Fishing...the Art of

[Explodo]

Ok ya'll. Let me start this off by saying I was raised in the south. A Pure Bred Dust Bowl Okie. My entire family has been fishing for food as long as I can remember and for several generations. Needless to say, we can catch enough as to feed a whole gaggle of family.

So in 2000, I got to move up to the Blue state hell of Minnesota. Lots of fisherfolks up here...but they don't fish for catfish...in fact they turn their noses up at the humble whiskered beast. Thus, you can go to just about any body of water and catch a mess of them.

So I found a fishing hole on a river about a mile from my house. I can go down there just about anytime and catch a good number of 3 to 10 pound channel cats...or an occasional 20 pound or so flathead. The funny part about this is the following. My spot is near a tavern. while I'm fishing, folks will come out and watch. The cat calls and general douchebaggery are great. And when you drag a big one out of the water they cheer accordingly.

So now for the conversation...I've heard all kinds of idioms on how and when to catch fish...such as

"when the cows are eating, the Fish are eating"

or

"Winds out of the east the Fish bite the least. Wind out of the west, the fish bite best. Wind out of the south; throw the bait in the fish's mouth. Wind out of the north...it's to cold to go fricken fishin"

So what are your fishing idioms...or tricks of the trade...or general advice to other fisherfolk on the board. IMO, people need to pass this information around. Ya never know when you'll need to feed yourself or a whole bunch of hungry folks.

Hell toss in a fish story or two.

[JoeProBono]

[NewJerseyJoe]

ping

[RandallFlagg]

“Every time I turn my eyes to the right, the tip of my pole shows that I have a bite.”

And, I usually miss it when it happens..

grrrrr

[blackminorca]

Fishing is the connection of two fools by a line

[Dixie Yooper]

The funniest catfishing story I ever heard can be told with just one word;

Noodling...

[Vigilantcitizen]

You oughta try these nuggets. Outfishes livers or cut bait. It's just chicken breast soaked in strawberry banana jello mix.

[Redleg Duke]

What’s my ex-mother-in-law doing there?

[Just another Joe]

My dad worked for the Army corp of Engineers. He helped build and/or maintain several dams in the midwest.

His story about Beaver Dam in Arkansas was that they sent a diver down to check the bottom of the dam.
Long before he could have checked the dam he surfaced, a little shaky, and told them he wasn't going back down there.

They asked him why and he told them, "There are catfish down there that could swallow a man whole. Seriously, catfish the size of a Volkswagon Beetle."

Don't know if it's true or not but.........

[IrishPennant]

I'm in the mid-south, Bass heaven...Been all over the country including a few trips up to northern, MN (Ely). That was years ago but I remember incredible fishing...Hahahaha...I think that is where I actually got hooked on bass fishing cuz after seeing the mouth full of teeth on my first Northern Pike, the scene from Jaws came to mind..."I think we need a bigger boat."

Wet Lines and Happy Fishin'

[Snurple]

Ive been noodling quite a few time’s in Ky, got a 45lb cat last year.

[Vigilantcitizen]

This was caught not far from my house. Can't say I believe it weighed 18.5, but I know the guy at the bait store that weighed him.

[T Minus Four]

Is that bait for catfish? I use cheap hotdogs and it’s a lot easier and cheaper.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Those big as vw catfish sure get around.

[Drango]

[Vigilantcitizen]

Is that bait for catfish? I use cheap hotdogs and it’s a lot easier and cheaper.

Yep.The turtles down here eat hot dogs and livers off the hook. They won't mess with the nuggets.

[Dixie Yooper]

A Yooper is someone who won't go fishing or swimming in water you can't see through.

[IrishPennant]

Now that’s sweet...Ol’ Otis is practicing “catch and release into hot oil.” Good for him!!!

[Snurple]

A Yooper is someone who won't go fishing or swimming in water you can't see through.

