OT: MGoAnglers
It's gonna be a long summer, and for some of us, there's no better way to pass the time 'til football consumes our weekends than with a pole in the water.
So, a few questions for those of you with that same itch to catch the monster fish:
What brand of gear do you like best? Does it matter?
What's your favorite location, method, and spieces to catch?
Any "the one that got away" stories you'd like to share? Maybe tell us how you reeled in that big 18 pound bass from your local lake.
Personally, I like anything Abu Garcia. For me, at least, my gear has lasted years. I'm an open-face spinning reel kinda guy (Can't seem to master that baitcaster the way I want) and I love bass fishing. Cats are always a go-to as well, especially at night.
I still don't have that "signature catch" that I can REALLY brag about, but I did catch a 24 inch Pike in a lake not known for Pike at all.
I can't wait to teach my kids how to fish, even if they end up like I was when I was little; hating every minute of it. As I got older though, I started to really appreciate the calm, peaceful feeling of being near water. The excitement of reeling in a big boy is also hard to match (besides, maybe, a Michigan touchdown of course).
Not an angler by any stretch of the imagination and have no clue what you are even talking about...but I was able to go on a charter off the coast of Florida once and managed to reel in a pretty hefty marlin with the help of others. Seemed like we were fighting it for hours. And it took, like, 3 hours to get far enough from the coast. Long, exhausting, day that at least made some memories.
I know nothing about fishing but it was fun that one time.
Just gotta take a long weekend, snag a cheap flight down to Ft Lauderdale, and just do it.
8hr charter is like $1,500. Split it 6 ways with some buddies so you can fill up a boat and not have to share with others. Pack a bunch of subs. It'll be crazy!
I like eating fish, though.
That's what she sa...ahh never mind
I tend to fish on a purely opportunistic basis. That being said, one of the advanatages of working for a company with a lot of facilities along or near Lake Erie is walleye fishing - I've only been out once this year yet, not on my own boat and not with my own equipment, but between all of us, we managed to get most of a cooler full of decent-sized walleye.
April 23rd, 2017 at 10:20 PM ^
I live close to ocean on the Gulf of Mexico, we are lucky to have great fresh water and salt water fishing literally a few minutes driving from our house. For large mouse bass & snook, I prefer Abu García bait cast rods and reels, for salt water lakes and rivers Penn, spinng reels for fishing at the beach. We have trout, red drum, jacks, to name a few species. Shimano & Penn for deep sea fishing. The area is well known for tarpon and lately they've been landing quite a few large black marlin.
I've been trying to get my kids more involved but not very successful at it, specially my older son. The young one (he is 8) is learning to throw his bait cast net, and getting better at it.
Glad to talk about fishing anytime, it is something I am really passionate about.
I grew up in the poor man's Venice of Michigan (Algonac) casting off the shore for perch and blue gill, trolling for salmon and muskie, sometimes pulling in a pike by mistake. But the local and personal favorite was always Walleye. Drifting down the river, chugging with a primitive set-up.
Shimano is the bomb... although I've had to surgically repair my 30Ws a few times. The Talicas are ridiculous - free spool or troll, you can do it all.
I really like St. Croix rods. I've never tried the tidemaster, but I have the Mojo Inshore and Legend Tournament for Bass.
Blessed to have fly fished the Madison River in Southwest Montana for the past decade or so every summer. Nothing beats the mix of scenery and fishing! I like to use a Sage XP rod and whatever flies are hatching at the time. Worst thing that ever happened to me was a barbed hook to the palm, had to hike 3 hours to the nearest fly shop to get that poor sucker removed.
I'm jealous. One of the next trips I want to plan is West Yellowstone and the Snake RIver in Idaho.
April 23rd, 2017 at 10:26 PM ^
If you're not one for commercial fly fishing, you might not like West Yellowstone. The entire town is a giant overpriced tourist trap. The fishing is great in the area, but I'd reccomend finding someplace a little more remote (cabins half an hour from West Yellowstone that are both larger and cheaper than anything you find in West Y.)
April 23rd, 2017 at 10:44 PM ^
I've fished at Three Dollar Bridge dozens of times, my only problem with it is that it can get a little crowded during the summer months and it's tough to find a good spot. One of my personal favorite things to do is park a car at Reynold's Pass (the best fishing spot on the river IMO) and then walk from there downstream all the way to Three Dollar Bridge (where you should park another car). It's about a 4 mile hike, but you get access to spots on the river where you're the only person around for a mile.
