Holliday's World Famous Fishing Thread - 2023 Version

[oldslowandugly]

about 3:15 in the aft

I'm a big fan of late day/sunset fishing. Mostly because I can't get up early anymore. But I find that a hour or so before sunset is almost as good as dawn. Plus, it transitions into night fishing, which is big in summertime here.

April 15 Striped Bass opens. I usually take the Grandkids to Little Neck Bay. It is shallow and if you catch an all day incoming tide with a sunny sky- it warms up nicely by afternoon. Those few degrees of warmth convince the Bass to come in and feed. I use big Flounder hooks and sandworms for bait. You can also get some fat North Shore Flounder that way. The water has been cold so I hope the weather warms up some.

 

[The New Holliday]

Fucking weather.

....<EOM>

 

[oldslowandugly]

Fucking weather.

....<EOM>

I need to bottom paint the Whaler. The weather has been against that for weeks. I switched to the new water based bottom paint. I like it better than the solvent based stuff. But it is less forgiving of cold weather. I was really trying to get in the water early this year. Oh well......

 

[oldslowandugly]

So I got it up off the trailer. Years ago I welded up some nice hull supports out of stop sign poles. I get them under the hull and mount the ends on cement blocks. Now I can slowly lift the boat off the trailer with a jack. Then I roll the trailer out from under the hull and it is suspended on the cement blocks for painting the bottom. Funny thing. All the people who can't wait to go out fishing, are nowhere to be found at bottom painting time. No visits, no calls. Hmmmmm. This is last year, I pray the weather clears up next week. This needs to get done.

 

[The New Holliday]

So I got it up off the trailer. Years ago I welded up some nice hull supports out of stop sign poles. I get them under the hull and mount the ends on cement blocks. Now I can slowly lift the boat off the trailer with a jack. Then I roll the trailer out from under the hull and it is suspended on the cement blocks for painting the bottom. Funny thing. All the people who can't wait to go out fishing, are nowhere to be found at bottom painting time. No visits, no calls. Hmmmmm. This is last year, I pray the weather clears up next week. This needs to get done.

You got to go full Tom Sawyer and charge them for the fun of doing that.

 

[oldslowandugly]

I have a better plan. The ones that say 'Call me when it's in the water', get ghosted. No calls. And if they do call, I am always too busy. My kids and grandkids are always willing to help out. They get to go. They can outfish just about everyone anyway. When I used to take 'friends' out, and they learned nothing, that is when I realized all they wanted was a boat ride. What I will do is send them pictures of the big fish we catch. Just to rub it in.

April 15- Striped Bass opening day!

 

[oldslowandugly]

Hey Holliday. Ever hear of the 'whacky rig' worm? My cousin from western PA claims it is worth using. He was at some Racoon Lake where nothing was hitting. He tried a plastic work rigged that way and nailed two fat smallies. I asked why he did not use a regular rigged worm as a control. Otherwise I am not surprised a worm got hits when lures did not. Spring Stripers are suckers for worms as they are rooting on the bottom, not chasing lures. I would need to see both rigs fished side by side to be sure one was actually better than the other. I often will cast a big 2oz spoon while my partner casts a 2oz diamond jig. Whichever gets the first hit, we switch to that.

This 'whacky rig' looks like a 5 year old or a woman hooked a worm. It is what I was always taught NOT to do with a worm. I guess if the tactic is to toss it near cover and let it just sink, OK, but where else would it work? I don't get it.

 

[The New Holliday]

Yes, wacky rigging became popular as a way to fish Senko style worms.
. I've used it a few time, sometimes with success, and have met others who swear by it, and have been witness to it. Personally, depending on the situation I prefer to fish them with a straight shank worm hook (open hook) unweighted, or with a ned jig on 3 and 4" versions, but also with EWG or auto .45 true turns (Texas rigged) on 5 and 6" (rather than wacky).
Not sure why the fish like it, or what they think it is if not a wiggling worm. With the wacky-rig when you twitch or pull it the ends flex and vibrate which makes an enticing action.
. There are a few other fine points in mounting the worm. You want it at the center nodal point, and can just hook it straight through like in the picture, but this leads to the hook splitting the worm and the worm falling off on a cast. A popular way is to use a ring which fits tightly around the worm and has a little ring atop to put the hook through. I've never used those. What I have used is a shrink wrap tube which is a tougher material and the hook can be inserted the same as w/o the wrap or I think if hooked through the loose portion before shrinking (lighter or match) and function much like the store bought rings. In all cases the hook shank and bend is perpendicular to the length of the worm. In these cases I like a circle hook - 1/0.

 

[oldslowandugly]

OK, I get it. My cousin said he was walking out on a downed tree limb, to where there was a lot of submerged branches and weeds. He said it was all he could do to just hold onto a rod with the worm rigged like that. He basically did what I said, just dropped it into the cover and let it sink. Maybe the fish see it as a stunned or dead bait just falling down?

Many moons go we were scuba diving at a flooded quarry in PA near Harrisburg. Willow Springs I think it was called. After we were done, and hanging out on the shore, I noticed a lot of bugs on the weeds, beetles I think. I picked them off and dropped them in the water. In no time we had a bunch of fish lining up to grab the bugs as they fell. These same fish would not let us get near them while we were under water.

I remember something else. We were there in late Summer, very hot. There was a well defined thermocline in the water. You could see it as you descended. All the big game fish were below the thermocline, in the deep cooler water. Only small pan fish were up near the surface, mostly near the shore. I guess in fresh water the fish have few options and will congregate where it is most comfortable for them. In salt water they are way more mobile and will just move as conditions change.

