hey everyone. first off i want to say hello to the mods and everyone who keeps this place running--the forum is everything i've been searching for and the site is great.
i've fished occasionally all my life but it's always using other people's equipment and i'm not really learning much. i went out and bought my own shakespeare ugly stick and got an old tackle box from my cousin with some weights and a lot of good hooks. anyways, i finally got out with a friend to fish some ponds that we knew were hot. i had some friends go out there about 30 minutes before we got there and they had caught about 10 blue gill and 4 bass before we arrived. they caught them off rooster tails, so we decided to use the same. after that is where i could use help. once i cast, what do i do? let it sit and hit the bottom? constantly reel in a little bit? when i get a bite, do i try and yank and hook it real quickly? this sounds really dumb but i really want to be successful and at least know i'm doing the right thing even when they don't bite
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Welcome to BFT and thanks for your valuable question.
First of all make sure your drag is set properly on your reel. You won't want the fish to yank harder than the capacity rating of your line.
Next, cast out and count to about 3 or 4 to allow your lure to sink just a little bit. Give a small quick jerk on the line while reeling in to start the spinner blade moving.
Once in motion, just reel in at a slow pace so that the fish will follow and take it.
Once it is bit, give a moderate tug on the line and reel in slowly untill the fish is at your reach. If the fish is pulling hard, like a bass would, stop reeling and give him a chance to tire out just a little bit before reeling in.
Be sure to have a camera handy. Bass make good pictures and if you want to be a good Bass fisherman, you will generally release the Bass after a good picture.
Blue Gill on the other hand, make good table fare. We have some good recipes for Blue Gill and other Panfish on the recipe board.
Please feel free to check back with us if you have any more questions or comments.
We would like to hear the results of your fishing trip too. Good or bad report is no problem. We can help you with advice and pointers until you can get it going smoothly.[cool]
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well, first off, welcome to bft! it is guys with good reports and questions like you that keep BFT rolling. the mods just clean up a bit!
id say the best thing to do is ask your friends what technique they are using. obviously they are doing something right!
as far as letting it sink, or just starting reeling- that depends on how deep the fish are. if they are on top, then reel right away. if they are near bottom, let it sink a bit. this can vary during the day because fish will sometimes start out on top, and move down as the sun gets too bright. so, dont be afraid to try everything until you figure it out. then it will just be a matter of repeating whats working.
also, sometimes it pays to stop reeling briefly then start back up again. be random and it pays off at times by triggering more strikes.
i wouldnt rip their heads off with the hook set, but definately firm up the line with a tug.... then, be sure not to slack it up after that. that is when fish are lost. a lot of people set the hook and then return their rod tip down, slacking the line up. keep that rod bent!
hope this helps, and welcome to bft!
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thanks for everything so far. tube, can you explain the drag a little more? i think i have somewhat of a grasp on it...it's the setting that determines how hard the fish can pull and line still goes out or something? combination of how tough i'm holding the rod and how hard the fish is pulling? what would be the best way to make sure it's correctly set?
bkidder, you said to keep my rod bent once i set the hook. say i set it and my rod is pointed down, i just pull it up and hold it so it's bending and then reel?
also another general question, is it a good idea to mix say a worm with something like the rooster tail i used? is adding bait to a jig like that the general way to go about?
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Before I can tell you how to adjust your drag, please give me some information about your reel.
Is is a spinning reel, baitcaster, or conventional???[cool]
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it's a spinning reel. i know there is a little drag knob on top of the reel but i haven't messed with it yet
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Now we can make some forward progress.
Go ahead and flip the bail open, thread your line through the guides, flip the bail back closed again and pull some line by hand.
If you cannot pull line, you will need to turn the Drag adjustment counter clockwise untill you can pull line easily. Then slowly tighten the drag until it meet significant resistance but still allows line to still pull out.
Do you know what size line is on your reel?? What brand and model # is the reel also???