I always thought "yooper" was the way they speak english up north...(Penn or Mich ect)...learn something new everyday.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Now that’s sweet...Ol’ Otis is practicing “catch and release into hot oil.” Good for him!!!

Yeah, that's what I said. A small minority of my fellow ga bass anglers weren't happy that he ate. I say to heck with them, they're just jealous. Btw...he caught it on a zebco rhino.

[JoeProBono]

[chadwimc]

When I was a kid, I had an uncle who would take me catfishing every chance he got. We very seldom ate the catfish. But we would take them to an older black woman with a bunch of ragged kids(We were all ragged. I didn’t know there was any other way to be).
My uncle never ask for anything for the fish. But about once a week, the old girl would stop in the corner bar to buy a gallon of draft beer. She would always tell the bartender “The next time Ray is in here, give him a beer and put it on my tab”. My uncle could go in that bar any day of the week and his first bottle of Schoengling was free.

[conservativeharleyguy]

“If you want to catch big fish, ya gotta throw big bait”.

[IrishPennant]

Yeah, that's what I said. A small minority of my fellow ga bass anglers weren't happy that he ate. I say to heck with them, they're just jealous. Btw...he caught it on a zebco rhino.

I catch and release most of the time because I do it more for a sport. I do fish a few smaller lakes and ponds where removing fish is encouraged for lake management.

Otis, however, might be doing it for the food.

[IrishPennant]

Now, that’s a good example of “one good deed...”

[Explodo]

You’re kidding. That’s the damndest concoction I’ve ever heard of...and I’ve watched my uncles make stink bait (which I wouldn’t suggest to anyone BTW...The watching, not the using)

As far as noodling, I’ve got pictures of me when I was 7 in the river with my uncles pulling fish out from underneath car bodies.

I never knew I was a redneck...the fact never dawned on me until city dude made fun of my cut off jeans and tanktop.

[Thrownatbirth]

For sea bass, I never mix bait on a two-hook bottom rig. Go with all squid or all crab, so the fish doesn’t have to decide.

[Dixie Yooper]

I always thought "yooper" was the way they speak english up north...(Penn or Mich ect)...learn something new everyday.

Actually, a Yooper is someone from the Upper Peninsula (U.P. = Yooper)of Michigan. The only brackish water found there is in septic tanks.

[Explodo]

I heard the same story except is was Lake Quachita.

[Huck]

The reason I don't fish for catfish (or carp) is that I find it boring to just toss bait down to the bottom and wait. I like to use artificial lures only, and go after predators like largemouth and smallmouth bass, pickeral, perch, walleye, etc. Isn't there a lot of walleye fishing up in MN?

Last time I fished for catfish was with a black guy in VA. Used chicken livers for bait. Nasty, but nice, stinky, bloody bait. Now I mostly go for bass. But the TRUE fishing snobs are the fly fishermen. It don't get any snobbier than that crowd.

[Huck]

Btw...he caught it on a zebco rhino.

I still use spincasters. I've used spinning reels, but for whatever reason, I like the spincasters better. I've never tried baitcaster. Seems like a hassle. Maybe I'm missing out on some fish, but I do ok. And I'm actually using a Zebco Rhino lately.

[Explodo]

Lots of walleye...the fisrt one I caught up here was a 9 pounder. Lots of northern Pike...lots of smallmouth bass. But everyone fishes for those...

Boring? depends on why your fishing. I like to listen to the twins play baseball and have a couple of my favoorite livations whilst telling talking to my fishing companions. I’ll go out every now and then and throw artificial lures around, but that’s to much work. :-)

[Vigilantcitizen]

I still use spincasters. I've used spinning reels, but for whatever reason, I like the spincasters better. I've never tried baitcaster. Seems like a hassle. Maybe I'm missing out on some fish, but I do ok. And I'm actually using a Zebco Rhino lately.

Ain't nothing wrong with a zebco. I used 33's up until I started striper/hybrid fishing. I have 2 baitcasters I use for heavy carolina rigs, but spinners for everything else.

