Erik's fishing rants

Ok here we go.

UV light on my right side down low and easy to reach to charge up baits.




Then I put the 90 degree amber lights onto my fish finder mount. Used a plug so I can still remove it to move my fish finder around.




Not sure how good they will be, but they do illuminate pretty good compared to the flush mount ones (these have 3 led chips, the flush only had 1 chip)



I took the green 12 inch strips and stuck 2 of them inside a clear acrylic tube from my computer build, its about the same width as the light strips. Im going to seal up both ends, put a weight on the bottom and then a foam golf ball on the top. I can then just stick it down a scupper hole to light up under the kayak.

 

Finished my totally probably not legal at all underwater light. It fits right down the scupper hole, Ive got about 7 feet of wire to work with so I can lower it down pretty far, or put it out on a float a few feet from the kayak.

 

Went down to dicks sporting good today to check out what they had in stock. Ended up getting some ned rig craws, some worm weights (always needed them), moved to a smaller anchor for the kayak, having the 3lb was just too big and heavy for pond fishing. If I am in a river then I will bring the big 3lb, but the new one is only 1.5lbs and is so tiny.

Also got a new tackle bag, its literally exact same as my old one, but its made by a different company. My old one was the ugly stik sling bag, new is the samurai tactical sling bag. The general layout is the same, the only differences are that the ugly stick is black/gray/red while the new one is gray/black, the new one has molle straps on the front where the ugly stick one had a useless mesh pouch, then the final part is the new one has a piece of velcro on the front for a patch.

Its a pretty good bag and there are 3-4 companies that have licensed the design, so there are a few variations.

 

Looking more at sling bags, I find this funny as hell, these are all the same bags with different front pockets, different colors, and different names on them.
The ugly stik and samurai are 95% the same, the mesh pocket on the ugly stik is replaced with molle loops on the samurai one. (I have both these bags)
The kylebooker and spiderwire as 100% the same, but the kylebooker has options on color while spiderwire only offers 1 color, and the kylebooker is less than half the cost of the spider wire bag.

Im sure there are a few more bags that use this same template, I might order the kylebooker one as I want to see what that front pouch is all about.

Ugly stik
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ugly-Stik-Sling-Tackle-Bag/673634406

Samurai tactical
https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/...ing-20frtukgslngblckgtbx/20frtukgslngblckgtbx

KyleBooker

Kylebooker Fishing Pack Fishing Crossbody Gear Storage Shoulder Bag (Black with Blue)

https://www.amazon.com/Kylebooker-F...4aeec5f29ff&pd_rd_wg=HS3DW&pd_rd_i=B089993XMP

Spider wire

$34 SpiderWire Sling Fishing Backpack, 15-Liter , Black

https://www.amazon.com/SpiderWire-S...00WFE6IYG/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_10

 

Are you fishing yet?

 

Went out on friday just to run down some of my reels and make sure everything is working. Didnt catch anything or see anything, but I was bank fishing and never have much luck at that lake bank fishing.

Waiting for a little warmer water and weather to take the kayak out. But I think I will probably hit the river soon and see what I can find.

 

Started building out a better truck fishing kit the other day. I used some double sided 3500 boxes, they fit in the molle bags on my overhead rack. 1 of the boxes is all terminal, the other is baits (soft and hard). Then I have my 4 piece travel rod strapped up there too. I think I have a bit more terminal than needed, but in a truck kit I would rather have more hooks than I need since I can use worms to catch smaller fish and use those as bait for larger fish. Plastics dont last long, but a pond full of shiners lasts forever.

Ill try to get some pictures of it soon.

 

as I fish more and more, I have finally started to worry less about the bait/tackle. I am gravitating towards a small select group of usual suspects when I fish. I mailed a bunch of odd colors and stuff to a very happy college bass fishing team to help empty the bulk of my overflow stuff.

I have some baits and favorite colors..that's it. now I just buy the same stuff in the same colors., I have a bin full of extras, and my kayak box supply runs low, I reach into the bin and restock and move on.

 

When fishing any lake or stream, you want to know mainly whats in those bodies of water the fish feed on, especially at various times of the year. Once your able to mimic those baits with lures, or whatever else, thats 1/2 the battle. I've found colors to be more important depending on the day whether overcast or bight and sunny. Some fish are more susceptible to having the precise color to. When fishing bigger bodies of water you have to keep track of currents and wind direction when trying to locate the fish. Depending on what body of water i fish i found i only need a couple to a few artificial lures that work extremely well for each.

 

Anybody on here fish the lamiglas si bass rods ? Been eyeballing them online but none available to check out in person.

 

Just got a letter in the mail from my Uncle up in new york, he has been a big fisherman for the past 40 years. He said I should be expecting a number of boxes soon with all his freshwater fishing gear! Since his normal fishing buddy passed due to covid a little while ago, he is done freshwater fishing and will be sticking with salt.

So I guess I will have a number of unboxing pictures coming up soon!

 

No, but if you ever wander up to Utah...

 

Thats a fine looking one! and the fish is pretty good too.

I need to find me some nice clean streams to fish in. Everything around me here is a mud river (mississippi and minnesota rivers)

 

Yeah, that's the pure snowmelt runoff so that water is cold AF. Basically lose feeling in your toes after like 20 mins.

 

Ha jokes on you, I dont have feeling in my feet(and most of my legs) anyways

 

Got out today on the kayak! ended up with 8 trout and 1 bass. Saw a few bigger fish, but they were all in the weed holes on the bottom. Also saw a turtle ball... it was 2 giant snapping turtles belly to belly just laying on the bottom of the lake... didnt move, just sat there.

I used a few different baits, but the only thing that was catching anything was my rapala CD1 in baby bass color.... I put it on to go for some pan fish, but the trout kept hitting it... I was using 4lb line on a 4f8in ultra lite rod too.

 

Went out on the lake this morning. Took almost a couple hrs to get my 5 trout limit....3 nice size rainbows, and 2 fair size brownie's between 3-5 lbs.. Those panther martin spinners with my homemade dodgers are deadly on trout. Those larger browns can't resist a rebel crawfish either.

 

Got my first box of stuff from my uncle today!

In there were a bunch of spinner baits, some hard baits, a ton of jigs, chatterbaits, and brand new hooks. Then there were about 20 bags of older soft plastics (mostly gulp and powerbaits).

Then there were 4 reels, 3 spinner reels ranging in price from $60-$90, but also a round baitcaster, it was a shimano calcutta 250! Its beautiful, all gold in color, smooth as can be, and a pretty expensive reel too.

There is another box on its way that he dropped off today, its coming via fedex so I think its going to be rods (first box was USPS). Hoping there is a matching rod in the box for the calcutta reel, then I need to read up more on the calcutta reel to see whats the best use for it.


Ill get some pictures up once I get everything all organized and hooks replaced (some of the rapalas have bent hooks)

 

Found shimano reels hard to beat. Pflueger is another good one. I've got curado's, along with several other shimano bait casting, and spinning reels. Some have a ton of time on them, yet they all, but one has had some issues.

 

South Western Pa Stream fishin excellent!

My son is much better fisherman than me. We ended up catch and released over 45 in 7 hours.




This hog he caught in a lake last week on jig with maggots.