flg2010

From my perspective Fishing clubs are a waste of money and time. Now I happen to live in an area (Orange County NY) where there are literally almost no active "publicly known" clubs. If fishing can't be enjoyed alone then you might rethink the sport. Sorry..

I just spent 2 hours taking apart my Sahara 4000 XG, I managed to get the bail to close automatically for now and just spooled new Cajun 10 lb test mono on it. This should work until I make a decision on replacement. Hopefully. Now I have a ton of possible options and reviews on all of these are solid. I think the massive snapping turtles I have been catching accidentally could have killed the Sahara.. these suckers are at least 20lb..

Great suggestions. Might try them for backup rigs or primary. I found a reccomendatuon for daiwa bg reels on these fourms. Going to check them out at a sporting good store today. sounds like the 3500 size would pair with my old ugly stick rod so no need for new rod. amazon has the reel for 78 bucks. great reviews

I am currently fishing a Okuma/Ugly Stick and a Shimino/Abu Garcia setup. Both are working ok.. however the bail failed on My Shimino Shara 4000... I am looking for a rod/reel replacement. I tested out a Ugly Stick Gx2 6.8 ft with a Okuma Trio 55s combo from my local tackle shop. The reel is like 90 bucks the rot another 30.. with tax and line put on its $140. I'm pretty cheap and hardly a tournament fisherman. I liked the way the combo felt in my hand.. Mostly Smallmouth. With 2 times a week use 8 months out of the year.. will this combo hold up? Shimino sorta did not for a reel.. and while its usable its not ideal. I realize maybe spending 300 bucks on a reel will provide something more reliable.. but I am just cheap.

That has to be near the state record... wow....

Well, I actually never caught Rock Bass ever before fishing Wallkill. Now that I know what they are I am catching 9 and 10 inch ones routinely.. as in every trip almost. When the water is a little clear I can see slightly bigger ones if I wade out. I might spend a lifetime and not catch a really big Smallmouth here but I will hold out hope. What makes this fun is the difficulty.. this is not a stocked lake or pond. However I still think these other fish are competing.. I see super large Rock Bass, large sunfish.. one sunfish was over a pound! I have yet to catch a carp but I see people pulling 10+ pounders out.

This happens to me a lot, especially when I move to a new body of water, I only got back into serious amateur fishing about a year or so ago after a mult/many-year break. However back during the last decade and before I can tell you that when I moved to a new lake, pond, river, or stream, it would take multiple trips.. sometimes months... to get a good idea of what will work to consistently catch fish. Example: Lake Candlewood in CT: Spots I go to long plastic worms, Over 5 inch (any brand/color) or earthworms live bait works for bass. Wallkill River: Spots I got to short plastic worms, 3-4 inch (any brand/must be transparent, green, or bronze color) or earthworms live bait works for bass. It WILL be somewhat different at each location in each Body of water. To be clear I am talking about Large and Small Mouth bass fishing..this also includes their relative species. Even bait fishing will be specific and different depending on where you fish. My advice: 1. Ask other anglers at the body of water you are targeting about what works. Most will be helpful. Listen to them. 2. Have a wide collection of Spoons, Crank Baits, Plastics, Hooks, and Weights. Try them all. 3. Learn to rig the artificial and live baits. 4. Learn to rig Plastic worm/creature baits well. Grab a variety of brands... 5. Learn to find and cultivate your own worms for live bait. They are the bait to use (live) when you want to know whats in a body of water. If your not catching anything on them the fish aren't there. All the above is my opinion.. I'm no expert.. Oh.. and make sure you have a license and know the rules/law.

Fishing was generally better In June and July. Last week and 1/2 fishing at the following areas have been sub-par with very small (8 - 12 inch Smallmouth being the norm). Keitech custom worms and Live bait both worked well up and until first week of August. I fish 3 or 4 times a week from shore. My report for current parks with fishing access: - Twin island: Overfished, only sunfish biting. - Riverfront: Likely Overfished, Only Rock Bass biting and that if you wish to wade in to access (shallow area) - Benedict Farm: Best Fishing so far, each trip there got at least 2 12 inch smallmouth or bigger this month. General Observation: It seems to me that Wallkill is under heavy fishing pressure and many large fish have been taken or killed over the years. I am catch Sunfish that are just over a pound on bass baits. The only reason for this to occur is if they do not have Smallmouth or other larger fish to compete with. Generally fishing was better in the Spring.. but still not great.

