FivePoundBluegill

Just wondered? I noticed most people on this site prefer bait casting gear. Or at least for most types of fishing. I use spinning gear for pretty much everything. I guess it is because I have just grown up useing it so I have gotten so used to it. I also guess its because I do so much carp/cat fishing and I need gear that I can switch between fishing a lure for bass and fishing a still bait for fish like catfish. Just wondered if I am the only angler here who uses only spinning gear and if you prefer bait casting or spinning gear. I also wondered for all you guys who use both types of gear what application you use each for.

More like the first time I went out fishing and caught ONLY bass. Even if I am targetting bass I usually will catch something different by mistake such as a catfish or large panfish.

Well I usually use a landing net to land EVERYTHING that is too big to deadlift out of the lake. I fish for catfish, carp, trout too so I just got into the habbit of netting fish. Plus netting a fish is always safer and you have a lower chance of loseing a fish at a bank. I honestly think I have landed less than 20 decent fish by hand... most of them bass with a couple of catfish and one carp landed with huge difficulty. Bass are pretty d**n easy to land by hand you just have to grab the mouth as tight as you can and be fast about it. Its very easy but my thumb and index finger are pretty scratched up. If I landed fish like this all the time I dont want to know what shape my right hand would be in.

Went out to a local pond today and had a pretty good day. I was dissappointed when I fist got there seeing the murky water and lack of bedding bass that I have been seeing recently. I made my way around the pond until I found my way to the back left hand corner. This corner contains a lot of sunken plants and has a deep hole. I noticed fish boiling on the surface but could not get them to hit a zoom fluke or a jerk bait. I decided to switch to a slower approach and tie on a 6 inch purple robo worm. On about my 5th cast along a submerged brushline I got hit. I let the line go tight and set the hook into a big bass. This fish put up a great fight and got three jumps in. This bass also tried to get into the sunken plants. I had the fish hooked so well that I dont think I could have lost it if I was trying to. I got the fish to the bank when it occured to me that I did not have my landing net. I have yet to buy a new one since i lost it on my last carp outing. Anyway I was quite suprised at how easy the big bass was to land by the mouth after getting him tired. Here is the fist fish. This fish was 19 inches and is so far my biggest of 2010. A few casts later I caugh another nice size bass that was 17 inches about 10 feet from where I caught my fist fish. This one also put up a nice fight but I was able to land it quickly even with no landing net. I caught 3 more "keepers" which were all released within the next couple hours all around the same location. Two of these fish were just over 14 inches and one was just over 12 inches. They also seemed to get smaller as the day went on lol. I also caught all 5 fish on either a 6 inch purple robo worm or a 10 inch brown robo worm. I am guessing I had both the right location and bait picked out today. I do not know wich one was more important. Also I think I am the grand master of the "Bill Dance" method of fishing (Hold your fish out as far as you can to make the smallest dink look like a lunker). I need to go buy a new landing net. I got the most nasty rash on my right thumb/index finger from hand landing all these bloody bass today and haveing them shake around as you grab them. Do you guys who hand land bass constantly use gloves?

"Nice. They may be ugly but the fight is awesome.. " I second that! I actually specifically target them with corn. Pound for pound they dont fight as well as a bass does but I have never had anything take out more drag than a big carp. You are a lucky man because I actually target these and have never caught one that big.

Are you talking about those "Wildeye" soft swimbaits? I actually have caught several 2-3 LB bass on those things. I have not thrown them too much but they have worked for me. Not bad for 3 for $5.

6 inch purple robo worm.... catches fish no matter how bad the conditions are.

Great job. Thats a nice fish. Very rare that you catch big fish on flukes like that. I have caught 4-5 LB bass on flukes every so often but an 11 LBer... thats insane.

