Fishing is cool and good

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > General Bullshit > Fishing is cool and good

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

All fishing rules, it is like the only thing that I care about anymore. It is all consuming to me.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2016 00:25

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 23:59

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

RFC2324 posted:

Dad?

Son when are you going to move out of this brush pile and spawn? Your mother and I are very worried about you.

cheerfullydrab posted:

As someone who has never fished, how do I start fishing? What do I read? Do I get lessons? What gear should I buy? Approximately how much will it cost? How's the learning curve?

Learning curve is huge, but you can catch a fish by accident. My advice is to buy as high quality of a rod as you can afford, something in the 6-7' medium action fast tip range and a Okuma Avenger 3000 spinning reel. Have it filled with 20lb highviz braid and learn how to tie a good leader knot, for which you want like 8lb fluorocarbon line. This will be an acceptable rig for like 90% of freshwater/inshore fishing.

To actually catch fish, you need to pick a species to target and read up on their habits and habitat. Finding where the fish are holding is the most important step in catching them.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2016 15:37

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

utterlycorrupt posted:

a 4'6" st. Croix using either 2 or 4 lb test if I'm not using fly gear. Love the ultra-lites for stream/river stuff.

Do You have the PS46ULM? I have been eyeing that one for a while to throw small inline spinners for white perch and tiny jigs for panfish/ tiny smallmouth. How well does it cast lures at the low end of it's range?

# ¿ Jun 20, 2016 15:42

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

utterlycorrupt posted:

That's exactly the one I'm currently using, yes. It's a bit pricey but totally worth the initial investment, their stuff lasts practically forever. As long as you have a decent lightweight reel you'll have no problems with either distance or accuracy with jigs or ultra-lite spinners, rooster tails, phoebes, etc. I have a relatively cheap shimano on there at the moment and it works fine.

Cool, I have never found one in the store to mess with but none of the cheaper UL rods I have owned really cast light rear end lures very well at all.

crabcakes66 posted:

The only caveat I would have is with 'buy as much as you can afford'. You really really really do not need a $600 rod and $500 reel(or whatever) to enjoy yourself. Stick with equipment roughly in the $50-$250 range for a complete setup and you will have access to some very nice stuff that will last many years if properly cared for. With the bonus of not kicking yourself in the rear end too hard when it gets broken/lost/stolen.

If you can only afford the most inexpensive stuff you can still catch fish. Just go into it with the knowledge that your gear is probably going to cause you some headaches and don't let it detract from the overall experience too much. I have caught many fish on a cheap as poo poo $20 rod and reel combo I got at a fishing show.

Well, my view is that spending more on a rod is always worth it as the "St Croix and up" brands usually have very very generous replacement policies when you break your rod. I would rather have a single $150 rod from a place that will work with me then three $50 rods where I am SOL if I break anything. I say this as a dude with a $75 L/ex-ex-ex-Fast 5'2" spinning rod that I can't really do much with as as it is broken too low to be very usable. I will also say that I have never regretted spending money on a rod while I have a few reels where I suspect I over paid vs a cheaper competing brand/line. I also had a guy let me use his "$500 just for the blank" custom rod and man I could feel every loving pebble my lure bounced over.

But yea, if you want to fish just buy a cheap spinning combo, replace the line with some decent mono or braid and go loving nuts until you figure out what you like. I def bought a ton of crap I will never use during the initial Fishing, gently caress Yea! moments.

extra stout posted:

for me this is the exact opposite of what is true and good about fishing

drink a beer if you can do it while rapidly casting from an isolated corner of a lake or dam that you are mastering for the sake of dinner getting

but sitting? sitting while fishing? better be in a dugout canoe you carved with an adze or i'm about to beat you up

Agreed, I can't stand bait fishing and even senkos are too loving slow for me. Casting and working lures is a huge part of the fun, as is sight fishing rivers and such. Even in my kayak I keep moving pretty often unless I am on a really great spot.

Also guys, it is 2016, all the cool kids leave the beer and home and smoke dope while fishing.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2016 22:57

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

crabcakes66 posted:

To me it's like audio equipment where I can't tell the difference between a decent $3000 stereo and a $30,000 stereo. Or PC parts where you can pay twice as much and get 5 more FPS.

