Pamlico River.

Pamlico slam. false albacore. Try flounder and sea trout in Bayview. Red-head jig and white grub works wonders.

Virginia Sunfish

VDGIF > Fishing for sunfish in Virginia

Bream Fishing

Bream Fishing. Nice pic's and description

Ideology and Religion Compared

Found on Junk ScienceAfrica Fighting Malaria discusses who kills more, ideology or religion. Ideology is well ahead, although it might be said that the environmental ideology approaches a religion.

Catcherman.com - Chain Pickerel Fishing

Catcherman.com - Chain Pickerel Fishing Best lure I've seen is a silver and blue little cleo.

Black Senko's were best today for chain pickerel.

Fishing types

The big bucks in freshwater fishing is the bass. Loads of fun to catch when they are bighting. If it weren't for the bass craze. the fishing tackle industry would be loads scarcer and my bank account would be loads bigger.

However, I wonder about folks who go fishing. Today, another fisherman was near me whe I hooked a pickerel (~2 lbs). The fish hit the worm and I was early on the hook set and pulled it away from him. It made him mad and he hit the worm again about 3 feet later. This time, he bit deep enough that the line was broken. I "talked to the fish" during the double-strike. The guy near me said that having the line bitten off was "better than having to remove the hook." It's probably why I'm not a great fisherman. I go fishing to catch fish. I do all the chunking things for bass but am happy to catch bowfin and pickerel if that's what hits the lure. I also enjoy pulling out the ultralight when I see bream poping the surface.

I really wonder about those folks who go fishing and get upset when they don't catch bass and catch something else. Of course, I don't have the latest Ranger or Triton boat and a bigger fortune in equipment, all for catching bass.

For me and a few others, the fun is catching fish. I do enter the big bass pot every time I go. Who knows, I might catch it. But if, like today, the bass were hiding from me and the bowfin and pickerel weren't, I can still have fun. I wonder about the bass fanatics.

I Knew there had to be one.

Bowfin Anglers Group Home I like the question "Are you tired of wasting hours and days chasing one pound bass? Walleyes that fight like sticks? The fish of 10,000 casts - the muskie? Then consider the bowfin"

If you fish to catch fish, then they are right: consider the bowfin. Of course, if you have the $35k bass boat full of $300 rods/reels, you might want to be a bit sniffy about catching one.

Nice thing about bowfin, if they hit but don't take the lure, then throw it right back, the fish is mad and will hit it again.

Today was a 4 bowfin-day. Biggest was under 4 lbs. All on black Senko's.

Yellow Pine Warbler?

I've been watching some brillant yellow-headed birds flitting around the upper Chickahominy. Great to watch them and I don't remember seeing them in the past.

May have to bone up on bird identification or take the Audibon Feild Guide with me on the next trip.

Great fishing Lures

Lures that bass don't like: Black Senko worm; white spinnerbait, bubble-gum senko; topwater plastic frog; chartruese spinner; beetle spin.

Lures that pickerel and bowfin like: Black Senko worm; white spinnerbait, bubble-gum senko; topwater plastic frog; chartruese spinner; beetle spin.

Not sure where all the bass went from Saturday. Went to my favorite bream hole and caught chain pickerel on beetle spins. Today was the black worm day but only for bowfin and pickerel.

Absolutely gorgeous day up-river from Eagles landing. Glad I'm not a die-hard bass fisherman. The ultralight with a beetle spin is turning out to be the rod of the year so far.

I'm glad I, er, like bass

Slight overcast, no wind and a high of about 80. Perfect day to be on the water. I think the fish were taking a long Memorial Day break. The usual places had more boats than fish, so I went upriver. No bream or crappie would hit the trusty beetle spin. Did manage a 4 and 6 (inch) pickerel. All the way up as far as I can go, the bass turned on and the white spinner (now consigned to an underwater log) was good for three. Three more on black senko's and a nice pickerel on a black senko. Two explosions on a plastic worm floating with no weight and two pieces of worm the length of the hook. Also managed a bowfin. Great day, too bad the fish really didn't want to come out and play.

