Jmurphy87

That’s what I was thinking too lol, sometimes you don’t have the scale when it happens. But you just know, sometimes I think if we quit chasing numbers we would be happier. I mean we are catching fish and that’s all that matters in reality, everything else comes in the correct location and timing.

Thank you, I still have a long ways to go and more to learn than I possibly can in my lifetime. But in the meantime I am going to have fun and keep at it.

Well I was off work today, wife had a doctors appointment and the car is going in to get checked out tomorrow. So I took 2 vacation days, it’s sad that I have to make a appointment to get my vehicle looked at when I know that it’s the lower ball joint, oh well if the warranty covers it I am fine with that. I was teaching my wife about fishing the river and where to cast. I decided to bring my daughters spinning rod, ugly stick gx2 medium action. I chose that cause I already had a Ned rig on it, a 1/16 Ned lock z with a trd craw in watermelon red. The reel was a daiwa regalis or something, the purple one lol. I have 15lb j braid on it, chartreuse color. first small largemouth came parallel to the rock wall, the smallmouth came about 15-20 feet in front of the pylon. I saw the line running with the largemouth, the smallie I just felt a tap and reeled in some slack and felt the tension and set the hook. I was hoping for a decent smallie today to show her, where to cast and how to fish it. Along with watching your line. I don’t know how much it weighed because I didn’t bring my tackle bag, just one rod and a single Ned rig. Not too bad for less than 15 minutes. My last pb smallie was 2.12lbs, this one seemed bigger than that. I used my arm to measure it and when I got home that part of my arm is a little bit over 18 inches. The thing took up all of that, tried to get the wife to hold it but she wouldn’t. Because it came out of the Kalamazoo river lol, I don’t care either way I am holding a fish. At least I got her in a picture with a decent one. Now she needs to show me that she can catch one like that, then the next lesson will begin.

No problem, I figure it will help someone out one way or another. I look at it as a piece that helps add perspective to the story as we tell them. This way you can feel like you’re there.

I got out this afternoon around 1:50pm, I was planning on fishing a small pond that I had not been to in a week or so. I have been seeing more and more people there recently than the past 2 years, not sure what to make of it but oh well. I always hit the river before I get to the pond, I mean it’s right on the way there and why not. I started off pitching past a rock outcropping that normally holds fish, nothing. I then thought about how it’s been warmer than it has been all this past week long. Temperatures between 85-90, decided to throw out towards the deeper water a little ways ahead of the pylon. Bingo, felt the tap and set the hook and got a nice little 2lb smallie. Bait was a 1/4 oz strike king tungsten football swinghead jig with a owner 3/0 j hook along with a black and blue bandito big. I then snuck the back way into the pond, this way I don’t have to walk past the only shady spot on the pond. Much to my dismay the water level was a couple feet lower than normal so a lot of the structure was not even in the water. I kept at it with the same bait that I caught the smallie on but no takers. I had a couple blow up on it when I was dragging it across the top of the weed mats but they never grabbed it. I then decided to change baits, I went with a weightless super fluke in Houdini on a 3/0 hook. I figured that I might get more action. I caught one tiny one and was ready to go, I was tired of picking the cotton off of my line and fighting with that. I stayed a little longer and caught another tiny one and left skunk free. I then decided to go to spring valley to throw the fluke because it is also very weedy but hard to catch much there. I was in one of the spots that I know of. Looked like most of the other spots were occupied from my vantage point, plus a couple kayaks out fishing also. This place is slammed with people fishing it most of the time. Less than 10 minutes I caught one working it back next to the brush in the water. I told myself that’s good enough for me, difficult fishery and less than 10 minutes is a victory. they were not big fish by far but I earned every one of them with my knowledge of the spots and also knowing where the fish are holding throughout the year at these places. This is what drives me, to be able to go places where people fish but don’t catch many and catch them consistently is a start. We can work on size latter, patterns, locations and weather are the things that we can use as tools to stack the odds in our favor.

I was struggling with the same thing with the mag 2 the other day, I upped the weight to trigger more of a reaction strike. It worked on the mag 2, it’s worth a shot. My next idea is using a 7/0 worm hook to get the point back closer to the tail, will try that when I get a chance. I love the rage craws, and craws in general they are one of my favorite confidence baits they work everywhere.

I got out today and caught 3, no pics. Phone was in the car. Biggest small fish of the day came on the second cast, around 15 inches. Next small one came about 15 minutes later. I was using a d-bomb in hillbilly magic with a 1/4 tungsten bullet weight and a chartreuse glass bead with a brass clacker. I just re spooled my tat 80 with 10lb big game, I thought the reel was acting weird with the braid on it so I stripped it off. When the local shop put the braid on there backing knot was non existent lol. The backing just came right off the arbor with no sign of a knot at all. The reel was great after I put mono on it, last one came on a z man goat in green pumpkin blue. It was windy out there but with the mono I still felt pretty darn connected to my bait. I definitely feel better about my tat 80 now and that’s a good thing.

