macfish
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Posts posted by macfish
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macfish here. Mr. Zoomie, you have a great gift. I read expecting to hear about fish on the bank and even though that never happened I was more entertained by yours than many stories that did have banked fish. Thank you, Jonathan
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macfish here. Great job, Horace! what did your carpin' hound think of the little goldie? Jonathan
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macfish here. MrP and majicwrench, very nice story and very nice pictures. Keith, are you the old-school guy? I noticed in the picture of you what looks identical to my fly rod outfit, a Pflueger Medalist reel and a Scientifc Anglers fiberglass rod. Mine is a 6wt. that I bought back in the summer of 1981. I still have them though it's been awhile since I've had them out. I recently inherited a Sevylor inflatable kayak from a friend. That might be a good way to put it back into use. Thanks for sharing the beauty. Jonathan
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I've always been told that with circles you should fish a slack line and give them time to swallow it.
The problem with chicken livers for me has always been keeping them on the hook. Channels have a habit of picking the bait up and dropping it or bumping it with their nose and it will often tear the liver off the hook. Netting is a pain and curing them in the sun with sugar seems to reduce their effectiveness. You can blend them into doughbait for a one time use, but it's a lot of trouble also.
macfish here. Wayne, I don't think I've ever fished a slack line with a circle hook. My understanding or impression about circle hooks is that they work better with constant tension/pressure against the hook to force it through the skin in the fish's mouth (usually at the corner) and that would not happen if the line is slack. I've always read that one of the reasons to use a circle hook is to keep the fish from swallowing it. As far as a slack line goes I rarely ever fish that way because I like to see the take whether I'm using a circle hook for large catfish, corn threaded on the hook for carp (circle hook), corn threaded on a J hook for carp or whatever. In other words I almost always fish a tightline and apparently the fish do not seem to be bothered by it.
As far as liver goes I've fished it a few times, but I'm not a big fan. I am far more likely to use chicken gizzards and hearts or once in awhile turkey livers (a bit tougher and maybe a stronger smell). I've had more success with these than with livers. I like them because they are so difficult to strip off the hook. Jonathan
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Your will be better off with braid and J-hooks if you can't stay still
it helped me out, big circles need soft rod and patient man to work properly
macfish here. Hey Alex, good to hear from you. I was at this same lake a couple of weeks ago talking with a gentleman named Richard who has caught some big ones there. He was fishing with three 13' surf spinning rods with 30 year old Abu Garcia black baitcasters the day I met him. We got to talking about gear, rigs, etc. and got on braid and he told me that braid won't work in this lake because there are a lot of large limestone rocks in the water at the shoreline and in his experience bringing the fish in will generally tear the braid to shreds. He lost a few nice fish because of that. That's not as likely to happen with mono as long as the line is heavy enough and it's a more abrasion resistant line. I believe he was using P-Line in about 30 or 40lb. and raved about it. I quit using braid about three years ago but I switched over because I was having a lot of trouble with hook pulls due to the lack of stretch in braid. I do have a rod with a soft tip (graphite composite) but I wish it was longer. It's an 8ft. casting rod with a Quantum Big Iron baitcaster on it which holds 300 yds. of 20# line. I think I can get the patience thing down as well. It's just getting past the newness of it and waiting until I'm sure the fish is on. Since I'm using a circle hook I also need to get a better rod holder. I had a heavy wire holder that kept the rod close to vertical but forgot and left it in the ground on a recent trip. Richard (the guy at the lake) makes his own custom holders which he sells for $20 (very nice - heavy wire kind of a u-shape big loop). That would be ideal if I meet up with him and could buy one. By the way, Richard's largest blue at this lake is 67lbs. Thanks, Jonathan
