A saturday filled with fishing

I've been fishing on the couch play Rapala Pro Bass Fishing on my iPad. Surprisingly its more fun then the Bass Pro game I have for the xbox, and that even has a fishing pole controller. The one for the xbox is fun but the controller isn't confortable to hold and its super loud. The one that comes with the Rapala game look nice and easy to hold but I don't see the need in getting it right now. So far the game for the iPad has been fun, looks great, and has achievements. It also has a lot more fish species to catch the The Strike and looks better even though its on a smaller screen. I'm not done with the game as of yet but its something I do to pass the time.

As on now there's no sign of actually going fishing soon. The only way I could go now would be on a frozen lake somewhere and last time that happened there was a series of events that lead Chris and I going to canada. Still not sure how that happened, but all I remember is that we spent a shit ton of money we shouldn't have. But seeing as this year is over for fishing, and has been since the summer, I'd say it was pretty good. I did catch the biggest fish of the year but I did a horrible job of actually keeping track of events. Its funny that I stopped posting on here right after the most exciting stuff happened, but I'll do better next year.

TL;DR version
Playing fishing games, not going ice fishing anytime soon, and will work on updating more next year...

Hey Look its a blog!

I did not forget about this but more along the lines of me not wanting to post anything. Which is ironic because the whole reason was to document the fish I caught this year and I never posted about the huge ones. Well let me get you/me up to speed... First off I did catch a Fish Ohio shortly after my last post. It was a nice 5 3/4 pound Largemouth at Bear town lakes. If I remember correctly it was in mid june and the weather was nice but the fish weren't hitting all day. We walked around the lake and fished at every spot available during the few hours we were there. The last spot we hit was near a tall bridge that was made to connect the walking path around the large lake. This spot was absolutely covered in thick weeds and the only thing that made our presence know were pastic frogs. I used the frogs I got from Gander Mountain and after countless cast a bass hit it from under the weeds. It came out of the water and took it back down, this is where the fight started and came to a halt very quickly. The weeds were not helping my cause but after about 15 minutes of slowly pulling in the mess the bass stayed on the line and I landed it. I took some video of it but the camera I used was terrible and the quality was not watchable so I did not post it. Again the irony is that I wanted to post videos on here and have text to support and further the story but as you can see that didn't happen. Which leads to why I didn't post any fishing trips because typing it out is not as entertaining as watching a video... but I degrees
The almost 6 pound bass was not the biggest fish I got this summer. After a year of no interest of making carp bait I decided to make some when I got back from Chautauqua, NY. That turned out to be the spark because the day after I got back I went to longwood and set up my bait and chummed the water with corn. After an hour or so I moved to the spot where I always see some carp in the water. I don't know why I didn't go there first but it worked out because after 20 minutes of my bait sitting I got a bite. I was not expecting the pole to take off and shoot into the water even after hearing the stories of Denny carp fishing and loosing so many poles to carp. But the pole moved so fast the second the carp felt the hook and did everything it could to get it out. It took me through pretty much all the weeds in the lake and made it harder and harder to reel in. After about an hour and 3 failed landings I got it in to the shore. I was covered in black leave that were decomposing from the carp stirring up all the muck when I picked it up. I wasn't able to weigh it but I found out the carp was ober 25 pounds and probably as ld as me. That was cool to know but the thing that got me excited was that I still see bigger carp in the lake then the one I got.
But I tried day after day on and off for the rest of the summer to land another one but nothing happened after that. Fishing has always been something I enjoyed doing, the down size is that I only get to do it for part of the year. Most of the summer was ok but once it got near the end of July it got way to hot to be outside for hours fishing. When its super hot out I don't enjoy fishing and the fish aren't bitting anyway so I find myself staying inside. I have plenty of fishing stories from the summer and I kinda wish I posted them here to remind myself. But the good ones always stand out in my mind so there's not that much of a need to post... plus no one reads this anyway...
Now that fall is almost here I have put my fishing gear away for now but I will be fishing again even when its freezing outside. Only this time it will be with a controller and my tv... Thank you Xbox!

Tl;DR version
Didn't post cuz video is easier to make, didn't make videos cuz camera sucked, caught a 5.75 lb Largemouth and 25 lb Carp, summer was hot and didn't fish, I like Xbox...