I have owned a some expensive poles and they were nice as far as fit and finish but not really worth the money. There are diminishing returns beyond a few hundred bucks where you are just doing it because it makes you feel good. Which is fine.

Oh god, a "few hundred bucks" is way more then I was really talking about, I mean stuff firmly in the "St Croix/Midrange customs" stuff, like $200 at the high end. I mean, dude's $500 blank was sweet as hell, but in no way was it close to like 150% better than the $170 rod he made me. But, I will say that my custom is easily that much better than the low end Shakespeare I replaced with it.

extra stout posted:

i learned to jig and figured out which sizes and weights can get low in the water without scraping the bottom or collecting weeds at the speed i typically reel in at, and in terms of eating fish i've had no need to learn any other reeling technique since

I am not even messing with jigs, crankbaits, or even spinnerbaits much yet, the world of soft plastics is going to keep me entertained for years now I suspect. This summer I am concentrating on weighless fluke type baits and finesse plastics and even with four rods on my kayak I have too many thing I want to try out.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2016 23:48

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

Also, I was not kidding about fishing being all consuming, it has literally pushed every other hobby out of my life. Plus side I am outside constantly and usually walk like 20-50 miles a week now so that kinda rules, but I literally get antsy if I go more than a few days without fishing. The other week work was awful and I had to drive to a Bass Pro and buy some rubber worms to calm myself down.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2016 23:54

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

Also Also my posting is what it must be like for my girlfriend, who gets big ups for not leaving me, as I often get lit and talk at her about the relative merits of tubes vs. craws for like 90 minutes.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2016 23:56

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

VendaGoat posted:

You may have other problems.

Some hyperbole there, but I really did go walk around a Bass Pro and it was really nice to be distracted from worrying about work for a moment.

VendaGoat posted:

Edit:

You definitively have other problems.

Just lol if you can't debate tubs vc. craws for 90 minutes.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2016 00:08

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

King of Bees posted:

I'm off probe for the minute

Our ideas of small streams are probably very different? A small stream in my head you can nearly straddle or wade across in two or three steps. My go to for fishing brookies was the Rapidan in the Shenandoah. There's a large section of it on state land. It's a tiny cascading freestone mountain stream with tons of overhanging brush. You just kind of hike up hitting the riffles and pools watching out for bears. On that stream I used a 6.5' 4wt, double tapered line and (hard to remember) 6 foot leader? It was a great setup to flick under the brush with a wooly bugger or a little foam beetle. Brookies are pretty naive. .�

My first native trout, caught in a tiny tiny little stream in northern MD. It's a pretty place to walk around but even my lightest rod seems far over powered for these little guys

bongwizzard fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Jun 21, 2016

# ¿ Jun 21, 2016 19:15

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

King of Bees posted:

I hope this didn't come off as sounding like a dick! Afaik Brook trout are the only native American trout species east of the Rockies. I grew up catching them in Northern Michigan and they are beautiful fish.

Not at all, I am kinda amazed he was able to hit the lure, it was a more or less weightless fly-spinner I was trying to cast on a L action rod with like 6lb line, which is the lightest rig I had on me. I keep meaning to get a fly rod but it seems so impractical around here unless I am in my kayak.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2016 21:03

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

Putty posted:

llook at this bag of flukes

gently caress Zoom flukes, they are always all bent and poo poo out of the package but they still seem to work the loving best it is so frustrating. The JR's are crap though and I have more or less given up on finding a good <4" fluke so now I am messing around with finesse shakyheads.

Ryoshi posted:

I'm going to reveal my scrub-ness here but I never have any drat luck at all with any kind of artificial bait - I used to be able to get some action with the little rubber flukes with the spin tails but recently just absolutely nothing.

What are you fishing for? I prefer lures due to being hyperactive but to use them well you have to find the fish, as opposed to bait where you can just wait until one swims on by.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2016 17:39

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

Oscar Wild posted:

I want to do some stream/lakeshore backpacking fishing for trout. Anyone have any recommendations for portable rods/reels? Lighter weight would be good. Would 6 lb test be best for this?

Do you want like a spinning rig or a fly/tenkana set up?