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macfish here. I put an egg sinker anywhere from about 1/2 oz. to 3 oz. depending on how large/heavy the rod is that I'm using, current or still water and the type of catfish I'm after. Sometimes instead of an egg sinker I will use flat no-roll sinkers from 1 to 2 oz., especially if I'm fishing in current. I put a rubber bead just below the egg or no-roll sinker. Underneath the bead I tie on a swivel and then tie on a length of line around 6-8 in. long with the hook at the end. Recently I've been using a rig with a three-way swivel with the hook on a shorter length of line and the sinker (bank sinker or Dipsey/bass sinker) tied on a slightly longer length. For big blues and flatheads my preferred hook is a Gamakatsu Octopus Circle size 8/0. I've also used Mustad and Eagle Claw circle hooks but don't like them as much. Though flatheads do seem to prefer live bait such as a hooked bluegill or green sunfish I caught one roughly 35-40lbs on a Storm 4" Fire Tiger Swimming Minnow and another which was 40" long on a hair-rigged range cube when I was fishing for carp. The one on the lure was caught on a small river just below a dam and folks regularly catch flatheads there along the rip rap with large white two-tailed grubs (the jigs with the two legs which flutter). I saw a man catch one of about 40lbs on one of those white grubs at that same location but before that I too had heard and believed that live bait was the only way to catch a flathead. Watching him catch that fish was the education which led to my success with the swim lure. The last couple of weeks I've been fishing in a local lake for large blues and though I've hooked them I have yet to get one to the bank. One time the fish had the bait and had taken it but it must not have been fully hooked. It pulled loose after a short fight and I got everything back including the bait. Anther time the fish picked up the bait and was running with it so I let it go for a few feet then lifted the rod and started reeling in. Again it must have pulled free after about 10 to 15 seconds of a pretty good fight. Both times the fish were on because I was pulling against significant weights and with two flats over 30lbs I know the feeling of a good fish. Eventually I'll get this down but it is really hard for me to leave the rod alone while the fish fully hooks itself (in other words with the rod fully loaded). By the way, almost all of the fish I catch I release. It's just my preference, especially with large fish, even very tasty ones.
Jonathan -
macfish here. Phone, I can't believe you actually disobeyed one of your own cardinal rules, that YOU are the expert par ex-cell -ance and that you know everything that needs to be known. In your own words:
Anyway, I don't know much about Silver Carp other than the fact they are "different" from Bighead Carp - although both are Asian Carp.
Phone
As someone who has caught at least one of each of these fish let me tell you what I know: they look very similar as far as body shape and general size, scales, etc. One thing that is noticeably different is that the silver carp has silvery sides with no spots at all. The bighead, at least the smaller ones, have blotches or spots on their sides. There is also a difference in the keel of the fish. Both have a hard ridge along their keel (the bottom line of their bodies). One of them has a longer hard ridge but I forget which one and it doesn't really matter as long as the fish are large enough to show the splotches on the sides (meaning the bighead). It is a technical feature that experts use to tell the fish apart. As I recall it is really a misnomer to call one a bighead because both have virtually identical size heads in proportion to the rest of their bodies which are indeed larger than most other fish. The silver carp is the jumping one and the bighead does not jump out of the water. Jonathan
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macfish here. Here is the Yahoo link with the video from Fox News which must be a Fox affiliate local TV station. A friend from St. Louis said the Columbia Bottoms Conservation Area is close to St. Charles, MO. Enjoy! Jonathan
By the way, the name of the guy is Greg Bernal and his lady partner is Janice Momphard.
http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/fi...-catch-20984569
Possum, I had also heard of other even larger blue cats in the neighborhood of 250lbs caught during the mid 1800s. I don't know if there is any truth to that or if it is just an example of dissimulation/distortion/fabrication.
