Frank Castle

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My uncles neighbor who used to be a tournament bass fisher was showing me what all he had amassed from 20+ years worth of fishing and one of the things he pulled out was a 30 gallon tote of just spinnerbaits in all varieties and colors.

I don't use roadrunner because my go to inline spinner is a rooster tail. I'm a big fan of a half a live night crawler or a red wiggler for trailers.
you can do that among dozens of other options, I just love how effective a chartreuse, yellow or white spring-grub is for almost any situation. I certainly also have in-line spinners which I have replaced the treble hook with a small sturdy straight-shanked hook for changeable trailers. Or you could go easy-mode and just buy a Mepp's Comet Minnow-spin
Mepps-comet-imgfb443.jpg

IIRC, you said something about Pike fishing awhile back, and I know the larger in-line spinners work well in the same manner as a modified roostertail . The treble typical needs to be cut to be removed, then I use a hook ring to attach the single, trailer-hook (you can also use a piece of rubber tubing to rig a 2nd, "stinger" hook for longer trailers)......dressed like a bucktail w/ hair or even a rubber skirt if you can manage to get it to stay put - once this is done trailers can be changed in seconds and you can even swap hooks now that you have a hook ring also
 
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Thekid

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you can do that among dozens of other options, I just love how effective a chartreuse, yellow or white spring-grub is for almost any situation. I certainly also have in-line spinners which I have replaced the treble hook with a small sturdy straight-shanked hook for changeable trailers. Or you could go easy-mode and just buy a Mepp's Comet Minnow-spin

IIRC, you said something about Pike fishing awhile back, and I know the larger in-line spinners work well in the same manner as a modified roostertail . The treble typical needs to be cut to be removed, then I use a hook ring to attach the single, trailer-hook (you can also use a piece of rubber tubing to rig a 2nd, "stinger" hook for longer trailers)......dressed like a bucktail w/ hair or even a rubber skirt if you can manage to get it stay put - one this is done trailers can be changed in seconds and you can even swap hooks now that you have a hook ring also
I went up north for a week in Minnesota and was catching them off the dock in the grass beds on soft swim baits. I'll have to see if I can find a large inline spinner around otherwise I might have to order one in or take a trip to cabelas. However the latter can get expensive in a hurry...
 

Frank Castle

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I went up north for a week in Minnesota and was catching them off the dock in the grass beds on soft swim baits. I'll have to see if I can find a large inline spinner around otherwise I might have to order one in or take a trip to cabelas. However the latter can get expensive in a hurry...
I would look for either a way to buy them cheaper in bulk, online probably, if not you can always snag a few from Wal-Mart. If you're gonna mod them anyway, probably worth it to save the extra $$$, makes up for the cost of the treble hooks to have to cut off them
 

Hendre

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Nice cats frank. And T Thekid that is a great bass. I have only caught 2 bass on red worm plastics, about 13cm each.

I also want to put some dates on the calender with dad for fishing, probably for carp since i need to catch on bigger than 7lbs.
I might also try and talk my dad into travelling to the east part of SA (near the kruger park) for some Tiger fishing in December or next year December for my 16th :)

Do you guys have any tips for catfish? I want to try and catch some baber(sharptooth)
 

predatorkeeper87

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you can do that among dozens of other options, I just love how effective a chartreuse, yellow or white spring-grub is for almost any situation. I certainly also have in-line spinners which I have replaced the treble hook with a small sturdy straight-shanked hook for changeable trailers. Or you could go easy-mode and just buy a Mepp's Comet Minnow-spin
View attachment 1201605

IIRC, you said something about Pike fishing awhile back, and I know the larger in-line spinners work well in the same manner as a modified roostertail . The treble typical needs to be cut to be removed, then I use a hook ring to attach the single, trailer-hook (you can also use a piece of rubber tubing to rig a 2nd, "stinger" hook for longer trailers)......dressed like a bucktail w/ hair or even a rubber skirt if you can manage to get it to stay put - once this is done trailers can be changed in seconds and you can even swap hooks now that you have a hook ring also
that bait right there is my go-to on my light tackle sets. That and sonic minnows which are a softer version of those, almost identical.

I never fail to land 30+ fish when I'm using those lures. granted no size on the fish usually but its still a good time.
 