Another weekend of fishing

I came home from a weekend at the camper really early because of the storm. The whole time I was there it was raining on and off which made fishing hard to do. On saturday when the rain slowed down we got in the boat and tried to some nice size crappie in hopes of cooking them for dinner. At first we paddled around the lake and got hit and all the crappie were the same exact size with almost no distinction between them. We circled the island to catch the fish and we would put some of them in the bucket that we planned to fillet later. Well when we got to one side of the island a giant snapping turtle came up the the surface for air. The hed on this thing was massive and I told Chris to look and his first reaction was to cast over it. Next thing we know the turtle freaks out and dives under the surface and Chris' pole just about bends in half. He got it up to the surface once and we noticed that the hook had to be on his side based on how he was swimming. While Chris was trying to real him in I had to row the boat towards the dock so when he did come up we could get the hook out. After about 5 minutes the hook had bent to the point where it no longer stayed in and he reeled back the rest of his line. Even though we couldn't get a good look at his up close it was fun to try to see what it looked like. But other then that moment in the boat nothing else really happened while fishing. We didn't catch any bass bigger then maybe 10 inches. And the only reason we caught those was based on the size of the mimic minnow we used for the crappie.
Once we came back in from fishing it was time to fillet the large amount of crappie we had caught. I did the first 2 and passed the knife to Chris to finish the rest. Filleting fish is the most annoying part and crappie tend to be exceptionally slimy making it more of an annoyance. But we got almost all of them filled and threw a few back we didn't want to cut up. The plan was to try and cook them with tempura batter since it has always been so good in the sushi I've had. We had got onions to fry as well since there would be a lot of batter. And the cooking process couldn't have been more annoying while in the camper. It took use about an hour to figure out how long to fry the onions and at one point we gave up and just threw them all in. Some of them tasted pretty good and other burned but the people who were down at the camper liked it. When we started to fry the fish it didn't go any smoother so it ended in us throwing them into to hot oil to fry. Just like the onions some came out nice and others did not. Overall the weekend kinda sucked and we now know not to try tempura batter again. But luckily this up coming weekend I get a break from the camper and will try some other places to fish and keep my sanity.

The Weather may have looked bad...

But the fishing did not. All day it said it was going to rain but I went out fishing regardless. First I went to Gander Mountain because I got a coupon in my email for buy 3 get one free and being the sucker I am for fishing tackle I got 4 packs of worms. I got the 2 colors I have gotten in the past and have run out of and tried 2 new colors. Normally I just get the watermelon color that has either a green or orange color mixed in but also wanted 2 new colors to try. So I picked out a black/blue worms and a bluegill color that is grey with blue and silver flakes in it. After buying 4 packs of worms giving me 80 to fish with I drove to longwood.

When I got there I wanted to try one of my new colors so I put on the bluegill worm. On my first cast the line went into the weeds and it took off. I was shocked that on the first cast I had got a hit and it stayed on the line. I got it in and it was a little over 1.5 lb and 12.5 inches. It was a fun fight but I wish it was just a bit larger but its longwood. So I walked around some more and almost anywhere I casted I got hits and oneafter another I landed smaller bass. It was almost every other cast that I landed one but they hit constantly. I was pretty excited that they were hitting but they were all the same size. But while walking around I saw the carp that are in the lake and it seems like every year they get even bigger then before. One of these days I plan on catching them and as long as I can land its going to be the biggest thing I've caught to date. But I caught 7 bass and since it is friday I'm off to the camper, where I'll probably be let down by the activity there but will try all day to catch anything.
~Fish on!

The first at longwood

I decided to go out on a whim and fish at longwood around 6. Once I got there I tried a buzz bait and the weeds soon stopped it from being successful. So after a few cast I switched to a shaky worm and on the second cast I got a hit. Almost right after the bait hit the water my line started to go to the left and I set the hook. It put up a pretty good fight and I thought I was going to loose it when I jumped out of the water. I got it to the shore and took out my scale to weigh and measure it. It was just over a 1.5 lb and 14 inches long. Still a very good fish for longwood. I tried to take a picture but it moved and the seconds one I took I didn't press save. I walked around the lake a little more and when I got to the dock I got another hit. I saw a bass try and get a dragonfly as it was flying by but it missed. So I threw my line in that area and it hit but I didn't feel it. I reeled in and the line started to fight back so I knew it took the bait. And just like the other bass it had to swim through the weeds. The second one wasn't as big so I didn't bother to measure in since it took me awhile to get the hook out. I kept walking around the lake and didn't get any other hits so I packed up and went home.

Weekends are for Fishing

Another weekend gone by and a lot of fishing in those few days. This weekend was hot and made it hard to stay out in the boat and try to catch bass but we still tried. Saturday we didn't bother to get up early and go out so we slept then headed out around 10ish. We didn't get any hits from bass while we were out until the end but still couldn't get them hooked. So once that was over we wanted to eat so we just rowed the boat back towards the camper. After breakfast we sat around and waited for it to cool down to go back out again. Once it started to get around evening we got back in the boat and tried to catch some of the pan fish that were in the lake. The crappie were hitting like crazy with one of my small fry mimic minos on and would get one almost every cast. It seemed like everyone we brought in was the same size as the last one. So after catching a bunch we only kept one because I wanted to see what it tasted like since I only have eaten bluegill and perch.

