it aint too hot to fish you just gotta change it up


in the heat you gotta hit the riffles baby

[Edited on July 21, 2011 at 9:14 AM. Reason : f]

7/21/2011 9:14:08 AM

it is too hot to fish at 3pm. just get out there at 6:30 and fish 'till 1.

7/21/2011 10:01:53 AM

you can fish at 3pm if you want some carp and bowfins!


a brotha like me gotta fish when he can get it in, i cant afford to be too choosy given my schedule, so i gotta make do and sweat a lil bit

[Edited on July 21, 2011 at 10:05 AM. Reason : d]

7/21/2011 10:04:39 AM

Props to you BHS, I also hate fishing when it gets this hot because I fish lakes and once it hits 10am on hot days, the place turns into a zoo of drunken pleasure boaters.

Speaking of drunken pleasure boaters, I was out on Jordan a few weeks ago in my canoe. Drunk assholes zipping all around the lake and throwing wake and just generally pissing me off. I had been out for about 30 minutes and i decide I am going to paddle back to the campsite and give up on trying to fish in that mess. Im paddling along and i hear "whoop whoop" I turn around and see that I am getting pulled by a warden. Equipment check, licence check, sobriety check(I WAS PADDLING A CANOE). I invited him to "board" by boat. He didnt seem to happy about that comment. When i asked him why they pulled me, he claimed that I looked drunk. How the hell do you look drunk paddling a 17' canoe at a good clip in a straight line. I have never and will never operate a boat while drinking.

He lets me go and tells me that I shouldnt be out in the main channel and it isnt safe for a canoe. I inform him that I am an experienced paddler with all of the required safety equipment and that I was just fine. I go back to the campsite and grab my binoculars and watch them pull over 2 jon boats and an older trihull. Wonder why they never pulled any of the $60000 wakeboard boats?

needless to say, i wont be going anywhere near the main lake part of Jordan on a weekend again. Those assholes were just trying as hard as they could to write me a ticket.

7/21/2011 10:54:02 AM

Quote :

"Speaking of drunken pleasure boaters, I was out on Jordan a few weeks ago in my canoe. Drunk assholes zipping all around the lake and throwing wake and just generally pissing me off"

what the fuck is up with that shit, I was in Charleston a month ago or so and i swear to god boaters have no respect for the law or anysmaller vessels the way they were whipping around in the harbor weaving through boats, its completely ridiculous

Quote :

"Im paddling along and i hear "whoop whoop" I turn around and see that I am getting pulled by a warden. "

im just glad (and very surprised) that there was actually a Warden out. i see too many people breaking laws i wish there were more patrolling.

[Edited on July 21, 2011 at 11:56 AM. Reason : s]

7/21/2011 11:55:18 AM

i've been fishin' for years and have absolutely horrible luck with topwater baits. i've tried pop-rs, torpedoes, jitterbugs, etc....
only caught maybe 1 or 2 bass on them.

i must be A. using them at the wrong time B. handling them incorrectly C. have no clue what i'm doing with them.

7/21/2011 12:07:04 PM

in my experience, they don't work very well when the water is too hot or too cold

going catfishing tonight on the Dan River with a buddy from work

7/21/2011 12:12:54 PM

niiiice

7/21/2011 12:27:56 PM

i do some fishing on lakes. a few weeks back (wasn't fishing at the time) a dude towing 3 kids on a tube flies in perpendicular to the channel, cutting off multiple boats in both directions. i had to completely stop in the event one of these kids fell of the tube. they would have gotten run over easily. the worst part was that he wasn't even looking. it's not hard to be safe and drive correctly/respectfully (as to other boaters). fucking around like that on a boat is so goddamn dangerous.

i'll be doing some fishing this evening and tomorrow on Lake James in Morganton. i'll post some pics if i catch anything worth looking at.

7/21/2011 12:45:00 PM

Where on the Dan? The area where it meets the Staunton is a great place for big cats. My family has a place on Kerr about 5 miles from where the two meet. about halfway from South Boston to Clarksville on 58. Great area for cats.