She catches quality and quantity like no tomorrow, but she puts in the work to get them and she is fishing very good water also. But I always give credit to those who are skilled and she is definitely very skilled and smart.

I am happy to hear that you are fine, fishing is always a adventure. You never really know what all you are in for when the day starts. Figuring out what they want and how they want it is the other fun part. At least you didn’t lose any gear that would have really been a bummer. I look forward to hearing about how many you catch in a day out of there later this year 😀

I got to go out to the lake again today, I was constantly at work thinking about how the fish were short striking the ribbon tail worm yesterday. I knew that the reaction bite is hot currently, my solution is add a bigger bullet weight to give them less time to stare at it. It worked, I caught six or more slightly larger dinks today on the ribbon tail. Success, I tried my other idea also and caught two on a baby paca craw in sungill with a 3/8 bullet weight. I even caught a decent little one on it, just under 3lbs at 2.92lbs. I then caught a couple on a perch of flat 6 crank, I also had a long skinny fish jump over my top water lure. I think that I did ok.

Well I got out today and caught around 15 in a hour, no size at all really. I got one decent one probably 1.5-2lbs, not what I am looking for. But it’s the biggest one that I have pulled out so far this year. All caught on a salty super fluke in Houdini on a 2/0 owner haymaker hook. I didn’t bother with pictures since I was waste deep in muck in my swimming trunks lol, still have not bought new waders. I had a few more hits later on a ribbon tail worm, they were not eating it good enough to stick them with a hook though. They were just biting the tail lol. I finally caught some fish on a fluke so I am happy. The wife caught one also.

Got out today to recon the lake for the family, all dinks. There’s really big fish of all species in here, bluegill, sunfish, bass, gar pike. This is the lake that I caught my pb out of multiple times. I was fishing and they were biting, that’s a great day in my book. My conquest 844c mbr is proving itself to be the do all rod that I needed. Baits of the day, weightless wacky rig, owner jig rig, lv500, weightless fluke and something else that I am probably forgetting. I was surprised to see the tiny fish on the treble hook of the lv500, that’s the first time I ever pulled that one off.

I got out a few more times the past few days. I went Thursday for a hour and got skunked lol. I fished the river for a hour in allegan and caught a decent small pike probably 26 inches on top water, I was using a chrome shower blow 105 walking it fast and got within 20 feet of the bank and couldn’t see due to the sun and heard the explosion and set the hook and thought I had a good size smallie. Nope pike got it right beside the bank and tried to lift it up and he got beached and flailing and threw the shower blow back at me. I didn’t get hit, he slowly worked his way back in to the water, no pic of that one. I got out yesterday and caught a few small large mouth, got bit off by a pike because I seemed to have misplaced my titanium leader. Then on my way back to the car I checked a spot in the river where I know the smallmouth hide and saw one swimming. I sneak down to the bank and make a pitch and I was off, second one was perfect. I am looking at the fish and I don’t think it sees me, slowly working it back and come over the rock and it just smashes it. A decent little fish. I bought my wife her fishing license and took her and my daughter out to the lake where we buy the annual pass. My wife caught the only fish there and my daughter let it go before we got a picture of it lol. I am happy, my family should be happy now and things are sort of getting better in areas so that’s a start that I will take.

I had a hour to fish, wanted to catch one on a spinner bait. I only caught a small pike on that. I missed this bass a first time. Never swung, pitched back there again felt a small tap and swung, little fella put up a nice fight. Bait of the day was a zoom z craw in black light on a 5/0 owner jig rig hook. The pond is starting to get overtaken by weeds, at least it’s not that cotton stuff on top of the water yet.

A few from me, I got out for 2 hours and caught some. Heck I even caught a turtle on a craw also, was probably my favorite catch of the day. I saw suspended carp and cast out past them and let it sink and felt the tap and set the hook. I thought that I finally caught one of the carp when I felt the weight of it. I enjoyed the fight and had to use some rod pumps here and there to keep it off the bottom or from getting wrapped in trees. Got it to the bank and let some slack into the line and it worked the hook out of its mouth on its own. A win win if you ask me, they wanted it moving and not too stationary today. I even caught one that I didn’t see on a football Ned head and a turbo craw z. Made a pitch past a dink and was working it back seen him nose down and then my line started running so I set the hook and caught a slightly bigger dink lol. It was a good day even though the quality wasn’t there.