Sunday morning we decided to sleep in again and not get up that early since we haven't had any luck this year. We figured that the bass are still guarding their fry and only really attack actual threats. So it may be a few weeks before we can get one in the big lake. But knowing that we walked up to the front lake and had bass hitting every so often. Chris managed to land one that was just over a pound and about 15 inches. It looked a lot bigger when it jumped out of the water the first time but still its a good fish. I tried short after in the same area and lost my bass in the thick weeds after it got stuck. That was frustrating since it felt like a nice sized one. But once we knew dinner was almost ready we walked back. After dinner we figured that we could give the pan fish another try and we got a few nice perch and took them back in with us. After we had all the fish filleted we decided to fry them up in the morning. And that's exactly what we did and it was a nice way to start off the morning. On sunday we had gone to the store and picked up cajan breading and it defiantly had a nice kick to it. Over all it was an ok weekend considering how hot it was. Hopefully next time the sun won't be such a pain and the fishing will be better because of it.

Package in the mail

Today when I woke up I saw a box on the table and realized that it was for me. I had won a fishing tackle prize last month and have been waiting for it to come in the mail. Well today is that day and I opened it up to a Northland bag with a bunch of hooks and soft plastic baits in little packages. I've always liked Northland and now I pretty much have everything from them I didn't have before which is nice. And once again I'm heading out to the camper this weekend so I now have a good place to try out some of my new stuff.

Finally got one!

Went fishing this weekend and had a good time doing it. We drove to the camper late friday night, set up our bed, got our fishing gear out and started fishing around 1 in the morning. The bullhead catfish are the only type of catfish out there so we got a tub of chicken livers and used that for bait. About 45 minutes of waiting my pole started to move and the copper bell on my line started to make noise so I picked it up and set the hook. Once I landed the fish we took it off and casted it back out there. Shortly after I got another one, both of them were a good size for bullhead but still not saying much. Finally Chris got one and after that we packed it in and went to bed.

The plan was to get up early and head out in the boat to fish but come 6 in the morning the storm was there and it started to rain hard. So I went back to sleep, woke up later, had breakfast then once the rain stopped finally got to fish. The larger lake at the campground wasn't very active and we only got one hit on our lines. After about and hour we came back in and headed to the lake at the entrance of the campground. When we walked up there I got a strike on my first cast but tried to set the hook too soon with my worm. I kept trying and it kept coming back for more but I still missed it. I got a lot of hits in some areas more then other and then once I got towards the cattails I landed one. It wasn't huge but it was the first bass of the season for me and surprisingly the first one between Chris and I. After getting it in I took a horrible picture on my phone(which I won't post), weighed it at 1.25lb, and measure it at 14.5 inches. After that Chris landed a small bass and it tured out to only be about 11 inches so it didn't meet our 12 inch length to count in our "competition". So he threw it back and about 5 minutes later managed to get it again on his buzz bait and that didn't make him happy. Not shortly after that he got a nicer sized one that counted and was just under 13 inches. After we walked around some more we headed back to the camper and waited till later to fish again for bullhead.

Once it got dark and we had something to eat it was back to fishing for catfish. We caught 2 good sized fish and a really small one. The two larger ones we kept and gave to one of the other campers there who likes to eat them, plus most of the time we hook them in a way they don't make it so at least they were good for something. It started to get boring sitting around waiting for a hit and reeling in a fish that just spins on the retrive which pretty much kills the fun out of the fight. But we had plans again to wake up early.

Sunday morning was foggy but we went out anyway since it wasn't that cold. I rowed the boat around the lake and spot after spot we didn't get a single hit. It didn't take long before it was frustrating being in the boat so we came back in and once again walked through the soaking wet grass to the front lake. And just like the big lake nothing was hitting so we didn't stay long. Just like any fishing trip you don't know if its good fishing till you get there. But we'll be back next weekend...

If there was a Legend of the lake...

I think I saw it at longwood today. The weather was pretty nice today but I could only get the bass to hit my bait defending the nest. But in one area of the lake I saw 6 bass guarding nests and that's when I saw the biggest one in the lake. I would have to say it was about 3-4 pounds comparing it to the size of larger fish I caught in the past. After trying to get its attention a few times I decided to try something that worked once last year and use live bait. This took a lot longer to do then planned when I tossed out my little ant to catch the tiny sunfish. I managed to get one and then put it on the line but they bass just looked at it. It was nice to see that there are big bass in the lake but I would still rather be fishing at the camper. So I'll have to just wait for the weekends to fish out there and start making videos with my new flip.