 

[Scooter]

Many moons go we were scuba diving at a flooded quarry in PA near Harrisburg. Willow Springs I think it was called.

I had to look that up out of curiosity. Richland, PA. I had family there and would visit during holidays or spend a week over the summer when I was a kid. The last time I was there was for my uncle's funeral. I forget how many years ago that was. Funny thing, the guy from Amish Mafia lived up the street from my aunt and uncle.

 

[oldslowandugly]

I remember it was pretty rural then. After diving, we drove for a LONG time looking for a place to eat. We found some family style dining hall and stuffed ourselves with good country food. The last time I was in that area it was to bury a fishing buddy at the Indiantown Gap National Cemetery.

 

[The New Holliday]

I've finally had a few opportunities to toss some lures around.
. Nothing too amazing as catches. 7 Trout in my 4 outings for Trout with a couple getting away.
One of those came the one day I was out looking for Smallies. Went to a local reservoir, managed to finally catch one on my favorite early season lure (Minnow 70 pic below), then down to the river when another reservoir had people. Eeeew. Continued throwing the Minnow...the river was a bit high and hard running but clear. No Smallies but one Walleye and a Brown Trout. I rarely fish the river this early because the Bass are setting up out of reach from bank positions.
. So it feels great to get out and walk the rocky banks of streams and rivers even if the catches aren't wonderful.
...but there is one thing which so far I am quite proud of. 5 outings and nearly 10 hours...not one lure lost, which is like something of an April record for me. Catch nothing, don't lose a lure - successful outing.
. Actually, that one Smallie gave me 140 consecutive outings for Bass in a row w/o getting skunked. I usually get something. Trout, I get skunked once in a while, but I don't care - it's always a lovely day walking the rocks.

 

[oldslowandugly]

in a row w/o getting skunked

That never happens to me. Sometimes when we are on a roll, a skunk day comes, and we wonder what we did wrong. Salt water is funny like that. The fish are more mobile and can easily move to better feeding areas. And if they move offshore you are just skewered until they come back.

The water is still in the 40's. It needs to warm up some before things pop.

 

[oldslowandugly]

Holliday, have you ever used EWG hooks with real bait? I like to net baby Bunkers in late summer [Menhaden]. They are about the size of a pogy shad bait. I see rubber pogy baits hooked with a jig hook sticking out the top. The real bait is softer than the rubber ones and I wanted to hide the hook tip up in the body. Fluke are notorious short strikers and stinger tail hooks are a PITA to rig. I think an EWG hook would hold the mouth in place, the wide gap would follow the curve of the belly, and the tip hidden in the rear of the body. I generally use a 4/0 hook for Fluke. I'm thinking that would nail the short strikers better than hooking the bait in the mouth as we normally do. This is a Menhaden. Fluke, Bass, Blues, they all feed on this little guy.

 

[The New Holliday]

Holliday, have you ever used EWG hooks with real bait? I like to net baby Bunkers in late summer [Menhaden]. They are about the size of a pogy shad bait. I see rubber pogy baits hooked with a jig hook sticking out the top. The real bait is softer than the rubber ones and I wanted to hide the hook tip up in the body. Fluke are notorious short strikers and stinger tail hooks are a PITA to rig. I think an EWG hook would hold the mouth in place, the wide gap would follow the curve of the belly, and the tip hidden in the rear of the body. I generally use a 4/0 hook for Fluke. I'm thinking that would nail the short strikers better than hooking the bait in the mouth as we normally do. This is a Menhaden. Fluke, Bass, Blues, they all feed on this little guy.

I think the thing with EWGs is that the fish has to bite over it and push the bait down to expose the hook point.
. Not sure what the texture of live bait is vs plastics. For short strikers I would think a stinger would be best. Maybe a long shanked primary hook and a stinger directly attached like they use on spinnerbaits. Something like that...which personally I don't use.
Maybe a short line connecting the hooks and the stinger exposed between the fork of the tail?

 

[oldslowandugly]

Well, the Kahle 'English gap' hooks we usually use are almost identical to the EWG hooks. We have been using them for many years because they tend to get the fish in the side of the mouth rather than them swallowing it. But I believe we are missing a lot of hits for the reasons we discussed before with the EWG. But if the hook point is hidden up in the bait I think it will be better at hooking. Plus weedless. The baby 'Peanut' Bunker are super soft. Plastic is tougher but Fluke have razor blades for teeth. They will slice it right at the hook.

Yes, short strikers need a stinger hook. I do use that if I am fishing an adult Bunker. I like to use a big lead head jig hooked in the mouth, then a Bluefish hook with steel leader from the jig hook back to the tail. That is what gets the fish and a Bluefish will eat through any leader including steel sometimes. That kind of rig is hard to use for Fluke. They don't really go for huge baits. Even a tiny killie-fish [minnow] will get a Fluke. But these baby bunkers are between 2 and 5 inches over the few months while they are here. Perfect for an EWG hook I think.

Hey, if I don't try it I will never know. Look at the EWG and Kahle hooks- almost identical.

 

[The New Holliday]

. Against better judgement (what I thought was better) I decided to go to a favorite summer spot on the river. Never fished it this early. Down the trail and I head down river...40 minutes fishing and nada.
. Going North to a small riffle and the lower portion (not expecting Smallies there but...) toss my 1/10th oz Ned rig (pumpkin 3") and WHAMO! Fights hard, must be a good Smallie. NO WAY! a beauty of a Brown Trout - a male. Next cast...WHAMO ! - a beauty girlie Brown. They swim free to make more beauty Trout, of course.
. Move down a bit and a couple nice Smallies, a baby Smallie and a couple of Fallfish in the space of an hour.

Not too bad.