[Huck]

depends on why your fishing. I like to listen to the twins play baseball and have a couple of my favoorite livations whilst telling talking to my fishing companions. I’ll go out every now and then and throw artificial lures around, but that’s to much work. :-)

Yea, that sounds like fun. I usually go just with my wife, in a canoe. We like small ponds, small lakes, small rivers, not a lot of people, no extra noise. Get away from everything, enjoy the wildlife, etc. And ideally, hassle some nice bass. I actually like the "too much work" lures the best. I'm too impatient for slow-retrieve, dead sticking, etc. So I favor swimbaits and crankbaits. Gives me something to do. Gives me stuff to think about.

[Huck]

Zebco had a reel a few years back called The Hawg. Came spun with 20 lb test. I bought a couple of those and me and my wife spent July and August hauling bass out of the lilly pads like we were using a winch.

[Explodo]

“Gives me stuff to think about.”

We’ve sovled the world’s problems ten times over...somehow we can never remember the solutions and have to go over it again the next time. We also invented anti-gravity a few times...all you gotta do is get a stick, poke your buddy in the leg and yell “SNAKE!!!!!”...swear to the holiest...the guy levitated.

(Side note...my speed in the 40 yard dash has increased over the years...he’s pretty quick when he’s pissed)

[Vigilantcitizen]

Zebco had a reel a few years back called The Hawg. Came spun with 20 lb test. I bought a couple of those and me and my wife spent July and August hauling bass out of the lilly pads like we were using a winch.

It's the low gear ratio. Like a granny gear in an old truck.

The only reason I switched from zebco's for stripers/hybrids are the speed of these fish require a very smooth drag. You cannot horse a 15 pound striper.

[painter]

They asked him why and he told them, "There are catfish down there that could swallow a man whole. Seriously, catfish the size of a Volkswagon Beetle."

That is more myth than fact.I'm from Central Missouri with the same story of supersized catfish around Bagnel Dam at Lake of the Ozarks.

I have a friend who owns a dive (scuba)shop here was hired some years ago to look for cracks at the Dam and repair them.

I asked him about big catfish and he said there where some big catfish there, but nowhere near the people eating size we heard about.

[Enigo54]

Its not a name, its a badge of honor....LOL! *shakes fist at the trolls*

[chadwimc]

“Zebco” is a contraction of “Zero Hour Bomb Company”. They made explosive devices for oil and mining. After the war, they turned to fishin’ reels...

[Just another Joe]

I'm not saying that there ARE catfish that large lurking by some of the dams in the midwest but there ARE catfish large enough to pull a youngster (10 or 11 years old) down and drown them.
They might not be by the dams in the midwest but they're around in some rivers throughout the world.

[Explodo]

Yooper Girls
Watch out for-um. You’ll know them by the roll of toilet paper in da back seat.

[Explodo]

Please consider this...

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/catchfish.asp

That’s a big old fish...it could probably take down a 2 or 3 year old easily.

[Dixie Yooper]

I get really homesick this time of year. Here in Raleigh, it's up in the 90’s and humid already. Back in Iron River, perfect, as long as you have a can of OFF. I could go on and on about fishing for Brook Trout on Cooks Run with worms, but all these catfish and bass fishermen wouldn't understand.

[Just another Joe]

That ain't jack. Go here and check out some of the monsters.

[IrishPennant]

but all these catfish and bass fishermen wouldn't understand.

Sure we would...fishin' is fishin'

[OldCorps]

bump

[eastforker]

The boat and the fish. I use either shad or bream for bait

[Explodo]

That show is a kick...especialy the episode about the catfish in india that has the big honkin teeth. CAlled a gootch or something. what a beast

[Travis T. OJustice]

But the TRUE fishing snobs are the fly fishermen. It don't get any snobbier than that crowd.

You got that right! Even the guys with the super-nice offshore tuna-chaser boats aren't as stuck up as fly-snobs.