# ¿ Jun 22, 2016 17:40

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

Oscar Wild posted:

Probably spinning. The tenkanafly is tempting but I do run out to lakes so I'd like some versatility. Can you lake fish for trout with a tenkana rig easily?

No idea honestly how tenkara works in non-moving water.

I have a few different rigs that I hike with, depending on the expected hike/fish breakdown of the day. If I am hiking to go fishing, I bring a single rod and enough tackle to cover whatever I expect to encounter. If I am hiking mainly and just fishing for a bit I have an ML Okuma travel rod that I pIr with a 2000 sized reel. It is light enough and comes in a hard tube that fits in a pack's water-bottle pocket, but you have to assemble and rig it every time, which is kinda lame. If I am just hiking but maybe might see some water, I bring a cheap telescoping rod with a 1000 reel and an Altoids tin jammed with some universal lures. It is nice as you can keep it rigged and make a few casts then move on without making folks wait for you to break down your rig.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2016 18:39

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

Ryoshi posted:

Usually just bluegill and pan fish. I really only use artificial lures if I know there's a lot of bigger smallmouth or something in the water but like I said I never have any luck with it (maybe I'm just a total idiot).

If you have open water, make like a mini popping cork rig with a small bobber and a 1/32oz jighead. Buy a jar of the Gulp 1" or 1.5" grubs and you will catch some bluegills/sunfish.

But again, reading about how a given species lives and feeds, and then learning how to read a body of water to deduce where the fish are holding is going to improve your catch rate more then any lure will alone.

# ¿ Jun 23, 2016 21:02

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

I also went fishing yesterday. It was great except for the part where I slipped on a rock and somehow fell so that the full force of the impact was on my rear end in a top hat. Like, it felt like someone had spread my butt and hit it with a baseball bat. I was standing on and fell onto a huge smooth rock so no idea what happened.

Fun trip other then that.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2016 16:23

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

As for gut hooking, that is what happens with bait and with plastics if you miss the hit or wait too long to set the hook. Switch to a reaction lure like a small spinner or an artificial bug on a small jig. With any non-fast moving lure you need to watch the line in addition to trying to feel the hit. When in doubt, set the hook.

# ¿ Jun 28, 2016 22:01

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

Wrath of the Bitch King posted:

Looking into getting into kayak fishing. Any tips or things I should be concerned about?

New to kayaking, not to fishing.

Buy a simple used kayak from a good brand. Don't jump into getting a tricked out fishing kayak right away. You will always want a loaner/beater down the road. Find a local forum and read it all. Before you buy any boat, really think about how you will store and transport it, if it is too much of a pain you are less likely to use it. Buy a fishing specific pfd and fill the pockets with gear so you are never tempted to go without it. Accept that you will loose a rig at some point.

Where are you located? Your choice of boat is really dependent on where you will be fishing.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2016 03:30

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

Wrath of the Bitch King posted:

Delaware area, so I have the Chesapeake bay and lots of inlets/streams to choose from. Also ponds at state parks, stuff like that.

PM sent.

Check out Delaware Paddle Sports, they usually have a bunch of used yaks and iirc do rentals and demo days.

Obviously starting in the bay proper is not the best idea, but most of the Delaware ponds are decent to great for yak fishing and would be a great place to learn. If you do want to hit the bay you are going to want a longer/sleeker boat to deal with both waves and the longer distances you are likely to paddle.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2016 03:53

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

I went for a Native for my fancy fishing yak, mainly because I fish close to cover way way more then open water, so being able to reverse was more importing then speed. I got the 10' one, so it is like a plastic bathtub with a propeller, but I am love it so far.

I am left handed and want to switch the rudder over, but holy poo poo I cannot understand how the hell they get the cables run at the factory, unless they have somehow trained infants to crawl into the hull and work.

Any of you guys have long skinny arms with an extra elbow, hit me up.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2016 15:29

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 23:59

bongwizzard: May 19, 2005; Then one day I meet a man,
He came to me and said,
"Hard work good and hard work fine,
but first take care of head"; Grimey Drawer

Pedde kayaks rule dude.

If it helps, think of fishing kayaks at people-powered jonboats rather then a plastic coffin to throw one's self into a raging river in.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2016 16:11

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