Something old...something new

[TubeDude]

I gave up ice fishing so I have had too much time on my hands for the last 3 months.  Spent some time going through old fishing logs and codgertatin' on things I used to use...and don't use now.  Have had a few conversations with other Utah anglers on this same subject. 

Decided to resurrect a few old things...while introducing or further testing some new things.  Got a lot of trips down memory lane to do this next year.  And got some new stuff to (hopefully) create some good new memories. 

Just for giggles, how about sharing some of the things you used to do...that worked...and that you somehow just quit doing or using?  Anybody who has been fishing any length of time at all will have something to share.

Here's a pictorial PDF writeup on some of the stuff I plan to work on during the next year.

[Kent]

Interesting subject. When I first started fishing I always fished with night crawlers. Someone said if we added a mini marshmallow that we would catch even more fish. Tried that method and found that it marginally helped on some bodies of water. We also would occasionally use salmon eggs and we discovered that Pautzke Balls of Fire salmon eggs were the most expensive and the best.

Then someone discovered that Velveeta cheese, on a treble hook, caught fish. We discovered that Teton cheese worked even better (stayed on the hook better than Velveeta did) when we could find it in the stores. They also started selling treble hooks that had a coil of wire wrapped around the shank and they kept the cheese on a little better, but not much better.

As I got exposed to other anglers I started casting Dare Devils. The one that I used almost exclusively was fluorescent red on a silver lure. I also learned to cast a almost-full clear bubble with a fly. At first I exclusively used a mosquito fly. I caught lots of Yellowstone Cutthroat on the Yellowstone River. My brother in law found some flies sold at a war surplus store, in Tooele, for $.04 each! We bought a generous supply and I discovered that fish would bite a variety of different flies. The only problem is that the steel that they used to make the hooks was extremely brittle and the hooks would often break off when one released a fish.

I grew up fishing with Zebco closed face reels. We could buy them for about $4.00 each and they worked, must of the time. When I was a teenager my parents bought me a Garcia Mitchell 300 reel, which was a top-of-the-line reel at the time. I used that reel for more years that I can remember.

[doitall5000]

I remember 1975 caught my first walleye, the best lure then was a marabou feathered jig. It had to be yellow!! Caught more walleyes that year than I have sence then. Maybe I better try it again.
I to started with the famous Mitchell 300. Wore that bugger out but it took 20 years.
Sure has changed the last few years.

[TubeDude]

Ah, yes, the old Mitchell 300.  I think a lot of us "seasoned" anglers can attest to having a 300 as one of their first spinning reels.  I liked mine so well I bought and used a whole succession of Garcia Mitchell reels over the years...from ultralights to salt water. 

Hey Kent, you didn't mention Pokee Bait.  Ed's little stand in Provo Canyon was a regular stop for a lot of us on the way to Deer Creek or Strawberry. 

And Verdean, I too had early success with yellow 'bou...and graduated to yellow plastics.  A 3" yellow Mr. Twister with a bright red head was killer on Willard in the last two years before I moved to Arizona.  And I still have some of those yellow plastics.  Maybe I should resurrect them and see if they still work.

[Bduck]

I still have my old relic Mitchell Garcia 300, still works too. It has cycled on few rods.

[Saltslam]

I used to mash up the little canned mini salad shrimp up in Velveeta then add garlic salt. We'd put in a touch of flour for a binder. It was a killer on the ice. Occasionally, if the bite was slow we'd put preparation h on it. Not sure how we got that idea but as kids we'd flip to see who had to go in and buy a tube
For bass, nothing beat good ole garden hackle threaded on a baitholder hook and fished slowly lifting and dropping on the bottom.

[Cowboypirate]

Can't leave out the classic red and white bobber. I was the designate grasshopper catcher. The two togther put a lot of trout on the fire camping

I really miss the old wind and pull the trigger to auto reel - flyreel - my dad taught me with. That reel has so many memories of my dad trying to teach me how to lay out a fly line.

Also, tying his favorite strawberry streamer pattern in the basement then night fishing them at the berry when it was so cold you spent the half the time knocking ice from the guides.

And one more - pop gear with a triple teaser tipped with a worm. We pulled a lot of tin cans behind our boat. No offense Forest.

[gofish435]

I too was one of those folks that grew up using the Mitchell 300.  I'm not sure how many of those that I wore out.

My brother taught me how to fish a stream using a spinning rod, split shot, and a worm.  Now I fish a fly rod with a nymph the same way only I don't have to carry a bait box and I don't get my hands dirty.

When you look back on some of the tackle we have used over the years, you know if you could get your hands on some that old stuff you could still catch fish on them.  

The tackle makers keep coming up with new wizz bang stuff just to sell more gear.  The old flies that I have used such as the moser, gray hackle yellow, adams, renegade, montana nymph, mosquito, captain, rio grande king, etc. still catch fish.  It's like the old saying "there are flies that catch fish and there are flies that catch fishermen".  I've tied up many flies over the years thinking that I had just created a killer only to find out that I was the only one that liked it.

How about the good old Mepps spinner, red/white dare devil, super duper, rooster tail, and somebody already mentioned the triple teaser.  They all still catch fish but come in many more colors now. 

[Jig-fisher]

What a walk down memory lane.  Daredevils, mepps spinners, jakes spin-a-lures, triple teasers, rooster tails, nightcrawlers, angle worms, grasshoppers, pautzke salmon eggs, velveeta, and marshmallows to keep bait up off the bottom.  I used all those as well.  When I go through my tackle now I still find a bunch of those lures and they still work.