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Frank Castle

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a few more pix from yesterday, I didn't take a pic of the 29"L, 16"G, 10lb. 2oz. Flathead because I was still on the far left wall waiting for my friend and when he showed up, I caught and measured/weighed and released it quickly so we could wade-out to the spot we came to fish, but this little guy weighed a tad over 4lbs, didn't bother measuring cuz he was smalluntitled (20).png untitled (19).png
2 Channel cats, the larger lighter-colored one was 21" but only weighed 2lbs 9 oz
untitled (15).png untitled (16).png
meanwhile an unexpected guest arrived and decided he liked the submerged rock in front of us
untitled (22).png untitled (21).png
then as I was cleaning up peoples' old fishing line and cutting an obscure amount of braided line off an otherwise doomed crayfish, I moved some f the rocks to finish cleaning up the trash/fishing line and came across this little guy and another more vibrantly colored one that I couldn't catch, but he eventually left us for a swim after the afternoon sun warmed him up......
untitled (18).png
.....after this one managed to bite me several times. That happened seconds before my rod flew off the stand as the 17lb'er slurped-up my bluegill, so i was a little unfocused and not watching the snake while the pictures were being taken, hence the poor quality. You can literally see my foot moving up to grab my rod in the last picture and the snake didn't like it. lol it was the fish's fault i got bit :)
untitled (17).png
I still have more - another snake, some more smallmouths and a few other shots, plus the pix from Wednesday evening too
 

Frank Castle

Potamotrygon
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Jan 10, 2016
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Pennsylvannia
Nice cats frank. And T Thekid that is a great bass. I have only caught 2 bass on red worm plastics, about 13cm each.

I also want to put some dates on the calender with dad for fishing, probably for carp since i need to catch on bigger than 7lbs.
I might also try and talk my dad into travelling to the east part of SA (near the kruger park) for some Tiger fishing in December or next year December for my 16th :)

Do you guys have any tips for catfish? I want to try and catch some baber(sharptooth)
Best advice I can give since I obviously never been to South Africa for ANY predatory fishing, is to take a long careful look at your local streams and study the food chain. As you look around , flipping rocks and logs and debris to examine the local crustaceans and arthropods and insect larvae, cast your Ultra-light rod and reel combo (which you should have brought with you :)) equipped with some of the tiniest hooks you can find and itty-bitty pieces of earthworms on it (BB-sized spilt shot optional for distance) and see what/how many of the local bait fish you can catch on this set-up.

It would be best if you did this in tributaries of the rivers or lakes you will be fishing for the Sharp-tooth Catfish or Tigerfish, as they will be more likely to strike a baitfish or prey item they are used to seeing regularly. Bring several buckets or containers to collect bait so it doesn't get stressed or eaten by other species, for instance crayfish and crabs should be kept in a different bucket than minnows, amphibians (or larvae) or Nymphs, and you can keep a sturdy plastic Rubbermaid tub at home w/ aeration and/or filtration to keep your bait accessible any time you feel like fishing.

Some species like crabs will drown (YES DROWN) if you keep them in water with no oxygen, but they can live 10X longer just sitting ON a bag of ice( do not remove the ice from the bag), no liquid or just keep them in a container lined with wet paper towels and some dead fish carcasses to feed on.
Since Catfish typically patrol the bottom or near the bottom, a drift or bottom rig done with a 3-way swivel, dipsey or bank sinker and a hook will work for you.

The line that connects the sinker should be considerably lighter than you main line so if you get snagged, you can break it off and not lose the entire rig, or more importantly - a fish. The only difference in rigs is that on a BOTTOM RIG, the sinker is connected to the 3-way swivel with 12" of line while the hook is connected with 18" (roughly, adjust measurement according to vegetation or bottom-type) while on the DRIFT RIG, it is the opposite. If bottom-feeders and scavengers are a problem and steal your bait, a small float can be placed a few inches above the hook to keep it off the bottom (Santee rig).

The other alternative for a clean bbottom such as sand, mud, silt, gravel, etc would be a Carolina rig, which entails a slip-sinker (bullet or egg) place above a standard barrel-swivel which is in turn tied to an 18"-24" length of line which has the hook at the other end. This is more effective on finicky, spooky species that are easily frightened or drop the bait when they feel resistance - the amount of line connecting the swivel to the hook determines how far off the bottom your bait will be suspended and by placing the slip sinker above the swivel, this permits the fish to take the bait and run with it and no limit is put on how far it can go as the sinker just stays on the bottom and the lines simply slides right through it as the fish pulls.

Modified versions include the use of a 3-way swivel instead, but TWO lines with hooks instead of 1. Again, the slip-sinker is placed on the line to slide freely above the 3-way swivel. This is especially effective if you would like to try 2 different bait presentations on the same rod, or suspend 2 of the SAME baits, but at different depths to find the fish.

As long as it is within your country/state/province rules, several rods should be used with as many different offerings and rigs until you figure out which one they prefer most, or if you are catching 3 different species on 3 different rigs and baits, have a little fun and keep going for diversity.

Good luck!
 
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