Fishing

[Manixguy@1994]

That’s cool Dan…pretty wife that fishes?

That’s not all , she is a nurse and is a Barrel Racer .

[SaltyCaribbeanDfly]

Ok you can stop now

[Mushroom]

Wish I could brag about this haul today but was finishing up Arbor . Good friend I helped with a PM2 CPM35V sent me pictures from a family pond .

Nice haul! Lots of good size crappie in that mix!

[Mushroom]

Went up to Maine for a fishing sale a couple weeks ago and picked up a new reel and new rod. Needed a new frog fishing rod and also decided to upgrade the Nasci 2500 on my Zodias spinning rod to a Vanford 3000. It is smooth as silk and feels solid as a rock but light as feather. It’s every bit as awesome as I was hoping.




The bass fishing season has officially began for me here! I had an awesome day on the water this past Monday.

Caught a handful of smallmouth and a few largemouth.



Was using this new Yamamoto Baits Yamatanuki and it was crushing them! The smallmouth and largemouth couldn’t resist it.


Except this guy. This guy bit a jerk bait that was about the same size as him!





This Largemouth exactly tied my previous personal best - 3lb 1oz!



The real highlight of the day though, was catching my NEW personal best!!!

5lb 4oz!


I was on cloud nine, just absolutely ecstatic after that catch. Five pounders are not common around here, so it feels good to finally have one under my belt. Breaking this PB now is going to blow my mind!

[JestersHK]

Congrats on the PB and new gear! I've been chasing pond bass as well but haven't cracked 4lbs yet. Lots of 2.5s and 3's. Good looking fish for sure

[SaltyCaribbeanDfly]

Congratulations Nick, great fish and PB…and from a kayak!!!

[Mushroom]

Congrats on the PB and new gear! I've been chasing pond bass as well but haven't cracked 4lbs yet. Lots of 2.5s and 3's. Good looking fish for sure

Thanks Jester! This fish was definitely pre-spawn, it was still really fat. I saw a bunch of beds too, so there are definitely more big ones out there!

Congratulations Nick, great fish and PB…and from a kayak!!!

Thanks Salty! Heading back out on the kayak today to try my luck again. Maybe I’ll break my smallmouth PB today.

[SaltyCaribbeanDfly]

Good luck on the Smallmouth PB…I’ve only caught a handful cause we really don’t have many down here but the ones I have hooked into fought like a mini tarpon!!!

[Mushroom]

Still haven’t landed a new PB smallmouth or Striper but it’s not for a lack of trying! I’m determined to catch a trophy sized Striper this summer.

I went out fishing down the Cape yesterday and caught a Bluefish for the first time. Actually, I caught two! Plus a Striper just to keep things interesting.

Both Bluefish were about the same size. Would’ve been good keepers but I wasn’t keeping anything yesterday.



Didn’t measure but I don’t think the striper was slot size, (28”-31”) probably just a little bit under. Maybe 26” inch?


And a few days ago I caught another species for the first time - a Sea Robin!



A week or two ago I was fishing at a beach near the Cape Cod Canal and spotted a huge Sea Robin chasing baitfish near the shoreline. I could see it’s “wings” breaking the surface and could tell it was massive from that in itself. The wings alone were probably bigger than the one I caught. I cast near by and saw it follow my lure but it didn’t bite.

[SaltyCaribbeanDfly]

Heck yeah Nick!!! Awesome day or two at the Cape…Blues fight really good and you know anything with stripes puts up a battle…that Sea Robin looks wicked with those wings

[Mushroom]

I was surprised by how tough the Blues fought. Definitely one I would my mind catching again. Apparently there has been a lot of them around this year too, so I’m sure I’ll run into them again soon.

———

In other gear related news, I finally finished putting together my Cape Cod Canal fishing bike!

Didn’t want to use the standard stainless steel hose clamps and white PVC pipe for the rod holders, so I went all fancy and ordered black PVC pipe and machined aluminum pipe clamps to clean up the aesthetics. The finishing touch was trying to decide which knife I wanted to keep on it.



I’ve been carrying the Aqua Salt while shore fishing a lot lately and thought maybe that would be good candidate.

Also have the Fish Hunter, which I originally wanted to use as a dedicated striper fishing knife. Another solid option.

I still might do that with the Fish Hunter but then I realized Spyderco already makes the perfect canal fishing knife…

The Waterway! It’s namesake is of course most appropriate but it was already my dedicated saltwater fishing knife up until I got the Aqua Salt to try for this summer season. The Waterway is going to be a perfect canal fishing knife. Even found a mount that can accommodate the Spyderco G-clip and Waterway sheath so I can mount it onto the fork.



I wish Spyderco sold Waterway sheaths separately because I want to keep one on my belt so I can transfer the knife from bike to belt easier.