Honestly I am trying for a state record fish (Smallmouth). And.. to make it more interesting I am trying for that in the Wallkill. Mostly because I have never seen so many Smallmouth bass anywhere else. There should be a record fish somewhere here. Having caught tiny rock bass before this rock bass looked odd to me, and I suspect the population of them which seems high is impacting the Smallmouth. I have seen very large Smallmouth in the Wallkill, jumping, hunting in packs...usually in very deep pools. To access them I have had to balance myself on rocks and have fallen in several times over the last year. The Wallkill is not very deep and a canoe or Kyack won't help me get at the fish I need to.

If I see bait fish in the water or Frye I will stay an entire trip (5+ hours for me). However if I don't catch anything for more then a few trips I try another spot. This happened to me with the Wallkill, finally I started catching consistent fish because I managed to find the right plastic worm for the body of water and I also fished live bait on my second line. I don't routinely catch 15+ inch Smallmouth every trip but every month I get one in that size range. Its all about finding what works for the area of the body of water you are fishing. You may end up going broke finding out what that might be. I spent a few grand on plastics and found one brand that worked. I also have a rotation that now works throughout the season. Sadly... if I move to a new river or lake I will need to start the process over again...

So August Smallmouth Fishing on the Wallkill River, a bit better then last August but nothing above 13 inches still. I caught more then 10 fish from shore.. the biggest Smallmouth pictured below, for 13 inches it seems very skinny. However. I did manage to see several odd looking fish in the deeper pools 15 feet from shore as I balanced on some rocks. I fished from a pier and caught one. Around 10 inches.. very plump. What is it? They seem to be in the same places I used to see Smallmouth last year and they are very aggressive.. are they impacting the Smallmouth? I might try some new places next weekend. Fishing seems much less viable then the trips I used to take back in '03 well before I moved up here.

Its all in perspective.. whats more important.. a drama free and safe life or do you want to go up against impossible odds. Not his fault however there are a lot of crazy people out there. I always fish on rivers and lakes that are not near normal public that don't fish. Keeps me out of their way and them out of mine. Escalations like this always end badly for the sportsman, police tend to take the side of the non-sportsman as a matter of fact (at least where I live). I remember the sustained harassment from law enforcement I had to endure fishing on Cross River resivour back in the late 80s. The residents that lived up the hill that looked down on the man made lake hated seeing people park and fish. It annoyed them even though the property was owned by the resivour authority and used by pepsico (in fact you needed to go to see pepsico to get a permit back then). They would call the cops and the cops along with a DEC officer would harass you, even if you were fully licensed and permitted. I fished for years then one time after a prolonged difficult encounter with DEC cops who didn't care that I had a license, a life-time permit, and was using the correct gear for the season.. etc but still had to warn me that the woods were dangerous for young people.. I decided to never fish there again. Maybe I read into that too much but my take away was that they were saying: "we don't like to have to respond to calls from the residents that people are fishing in their line of sight into a man made body of water that they feel no one should be touching. So stop this or maybe one day you might get beaten by us". Finally the harassment was enough for me to move on. I decided at that point in my life to stop fishing much, I did some salt water pier and surf casting and ended that eventually because it just wasn't much fun. Was a bunch of years before I fished again. Now I live next to a river.. I own a tiny bit of water front.. I can fish now without harassment (knock on wood).

Simple solution here. Don't fish at a not specific for fishing park where there are nuts? Pretty much the best solution. Also, no.. fish do not have emotions...or thoughts for that matter.

Well things are back to normal, caught this Smallmouth today on a keitech plastic worm California rigged. Drift the plastic and then twitched and retrieved. A little bigger then the ones I was getting on bait. Caught a bunch of smaller ones to. Not a bad trip.

This happens every summer (well for the last two I have fished in the Wallkill up in NY): I am able to catch smallmouth and Bluegill on Jigs, some plastic creature or worm baits, and spoons. This lasts from late march until around mid June. At that point its baby night crawlers only and deeper pools which I hike to. Literally nothing else works. Then in September I am able to use plastic baits again and some jigs. I don't have a ton of time so I don't fish anywhere else but ponds that connect to the Wallkill or the Wallkill these days since its close to home. I have asked other folks and most people, as in everyone I have met on the river banks, tell me that's normal. When I fished lake carmel I never used live bait. I'm catching 2, 3 and even a few 4 lb Smallmouth on live bait.. nothing is even hitting any lures. Is this normal for bass fishing on some shallow rivers?

