2020 Fishing thread

I went out in the Kayak yesterday. It's my first real day fishing and everything was biting. Just on my Ultralight with a 1" grub jig. They wouldn't bite anything else. My son-in-law came out and brought me some beer and plastic container of whiskey to help with my fishing. It came with free refills. I gave my pole to one of my granddaughters and she caught some fish too. We were all just sitting around on the kayaks and I cast out, my step daughter said she'd give me $10 if I caught a fish. I caught the Perch in the photo. I didn't take her money, although she did try to give it to me. After fishing we went back to his house with the Kids and grandkids and had a cookout.

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No pictures for today My phone was dead. Between my six-year-old son and 7 year old daughter they caught 61. About a dozen perch the rest were sunfish. My son said to me Dad we found the honey hole today. Lol.
I caught 1 to make it 62. I realized quickly that I wasn't going to have time to fish today.
 
Went with some buddies on a charter off the Hamptons. Cold and cloudy day, plus I didn’t wear enough clothes for the cold temps. Sea sickness was rampant, about 1/4 of the boat were nursing their wounds (waves were 8ft high the day before). Still got some action in there. Mostly Haddock, some Pollock, a few Redfish. Cod we had to throw back. Overall great first time deep sea fishing experience. Definitely planning on doing this again.
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First fish 2020 yesterday AM. Cold as B-word. And just breezy enough. I fished for a total of 20 min. Caught one small LM by accident at the end of my crank-bait retrieve. Kinda funny. I think I might have reeled 2 times before lifting him in the boat.

No pix. My wife Snapchappied it instead. Because our kids check that more than real photos. LOL

Saw several lunkers later in the day in a cove. Hoping to go after them next weekend.
 
I went out in my kayak on Sunday. It was way too windy, but a caught a few fish Largemouth, Bluegill, Pickerl and some big 1/2 lb Crappie. Not enough to keep so I threw them back. When I came back to my truck there were some people fishing from shore. One told me the other guy caught two huge Bass. He showed me the photos and they were way bigger than the 5 lb one I caught. I'm guessing 7-8 lb's. I guess I'm going to try that area out more. I only fished there a few times as you are very limited where you can fish from shore.

All but one of the pickerel were on my ultralight.

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Any suggestions on an entry level bass rod and reel for a beginner? Trying to keep price around $150 or below.

I have been using the same Uglystick/Shakespear combo I bought like 5 years ago at basspro for $50. I have never had a rod/reel worth $150 for freshwater fishing in my life.
 
I have been using the same Uglystick/Shakespear combo I bought like 5 years ago at basspro for $50. I have never had a rod/reel worth $150 for freshwater fishing in my life.

Agree with above statement. Ugly stick is the best bang for the buck. I think. I have been purchasing KastKing Centron reels for them on Amazon for about 30 bucks. Silky smooth and a great drag. Even my ultralights and ice fishing jiggin rods are now ugly sticks with Centrons.

Now if it were saltwater, then it would be a completely different discussion.
 
KastKing has some great reels. I'm considering ordering 2 more of those light blue bait caster ones for when my old 1st-gen Daiwa T-wing reels finally give up the ghost. Because those KK's cast a mile and don't get backlashed very easily at all.

I've got a Revo as well that I bought with some massive BPS gift card someone gave me a couple of years ago. It's better than the KK, but it's also 3-4x the price.
 
Agree with above statement. Ugly stick is the best bang for the buck. I think. I have been purchasing KastKing Centron reels for them on Amazon for about 30 bucks. Silky smooth and a great drag. Even my ultralights and ice fishing jiggin rods are now ugly sticks with Centrons.

Now if it were saltwater, then it would be a completely different discussion.
Appreciate the feedback. I follow the "buy once, cry once" logic but it's nice to know I can get a decent setup for significantly cheaper than what I thought.
 
I have been using the same Uglystick/Shakespear combo I bought like 5 years ago at basspro for $50. I have never had a rod/reel worth $150 for freshwater fishing in my life.


Any suggestions on an entry level bass rod and reel for a beginner? Trying to keep price around $150 or below.

I’d second an ugly stick, but not the crappy combination set. Use the rest of the money for a good reel.

Unlike edmorseii I have reels closer to $300 and rods are over $100, and they are definitely worth the extra money.

I watch people with cheap setups cast 20 maybe feet with a medium size lure and my ultralight can easily cast more than triple that with a 1” grub jig.
 
I went out today and caught everything. I caught some 1/2lb blue gills, pumpkin seeds and crappies. They were some big fish for what they are. The pumpkin seeds were fat. I also caught largemouth bass, and perch. The pickerel were on the small side, but I caught way too many. I also caught a white perch, making it 7 different species of fish. Other than the bass I was catching everything on my ultralight and the 4lb line took a beating from the pickerel.
I also lost a big bass on the ultralight. I played it for a while, but the line finally broke.

I was also pulling a frog across some lily pads and a Barred Owl swooped down after it. I pulled it away twice and it flew up into the trees.


Go ahead, find him. He’s in there.

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Caught 2, missed 2 yesterday morning. 2lb'ers all around.

My concern is that it's only early June and my favorite post-spawn hidey-hole is riddled with snot-grass. It's a rough sandy bottom and usually is clear. In the last few years, it's crept in, but not this early. I'm wondering if this is a product of 2 mild winters where it didn't freeze enough or something or if something worse is afoot. I'd hate to lose this piece of ground. Worse, I'd hate for this to spread throughout the lake. It's on the western end so prevailing winds help it, but I dunno.

Another week and the rock and gravel will be key, so there's that. And I still caught 2 bass. (Should have easily been 3 - I had my drag set to near zero on one rod and that's why the fish got off. Operator error, 100%.)
 
I went out yesterday for a couple hours I was frogging and using a Whopper Plopper. The WP I had the most luck with, even though a fish missed it in the wide open, like a moron.
The frog they were not holding onto very well. I usually have a better hookup rate with it than I did.

Here are a couple. All males yesterday too.

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Whoooopppperrrrrrrrrrr PLLLLoooooooppppperrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!


Plopper season is coming up for me. I love a dead-calm morning and throwing the WP all over the edges. SLAM! BLAM! Soon. Lilies are just coming out of the water marking the deep water. So happy!
 
My son caught a few yesterday. We were Fishing the bottom, I told him you have to leave the bait there stop casting and reeling it in, be patient. He told me " It's a technique I've caught three fish you've caught none" Lol. I told him you might be onto something.KIMG0006.JPGKIMG0008.JPGKIMG0010.JPG
 
Not sure of what type of fish that is...BUT I DO know the river that you're fishing mid Cape!
I spent LOTS of time there fishing when I was younger! :)
 
I hit the Cape Canal from wee hours Friday until ~noon. Tide & weather with a dark day and off and on rain should have been favorable but it was pretty dead. Didn't see anyone catch a single fish and only saw two feeding across the canal on the mainland side. Still had a good day despite the lack of fish and rain. Bumped into someone I know from work (also on a furlough day) and biked the entire length of the canal 2X.
 
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