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macfish here. I just found out about it tonight. The guy who caught it is currently an unemployed surveyor who also had the Missouri state rod and reel record for blue cat at 103#(what was said on the video). He sounded pretty confident and didn't strike me like somebody who just broke the world record. I can't imagine having a World Record. Jonathan
Earlier in the evening I watched a video about the fish which Fox News had produced which was being shown on Yahoo. Now I can't seem to locate it but there is this article on the fish:
http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/2010072...op-world-record
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macfish here. I just found out about it tonight. The guy who caught it is currently an unemployed surveyor who also had the Missouri state rod and reel record for blue cat at 103#. He sounded pretty confident and didn't strike me like somebody who just broke the world record. I can't imagine having a World Record. Jonathan
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macfish here. I, like Phone, also live in the glorious state of Missouri. We do have our share of ticks here, both the regular ones, the lone star types and every once in awhile I have seen and picked off the deer ticks as well. Deer ticks really give me the willies because they are so small that not only are they fairly hard to spot (especially in hair) but I don't usually sense them crawling on me which is my main method of tick attachment prevention. I don't know what it is about ticks but I very rarely have one that actually attaches because I usually feel them crawling on my bare skin before they can attach themselves. I am damn good at brushing off the non-attached ones pronto after I notice that first sensation of something crawling on me. As far as the powdered sulphur goes I try never to go out walking in the grass/brush during the hottest days in the summer without it because as phone and others have said it pretty much prevents chigger bites, at least it works for me. If you've never experienced a chigger bite just let me tell you I would not wish one on my worst enemy. They are a type of mite that attaches itself to the skin (usually at a "tight spot" like ankles, backs of knees, armpits, wasteband), bites, drops off and the bite gets swollen and hurts (itches) like hell, especially on hot sticky nights when you try to lay down to sleep. I've had fifty or sixty at a time when I didn't know better and I thought I was going to tear my skin off they itched so bad. Worst part was it took about three weeks for them to finally clear up. As far as Lyme disease goes I have a friend who sort of pulled out of circulation a few years back and I didn't know what had happened to him. When I saw him again he told me he had been diagnosed with it and had suffered some damage to his joints before they caught it and started treatment. My father in law works at a county health department and said that technically Lyme disease only exists in the vicinity of Lyme, CT and perhaps other areas close to there. When I asked him why he explained that both the vector (the species of tick that transmits Lyme disease) and the bacteria in Lyme, CT that causes the disease are different than the ones that cause a very similar disease in Missouri and other places. We have different ticks here and they carry a different disease causing bacteria. In general I have not been too worried about ticks because I have always found and removed them, almost always within a couple of hours after getting back. Last year, however, I heard about something which made me much more cautious. A young girl of about 8 or 9 who lived about 40 miles from where I live got a tick bite, got the disease erlichiosis from it and the treatment was too late, she died. Me personally, I don't shy away from going outside because of the ticks. They can be dangerous and there is risk involved since I live in an area with some of the worst ticks (Northeastern Missouri), but they ain't gonna steal my joy or desire to have fun. Have fun out there, but be careful and take the necessary precautions. macfish/Jonathan
The CDC website on erlichiosis and tick-borne diseases:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/ehrlichia/Q&A/Q&A.htm
Take a test on the CDC website about Lyme disease - you may be surprised about what you don't know about it:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/quiz/
Learn about Lyme disease from the CDC website:
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They say they are above average on the table, but I wonder how bony they are?
macfish here. Wayne/SWMO - I have never tried one, but I have spoken with two people who have eaten them. John, my uncle by marriage said they were very good. The guy I did net boy duties for said he liked them better than common carp. I have never tried cleaning them but they are supposed to have multiple little bones in the sides that need to be cleaned out. I will say that they are very fishy smelling, even more than common carp. They have very fine scales, not as fine as trout, but on the silver Asian in the picture they were smaller than bluegill scales. I have included below the url for an article from the Missouri Department of Conservation website that details the process of cleaning Asian carp. It said after cleaning you'd have maybe 25% of the original weight left. I think I read somewhere that in Toronto they sell them live at the markets because Asians who eat them want to see the fish live to make sure they're fresh before they buy them. Enjoy! Jonathan