I'm glad I'm not a fanatic about bass

Today's trek to the Chick was a blast, as long as you don't have a hissy if you don't catch bass. I caught one, small. I caught fish on every lure I chunked except last year's tried and true Little Cleo. Float a worm in the lilly pads for bass, catch a pickerel. Wiggle a worm, texas rig, chatch a pickeral. White spinner: pickerel. See lots of bluegill moving about, catch one bream, one crappie and 3 pickerel on a beetle spin. Largest fish was a 3-lb pickerel on a beetle spin on the ultralight rod. Lost one earlier because I wasn't paying attention to the drag. Got the drag right and had a fun 10-minute fight.

Not a bad day for being out on the water.

Largemouth Bowfin

Friday's fishing report in the Times-Dispatch included a fellow catching a 13-lb bowfin. Since the fisherman is a competitive bass fisherman, he has had a bit of joshing about the bowfin. He winced when I asked if he tried to enter it in the bass tournament as a largemouth bowfin.

Still, a 13-lb fish on tacke built for 6 if you are lucky is a fun fight.

Support you local sporting goods store

In my continuing single-handed support of the tackle industry I added a new reel to my collection and seem to have improved my ability to use the junk I've bought.

I've been a spinning rod fisherman for years and have a great Fenwick rod with an Abu-Garcia Cardinal medium-light rod and an excellent St. Croix w/fair Shimano Spriex 2000 reel. About 5 years ago, I decided I wanted to try a bait-casting and the story starts.

Bought a Shimano "Jimmie Houston" rod/Crestfire reel combo to try inexpensively bait casting. Hated the thing and relegated it to bottom-fishing for catfish. Found that it threw spoons well and began using it for spoons and spinners.

Based on the move positive experience with the cheapie I bought a Shimano Clarus rod with a Shimano Curado reel (total over $200). Never go to Green Top and get their help buying good stuff. I liked the el-cheapo better and kept going out and making myself use the new one. Broke the tip on the Clarus rod so,..

Bought an Airrus Comatrix 457 rod. After some effort with the Curado reel, it worked like a charm. Better feel (handle) and better casting.

Fixed the Clarus and bought a Shakespeare Sigma reel. That combo does worm cast/flip than it did with the Curado, but it seems to work pretty well. Improve the rod with a reel that is 1/3 the cost of the rod (and is probably out of production).

Worked well today, but when I want to do precision casting, and flip light stuff, the spinning rods work better

Sunday on the Water

Today on Chickahominy Reservoir chain pickerel bit: silver and blue Little Cleo, red/white daredevle, white spinner, black senko, white beetle spin, chartreuse rooster tail. Also managed to catch sunfish, crappie and bream. One bass on a beetle spin.

Chain pickerel were active and, for me, bass were not. Crazy thing about fishing is that I went to the usual places to have some fun with bream on the ultralight and didn't do as well as I have in the past. Seems like if I decide to keep fish for dinner then the fish stop bighting.

Not many folks out on the water, today. I could have been due to the NASCAR races this weekend. Decided to leave about 20 minutes too late. Rain and lightening started just as I started back. Made for a nice, wet ride.

No Help for addicts

Most of us fishing addicts are suckers for the lastest silver bullet or just got-to-have-without-it-you-won't-catch-record-fish toys. Seems like my latest feed of this part of the addiction is a new casting rod. I bought a nice Shimano a last year, but found out I really didn't like the medium action for many of the things I did. Saturday, I discovered that the rod tip had broken, do I bought a new, medium light rod. It works much better for me. Sunday, I got out the spare rod tips and glue and fixed the medium rod. Been out looking for a reasonably priced reel.

Part of being able to break an addiction is wanting to. Now, do I want the adjustable magnetic reel brake or....

The Three Stooges and the Boat

A friend was using me as his spiritual and menu advisor in the purchase of a boat. That was mistake one.