Topwaters are my favorite bait to use, and I am guessing that you are not getting up early enough to catch the topwater bite. I usually am on the water by 4 am if i want to fish topwater. The bite lasts from about 45 min before sunup till about an hour after sunup. There is also an evening topwater bite as the sun sets, but I have yet to quite dial this one in yet. I mostly will catch schooling fish at sunset out on Harris on a pop-r

the two fish in my gallery were caught this summer, both on pop-rs, both in less than 3 FOW on the biggest popr you can get

Structure:
Rip Rap. I catch them by the riprap on any lake i have ever been to
standing or fallen timber would be my second choice and docks my third. If you are out in a boat, make a few casts around the ramp, they usually hold a few fish. The later it gets in the summer, the more you want to focus on areas that have close access to some deeper water. The shad will move up to the shallow water in the AM and the bass will just push them up on to flats and against structure.

Baits:
Pop-r: pretty easy bait to work. You want to give it two or three good jerks so that it splashes and makes the sound of a shad flicking on the surface. let it sit for a half a second, then a few more pops. They will sometimes chase it all the way to the boat, so be ready. Dont set the hook, you will just yank it out. I only use the silver ones, although recently I bought a black luckycraft type bait, it is a popr/spook, so i can walk the dog and pop it.

Buzzbait: I bend the blades on my buzzbaits to get more cup in them so i can run the slower and add a trailer hook. Run the buzz bait as parallel to the shore as possible trying to bump it into and structure above the water. A buzzbait is a great way to cover a ton of water. vary your speeds until you find what they like, but in general, just try and cover water.

Spooks: I have yet to master the spook. I have them in all sizes and I just cant get them to preform consistently. If you are not sure what i mean by "walk the dog" check it out on youtube. It is a very rhythmic thing and when done right will have fish crushing it. That said I never use mine because the popr and buzzbait do so well for me

on all of these baits, make sure you keep the fish down after you hook up. They will want to jump and throw the lure, and because of the way the bite happens you may barely have them hooked. Constant pressure is a must.

I have never used any kind of prop baits or chug bug type baits with success, they dont seem to make the splash and sound that i like (i never catch fish on them, so they stay at home)

And the best topwater bite of all is in the spring, pitching floating frogs across grasslines and pads. They will inhale it. It seems as though this bite only happens far a few weeks pre and post spawn

if anybody ever wants to get up at the ass crack of dawn on a saturday and join me at Harris you are more than welcome to. I have all the gear(if you can cast a baitcaster), but my boat is kinda small 13'

[Edited on July 21, 2011 at 12:58 PM. Reason : damn that is a long post]

7/21/2011 12:58:18 PM

Quote :

"Where on the Dan? The area where it meets the Staunton is a great place for big cats. My family has a place on Kerr about 5 miles from where the two meet. about halfway from South Boston to Clarksville on 58. Great area for cats."

sometimes we put in at holiday shores and fish those areas. i believe he was thinking about putting in at south boston and going down river this time. we're going on his boat so i'm just along for the ride.

you're not likely to find me ever putting my boat in that mudhole

[Edited on July 21, 2011 at 1:28 PM. Reason : dasf]

7/21/2011 1:23:58 PM

the spook is my go to top water

i can teach ya a thing or two about it


it avoid using anything other than braided line for it for started, you need a precise rod twitch and the non braided lines stretch too much to get the greatest affect, that walkin the dog i feel like is one of the best actions in lures. it looks like so many different things, a skittering fish, a mouse, definitely a snake's swimming motion


my flop bait is actually spinnerbaits and buzzbait, i just have zero confidence in them and i dont believe in them when i fish them. In-line spinners are a different story, i love inlines they work amazingly

not much success with soft plastics in general either, im just a crankbait kinda guy be it shallow mid or deep, my faves are the ones that suspend by far because i believe in limited strike zones of fish and id rather have a bait that stays where i think the fish are than constantly having to adjust the depth

[Edited on July 21, 2011 at 1:33 PM. Reason : d]

[Edited on July 21, 2011 at 1:34 PM. Reason : f]

7/21/2011 1:32:28 PM

i've done pretty good on rockfish with spooks and spook jrs

7/21/2011 1:34:15 PM

hell if the rockfish are schooling and busting you can throw anything that floats out there.