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macfish here. As I have said in several different threads on Asian carp we have them in the area I live in (in the Salt River in Northeastern Missouri close to Mark Twin Lake and about 30 minutes West of Hannibal, MO) )and I have caught both silver, the ones that jump, and one bighead carp. My one bighead was about the same size as the largest silver I caught and both of them (I'm guessing because I had no scale with me) were somewhere around 10 to 12 pounds. The silver was 28 or 29 inches long and has a narrower body build than a common carp. I personally think the smaller ones like the ones I caught resemble salmon more than common carp. To me when they get very large (40 lbs. and up) they look sort of like a fish on steroids. They get very ballooned and puffy looking. The bighead I caught on a Mainline Tutti Frutti boilie and the boilie and rig were firmly hooked inside the mouth of the fish at the corner. The largest silver I caught was foul-hooked through the pectoral fin. I believe I have hooked other larger Asians because I've been spooled before at the same location (below a small dam - the picture in my avatar), had the fish snap 12 and 15lb. Trilene Big Game and been fighting something very heavy and large and then suddenly NOTHING. I have also been standing next to another angler playing net boy for him when he's caught five or six mostly silvers with one or two bigheads tossed in using a curly tail jig we call grubs and he had the time of his life using a medium weight spinning rig trying to get them in. He finally had to give it up because in fighting them his line got so twisted he couldn't get it to reel in anymore. He tried a lighter weight spinning outfit but after nearly breaking it on the next fish he gave up. They are tough, fast, incredibly strong and very determined fish. I've caught two flathead catfish over 35lbs. but to me even the smaller 10-12lber Asians I caught were much harder to catch and surely much harder fighting fish. They are the toughest fish I have yet run across. Jonathan
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macfish here. Congratulations on connecting with Santa Claus before the official day. I agree with all of the comments about that reel and your best friend who gave it to you! I have the Big Brother of that, one step up a Shimano CT700 except mine doesn't have the level wind. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise: if you use it correctly with that reel you could probably bring in anything short of a ginormous shark. Jonathan
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macfish here. Newtocarp, welcome to the forum and to carp fishing! My story is that like you I too was a fisherman for a long time (over 45 years) and had only caught carp twice over those years. Those were only small carp (largest 1 lb.). I had never seriously considered making them an intentional target until about four or five years ago when I realized that the fish that were jumping all over the lake that I had been fishing for several years were actually carp and not bass or some other socially acceptable fish. To be completely honest when I first started targeting carp I was too ashamed to tell anyone about it. Anyway, I too found this website, read all of the articles, tied up a hair rig and then put on my bait of choice and began my quest for carp. My bait was an unusual one, range cubes - extruded pellets used for cattle feed which are made from alfalfa, wheat middings (don't know what that is), molasses, etc. They smell good, they're very cheap (about $6 - $10 for a 50lb. bag) and carp and catfish really like them. As far as rods and reels I used baitcasters and also one spinning outfit but I was seriously outmatched with my spinning gear. I could only use 8lb. test line and the rod was only 5 feet. It wasn't an ultralite but it wasn't a very useful setup. As far as the reel I used an Okuma spinning reel without a baitrunner feature and just backed off the drag quite a bit. Hearing that carp pick up that bait and run was such a rush! After I began catching them I moved up a bit sort of like Phone was talking about and I began to get "Euro gear." I bought two Shimano BTR3500B Baitrunner spinning reels and mounted them on two 12ft. 3lb. TC (Test Curve) Euro spinning rods combined them with two Fox EOS alarms, a Fox Horizon rod pod, two Fox Butt Swingers with isotopes (they glow in the dark for 10 years) and I was pretty set. That was about three summers ago and they are still my main setup, however, just last year I met the most prolific carp fisherman at our lake. He's on the water far more often than I am, a disabled Viet Nam vet named Larry. Any large carp he catches he usually eats. He fishes with two heavy duty spincasters, not Zebco 33s, something a bit bigger but with metal casings like the 33s, mounted on Shakespeare Ugly Stick rods and he uses canned corn or hominy for bait and only uses circle hooks. After talking with Larry I simplified my gear so that most of the time I fish just with canned corn and I still use the alarms and the rod pod, but I still get such a rush out of hearing a fish peeling line off of just a rod mounted on two sticks. I often use circle hooks now, not all of the time, but they have been far more successful than I thought possible. I did change brands and use 2/0 Eagle Claw - could it be the L42 hook? I generally do not use a hair rig unless I'm using maize for bait or if the fish are really touchy a hair rig seems more likely to catch them, even with sweet corn on the hair. Your rig seems fine to me except as others mentioned dropping the snap swivel in favor of a swivel only. I would also shorten the line between the hook and the swivel. The swivels others here use are similar to crane or McMahon swivels or the ones that bass fisherman on buzz baits. I do not usually use more than 3/4 to 1oz. egg sinkers, but only as much as I need to cast as far as the fish. I'm beginning to find that the fish are often very close to the bank, sometimes just a foot or two off the bank if there are no disturbances. It is very hard for me to fish in so close because of my habit to want to cast as far off as I possibly can. I just caught a 7 1/4 lb. channel cat 2 feet off the bank a few weeks ago. I'd heard fish in the area and decided to give it a go. Anyway, my suggestion is to fish as simply as you can and to not be afraid to try the unusual.