I couldent get enough so I went out fishing again tonight to a small pond that is under renovation( they drained a lot of the water to take out a lot of overgrown vegetation). I was able to catch one decent size Bass that measured 16.5 inches on a 6 inch purple inch finess worm about 5 feet from shore in very murky water I think I am addicted to fishing again for the time being... and on a positive not I found my measuring tape

I fish for them a lot. Its pretty much the same style of fishing as catfish fishing. Just look for feeding carp and then toss out bread or corn about 10-15 feet out. Use spinning gear and leave open your bail. When you get a run hook set as if it were a catfish and fight the fish the same way.

I went fishing for the first time yesterday since september of 2009. It seems that I forgot how fun fishing can be. Anyway the day started by me finding a bedding bass and spending an hour trying to get the fish to bite. This fish would not commit to anything. I got him to pick up my robo worm twice and my bass assasin fluke once but they were not commited bites. I then decided to try something I have never tried before for a bedding bass and tied on a rattle trap. I would cast out the rattle trap and drop the bait onto the bed. On about the 5th cast he hit the rattle trap. I landed this fish with ONE of the barbs on the rattle trap in the fishes mouth. Here is the bass About 15 minutes later I found another spawning bass which I got to pick up a wacky rig senko. Unfortunately the second this fish picked up my bait he swam under a big pipe so I was unable to set the hook. I had to let him drop the bait or I would have broken him off. I wish I had set that hook right away and not given that fish a chance to swim under the pipe. Later in the day I switched over to carp fishing with white bread. I caught 3 average sized carp. I would have caught 4 if Bladeslinger did not dicide to flaunt my 5 fish day by showing off his hand made featherweight rod . I lost the 4th carp I hooked into due to a bad hook set and the fish came unbuttoned. Here is a pic of one of the carp.

Yes that is what it says. That painting was a birthday gift to my friend who is a buddhist who had that picture in her head for like a month before I painted it.

If your interested I could PROBABLY do it... PM me about it if you want me to make one for you.... Here is some past art I have made these were all done in acrylic paint except for the last one which was color pencil... I dont think that my style of art is what your looking for here though...

Common carp scale.... I catch common carp all the time. The one you hooked into must have been at big one at 10 LBS + too

This is why I thank god, buddah, allah, jesus, muhammad, the force, or whoever else is up there for the "spell check" on microsoft word every time I need to write something formal.... I admit it... I cant spell to save my life.

Do not act like you have never fished with one. I see these people all the time while fishing. This is the guy who will use the most off the wall, odd, funny, dumb tequnique to try to catch fish and watching him fish makes you want to laugh out load. Some of these peoples odd tactics worked and some of them did not. Here are some of the ones I have seen... Upside down spinning real guy = Fishes a spinning real upside down and winds the real backwards. I have seen a lot of these people. I once saw a middle age woman fishing for "whatever she could catch" with a spinnerbait. The odd thing was she just casted out the spinner bait and let it sit on the bottom of the lake and put her rod in a rod holder as if she was catfishing. I once saw some kids who had obviously NEVER fished before in their lives. They found a big bundle of fishing line. They began to search around the lake and found a hook. Later they found some old bread. They were then able to use their big bundle of line, hook, and bread to catch a good amount of bluegills. These guys have obviously never fished since they did not own any gear but they got the right idea pretty quick. Duct Tape Guy = This guy used to own a house right along the edge of a local lake. His backyard faced the lake. This guy would cast out a line at night with some meat on the hook to fish for catfish and then set the rod in his backyard. He would then tape down his line in a crack along the footpath surrounding the lake so no one would trip over his line at night. I actually remember he caught some big 10 LB+ catfish doing this. Bobber Guy = This guy was fishing a big terminator spinner bait with a bobber. He was working the spinner bait right realing it in at different speeds but he had a big bobber tied on 2 feet above the bait. Wal Mart Pole Guy = This guy was useing one of those huge 8 foot heavy action white rods from wal mart to catch bluegills. I also once saw an old lady fishing for catfish. She was useing saltwater gear and probably 50 pound test. I remember one day she caught a nice 7-8 LB catfish and just HORSED the big catfish in even when it was trying to take drag. She kept the fish for her dinner though so I am guessing she was fishing for something to cook and not for sport...