If you're just as much into scenery as you are into fishing though, I'd reccomend making the trip up to Glacier. You might not catch a fish all day, but you'll never leave that place disappointed.
Walleye has been great on Erie. Jumbo Perch on Lake Mich is rocking and the Salmon, Coho and Browns started doing very well this week. Limits in Grand Haven. I like about any fishing but trolling for salmon lets you enjoy some drinks, fish and be out on the great lakes. So fun. Gear well Big Weenie Brand, wife owns the company so thats my answer.
Trout Magnet really works. I went fishing once with some friends we weren't catching much. One friend goes back to the car and pulls out this little plastic box that he bought at walmart. It was Trout Magnet. He started to pick off trout at a constant pace. We all borrowed some grubs and jigs and all started to do pretty well.
We all stopped at Walmart afterwards to pick up some Trout Magnet.
swimming in what i thought were my normal swim waters out front of my office. she came out of nowhere and drilled me in the forearm. i was ticked, to say the least. and yes, she did draw blood.
we fly fish and all my kids enjoy it. the oldest tie decent flies. all starts with you taking them on shorter trips when they are young, wrapped around fun, weather decent to good, where you are certain or nearly so to catch fish. do that a few times and you will 'set the hook' with your kids and get to go fishing whenever you want. its so much a part of our house that i'll take the boys on the way home from saturday football games - wading in streams with their football pants still on during those sunny, warm sept/oct saturdays.
IIRC, winchester, you live in brown water country, (indiana?) so my guess is you are a bass fisherman? buy some cheap fly fishing stuff and go stalk some bass. very fun to catch bass on the top of the water using 'poppers', flies that float and you retrieve in short, sharp hand tugs and thus 'pop' the water drawing strikes from below.
i hope one of the mgolurkers i know weighs in on this thread. he is an extremely dedicated and knowledgeable fly fisherman and his input would be excellent.
i won't brag about fish i've caught, but i will say i'm taking a couple of my kids to visit my long-time friends in alaska this summer. we'll be fly fishing, setting shrimp pots, hunting, hiking, etc. daddy-daughter(s) trip this year. the sons will have to bide their time.
about fishing you will pick it up in a nano-second. i would tell you to find a decent you-tube video showing you how to roll cast. it is also easy and you will be able to cover about 80% of the water you would ever need to fish - don't need to learn the 'river runs through it' cast. also, you can fish at night using some types of flies and it can be a gas. big, top water floppy stuff, can cause some big fish to come up and nail it in the dark. you hear a big splash/whoosh and it's time to hang on.
borrow somebody else's gear. or if you buy, get cheap stuff to start.
plan on a trip to northern michigan and i can teach you what you need to know for the basics in an easy couple of hours. you can borrow my gear when you show up. and i'll ask the afore-mentioned mgolurker help out as he is a storehouse of knowledge about such things and a fly fishing maniac.
Time spent on the stream and around campfires with my kids are the most precious there are. Heading to Yellowstone with them this summer and can hardly wait. We fish the Fox/Driggs/2Heart every year and it's always about perfect.
As for your advice on bass fishing in Indiana... don't forget bluegill fishing with black foam spiders during the spawn.... goodness what fun!!
April 24th, 2017 at 12:19 PM ^
Everything you said is true and wish my dad took me fishing when I was a kid. I picked up fishing at a later age of 18 when I went on a fishing trip chartered by some of his business partners.
The first time I had a bonito on the line and it was peeling drag, I was hooked. It's been a little over 10 years since that first fishing trip, but my dad I still love fishing together and make a point to plan a trip every year. I picked up fly fishing about 4-5 years ago and recently my dad has tried to do some Tenkara.
Getting into fly tying is dangerous. It is one of those things that you can get lost in. I kind of went down this path a bit tying all these elaborate artistic flies. I sold all of my unnecessary materials and now back to tying simple fast flies that catch fish. There is nothing quite like seeing a trout come up and bite a fly that you tied yourself. Of course the first time I saw a rising fish, I got so excited that my hookset was too early.
Fly fishing/fishing Alaska sounds amazing. There are so many places in th US that I want to go to fish and Alaska is near the top of my list.