He found one, 23-foot Chris Craft Amerisport 230, at a great price. The boat had been for sale for a year. He enlisted me and another friend to help him with a test drive. We took the boat to Gull Lake and prepared to launch it. When all was in order, we put the boat in the water and started it up. We idled until Bernie got back from parking the truck and then backed out into the lake. Just then, my friend noticed that the cabin was a bit awash AND the engine stopped. Turns out there was a bit of a minor miscommunication about drain plugs and, after some searching, there was a quick dive to plug up the drain. The boat was in 65' of water with a weak battery (quickly going dead) and a no-starting engine. We got it back to the launch and out of the water, which is a chore when you are hauling a few extra gallons of water. After a drain and a relaunch, it started with Bernie's truck battery. I'm not sure Hal Roach or Max Sennett would have thought up the story. It was right out of those movies except the boat didn't sink.

Boat was great, but by that time the prospective buyer had been having second and third thoughts. Learned to always LOOK at the drain plug and VERIFY it is in the boat.

It's not the boat, It's not the gear

Some time ago I was at my sister's cottage on the Pamlico River at Bayview, NC. Hot day, so I put on some old shoes, stuck some beetle spins in my hat and waded out a ways. I was chunking around some old, semisubmerged pilings when some guys in a very nice Ranger Bass Boat came up. I could hear them talking about me out in the water and what I didn't know, and how much better their gear was. While they were watching I caught 3 puppy drum and three flounder, they caught none. I told them that I was going to get my boat so I could really fish, but they were welcome to my hole.

I think they were a bit surprised when I putted back in a 10-foot plywood jon boat with a 3 hp motor. Best thing in the world to be around pilings you can't see. Let them have my hole and found another. The flounder were moving that day and they liked beetle spins (white) and red-head jigs with white grubs. They didn't like what-ever the guys in the Ranger were tossing. Cheap rod, cheap lures and a bit of luck trumped nice boat, great equipment and knowing what you were doing, at least on one day.

And there are days it doesn't pay

Took my daughter fishing a couple of times before she got too old to go off with dad. I decided to take her to the James River and mess around with catfish. I had been several times and worms, minnows or stink bait always produced a few 1-5lb cats. Knew she would have a ball with bigger fish. Not one bite of any kind. There are those days, but why that one?

A day he still remembers

A few years back, one of my former boy scouts whose family had moved to Texas came to Kalamazoo to "help" me with summer camp. Fred was old enough to go as and adult and had a blast just being around the old gang for a week. At the end of the week, I took him fishing at Gourdneck. Fred's dad did not enjoy fishing, so he had never been. It was one of those days that no matter how hard you worked to make sure the kid caught fish, they didn't cooperate. We tried all the bream and rock bass beds, magic incantations and the like. He caught a few small ones, but they just wouldn't bite if he had the pole in his hand. I'd find them and as soon as the pole was transferred they headed for the hills. Towards the end of the day, we were drifting along the north shore, where sometimes something is moving with Fred chunking a spinner. A small northern (28") decided the lure looked good and Fred boated the biggest fish he had ever caught. We took pictures and had grilled pike for dinner. I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago, he still remembers the fishing trip. Guess I may have paid my dad back by 0.00001%. Still have a long way to go.

PS. It had to be a good day. I really hadn't considered the fact that Fred was of an age that he needed a fishing license and was "out of state" to boot. I also didn't think ahead enough to remember that if CO Jankowski was on the lake, I was always her first stop. She smiled on us that day. She asked me for my license, looked at the fish and wished us a good day.

Long and short-a tail of two rods

I have two rods with 2-lb test. One is about 3' long and the other is 11.5' long. The short one was a $10 Zebco Rhino rod combo purchased at Meijer's. It now has the third reel. The second one is known as a noodle rod, bought on a whim at a fishing tackle show. The Browning rep said he was going to sell me a rod, I agreed if he could sell me one that was good for bream, bass, northern pike and atlantic bluefish. Ever tried to use an 11.5-foot rod in a 12-foot boat? A 2lb fish is an absolute blast.

