UPDATE - Live Bait Fishing...

[angltate]

Hey All~

I told you I would be back! Well, I went fishing this weekend w/ the guy who loves live bait.

We bought 24 minnows - figured that would last us for a good few hours - and it did.

When we started off, it was looking to be a really bad day. The weather was fine, but it took awhile before the feeding frenzy. ;D

About an hour and a half into it, I nabbed a small LM. Perfect looking fish - just small. I wanna SAY it was 2 lbs, but it was probably closer to 1. Oh well. My friend kept fishing.

Few minutes later, I caught this REALLY silver fish. It wasn't a bass - and it wasn't anything I've ever seen before. Another fisherman was walking by said it might have been a perch, but aren't perch longer and thinner? And Yellow? This was VERY silver - to the point of shiny, and it was shaped almost like a fat bluegill. Hmm. John (The guy I was fishing with) said it was a silverfish, whatever that is... Again, he kept on fishing.

Then, I guess within the span of a 1/2 hour, I caught 3 smallies. Awesome for me, because (1) I never caught that many smallies in one trip, and (2) they had black spots. WTF? Anyway, through all this, my friend wasn't catching a thing. Poor guy. LOL.

THEN, the catch of the day. Not a bass, but a catfish. Got done unhooking the last smallie, released, baited up, and casted out. I watched my bobber completely disappear. Setting the hook is easy w/ Power Pro, and as I'm fighting this fish, I'm telling my friend - I got something BIG here...

I was REALLY hoping for a huge bass, but as I got it closer to the shore, I could see the dark. The fish put up an extreme fight and when I brought it on shore, we both just said, "Holy Sh!t."

It was huge. There wasn't a time in my life fishing I wanted to have a scale on me, because this thing was a monster. I snapped a picture of it, and quickly got him back in the water.

It was a fun day. My friend didn't do too well... he wound up catching a sunnie w/ a piece of roll from his lunch. LOL. He said he didn't want to end the say w/out catching something.

Thanks for the tips guys.

Just as that Cat went after my minnow, would a Carp do the same thing? The reason I ask is because this particular lake is known for having some big Carp, but I wouldn't imagine something like that hitting a minnow. Thoughts?

--
Lou

PS: Definite shout out to PowerPro. Last year I must have lost 5-10 fish because of snapped lines, and without PP, I wouldn't have been able to bring that cat in. That thing was a BULL!

[mike0062466]

Could it have been a white perch? very close relative of the white bass.

[Bassin_Dude]

post a pic of the cat. how big do you think it was? double digits? anyways, the black spots on the smallies were probally from them rubbing against something or having their protective slim rubbed off. and the silver fish was probally the white perch. arnt those big shad silver? maybe it was a shad? anyways, sounds like a good day.

carp are vegetarian so you would have to be one hell of a fisherman to catch one on a minnow. I've heard corn nibblets work. Can you even eat carp? Would you even want to? I don't think they'd put up much of a fight. Maybe somebody with more carp expierence can chime in.

[Bassin_Dude]

theres something dpecial about carp, because over in europe and areas over there the carp fishing is equivalent to the bass fishing here. i dont know if they taste good, but a 10lb fish should put up a good fight. i have never tried to catch one, and probally wont.

[big_mouth]

My friends and I have this pond on a golf course that we sneek onto. They have huge bluegills (1- 2lbs). Well we were useing bread and worms. Something keep breaking our lines. So has anyone else would do we went and got the other poles out of the car. Well the first pole some cheap thing broke when we hooked. We I hooked it with my pole it put out a hella fight. Like a huge Redfish. I didnt even know what kind of fish it was, but it was BIG . So I took it home and fount out it was just a Carp. Oyea word of advice. Don't try to eat it.NASTY. And I'm from the south we eat anything!!

[angltate]

A few things...

(1) The perch picture looks too familiar - that's definitely what I caught last weekend. Thanks!

(2) Why is everyone talking about EATING carp? LOL. I live in South Jersey... you don't eat anything coming out of these lakes / ponds!

(3) As far as how big the cat was: I'm not sure... I really wanna say it was over 10 - and it's very likely, but I don't want to tell a fish story! It could have been 8. Either way, it was easily the biggest fish I caught in 4 years... Too bad I didn't have a scale. I am using 30 lb. PowerPro - and I still thought to myself - "oh my god!" - as I was reeling it in.

--
Lou

[Bassin_Dude]

bayou, never ever eat anything out of a golf coarse pond!!!!!! that is a sure way of getting sick and poisoned. all the chemicals that are put onto the golfcoarse wash into the ponds. the fish dont get affected by it, but they get it in their systems and if you eat them you get the piosons. golfcoarse ponds are great to fish, they have big fish in them. but dont try to eat them. Aequitas58, post the picture of the catfish!!

[angltate]

The picture is still in the camera, which is only halfway used. Gimme some time.