P.S. are far as when to strike when you have a run when using a run rig - if I'm using a regular type hook (not a circle hook), I strike when there is an actual run - when the fish is still taking line. If I am using a circle hook I wait until it is pretty clear that the fish actually has the bait and is not going to drop it. That sounds like the answer that I just gave but it's really just a bit longer. If I strike before that with a circle hook it is possible to actually pull the hook and bait right out of the fish's mouth without hooking it. Good luck and don't be afraid to bring your questions back here, Jonathan
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Congrats, nice fish! I used to live in that corner of the world and I know mirrors are usually a pretty rare treat in the lower midwest.
macfish again. Ben, funny that you mention that. I got on the cell phone right after catching the fish to talk with the Captain (Horace) and he said that in their experience on the Hooch and most places they've been in Georgia they figure mirrors are about one in a hundred. When he went up to Kingston to fish the Tennessee River they were more common. My fish was caught in a 25 acre municipal lake which used to be our water supply. I would guess mirrors would be more common in river systems. Jonathan
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macfish here. I went out both Saturday and Sunday this past week for awhile to fish. It wasn't very cooperative weather, but it had been a LONG time since I had been able to fish. I was quite content to set up three rods and then watch them from the comfort of the van while the wind whipped around and the rain kept dampening the already saturated ground. I caught a small channel cat on night crawler (less than a lb.) and one carp of about 5-6 lb. on Saturday and then on Sunday I got a real surprise. I got my first ever mirror (first time I've ever seen one as well). It wasn't a large fish since it only went maybe 2-3 lb. The carp I caught on canned sweet corn, Summer Crisp by Del Monte to be exact. Jonathan
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I thought you meant carp when you said "mudsucker"...LOL
macfish here. I thought the same thing as Scott. In my home state of Missouri the state record carp is a 50lb. 6oz. behemoth which was tricked by some sort of a lure wielded by a bass fisherman. Jonathan
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To say that I am overwhelmed by the Best Wishes, support, and (ahem, Rob) advice would be an understatement!!!!! Who knew this moment was possible just a few short years ago when I was timid newbie cautiously starting to explore this board?
On behalf of Kathy and myself....
Thank you ALL!
macfish here. Rick, congratulations to you and Kathy. May your lives together be a blessing not only to yourselves but to all those whose lives you touch. Jonathan
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macfish here. Horace, great story! There were two or three rods like that (heavy metal) at my grandparent's house in Ohio back in the early '60s but I thought they were junk. Sadly I never got to try them. Thank goodness there are a few good folks like yourself who appreciate things from the good old days. Jonathan
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macfish here. Big Bird, congrats on your success! Nice looking fish! Jonathan
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macfish here. Mr. MinnowMagnet, how well does a goldfish fight compared to its cousin, the common carp? By the way, neat looking fish! I've never seen a goldlfish with eyes like that. Jonathan
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macfish here. The longer I live the less interest I have in impressing someone else with a record of something I have done. All that really matters is that I know what I've done. Sometimes it is really nice to have shared such a grand capture with someone else, but if I've enjoyed myself, that is enough. As far as any fish goes unless I'm specifically trying to catch fish to eat, 99.9% of the time they will be returned. Jonathan
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macfish here. Rick, it's always great to read one of your sagas. Again you did not fail to entertain. Great story, great pics, great job! Too bad that wasn't Dad in the pics, but it could yet happen.
Jonathan
big bird is heading north!!
in Pictures, Stories & Video
Posted
macfish here. Big Bird, are you guys going out to get the pancakes, biscuits and gravy and grits before hitting the water or will you be doing whatever they do up on the St. Lawwrence? Well, anyway good luck to all you all and be sure to get lots of pics. Jonathan