I usually take the short ultralight as a standard part of my gear. You can have loads of fun with hand-size bream and the occaisional bass that will hit beetle spins and rooster tails. Put a one-inch tube jig on a 1/32 jig, suspend it from a bobber and you have a killer crappie set up. Do that on an ultralight and you have a fun day. That is, of course, if you are one of those folks who catch fish. Me, I just watch the fauna and wish.

Chickahominy Reservoir

The Chickahominy Reservoir has slowly turned into one of my favorite places down here. Usually fair to excellent fishing, not too crowded and absolutely scenic. If you don't like the fishing, lay back and watch the osprey, geese and ducks and other critters. A couple of weeks ago, I watched a doe cross the river in short swims to swampy islands and then a short swim across a channel.

Beaver get a bit noisy every now and then.

In the spring, you can go back into some of the slow moving tributaries where canada geese are overly plentiful. Looks like a nesting area. Lots of honking and some of them will slowly try to lead you away from the shore. If you don't follow, they come back and make a bit of noise. On the days the fishing is slow (usually most of the time I go) you can just lay back and watch the scenery go by.

Differences in Location

Kalamazoo County Lakes gives a pretty good list, though not complete, of the lakes within 30 minutes of my house in Portage, MI. Almost all were clear lakes. Austin lake, 10 minutes from the driveway was great, except it was crowded and the pleasure boaters, skiers and jet skiers were really a bother if you wanted to fish. I spent a great deal of time on Hogsett and Gourdneck Lakes. They were hard to get a boat on: County launch had limits on motor size and the DNR area had an unimproved launch accessible by a mile of two-track and a great place to get stuck. They were georgeous lakes.

The Richmond area has the advantage of a much longer fishing season and some great fishing. The disadvantage is that the nearest boat launch is about 30 miles. In Michigan, 30 miles would put me almost on Lake Michigan. The real advantage for Richmond, is that the water doesn't have two feet of ice on it in February.

Kalamazoo is not a world-renown fishing area. But if you want to be on the water chunking lures at fish within 30 minutes of quitting time, it's a little better than Richmond.

TimesDispatch.com | FISHING REPORT

If you read down the TimesDispatch.com | FISHING REPORT from last Friday, it describes the Eagles Landing tournament on the Chickahominy reservoir. I fished the same day. I didn't catch 10 bass or 59 pike (chain pickerel). I caught one bass. Been so long since I've seen a bass in the lake (first one this year) I almost thought I'd have to get out a fish ID book to make sure.

I did have a ball with an ultralight with bream, perch and chain pickerel. Most of the pickeral were either hammer handles (about the size of) or tack hammer handles. Don't know what these guys were doing, but I certainly wasn't doing the sme thing.

Magic Lures that Stop working

There are some lures that work like a charm once, and then never work again.

The largest, freshwater fish I've caught (aside from coho's) was a 50+ inch muskie. Caught the blighter on 6-lb test using a black and chartruese tube jig in about no-feet of water. In fact, over a two week period I caught that fish, or his twin brother twice. I stil have tube jigs that color. No of fish in the last 12 years with that jig: 2.

Yamamoto standup jig (watermellon): First cast one bass. Next 1,000 casts: grass and weeds.

Little Cleo nickel and blue spoon: Nothing in Michigan. Couldn't keep the chain pickerel away from them up until I lost the last one last June. You can't get them here, so on a trip to see the kids in Portage, I bought several. Number of fish since June 15, 2004: 1 six-inch chain pickeral.

Black and silver jerk bait: couldn't stop the northern from taking it one day on Hogsett Lake (Portage) until I managed to get my left index finger in the same treble hook that held the 34" northern. Got the pike off and then used a knife to excise the hook from my finger (damned hard to trailer a boat with a rogue on your hand). Number of fish to even look at the lure since: NADA

I could go one, but there are a buch of lures out there that work once, by accident and never work again.

