Any Fishing Enthusiasts here ?

[WVduckchick]

Nice fish!!

We caught a couple crappie, several rainbow trout and I caught a couple nice bass last weekend.
I’m so glad fishing season is back.

I was even wearing my “Chillin with my peeps” BYC t-shirt.

 

[jnicholes]

@herman 48, I use chicken liver. The catfish love it. It worked in North Idaho, and it works down here in South Idaho where I now live.

@WVduckchick, nice rainbow trout! That's a decent sized largemouth bass too. There are mainly Smallmouth bass where I fish in the Snake River. I used to fish for largemouth a lot in North Idaho. After moving down here, I switched to Smallmouth. They seem to be more abundant.

Jared

 

[jnicholes]

Today, I was fishing and I actually ran into the guy who helped me get a picture of a 3 lb Smallmouth I caught on May 3rd. It was good to see him again. He recognized me right away.

We got to talking, and before I say what we talked about, let me say that last year, around May, I told him that an old friend of mine's Health was deteriorating. He said he would keep him in his prayers. On October 25th, 2018, my good friend and fishing partner passed away from cancer. When we were talking today, he said he saw the obituary and told me he was sorry that it happened.

Very nice guy. I'm impressed by his memory.

Jared

 

[WVduckchick]

Today, I was fishing and I actually ran into the guy who helped me get a picture of a 3 lb Smallmouth I caught on May 3rd. It was good to see him again. He recognized me right away.

We got to talking, and before I say what we talked about, let me say that last year, around May, I told him that an old friend of mine's Health was deteriorating. He said he would keep him in his prayers. On October 25th, 2018, my good friend and fishing partner passed away from cancer. When we were talking today, he said he saw the obituary and told me he was sorry that it happened.

Very nice guy. I'm impressed by his memory.

Jared

Very sweet. Sorry for your loss.

We also lost a beloved friend earlier this year. He was in his late 80’s and had pretty much lost his sight, could no longer walk, but kept saying he wanted to get out on the boat and fish with us. So last summer, we made a point to take him. My husband had to physically lift him over the side of the boat, into the seat, before we launched. He kept a finger on his line to feel for bites. He didn’t catch anything, but we got to scratch a bucket list item for him.

 

[Member 482121]

@herman 48, I use chicken liver. The catfish love it. It worked in North Idaho, and it works down here in South Idaho where I now live.

@WVduckchick, nice rainbow trout! That's a decent sized largemouth bass too. There are mainly Smallmouth bass where I fish in the Snake River. I used to fish for largemouth a lot in North Idaho. After moving down here, I switched to Smallmouth. They seem to be more abundant.

Jared

Yes, chicken liver is what everyone uses here, too. But where I fish for cats you have to cast way out there, and quite often the bait goes one way, and the hook another. I have been experimenting with bait to obtain something with better consistency, and have finally found a great bait: I buy tripe at Wal-Mart (not the "honeycomb" cut, but the smooth one, cheaper) and cut it into small, bait-size pieces. Then I take a bunch of chicken livers, put them in the blender and spin them until they are liquefied. Then I soak the pieces of tripe in the liver puree to which I have added some garlic powder (a common ingredient in these parts for catfish bait) for one day and one night at room temperature. After the soaking I place the bait still in the liver puree in several plastic containers, each one containing enough bait for one afternoon/night of fishing. Then I place all the containers in the freezer. This bait works just as well as straight livers, but it stays well on the hook, and the catfish are unable to tear it off the hook.
I am told that pieces of chicken guts in pieces about 3" or 4" long, tied at both ends with thread not to let the smelly stuff come out right away, and impaled on the hook like a nightcrawler work even better than livers, and don't come easily off the hook. Every time I butcher a chicken and contemplate its intestines I think about trying them as bait, but then the thought of cutting them into pieces and tying them as their smelly, slimy contents ooze onto my fingers makes me change my mind every time...

 

[Member 482121]

I'm not a big fan of rainbow trout....I keep probably one nice steelhead a year and smoke it.... But perch and walleye (sauger too!)
Are about as good as it gets...

No kidding! Striped bass, too!

 

[jnicholes]

@herman 48, I'll have to try that. Maybe next time I go out.

What I do is I use a treble hook for chicken liver, that helps it stay on. I also cast very gently. I only Hook when I know for sure it is a bite. Chicken livers are like 1.50 here in Idaho. Relatively inexpensive, and I don't mind losing some liver when I cast. I can always buy more.

Jared

 

[Member 482121]

@herman 48, I'll have to try that. Maybe next time I go out.

What I do is I use a treble hook for chicken liver, that helps it stay on. I also cast very gently. I only Hook when I know for sure it is a bite. Chicken livers are like 1.50 here in Idaho. Relatively inexpensive, and I don't mind losing some liver when I cast. I can always buy more.

Jared

Yes, they are cheap here, too, but what bothers me when I fish at night is that I can't tell if the bait has stayed on the hook or not, and if it hasn't I could be waiting for a bite that will never come. Plus there are lots of small catfish (called mudcats here--and the little S.O.B.'s have sharp teeth; don't ever stick your finger in their mouths) that grab one end of the bait and tear it off the hook. I use large circle hooks and the liver-flavored tripe cannot be torn off the hook. Another thing I do to keep the bait on the hook is the "bait-in-the-sock" trick. I bought a roll of that tube-gauze that is used to bandage fingers. I cut four-inch segments from the roll, tie a knot at one end, and stuff it with chicken liver. Then I tie the open end with thread. On the hook it lasts forever, and the larger catfish swallow the whole thing and get hooked. The small ones can't tear them or pull them off the hook.

 

[Pork Pie]

Yes, they are cheap here, too, but what bothers me when I fish at night is that I can't tell if the bait has stayed on the hook or not, and if it hasn't I could be waiting for a bite that will never come. Plus there are lots of small catfish (called mudcats here--and the little S.O.B.'s have sharp teeth; don't ever stick your finger in their mouths) that grab one end of the bait and tear it off the hook. I use large circle hooks and the liver-flavored tripe cannot be torn off the hook. Another thing I do to keep the bait on the hook is the "bait-in-the-sock" trick. I bought a roll of that tube-gauze that is used to bandage fingers. I cut four-inch segments from the roll, tie a not at one end, and stuff it with chicken liver. Then I tie the open end with thread. On the hook it lasts forever, and the larger catfish swallow the whole thing and get hooked. The small ones can't tear them or pull them off the hook.

Whilst not necessarily widely available, I’m sure that you can buy boilies in the US - used for carp fishing in Europe but a more reliable hookbait if one is considering leaving a bait out overnight, I would have thought Size, colour and flavours vary to suit species, conditions etc.

 

[jnicholes]

Hey, I want to let you all know something.

I was fishing on Friday, and I came across a poaching incident. Some guys killed an animal, cut off the tail, then left everything else to rot. I came across the carcass while I was fishing. Had to call Idaho Fish and Game, And they are looking into it. It got me thinking about something, I wanted to share with all of you.

Guys, don't poach. One, it's wrong to just kill an animal and take only a part of it and leave the rest to rot, and two, it is illegal. It's basically Wildlife theft.

Jared