Official TCG fishing thread

[Flyn]

Some nice looking fish, guys.

I have been playing with the idea of picking up some crab traps and tossing them out in the harbor. I see guys doing it all the time and the thought of basically free crab meat is appealing. Some blue crabs and some Stone crab claws would be good with a melted butter sauce.

 

[ThirdgenTa]

Went out for 30 minutes today at the Fox River and caught my first Musky ever. Not huge at probably about 32" but still exciting for me.

What did you catch it on?

 

[DJ]

What did you catch it on?

Was pretty much like something out of one of those fishing shows. Throwing a spinnerbait searching for bass and the musky blows up at my lure and misses it. I keep casting and a total of 4 times the fish visibly chases or bites my lure. Had him (I thought) hooked three times until I got him to shore. By time I finally got him I had a small group of people because they kept seeing the splashing.

Was a very fun fish to catch and now I have the itch so I will wake up early tomorrow and throw a line in the water for a few casts before work.

 

[Primalzer]

Went out last night, needed to clear my head, and it was at least semi warm out.

WAY too windy though, casting was difficult, water was high, and the retention area I was at had some pretty swift moving water. At least I got out and was able to get some casts in, throw some new lures I had gotten over winter. Nothing was biting though. There were a couple other guys there that I talked to for a bit, and they had nothing either. One guy had some minnows on a bobber, nothing.

I always start off throwing plastic worms, rigged weedless. Moved onto a top-water weedless frog, then to a clear Tiny Torpedo (my favorite lure), and finally finished off with a Rapala "Bleeding Minnow" crank.

 

[FESTER665]

I haven't been fishing in about 20 years and wanted to start going again....

Anyone have any recommendations for a decent rod/reel combo to start with? I wanted to stay around $100 for the rod and reel (maybe something from Cabelas or Bass Pro?) and hope I can get something decent? Is a spinning reel the way to go to start off or should I be looking at something else?

Also are you guys using braided line or mono line? Heard there's alot of people for and against each type of line....

 

[Primalzer]

I have a medium duty Ugly Stick and Okuma reel. Bought the reel on Amazon on sale for $35 and the rod was $55 and both have been great so far. I've had Shimano reels as well that have been good (the one I had been using previously was 20+ years old)

 

[wombat]

I'm using such a variety. Whenever I go, I bring my dads old rod/reel combo, no name anymore on either of them they're so old, and I also bring a whoopin' stick which I bought last year for like $45 for the combo and the thing casts fucking FAR. I normally bring about 4-5 poles with me, but only fish with 2.

 

[Primalzer]

Tried to go again last night...was just too cold. snagged within the first dozen casts, couldn't get it loose, broke it off, and packed up for the day.

Just bought 1000 yds of low-vis green 6-pound test, some 1/8 oz bullet slide weights, and some 2/0 offset worm hooks. Once I get that stuff in, will be redoing my boxes and redoing some of my plastic worms and grubs. Might as well get that stuff done while it's too cold to get out.

 

[Chester Copperpot]

Man you guys are hard core. I have one rod and reel, and a box my grandpa gave me with some spinners, spoons, and divers. Nothing fancy and I can't catch shit except bass and bluegill.

 

[skeezer]

Ice came off the lake in front of my house a couple days ago. I'm on call this week, so I'm stuck in the house like a prisoner. Couple spots I want to hit on the Fox next week for Northern.

 

[ThirdgenTa]

Man you guys are hard core. I have one rod and reel, and a box my grandpa gave me with some spinners, spoons, and divers. Nothing fancy and I can't catch shit except bass and bluegill.

You have no idea

 

[ThirdgenTa]

Also, who knows about old lures? I have a bunch I think from around 1930-1950ish. I would like to get some history on them and if they are worth anything.

 

[Tight Lines]

So looking to get out to the fox soon.

 

[IceCreamAssassin]

I met some professional the other day. His last name was Ramsey, he goes to Texas for tournaments. Makes crazy money.

 

[skeezer]

That's what I need in my life. Fishing and crazy money.

 

[skeezer]

*Subscribed

 

[Primalzer]

Another shit couple of outings...managed to catch a single bass, yesterday, after having been out for a couple of hours without so much as a bite. Wasn't very big, maybe 8 oz...hopefully the water starts warming up, this shit is killing me

 

[wombat]

[MENTION=73]tinfoilhat[/MENTION] and I went yesterday to West Branch and didn't get SHIT. Not even a bite

 

[Primalzer]

There were 4 or 5 people there too, and not one of them caught anything.

I've heard, with such a hard and cold winter, that many of the larger fish have died from lack of oxygen...Don't know how much stock I put into that, but anything's possible. We'll see in a few weeks when, hopefully, the water warms up enough for the fish to become a little more active.

 

[wombat]

There were 4 or 5 people there too, and not one of them caught anything.

I've heard, with such a hard and cold winter, that many of the larger fish have died from lack of oxygen...Don't know how much stock I put into that, but anything's possible. We'll see in a few weeks when, hopefully, the water warms up enough for the fish to become a little more active.

Go to West branch walk about 1/4 a mile down the track around to the area where it's split by the dupage river(I think) and see how many dead fish were there. It was about 20 of them and they were large fish too.

 

[P40E]

West branch has been there for a long time and is deep . A little bit of dead fish won't hurt those two ponds .

 

[wombat]

They were in the Dupage River that splits Bass lake from Deep quarry, it was really weird. They all looked like carp.

 

[DJ]

West Branch is almost totally cleared out of fish. Zebra mussels came in and wiped out all vegetation. Forest Preserve cop was telling me about it. I had to see for myself so I drilled a few holes on the ice and looked down with my camera. Every hole looked like the surface of the moon.

 

[wombat]

Man that sucks, last year I had really good luck in the dupage river right there.

 

[Lord Tin Foilhat]

West Branch is almost totally cleared out of fish. Zebra mussels came in and wiped out all vegetation. Forest Preserve cop was telling me about it. I had to see for myself so I drilled a few holes on the ice and looked down with my camera. Every hole looked like the surface of the moon.

No shit. I actually let my rubber worm hit the bottom and I actually caught a mussel with one of the hooks. Never seen that before!