BHS sounds like you are the polar opposite of me. I cant catch anything on a crankbait to save my life and I love soft plastics. Right now I have 4 different rods tied up for soft plastics. Carolina rig, texas rig, shakey head and wacky rig. I love the feel of a soft plastic bite and setting the hook.

You also fish completely different waters than I do. Im a big lake guy. Love the challenge of finding a pattern and then tearing it up for several trips out. Had the soft plastic bite figured out at Harris from April thru the end of june and it was a blast. I knew i was going to catch fish every time out.

if you like the suspending baits you should try a luckycraft pointer. expensive, but(supposedly) will slay them all through the winter

[Edited on July 21, 2011 at 2:09 PM. Reason : supposedly.... since I cant fish a crankbait]

7/21/2011 2:08:34 PM

word i appreciate the suggestion

as far as expensive lures, ive long stopped caring about the price. Ive lost like 1000 lures and flies at some point i stopped giving a fuck about whether they cost a dollar or ten dollars.

i like the reward of pitching between some snags and having a much better chance at convincing fish through an accurate representation of my rod action; if i dont lose a few im wastin my time.

and ya i fish where there is bank access, nonmuddy wading, or casting room lol

7/21/2011 2:39:11 PM

Specialkay, i go with my cousin to harris sometimes (haven't been in a while) and he tries to give me tips but I'm not that great.
I have my best luck at harris with yamamoto worms over near the hydrilla and one of the bridges where the water gets real shallow.

i guess my problem with the topwater is i pop it and let it sit for a minute or 2, then pop it again...i guess i figured if i kept popping it or reeling it in too fast i would scare off the fish

7/21/2011 2:55:08 PM

Yea, i try not to think about how much money I have invested in tackle. 20 some rods and reels, 6 tackle organizers full of hardbaits, and 3 one gallon ziplock bags full of bags of soft plastics. And that is just for bass fishing. Bunch of saltwater gear too, but not nearly as much saltwater tackle. And soon to be fly collection now that I have a fly rod. My van usually has 3X its worth in gear in it on the way to the lake.

I also quit caring about losing lures. Get a good plug knocker and some braid and you can get most things back. I think that is also why i enjoy soft plastics, because I am cheap and can just toss them into the deepest cover without worrying if it gets hung and if it hangs, break it off.

btw when i say expensive i mean like $25 a pop. I will go in the water after that one.

I noticed as well that once i quit caring about "if i throw this in that cover i will lose it" and just fished the deep cover I caught a lot more fish. The worst is when you lose the lure that is catching the fish that day and you dont have another.

7/21/2011 2:55:44 PM

woo lordy


i guess i still care a little bit

[Edited on July 21, 2011 at 2:58 PM. Reason : f]

7/21/2011 2:57:59 PM

i use $7 a piece mirrolures a lot. don't think i've lost a single one since i put a lure retriever on the boat. i like the ones on a string instead of the telescopic ones b/c they take up less space. mine is like a wire corkscrew cone with about 5 ounces of lead at the tip of the cone. it won't fray up powerpro braid, which is what i use (mainly to feel light trout bites, but it also makes it easier to retrieve lures).

7/21/2011 3:06:56 PM

^ yup mine is was nothing more than a peice of thick wire that i wrapped into a cone shape. Then melted some lead to the bottom of it and painted the whole thing with that "tool dip" to give it a rubber coating. I have had to respray a few times, but it is cheap and easy. I need to make another one. For now i have just been using a big ass magnet that will slide around my line

If you have any old abu garcia 5200s laying around they make a great way to store the line for the plug knoocker. cut off everything but the handle of a busted rod, glue a guide eye to the end of your "handle nub" It will spool enough trot line string or similar to get the lug down into 50' of water and then you can just reel it back up

7/21/2011 3:16:10 PM

one of the best soft plastics out there...also a great substitute for crankbaits. ~$3 for a pack of 5 and a few jig heads.

7/21/2011 3:18:08 PM

damn, good idea on the rubber coating stuff. i'll be doing that soon. hadn't even thought of that.