The Gear always works

I'm willing to bet that all but 0.000001% of all fishing gear works. It all catches what it is intended to catch: the fisherman. Do you really think the 30' of plastic worms in all sizes, colors and flavors are meant to catch fish? Absolutely not. They are meant to catch the fisherman. Go look into a tackle box (especially mine) for proof.

At one of my favorite bait and tackle shops in Kalamazoo, I started asking if there were any new silver bullets. The owner would mime a hook-set and lead me to the latest and greatest, guaranteed to fulfill their purpose lures.

I don't want to count the number of lures, plastic whatchamacallits and stuff I've bought. And let one of them catch one fish. Migosh, you have to get more and use them for years, even if that was the only fish dumb enough to bump into the hook.

I've got a truck load of rods, reels and stuff. Walk through a discount store or a high-end tackle shop and the urge is there. Years ago, I had a relatively inexpensive fiberglass rod and reel combo. For some reason, the rod fit me and did everything I wanted. Circa 1995, I bumped the rod overboard in 4 feet of clear water on a windy day and lost it. Over the next couple of years, I collected rods and reels just trying to replace the feel. I finally found a Fenwick with an Abu-Garcia Cardinal reel that came close.

A while back, I decided to try a bait caster. Dropped about 70 bucks on a Shimano combo and absolutely hated it. Would only use it for chunking stink bait out with a heavy weight. Decided that it was the combo and went out and dropped the coin for a midrange (price) Shimano set. Shouldn't have gotten a medium rod. Hated it. Turns out that the el-cheapo does throw Ok and I used that one more than the more expensive one.

The gear always works. It caught what it was intended to catch.

You know, the fishing tackle industry never sends thank you notes to those of us who go the extra mile to support them.

It's not a Bass

I may have caught a chain pickerel that was close to, if not, the North Carolina record back about 1960. (The current record is 8 lbs (1968) so, it wouldn't have lasted long. I was piddling around with a very cheap fly rod in Silver Lake and had one of those rod-breaking experiences with a chain pickerel. The fish weighed 6 lbs 8 oz three hours after it was caught. I had to ride my bike to a bait store (5 miles) to get it weighed. We thought it was a record, but the owner wouldn't do anything to help me register it because, it wasn't a bass. That was the last fly rod I've had. I keep thinking about relearning to fly fish.

How I started, a Tribute to My Dad

My Dad was the guy who they meant with he "take your kid fishing" ads. His idea of a high time was to take a group of kids fishing. He would load up the car or the back of the 54 GMC pickup with as many kids as he could cajole into going and head off to some pond in Wilson County. He would spend the afternoon baiting hooks, getting lines unsnagged, moving people to where they might catch one and generally making sure that everyone had a great time. On those trips, he never put a line in the water. I don't think he ever really wanted to concentrate on fishing. His idea of fun was to spend a hot summer afternoon making sure that the kids were having fun.

We did take some other trips that were fishing for him. He thoroughly enjoyed floating minnows for chain pickerel. It was the way to spend quiet time. We never kept many, or any, because he didn't think they were worth eating. I moved to Michigan in 1980 and began to catch a few northern pike. I tried eating one. It was delicious. After I moved to Virgina, I tried pickerel. Excellent. My Dad never knew that he was throwing back some great dinners.

I don't think it really mattered much. His idea of a great way to spend the day was to take care of a truckload of kids and make sure they had a ball.

A Challenge not Taken

I thoroughly enjoyed Patrick McManus' sporting humor. I have many laughs re-reading the books containing his Field and Stream pieces, especially those in which he made fun of his propensity to buy tackle, mangled fishing trips and the times he can't catch fish. One of his stories contained his guide challenge. McManus said that he couldn't catch fish and challenged guides to prove him wrong. He always won. I had the honor of meeting him at a book signing several years ago and challenged him to a "not catch fish" tournament. After discussion (non)qualifications, Mr. McManus decided that descretion was the better part of valor and declinded the invitation.

Why?

In another blog containing my politco-environmental ramblings, I've included some mention of my fishing trips, or in my case, not-many-fish trips. For no reason in particular, I thought I'd waste electrons on some of my fishing fun and thoughts.