of the bass. I mean unless your stocking a coi pond.. Just my 2cents.

I have a Lowrance Elite Ti 7 on my kayak. It is a little overkill, but I've found random crap that one would never find 100 feet off one side. Refrigerators, boats, a sunk bridge. All unmarked that would just look like a hump if you got right over it. I had one of my best days this last summer fishing a pinnacle I ran over. I swear I have made runs up the river all my life and never noticed that before. Once I marked it it was easy to fish and I caught fish till it got dark. Get what you can afford, but if you dont mind spending a bit more, and a couple days on the water just playing with downscan, you will greatly increase your fish catching! Beat the bank beaters and learn to fish a little deeper and out of most comfort zones! It's tons of fun too!

We were getting spooled all day long on deep cranks. Turns out, we got one up close to see it was a sturgeon almost the size of my 10' john. Probably about 7'. Stupid things were stacked so thick we were snagging them nearly every cast. Big and small, they would eventually straighten the hooks. We gave up and fished a different spot ?

If you have never ever seen a replica, you probably have. A lot of those DD bass, or paddlefish, or sturgeon, etc in bass pro or cabelas are replicas. You can look at those and get an idea of quality/realism.

Bang on the trim motor with a crescent wrench. ?? Ok don't do that but in all honesty it might be seized and a light tapping might fix that.

Yeah! The turtles are all over in it. Usually a bare hook dangled in the weeds will catch them. They think it's a bug or something.

There is also a heavy population of otters, and they still live by where I fish, so I assume there is some sort of food. there is rumor going through the land owners that sometime this winter they will dredge the rest of it, and they have been surveying a lot of it. My hope is they will go through with it soon, and it will clear up on my end. I'm hoping at some point I can get to the dredged spot again and bring the lowrance to help me find them. Right now I am enjoying carp and turtle fishing.

I have yet to try with my fly rod, but I do all my hair jigging by sight. Carp get a truly bad reputation, but honestly they are waryer, and spookier than bass. I spent about 6 months trying to figure out some canal carp, before I started to catch them consistently. What kind of flies should I use? I might try tying up something marabou like.