I remember taking an old window screen and attaching it between two sticks of wood, then shuffling through the gravel of the weber river.  I caught all types of aquatic insects but it was the stoneflies and the dace minnows along with a sculpin or two that I really wanted.  I caught so many fish on those live stoneflies and some bruiser browns and cutts on the dace minnows. 

I also remember looking for caddis larvae under rocks in small streams.  We called them rock rollers because they would encase their bodies with small pieces of gravel.  We would peel off the casings and fish with the larvae.  Worked really good as well.

[R72Mike]

I gave up ice fishing so I have had too much time on my hands for the last 3 months.  Spent some time going through old fishing logs and codgertatin' on things I used to use...and don't use now.  Have had a few conversations with other Utah anglers on this same subject. 

Decided to resurrect a few old things...while introducing or further testing some new things.  Got a lot of trips down memory lane to do this next year.  And got some new stuff to (hopefully) create some good new memories. 

Just for giggles, how about sharing some of the things you used to do...that worked...and that you somehow just quit doing or using?  Anybody who has been fishing any length of time at all will have something to share.

Here's a pictorial PDF writeup on some of the stuff I plan to work on during the next year.

I remember my dad teaching me how to catch bass on a black hula popper at Mantua. We'd catch 50 or more in 4 hours after he got home from work. Nothing of any size! Mitchell 300 was my favorite then (if I could keep the bail spring from breaking)

[wiperhunter2]

Zebco was my first reels for many years too. When I first moved to Utah in Aug of 1976, the first thing I learned from local fisherman was fishing for browns on the Weber, using a nightcrawler and a split shot, just casting up stream, keeping the rod tip high and bouncing it downstream. Lost a lot of those set ups before I got the hang of it but it did catch some nice browns. Later I started using the Mepps spinner that worked well for river trout. When I moved on to fishing from a boat, the triple teaser was my go to lure, copper was my best producer. We would kill them at Pineview back in the days when it was a trout fishery. We would get out on the water and have our limits by 9:30 or 10 am and that was when the limits were 6 or 8 each. Good times.

[SkunkedAgain]

I'm with 90% of the recommendations above, but I think my favorite was the red/white and black/white dare devils.... Was so much fun when a big ole trout would nail them as you were reeling in your Mitchell 300... I'm not sure what happened to my old Mitchell, I need to go see if it's still stashed away at Dad's... Must have been the early to mid 80's when all the other reels showed up on the market, because before my mission Mitchell was king and when I got back things faded away to lots of other type reels... In fact I took my first other reel with me in my suit case to Florida in 83... Caught a lot of different fish on P-days over the next two summers, including some ocean and freshwater stuff that I haven't caught since... The burbot are as close to the eels I caught in the canals off the gulf coast, but the drum, reds, seatrout and dolphin fish (Dorado, mahi mahi) were the ones I remember the most and would like to catch more of... Anyway lots of old memories you stirred up Pat, was some fun times... Later J

[ELM 71]

Wow. Great memories guys. I grew up in Oklahoma and caught my first fish with a 7 ft cane pole with catgut line. It was a fair size Crappie. Loved it. I was 7.  When my 10th birthday came around daddy got me a Zebco 202 reel. That thing was great. Then came the Zebco 33. Even better. Bout 12 I  got a Mitchell 300. Best ever. Still have that one. I still fish with the newer 300 reels. Cant beat em. Have others but the 300 is still on top. Good times back then for sure/

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Pat, liked your write up as well and look forward to reports on how your tackle choices turn out this year... They sound good to me... later J

[TubeDude]

Hey Pat, liked your write up as well and look forward to reports on how your tackle choices turn out this year... They sound good to me... later J

Thanks Jeff.  Glad you liked it.  I'll definitely be posting reports...and shooting video this year again. 

Looking to launch somewhere on Utah Lake about Wednesday this week.  Willard in two to three weeks.  Can't wait for my annual one and only skunk for the year on my first trip to Willard.  Hopefully some of the new goodies I plan to try will help me keep the skunk away.

[Bovineowner]

I grew up fishing on a little desert creek. Grasshoppers were king. May or may not of caught a few with my hands too. My dad took me to strawberry when I was about ten and we had a blast. First time in a boat and first time catching huge (to me anyway) fish. We never got into reels or special poles. Just used whatever we had. Fishing gear wasn’t in the budget in those days. But we sure had fun on Fish Lake or Utah Lake or Joe’s Valley. Fished a lot of creeks in the UNITA mnts. And all over Utah. Dad took me to Boulder mnt after turkeys but the brookies distracted us and we had a ball. When my grand dad passed away we got a couple old tackle boxes loaded with Mepps and stuff. Learned to catch bass with old yellow and red crank baits from that box. Ice fishing was our next adventure. Spent many a great day sitting on a bucket catching fish with my dad. No rent, no fish finder, no problem. After my first marriage ended he helped me heal with w bunch of ice trips to Schofield. I buried my dad on the 16th of February. He was a wonderful man and the best dad ever. Was a top hand and a tremendous sportsman. I will never wet a line without thinking of my Dad and the time he spent with me and my brothers in the outdoors. It’s my advice to never take things for granted because ya just never know how quick it can be over. I sure hope heaven has a creek so I can fish with dad again someday.

[SkunkedAgain]

Larry what a great tribute to a great man, sorry for your loss, I know that one won't easily heal... Glad you had some wonderful times together.. Hope you get a chance to spend some time alone on a pond or river and remember him...

Pat, looking forward to your new season of trips... Don't hardly watch any TV anymore, so nice to have some YouTube videos to follow... Best of luck and keep them toes warm... Later Jeff