[Manixguy@1994]

I like the set up , well thought out . MG2

[SaltyCaribbeanDfly]

Man I can’t believe I’m just now seeing this…for whatever reasons some threads pop up for me and some don’t …at any rate Nick I used to check this thread all the time looking for your finished product and on a whim decided to check for it today and…WOW!!! Awesome setup my fishin’ friend

[Mushroom]

I like the set up , well thought out . MG2

Thanks ManixGuy!

Man I can’t believe I’m just now seeing this…for whatever reasons some threads pop up for me and some don’t …at any rate Nick I used to check this thread all the time looking for your finished product and on a whim decided to check for it today and…WOW!!! Awesome setup my fishin’ friend

Thanks Salty!

There are a few details that are easily missed like handlebar end caps that double as small storage containers or the cork handlebar grips to imitate the cork grips often found on fishing rods but functionally, it’s pretty much complete. I still have a handful of ideas for other aesthetic mods but I’m not in any rush to get them at the moment.

[Mushroom]

Slow day out on the kayak yesterday. Caught a few dinks but nothing too impressive. Last catch of the night was kind of interesting though. Noticed the bass had a fully belly and then noticed two claws sticking out of its throat. It didn’t even finish swallowing the crawfish before biting my lure!

[HolySteel]

We've had very little success lately, but a lot of fun. Yesterday I got to my buddy's house at 3:45am, and after a long drive and a 4+ mile uphill hike to the lake, we were finally fishing at 9:00am. Alas, the trout were no longer hungry. My friend caught a small rainbow. Highlights were two attractive young women clapping for me after I crossed a stream on a log without falling in, oyster shooters afterward, and a fried oyster sandwich.

Sunday we're going jetty fishing for, probably, rockfish and ling cod. Neither of us has much experience in that area, but I'm betting we get something good.

[SaltyCaribbeanDfly]

Slow day out on the kayak yesterday. Caught a few dinks but nothing too impressive. Last catch of the night was kind of interesting though. Noticed the bass had a fully belly and then noticed two claws sticking out of its throat. It didn’t even finish swallowing the crawfish before biting my lure!

Crawfish is awesome bait…looks like he got greedy and then got caught…I was kayaking down the hooch one day and noticed a fish thrashing up against the bank so I paddled over and it was a trout that had a chunky little bass caught in its throat and idk if it was trying to dislodge it or what…it was eventually gonna attract a striper or largemouth which would have meant game over…so I netted the trout and pulled the partially digested bass out of it’s mouth and it swam away…lucky trout

[SaltyCaribbeanDfly]

We've had very little success lately, but a lot of fun. Yesterday I got to my buddy's house at 3:45am, and after a long drive and a 4+ mile uphill hike to the lake, we were finally fishing at 9:00am. Alas, the trout were no longer hungry. My friend caught a small rainbow. Highlights were two attractive young women clapping for me after I crossed a stream on a log without falling in, oyster shooters afterward, and a fried oyster sandwich.

Sunday we're going jetty fishing for, probably, rockfish and ling cod. Neither of us has much experience in that area, but I'm betting we get something good.

Well at least y’all saw some pretty women and looks like a beautiful lake

[Mushroom]

We've had very little success lately, but a lot of fun. Yesterday I got to my buddy's house at 3:45am, and after a long drive and a 4+ mile uphill hike to the lake, we were finally fishing at 9:00am. Alas, the trout were no longer hungry. My friend caught a small rainbow. Highlights were two attractive young women clapping for me after I crossed a stream on a log without falling in, oyster shooters afterward, and a fried oyster sandwich.

Sunday we're going jetty fishing for, probably, rockfish and ling cod. Neither of us has much experience in that area, but I'm betting we get something good.

Thanks for sharing, Scott! Even without the numbers in the net, that still sounds like a really fun trip! I would love to get into doing a hiking/fishing trips like that. That is actually one of the big motivations for me to learn how to fly fish. There are a bunch of “fly fishing only ponds” in the White Mountains in New Hampshire that I want to make a trip out fishing at.

Good luck at the jetty, feel free to report back after!

[HolySteel]

Thanks for sharing, Scott! Even without the numbers in the net, that still sounds like a really fun trip! I would love to get into doing a hiking/fishing trips like that. That is actually one of the big motivations for me to learn how to fly fish. There are a bunch of “fly fishing only ponds” in the White Mountains in New Hampshire that I want to make a trip out fishing at.

Good luck at the jetty, feel free to report back after!

Thanks for starting this thread. We fished with worms and corks, using backpacking reels. But we both enjoyed it enough that our next trip after the jetties may be fly-fishing. We also have the Yakima River for salmon fishing, and that's his area of expertise.