Plastic Lizards - Seriously why the hell do people use these. I have never purchased any in my life. The way I see it a lizard is not even something a bass would normally see or eat. I currently carry about 6 different types of plastic robo worm and I am very consistent with them but have never owned a single plastic lizard. The way I see it... the fish are always more likely to eat a plastic worm than a lizard

Caught this Rosie Odonel of fish this past saturday. By far the most ugly looking carp I have caught. This fish had a completely twisted and bent back as you can see from the frame. It also had a big chunk missing out of its top fin. In addition to this one of its eyes seemed to be fogged over to a degree.... I remember someone posted an ugly bass in the "General Bass Fishing" section last week and just like whoever it was that caught that ugly bass I sort of wanted to do this poor fish a favor and kill it but I still released it. Also just like that ugly bass this ugly carp was still over 10 LBS... Does anyone know what this could have been from? Do you guys think this fish could have been injured as a young fish? Maybe attacked by a big hungry bass? If so its a mirracle this fish was able to survive this injury and grow this big. Or do you guys think that maybe it was some type of birth defect? If it was a birth defect it is just as suprising that the fish made it to this size because it was a very weak swimmer. You would think a big bass or catfish would have eaten it when it was small. Fighting this fish was like nothing I have ever experianced before. I remember setting the hook and feeling a very heavy weight at the end of my line yet unlike most big carp or catfish the fish was not makeing any long drag burning runs. I thought it was a big fish though just because of the weight at the end of my line. I was also thinking "why the hell is this thing fighting like a sack of potatoes" Anyway this fish seemed to be swimming back and forth keeping pressure on me but not running or takeing drag at all. It was by far the most sluggish fish I have ever fought. The only time when it actually realy made a run was when I got it close to my landing net. At that point it ran and took maybe 15 feet of drag out. I got this fish landed in under 5 minutes with 8 LB test line.

LOL.... well for some reason I also tend to catch other fish a lot even when I am going for bass. I caught a nice sunfish on a rapalla that day too.

Yes I use corn to catch those carp. I never use store made carp baits because just like store made catfish baits they do not work. Most of the time I will chum the area with some corn to attract more fish. I also use a small hook and only about 4 pieces of corn on the hooks. 4 pieces of corn covers the size of hooks I use well. I usually use 8-10 LB test spinning gear and spinning rods. I leave my bail open and let them run with the corn the same way you would if you are cat fishing. I usually only throw my bait out around 15 - 20 feet and I usually fish for them in the evening when they feed.

Actually she is not my sister I just wanted to be a clown and say that for some odd reason. I figured no one would believe it though and meant it to be a joke. I wanted to stir up a debate! I guess photographs play tricks on the eye so we could look like brother/sister though. Shes Filipino and I am English so we are not related. Shes not my girlfriend though just a close friend I have known for a long time now....

No they are not these were taken yesterday. However they will look the same as older pics of mine because I have taken A LOT of pictures in the EXACT same spot. I used the trash can and the self timer to take those. That lake very small and I usually use the same trash can to take self timed pics on . You can look up my old posts if you want to check they will be same position same spot but I will more than likely have different clothes on and the picture will be slightly different.

Duck, Coot, Seagul, Turtle (all while cat, carp fishing) landing net, backpack, fanny pack, shirt... I also caught TWO remote control boats but only because the owner wanted mt to cast out lures to try to hook them because they got stuck in thick brush and he could not get them out.... The propellers were stuck and would not even turn... was quite funny.

Thats a HAWG.... I am guessing around 25 lbs min - 30 Lbs max.... I want to catch one that big.

now now he said "friend" :-X but anyways nice pics and nice koi! i wouldnt no where to go to catch them, maybe in people's back yards. Actually Jessica is my sister.... I was very exited when writing my first fishing report in forever and put "friend"