[Edited on July 21, 2011 at 3:18 PM. Reason : ^the small lil fishie is one of the best speckled trout baits money can buy]

[Edited on July 21, 2011 at 3:20 PM. Reason : well, not the tiny ones they sell with the spinner thing, but the 1.5" version]

7/21/2011 3:18:11 PM

wow this lure retriever thing intrigues me

[Edited on July 21, 2011 at 3:23 PM. Reason : f]

7/21/2011 3:22:58 PM

it'll pay for itself after just a few uses

7/21/2011 3:24:40 PM

BDubLS1

nope, there is no such thing as a slow topwater, you should be ripping it through the water. In the mornings they are extremely aggressive and they want a fast presentation. They see the topwater as a fleeing shad and they want to crush it. That is why the topwater bite is so great. the small fish will come out of the water they hit it so hard. Dont wait a minute or two, wait a second or two. pop pop pause(twitch it slightly, just enough to make a small ripple around the lure) pop pop pop pause. if the fish misses the bait, let it sit and then twitch it.

as far as location goes, the area you are fishing is pretty good, the only thing is the hotter it gets, the less they will want to venture into those huge shallow flats. I like to key on flats and structure near deep water, hence why rip rap around bridges.

Shad will spend the nights in the shallow water, as it will provide them with more cover and the bigger fish will tend to be out deeper. as the water warms, the shad have to move to deeper water to get to cooler temps. The bass know this and they will sit near cover that is somewhere between the shad and deep water (creek channel, dropoffs). The fish are extremely aggressive and you should fish your bait the same.

Just like if you are trying to catch bass in the heat of the day, you will need a super slow presentation to get a true "feeding bite" and not a reaction bite. As the water warms, the fish become sluggish to conserve energy.

7/21/2011 3:32:10 PM

we tied up to the MHC/radio island railroad trestle on an incoming tide one day (fishing between the trestle and the highrise bridge) and caught 14-16" trout on about every cast fishing the 1.5" ghost minnow lit'l fishie. there was a guy fishing from the trestle not catching anything who watched us for about 30 minutes before he finally walked down there and asked what we were using. we threw the bait up there and he said he'd never tried them, so we gave him a jig head and a couple bodies and he went right to catching trout.

7/21/2011 3:32:26 PM

BHS
http://www.bassfishin.com/bassfishingforums/showthread.php?t=10735

seems like that would be useful from shore, just clip it to another rod you have with you and then wing it down the line. If you go to a place with saltwater weights you can get some that are several ounces and could still be "thrown" down your line. If it doesnt knock it free, you have it attached to another line and you can just reel it it

7/21/2011 3:35:48 PM

caught one channel cat. fished til like 3 am.

7/22/2011 12:39:45 PM

but did you have matter infused budlight

7/22/2011 12:42:48 PM

hahaha no

7/22/2011 12:44:45 PM

What bait were you using? Drifting? anchored? I cannot imagine only catching one catfish in that river.

7/22/2011 1:18:07 PM

are there flathead in the dan?

7/22/2011 1:25:47 PM

^^anchored using live bream

^yes, we were targeting flatheads

7/22/2011 1:33:20 PM

I have never had a ton of luck with live Bream. But I never really target a specific catfish species. We seem to have the best luck drifting with a mix on cut bait(pops freezes good cut bait pieces when he cleans fish. we have been doing the best with cut crappie lately) and whole shad if we feel like chasing some down. Earlier this summer I caught a 20 lb Blue cat on the tail of a blue cat I had cleaned earlier in the day.

I have tried live baits, stink baits, liver, worms and anything else and I always end up back at cut bait up there.

oh and here are some message boards for Kerr if you go up there and fish often.
http://kerrlake.proboards.com/

[Edited on July 22, 2011 at 1:52 PM. Reason : kerrlake.proboards]

7/22/2011 1:49:23 PM

the guy i went with fishes that area a whole lot. fishes the tournaments and all that. he targets the big ones.

really, i couldn't care less whether i go out there and catch anything. it's just a damn catfish. it's just something to do and a way to make myself stay up late the night before i roll into night shift so i can sleep the day before.

don't get me wrong, i love to fish, but bait and wait doesn't really do it for me anymore. if it's not salty, it's just a time waster to me.

[Edited on July 22, 2011 at 2:01 PM. Reason : dafs]

7/22/2011 1:58:07 PM

Quote :

"I have never had a ton of luck with live Bream."

you don't get as much action since you're basically culling the bite of all but ~10+ pounders. I like to have a rod or two with smaller baits also, just to have something to do while waiting on the big one. I've also caught a few big largemouth and stripers with live bream

gizzard shad innards always tears up the midsized cats.