I have been catching good sized (for Wallkill) Smallmouth bass on Roadrunner Jigs with various grub and short worm (4 inches or less) trailers no skirts on the roadrunners. Various hook sizes (1/8th). Today I caught one 15 inch fish see pic. Also caught a bunch smaller ones. Fishing seems better then last season. All fish were released unharmed.

I have an update.. caught a few 2 to 3 pound smallmouths on trout fake pink tiny worms... someone told me to try it and I did.. it worked. Very very strange..... Apparently they are going for those and will eventually be back on jig fake grubs.. In the wallkill that is... lol Thanks for all the advice.. I might be buying a fly fishing setup (for backup) and getting some lessons.

I caught this sunfish next.. its the biggest sunfish I have ever seen. This one destroyed the bait all that is left is the hook. Both fish were released unharmed and I managed to catch a ton smaller smallmouth on that plastic. I need to learn to flyfish.. I could have caught the 3+ pound smallies jumping...if I only had a flyrod..

I suspect the bigger bass are just going for the flys.. I might need to learn how to fly fish Caught this small-mouth bass today in the Wallkill on a grub-like plastic worm tried all sorts of colors and green grey was working today? lol... sigh. around 12 - 13 inches. Surface lures did not work, could be my poor skill at them.

So last evening at around 6:30pm I got home from work and decided to do a few hours of fishing from shore on the Wallkill. I did my usual rotation which is: - Roadrunner Jigs (multiple colors, white grub, yellow fur, black fur) swimmed slowly from 40 - 50 feet up stream, downstream, and across river cast. - Various silver and gold spoons - Various Crankbaits, stop and go retrieve casted to structure - Spinnerbaits. - Wacky rigged plastic worms Nothing not even a bite. However large smallmouth were jumping after bugs in the same areas. RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME This was another frustrating experience especially since all of the above either worked to land the fish I have posted (and more) before or used to get a strike. Any suggestions, I expect it will get only worse (as it did last year until fall). I am seriously considering grabing some nightcrawlers and fishing for catfish.

This makes me feel sick... and they are protected in my neck of the woods so basiclly one more reason not to fish in my back yard.. potential rabid crazy animals... i need a new fishing spot

I would never harm or interfere with a river otter. However I do fear them since they are quick, wild, and could be full all sorts of pathogens. In addition they seem to eat a ton of fish. Well, no one ever said fishing was easy LOL..

Well I'm more afraid of them I think then anything.. I have started to keep my lunch on me when I fish from shore.. I move a around a lot and sometimes can be 300 feet from where I started so I can't leave my stuff unattended. I did and paid the price, had to go hungry because they touched my lunch. When I first saw them I was startled.. came right out of the water in front of me and spooked me. They seem aggressive. The Wallkill has issues, last year the smell was so bad in my back yard I thought I had a septic issue and found out later it was the Oder from the river. This last weekend people were catching big catfish but the bass seemed gone...

I live right next to a fishing park on the WallKill River in NY. I also have about 120 feet of riverfront on my property that I can fish from or launch a canoe from. The WallKill river has serious issues due to farm runoff in my area and after buying my home I realized I could still catch some decent Smallmouth and catfish. Totally catch and release. This year I see a problem. Both in my back yard and in the park there are numerous River Otters. I have seen them eating fish, they have also snagged food off my food bag a few times when it was open. The problem is I didn't see them here a year ago when I moved in and there seems to be less fish. What can be done to protect the fish population? Is there a NY DEC program that might relocate them or will I be forced to watch them destroy bass fishing?

Wall Street career? First things first you need a top college brand behind you.. and an MBA. Then you need to get lucky and land a job at a top firm like Morgan Stanley or JP Morgan/Chase. Trust me on this you won't be fishing much until your an Executive Director on a path to Managing Director which will take you 15 - 20 years. You will be in your late 30s and if you won't be making MD and are still an ED you will likely be told to start looking for a new job.. if thats the case then you will need to land well at a B firm. If you do then you will be early 40s and then have tons of time to fish. However, all that said Wall Street would enable you to retire by early to mid 50s with millions in bank and tons of time to fish. However for every person that does it right there are people like me who do not and will need to work until they are dead. I still get to fish on Fridays though :-) and Saturdays and Sundays.