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Fishing
The hot weather was getting the bass active this week and landed a nice one.
I looked online to see if anyone made a treble using circle hooks but couldn't find any. I decided to make one myself to give it a try. I used a stainless steel treble that I cut the hooks off of as the core and the eye and three 5/0 octopus circles that I cut the eyes off as the hooks. My thought was that I would hook less tongues and gills and have less multi-hook hookups with circles. It's dressed with a core of red bucktail with a skirt of yellow and stripes of brown. I will attach this to a 1 oz nickel plated marine brass inline spinner and cast and burn for northern pike and other toothy predators. If I end up with a multi-hook hookup I will know the experiment failed and I will cut the hooks to remove it. If I get hits and no hookups I'll know the experiment failed and I'll toss it in my box to be rehooked with a normal dressed treble and switch to something else for the day. Given that the hooks are lashed and not braised I don't expect this thing to last more than two or three strikes. A normal bucktail treble ends up pretty chewed up and bare after four or five hookups. If this thing works (I don't expect it to) I may braze two or three to continue the experiment.
Hey there! I'm looking for a compact and lightweight rod to take with me while hiking and backpacking. It will be used almost certainly only for panfish, most likely catch and release. This is something that will probably be used only a dozen times a year, so I'd prefer to spend less that 50 dollars. I'd also like it to fit either inside a backpack, or comfortably attach to it. Thanks!
Hey all looking for gear advice to get started surf fishing. I’m planning to target red drum and pompano along the Crystal Coast. I’m hoping to be able to get two rigs for under $400 if that’s not completely wishful thinking. Speaking of rigs, I’m thinking I’ll want to use high/low or pompano rigs? Also open to suggestions on everything from hook size (I think maybe 4/0 for the drum and 2/0 for the pompano?) to main line. I’m really starting from nothing here. Thanks for any recommendations!
Went 4lb 1oz on the scale, for a best fish of 2024 to this point, and likely one of my top 5 overall for the year! She ate a black and blue jig (I think it was a Dirty Jigs compact pitching in Pay Day) with a Reaction Innovations Kinky Beaver in Blank Check color...in about 2 feet of water, up on shore under a bush. It was also the first fish on my new rod! (A NRX+ 894C JWR...not the Mojo in the background lol).
I am getting a killer discount on three Shimano rods and three reels. I will be targeting pelagic fishing for food while under sail, and some surf fishing. I'm targeting fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel, trevally/jack, and whatever good-eating fish are in the open ocean and surf. So... three of those rods and reels to rule them all. We will have two downriggers on our sailboat, if that's a factor for selection. Thank you in advance for any insights and guidance you can provide!
I've been getting out when I can for the past several weeks...on my very first trip of the year I missed a nice one under a dock that just threw the hook. After that I fished for many many hours without a bite. We had a local warming trend here the past few days and finally I managed to break the ice. Went 2lb 2oz on the scale and is a very respectable fish from the small and heavily pressured lake I caught it on. Took a Vision 110 Jr. in Elegy Bone.
I used to fish a little bit as a child with my great-grandfather's incredibly heavy rod. I stopped fishing as I got older and then picked it up a little bit back in September. I've been fishing for around 6 days (several of them were full 8-hour days) and I finally caught a fish this morning! I'm so glad to know I'm not doing it all wrong.
When the local discount store has their already cheap LC stock marked 25% off, you load up.
Going to be targeting striped bass, and didn’t want to mess with bait. Swapped out the hooks on the Cleos to barbless, and crimped down barbs on the other two. 
Basically the title. I'm running some nice Japanese braid but I feel like it's a bit small/thin/light for the application. Just looking to find out what others use!
Largemouth, Wisconsin
Hook and worm. No ID this time.
2lb 5oz on the scale, ate a Megabass SV-3 spinnerbait in Wakasagi colorway, pulled along the edges of weed mats.
Top water has been killing it with smallies as of late. Also got a kayak this season and open to tips. I have a drag chain that I need to try out.
I've taken one or more pictures of most of the fish I catch. I could post one every day for a year, if everyone wants to see....I'm in Wisconsin and fish more than most of the people I know. Anyone else the same?
I've got a Scotty mount for their pot puller and would like to invest in a downrigger for Chinook salmon trolling. I see there are a number of options and was wondering if anyone has any particular recommendations on which to go for. I will probably use it exclusively for salmon, typically trolling in something like 45 to 120 feet of water. Anyone have a model you like?
 
Not exactly sure what's going on with this sunny. I figure it is a strange hybrid or that this is some kind of mutation. This guy was caught in Northeastern Pa.
Wind picked up and it got a bit choppy late this morning. I was pretty well soaked by the time i got back to shore. Roughest water I've been in so far. Old Town 106 handled it well.
Tiniest bit of night crawler on a jig. Think they make a fake I can get made up of this beauty?
We were catching Spot left and right! Sometimes 2 at a time on double drop rigs using fishbites (clam scent). This is how I like to cook them. Since they're smaller, I don't bother trying to filet them. I just remove the head, fins and guts. Then put 2 or 3 slices on both sides, season and pan fry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfSheKqDRQ4