Wheat questions (aka Gone Fishin')

[duketaylor]

Not the one with chaff.
Wheat, where do you guide most often? Any thoughts on fishing Lake Gaston? I have a vacation coming in two weeks and I plan to fish. Thanks in dvance.

[Wheat/"/"/"]

I guide in saltwater for snook, redfish and tarpon in Boca Grande ,Florida. But I also travel the country bass fishing.
Here's my site.

I have fished Lake Gaston, about 20 years ago.

I can give you some bass fishing tips that should help there, but a couple of questions first.

Do you have a boat? With an electric trolling motor? How is your casting- do you have much experience bass fishing?

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I have fished Lake Gaston, about 20 years ago.

I can give you some bass fishing tips that should help there, but a couple of questions first.

Do you have a boat? With an electric trolling motor? How is your casting- do you have much experience bass fishing?

He fishes in a boat big enough to hold ... a boatload of Bud Light Limes!

I sold campground memberships at Lake Gaston one summer (1985), but those campers were the only suckers I hooked!

[Wheat/"/"/"]

He fishes in a boat big enough to hold ... a boatload of Bud Light Limes!

Ok, what happened to duketaylor...The BLL's get the best of him?

[Johnboy]

I'm taking the day off to go fishing for redfish (a/k/a red drum or channel bass) with my brother in law. Using cut mullet, and hoping to catch both big red drum and some puppy drum. If bluefish take the bait, that's OK with me, too, as long as they're good size.

Tight lines!

[duketaylor]

Sorry about not responding any earlier, I simply forgot and had some deadlines at work that occupied my brain. My experience is I've fished plenty with very cheap equipment by your standards, though not much in several years. I've watched about every BassMasters show on the weekends when I'm home, so I've gleaned a little. I have a friend who fished the FLW series (is that the right term) and made some good money. Maybe I should just get him to guide for me since he's here in Richmond. And my casting is good to very good, not great due to lack of practice, like my golf.
I'm more used to casting than flipping and have never fished lillypads and such. Not used to fishing much structure, especially stumps and trees, probably why I haven't caught many big fish.
I have friends with boats on the lake, houses, too, and that's really a good thing
I love to fish but rarely have the time; though it is a good time to down a few brews. Look forward to a response. Seems to me folks caught a lot of really big tarpons in the 60's and 70's but few are caught these days. Was that an overfishing issue. Maybe the same as Blue Marlin?
Thanks for your response, Chuck

[devildeac]

Sorry about not responding any earlier, I simply forgot and had some deadlines at work that occupied my brain. My experience is I've fished plenty with very cheap equipment by your standards, though not much in several years. I've watched about every BassMasters show on the weekends when I'm home, so I've gleaned a little. I have a friend who fished the FLW series (is that the right term) and made some good money. Maybe I should just get him to guide for me since he's here in Richmond. And my casting is good to very good, not great due to lack of practice, like my golf.
I'm more used to casting than flipping and have never fished lillypads and such. Not used to fishing much structure, especially stumps and trees, probably why I haven't caught many big fish.
I have friends with boats on the lake, houses, too, and that's really a good thing
I love to fish but rarely have the time; though it is a good time to down a few brews. Look forward to a response. Seems to me folks caught a lot of really big tarpons in the 60's and 70's but few are caught these days. Was that an overfishing issue. Maybe the same as Blue Marlin?
Thanks for your response, Chuck

Have a great vacation and check your PM box. It's full and won't accept the PM I just sent you.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I'm taking the day off to go fishing for redfish (a/k/a red drum or channel bass) with my brother in law. Using cut mullet, and hoping to catch both big red drum and some puppy drum. If bluefish take the bait, that's OK with me, too, as long as they're good size.

Tight lines!

How did it go? Where did you fish? I've always had better luck with puppy drum on live finger mullet and minnows, damn bait stealers get my cut bait too often.

[Wheat/"/"/"]

Sorry about not responding any earlier, I simply forgot and had some deadlines at work that occupied my brain. My experience is I've fished plenty with very cheap equipment by your standards, though not much in several years. I've watched about every BassMasters show on the weekends when I'm home, so I've gleaned a little. I have a friend who fished the FLW series (is that the right term) and made some good money. Maybe I should just get him to guide for me since he's here in Richmond. And my casting is good to very good, not great due to lack of practice, like my golf.
I'm more used to casting than flipping and have never fished lillypads and such. Not used to fishing much structure, especially stumps and trees, probably why I haven't caught many big fish.
I have friends with boats on the lake, houses, too, and that's really a good thing
I love to fish but rarely have the time; though it is a good time to down a few brews. Look forward to a response. Seems to me folks caught a lot of really big tarpons in the 60's and 70's but few are caught these days. Was that an overfishing issue. Maybe the same as Blue Marlin?
Thanks for your response, Chuck

Chuck, sorry for the response delay, just got home from a fun day on Lake Okeeehobee, where I smoked a nice 7 1/2 pounder on a spinnerbait and took my buddy's big fish dollar! He's an Indiana hoops guy, so loved kicking him while he's down.

Get the FLW Series guy to take you out if you can. That's a very competitive tour, and if he's won some $ there he is a good fisherman.

If thats not an option, here's one thing you need to try.
I seem to recall Lake Gaston has a lot of boat docks, right?

You will need a boat, and one with a trolling motor would be best, but not totally necessary. No trolling motor- you will need someone to let you get in the front to cast while they drive and take you from dock to dock.

Ease up to a dock from the up wind side quietly and slowly- then shut the motor down. Drift to a comfortable casting distance from the dock. Make your casts, then off to the next one. That's the pattern.

The bait you want to use is called a Yamamoto Senko. You want the 5" size in two colors, Green pumpkin, and Black with Blue Glitter. Both are good colors, mix it up and get several packs for back up. A good tackle shop will have them, or you can go to Wal-mart and get the same bait but it will be packaged as a Kinami Flash. (Gary Yamamoto's son's company). Use one of these two brand baits and not the knockoffs out there, and yes it matters

The hook you need to use is a 3/0 Kahale hook. (Gamakatsu best). Get several packs of them because you will break some off and you will want to just re-tie and go. This is the knot I use on this hook.

You want to rig the Senko/Flash "wacky" style, which means right in the middle. This bait will make you scratch your head when you look at it, but it's deadly.

Here's a video I found on YouTube that shows how it should look rigged up. (Use the hook I mentioned, not one with a weed guard, and don't pay any attention to how this guy is telling people to fish it, I'll get to that

Use a 6 1/2 to 7' spinning rod with a soft tip and 10lb mono line. Best line is Trilene XL (XL for extra limp and won't twist as bad on the spool). 10 lb is light, but casts well. It's pretty strong, but a good fish can break it on a piling. Worry about that when you get one on.

You want to cast this bait to the shady side of the pillings on the docks. Cast at every piling on each dock. Get the bait as close to the piling as you can.
This bait skips very well. With a little practice, you can sidearm a cast and skip it like a kid skipping a rock on a pond. It's not that hard. If you see a pliling way up under the dock that you can skip the bait to, do it.

Keep in mind bass are ambush feeders. Look at the dock and try to visualize where one would be lying in wait, hiding behind a piling. They like to hide in the shade.

Here's the key to this bait. It must fall verticle on slack line, closer to the pilings the better. Very important, slack line, verticle fall! No tension on the bait/line as it falls.

Also important, it needs to get all the way to the bottom on that slack line. You will rarely feel the bite. Watch your line as it's falling for it to "jump", that's a bite. And don't get in a hurry when you see that, they won't let go once they commit to biting it. Just reel until you feel the fish and give it a firm, but not crazy hard hook set.

This bait, rigged this way, falls with the very seductive wiggle of an injured baitfish.
Get in a pool sometime and have someone cast it to you and see it from under water, it will give you confidence to get it out there and not overwork the bait, which is the most common mistake that's made with it.

90% of the fish will hit it on the initial fall. Once it's sure to be on the bottom, engage the reel and lift the rod tip slowly to feel for a fish. If one's not there, you can give it one little wrist snap and let it fall back to the bottom once, if it was a really good cast. Other wise, just reel it in and look for another piling to toss at. If he's there he will get it the first cast.

This time of year, look for docks with pilings in the 2-6 foot depth. Docks in the creeks or pockets and coves will probably be better than those in the main lake.

Good luck and let us know how you do.

BTW- I had a good year tarpon fishing here in Florida, it's a healthy fishery-for now. My boat landed 134 of them this summer and I won $23,000 in tournaments, so I'm not complaining

[DevilAlumna]

Wow, Wheat - I just have to say that's about the most interesting thing I've ever read about fishing. I just learned more about the sport in that one post, than I ever have at any other time. Cool, thanks for sharing here.

Funny, I was just saying to Mr. DA the other day that I think I want to learn how to fish for real... normally I just swim up to them, but spear-fishing while on SCUBA is near impossible to do with a beer in your hand.

[Wheat/"/"/"]

Wow, Wheat - I just have to say that's about the most interesting thing I've ever read about fishing. I just learned more about the sport in that one post, than I ever have at any other time. Cool, thanks for sharing here.

Funny, I was just saying to Mr. DA the other day that I think I want to learn how to fish for real... normally I just swim up to them, but spear-fishing while on SCUBA is near impossible to do with a beer in your hand.

Thanks for the kind words.
Fishing has been my passion since I was a kid and my grandfather owned a little tackle shop in Elizabethtown, N.C. I will talk fishing quicker than college hoops, my other life long addiction.

Everyone should feel free to ask anything they would like to ask concerning fishing, I'll be glad to give an opinion or some advice if I can. I've fished all over the world for many different species. It is truly a great sport that is often mis-understood.

Fishing can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. Bottom line should be to just enjoy it.

I love it because fishing is the ultimate excercise in deductive reasoning, and as the time goes by on the water, things constantly change and a good angler has to adjust. I am constantly challenged when fishing, which suits my nature, I like that

A good fisherman should always think,"why".

A Bass tournament adds to that the technical skills sometimes necessary to present an artificilal bait properly, the need to understand a 1000 different baits and a 1000 situations to best use them, along with the physical stamina to see it all through day after day, daylight to dark, in whatever weather that comes along. (usually bad).

BTW, I used to spend a lot of time around Oregon Inlet and Hatteras back in the day fishing for big Drum, among almost everything else that swam in those parts. The best bait we found to use was a 1/2 of a soft shell blue crab.

[hughgs]

Thanks for the kind words.
Fishing has been my passion since I was a kid and my grandfather owned a little tackle shop in Elizabethtown, N.C. I will talk fishing quicker than college hoops, my other life long addiction.

Everyone should feel free to ask anything they would like to ask concerning fishing, I'll be glad to give an opinion or some advice if I can. I've fished all over the world for many different species. It is truly a great sport that is often mis-understood.

Fishing can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. Bottom line should be to just enjoy it.

I love it because fishing is the ultimate excercise in deductive reasoning, and as the time goes by on the water, things constantly change and a good angler has to adjust. I am constantly challenged when fishing, which suits my nature, I like that

A good fisherman should always think,"why".

A Bass tournament adds to that the technical skills sometimes necessary to present an artificilal bait properly, the need to understand a 1000 different baits and a 1000 situations to best use them, along with the physical stamina to see it all through day after day, daylight to dark, in whatever weather that comes along. (usually bad).

BTW, I used to spend a lot of time around Oregon Inlet and Hatteras back in the day fishing for big Drum, among almost everything else that swam in those parts. The best bait we found to use was a 1/2 of a soft shell blue crab.

OK, I'll bite. My son is almost 4 and his grandfather found a little fishing kit (telesoping rod, etc.) for him. We have easy access to the Eno and since I'm not a fisherman I'm wondering how to get him started. We've cast into the river a few times and he seems to enjoy that but I'm worried that he'll get bored if he doesn't catch some fish and I have no ideas on where to start.

So, I'm looking for some very basic information/links. We'll fishing from the bank if that matters.

[captmojo]

...try this...http://www.takemefishing.org/fishing/overview

[Wheat/"/"/"]

OK, I'll bite. My son is almost 4 and his grandfather found a little fishing kit (telesoping rod, etc.) for him. We have easy access to the Eno and since I'm not a fisherman I'm wondering how to get him started. We've cast into the river a few times and he seems to enjoy that but I'm worried that he'll get bored if he doesn't catch some fish and I have no ideas on where to start.

So, I'm looking for some very basic information/links. We'll fishing from the bank if that matters.

4 is a great age to get a kid started. And your instincts are good, you want to start letting him catch something at this age.

I didn't know the Eno, so I searched for it and see that it has a lot of swift, moving water. Fish that live in current can be difficult to catch for kids.

I'd reccomend you find a local park lake or pond and take him there instead.

Find a local tackle shop and take his little rod in there and tell them to rig it up for your son to catch bluegill. ( A small, agressive, hand size panfish). They should tie a small hook on, with a cork (float) a couple of feet above it along with a light lead BB split shot weight about 4" above the hook to get the bait down.

For bait, buy a box of red worms or get a bucket of crickets. The bait alone will entertain him for the first few trips.

If you can't find a tackle shop, a Wal-mart will have what you need all except live bait. There is a packaged bait Wal-mart will have that's called Berkley "Gulp!" It's a bio-degradeable substitute for live bait and you can cut it up in little pieces to put on a small hook and it will work fine for bluegill. It won't matter what kind or color of Gulp! you buy, just something you can cut into little pieces.

Here's the deal. After you get the rigging right, go to the grocery store and buy some canned fish flavored cat food and a loaf of wheat bread. Mix it all together in a tupperwear container and take it with you. When you get to your fishing spot, sprinkle that "chum" in the area and put the bait out there. The cat food/bread mix will attract the bluegill to you, and it should be entertaining watching your cork go down.

If you chum the water and can't get a bite after a little while, you will need to move to another spot, they aren't there.

Good luck!

[hughgs]

4 is a great age to get a kid started. And your instincts are good, you want to start letting him catch something at this age.