This will help me with the next batch of advice.[cool]
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that setup should be good for up to 12lb line. 6 to 8 lb would work best for you. You should set your drag for the 6lb setting if you use 8lb and set it for around 4lbs if you are using 6lb line. That will make sure that you don't snap your line with a big fish.[cool]
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what i meant by keep your rod bent is that you need to keep pressure on the line between your tip and the fishes mouth. slack line is your worst enemy! this keeps the fish from being able to throw the hook. a bent rod is an indication that you have good pressure there.
as far as how much pressure- follow tubeN2's advice on drag settings!
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I thought i'd add a little info to what the kidder and tube threw at you.
Keeping your rod tip up does more than just keep tension on the fish. The back bone of the rod is actually what wears the fish down. It also acts as a shock absorber to frisky fish as well as the stretching quality of Mono line. Another thing it does is keep your line out of low lying snags, which is key in water that has alot of structure, and especially that is shallow.
Also, I didn't notice this mentioned. But when you do set the hook, make sure you've got the slack reeled up first. If you set the hook while your line is limp, you haven't set the hook at all. Reel the slack up until there's a little tension, then give it a gently tug.
Make sure and very your presentation until you find something that works. What works one day may not work the next. Once you find a winning combanation, stick with it. Don't give up on a presentation in like 2 minutes either, give it time. Fish a style for 20 or 30 minutes to see how it's going to work. Also, fishing from the bank, make sure and "fan cast." when I say fan cast, I mean start your cast at say 9 o'clock, and work around the area to 3 o'clock. You want to cover as much area as possible, especially this time of year. The water is still a little cooler, and thier strike zone is going to be much cooler until the water warms up.
When you set the drag, set it to where you have to pull it at a decent level to get the line to come out. If you set it too loose, the fish will pull you into a snag and you'll loose the fish and maybe even your lure. If the drag lets go when you set the hook, you might could stand to tighten it another click or two. [cool]
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thanks for everything so far. now i'm just counting down the days until friday when i get to catfish all night at a friend's farm
by the way, i'm just reiterating my previous question, but, is it ok to mix a jig with live bait? example, i use a rooster tail again and hook a nightcrawler on to it. i'm unsure if the jig is sufficient or you generally add live bait to egg on the fish a little more so i could use a little clarification. thanks again
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You will need to make a choice. The Rooster tail is designed to fool the fish into thinking that it is a live bait.
The worm will let him know that he is not being fooled. You really shouldn't use a worm on a spinner anyways. It messes up the action.
If you really wanted to get some scent on your lure, you can use some of the Crave Nitro Grease, Pro-Cure's Bait Butter (my favorite), or any other type of lure dipping sauce by Berkley.
It is not unheard of but generally Catfish don't chase spinners that much. I have caught a few but they were incidental catches while fishing for something else.
You will improve your chances to catch without the spinner for the Catfish. Save the spinner for BlueGills, Trout and Bass.[cool]
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just an update on fishing so far. i went out to a pond at my friends house, very decent sized and full of blue gill, bass, and some catfish according to him. started around 645 or 7ish (pm) and the sun was going down through the hour. i tried out just a green plastic worm, moved on to a rooster tail, then used a lure that had a teardrop shaped piece of metal on the back attached to a little green fish shaped thing. i forget the name (kind of embarassing
) so someone help me out there. none of that worked but my friends were catching the occassional bass, and my friend's dad was on the other side of the pond catching tons. anyways, i went back to the worm and just took the worm off. my friend slapped some bacon on there and i just hucked it out there and let it sit. soon enough i was reeling in a 12 inch LMB
. even though it was more of my friend's suggestion i reeled it on on my own and was extremely happy. biggest fish out of all of us for the night. now i'm just hoping for more quantity next time i go out
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Ummmm .... is there a translator in the house?
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I did have my pocket translator on me at the time. It said "Please throw me into the cyber trash". So I did[cool]
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