7/22/2011 2:11:11 PM

Quote :

"you don't get as much action since you're basically culling the bite of all but ~10+ pounders."

that's what i was trying to say

7/22/2011 2:12:28 PM

how do you hook the bream? do you wound them at all? i used to live on high rock lake and had a good amount of luck fishing with live shiners i would net off our dock...they never kept though, had to use em or lose em and they died within an hour of hooking

7/22/2011 2:32:49 PM

Yea that is true, I view catfish much like bream. Just something fun to go catch with people who dont normally fish. It is just more fun to drink beer and catch catfish floating down a river rather than just drink beer and float.

I enjoy figuring out the pattern and chasing the fish rather than letting the fish come to me. I wished I lived closer to the coast and it didnt cost me an arm and a leg to tow my boat down there. Specs and drum are a blast to fish for and have a lot of similarities to bass fishing.

I had a fairly interesting discussion with a friend of mine who has never fished. He asked me why I use artificial lures. He understood that natural bait caught the fish better and just couldnt fathom why I would use artificials if it makes it more difficult to catch fish. The best answer that I could come up with was that I enjoy the challenge and sport of it.

Im going out to Harris early Sunday morning, I dont give a damn that I will die of heat stroke. It has been almost two weeks since i put the boat in the water and i need to test the new ghetto upgrades I made. Hopefully the topwater bite wont let me down.

7/22/2011 2:33:29 PM

I hook the bream at the top of the back. They die within an hour or so most of the time. If you are keeping shad alive on the hook for more than an hour I would like to know your secret. (your secret to keeping them alive, obviously not your secret fishing spot, hahaha)

7/22/2011 2:40:48 PM

he hooks them right through the back at the back of the dorsal fin. they seem to stay alive well that way.

7/22/2011 2:40:56 PM

^^^that question comes up a lot with fly fishing. all the trouble of casting and heavy lines and light tippets and stuff, tying these patterns and matching sizes to imitate stuff you can easily forage for as there are millions just at your feet most of the time.

like why do you throw some imitation mayfly in the middle of a damn mayfly hatch where there are millions flying around you.

the common answer for most anglers is like you said, the challenge

also, you can use colors and actions that natural bait cant use that will entice strikes other than feeding strikes because fish dont constantly feed

7/22/2011 3:31:12 PM

it's just like bow hunting

7/22/2011 3:32:54 PM

which i badly want to go but i would have to start from scratch

7/22/2011 3:36:18 PM

unless you've got access to some private land, don't bother

7/22/2011 3:37:53 PM

well shit on my dreams some more.

7/22/2011 3:38:16 PM

i'm a realist

7/22/2011 3:38:55 PM

7/22/2011 3:39:10 PM

i'm gonna head down today i think. too hot to fish but i really don't care. gonna put up the bimini top and just chill. i need some salt air.

7/28/2011 7:20:58 AM

Yea, didnt make it out this past weekend because I felt like sleeping in. Hard to get motivated to fish in 100 degree heat and the water temps in the 90s. Its like damn bathwater. Going to try again to get out on Saturday morning and test out a couple motors I have bought and fixed up. It was much easier to get out of bed and go fishing at 4 am before I got a GF. Still trying to figure out if the GF is worth the lack of fishing time. Went from fishing at least 5 days a week to now only getting out every few weeks.

Four married guys went fishing. After an hour or so, the following conversation took place:
First guy: "You have no idea what I had to do to be able to come out fishing this weekend. I had to promise my wife I will paint every room in the house next weekend."

Second guy: "That's nothing! I had to promise my wife I'd build her a new deck for the pool."

Third guy: "Man, you both have it easy! I had to promise my wife that I'll remodel the kitchen for her."

They continued to fish, until they realized the fourth guy had not said a word.

So they asked him. "You haven't said anything about what you had to do to be able to come fishing this weekend. What's the deal?"

Fourth guy: "I just set my alarm for 5:30 am. When it went off, I shut off the clock, gave the wife a nudge and said, "Fishing, or Sex," and she said, "Wear a sweater sunscreen."

7/28/2011 7:45:52 AM