I didn't know the Eno, so I searched for it and see that it has a lot of swift, moving water. Fish that live in current can be difficult to catch for kids.

I'd reccomend you find a local park lake or pond and take him there instead.

Find a local tackle shop and take his little rod in there and tell them to rig it up for your son to catch bluegill. ( A small, agressive, hand size panfish). They should tie a small hook on, with a cork (float) a couple of feet above it along with a light lead BB split shot weight about 4" above the hook to get the bait down.

For bait, buy a box of red worms or get a bucket of crickets. The bait alone will entertain him for the first few trips.

If you can't find a tackle shop, a Wal-mart will have what you need all except live bait. There is a packaged bait Wal-mart will have that's called Berkley "Gulp!" It's a bio-degradeable substitute for live bait and you can cut it up in little pieces to put on a small hook and it will work fine for bluegill. It won't matter what kind or color of Gulp! you buy, just something you can cut into little pieces.

Here's the deal. After you get the rigging right, go to the grocery store and buy some canned fish flavored cat food and a loaf of wheat bread. Mix it all together in a tupperwear container and take it with you. When you get to your fishing spot, sprinkle that "chum" in the area and put the bait out there. The cat food/bread mix will attract the bluegill to you, and it should be entertaining watching your cork go down.

If you chum the water and can't get a bite after a little while, you will need to move to another spot, they aren't there.

Good luck!

Thanks!!!!

[duketaylor]

Lots of good info. As far as fishing in the river, alot of times I've seen pros try to find a rock that interrupts the flow and has a little pool behind it, cast beyond the pool and bring the bait thru the pool close to he rock. Smallmouth like to hang there and wait for pey.
And I do own a few Yamamoto Senka lures, just haven't taken the time to use them, but the time is fast approaching. I may also go out into the Chesapeake Bay next week with a couple of friends and try my luck. Thanks again, Wheat!!

[Wheat/"/"/"]

As far as fishing in the river, alot of times I've seen pros try to find a rock that interrupts the flow and has a little pool behind it, cast beyond the pool and bring the bait thru the pool close to he rock. Smallmouth like to hang there and wait for pey.

This is correct. That pool is called an eddy, and most fish seek them out to stay out of the current, conserving their energy. And remember, eddy's will form behind any object in swift current, not just rock.

If you are fishing a river, seek these spots out. When you cast a bait into one, (especially a little crankbait) go beyond getting close to the rock, cast past it and actually hit it with the bait coming in and let it deflect off the rock.

The deflection will often trigger a strike.

[duketaylor]

at least to something. Wheat, have you ever fished the James River here in Richmond? We have the Upper James, above the the fall, which is supposed to be great for smallmouth in places, and the Lower James, great for Cats and largemouth?
A few years back they held the BassMasters Classic on the Lower James and Woo Daves was one of the faves since he lives in Chester, about 30 miles away.
GO ACC hoops!!

[Wheat/"/"/"]

at least to something. Wheat, have you ever fished the James River here in Richmond? We have the Upper James, above the the fall, which is supposed to be great for smallmouth in places, and the Lower James, great for Cats and largemouth?
A few years back they held the BassMasters Classic on the Lower James and Woo Daves was one of the faves since he lives in Chester, about 30 miles away.
GO ACC hoops!!

I have never fished the James. But I have fished the Potomac often and won some money there. I'm sure they are similar, at least below the falls.

Isolated pieces of wood in the water are a magnet to the largemouth in a tidal river. The fish will move up and off the bank with the tide. A log or a laydown tree on a deeper bank or channel edge is what to look for on the low water. A log on a mud flat that is in 6 inches of water on low tide, and not have a fish on it, could have two on it a couple of hours later with 18 inches of water on it.

Cast a light Blk/Blue 1/4oz jig to the wood, or try casting a small square billed crankbait past it and deflect off the wood on the way in. Get a Lucky Craft R.C. 1.5 at Bass Pro for the river, (chartreuse/blue back), a really good little bait.

They also like a 3" black w/red fleck Berkley "chigger craw" flipped into the thickest stuff you can find with some sort of canopy. You need at least two foot depth for them to get under there. You also need a big stick and at least 20lb line for this technique. (High or low tide, doesn't matter, just something they can get under).

On the high water, it's hard to beat a #4 blade 3/8 oz white willowleaf spinnerbait around lilly pads or over and through any grass you can find. Early in the morning try a 1/4oz black buzzbait if the tide is way up.

I know Woo, had dinner with him at a mutual friend's house at Lake Norman a couple of years ago. Salt of the earth guy. One of the best in your neck of the woods, or anywhere for that matter.

I think Woo guides some up there, or his son Chris does. Chris is also very good. You should track them down and go this fall before it gets cold, you'd have a great time.

[duketaylor]

Thanks, again!!