Not 1... but 8

Today was a good day for the fish because they all managed to get off the hook by jumping out of the water. It doesn't help that I'm out of my good shank hooks. Tomorrow will eb better since we're going out early and back to Beartown. After I get new hooks at Gander mountain in the morning of course. But tomorrow is the day where it happens and I'm being srs.

The Town of Bears lake

So I went to a new lake today in Aurora in the Beartown reservoir. Its a pretty nice lake, has a lot of weeds, but worth the drive. I had one Nice size bass on the line but lost it when I jumped out of the water. When I first got there I saw a lot of fish making ripples at the surface and tried to cast in those areas. Once I got to the larger of the lakes I found the area with good cover and tried a shaky worm and that's where I found the fish. Though I missed the one I can see myself going back now that Kendall is pretty much useless.

Fishing in the rain...

doesn't always work out. We didn't catch anything but it was worth going anyway. Though I did catch a small bluegill but that doesn't count. The water was warm, a lot warmer then the freezing wind, and the sun came out every ten minutes or so. But we decided to go to grenderson lake(or whatever its called) to try and make up for the fact we can't go to kendall anymore. After not bringing anything in we left and headed towards chagrin river. Once we got there it didn't take long before the wind and cold air caught up to us. The reason we left wasn't because of the lack of hits but the fact that a huge branch from the tree above fell between Chris and I. It was very near miss for hitting both of us and so we grabbed our gear and went home. We still haven't managed to catch anything this year but then again we haven't gone often enough. But that will change... soon.

Virginia Kendall... It's been revoked!

Today started off pretty nice. The sun was out and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, too bad because at some points the sun was a bit much. But I was excited and ready to go fishing this afternoon after I got my gear in the car. So I got rolled down the windows and started on my way to Virginia Kendall, which is one of my favorite lakes to fish at. A few years ago they drained it and recently filled it back up after the dug it out and made it look better.

I got out of the car and put a new worm on my ultralight and headed towards the lake. After a few cast I started to walk to the little dock they have and make a few cast there. Once I got near it I saw a sign in the middle of the walk way saying "Fishing is closed" and didn't really understand why. Turns out when they had the lake drained most of the fish had died, who would have thought, and were stocking the lake and don't want anyone to fish till further notice. So I said ok to myself because that makes sense to do but as I read the whole notice it said no one can fish there for the next 3 to 4 YEARS! Reading that made me pretty mad so I walked back to my car and drove away.

Now the place I was so excited to fish at again has failed me for the last time... So much for another Fish Ohio from that lake again. I drove back home and stopped at longwood just to cast since I had put a new worm on and wanted to get use out of it. Still haven't caught anything this season but I haven't been to any promising lakes yet. Guess I'll just have to wait to head out to the camper...

Longwood

Today I told myself I needed to go fishing if the weather would let me, and it did. So after organizing my new tackle bag I got for my birthday I got in the car and drove to the park. The new bag I got is about half the size of my old one and has just enough room for my bags or powerbait. Plus its small enough to where I can't over pack it and make my back hurt from carrying around every bit of fishing tackle I own.

The fishing was ok, I didn't catch anything but they were hitting often enough to see the water was warm enough for them. I put on my polarized sunglasses and could pretty much see everything in the water in front of me. But its still fun to watch them go after my worm and see when its in their mouth. The problem was that all the bass in the lake were not big enough to have the hook in their mouths when I set it. It was still good to get out of the house and try to catch something in a lake I haven't had much luck in anyway.

Northland for the Win!

Today I got a letter in the mail from the North American Fishing Club and figured it was that time for me to renew my membership, but turns out the envelope was a lot thicker then normal for that. To my surprise CONGRATULATIONS was the first line of text I read on the page. Finally I had won the gear give away from the fishing club and will be getting it in the next month or so. It was nice to see it was the Northland prize package that has a bunch or lures and terminal tackle, just when I get my bag organized I need to move more stuff around. But I'm pretty excited from looking at what's in the package I'm getting.

Now if I can only get a sponsor like Northland when I start the vlog to use new things and catch more fish. That would be great but we'll see if anything comes out of it when I get it started. Big thanks to the NAFC and Northland to making today even better! Yay fishing season 2010!

Conneaut

This was one of the first times that we had a set schedule where we wanted to get on the road by a certain time. And we managed to leave at 7 like we planned, got to Burger King shorty after, got some noms, and were on our way before 8. The goal was to get there and meet the people from Chris' job to fish at 9. Turns out that 9 was the time we should have left and not the meeting time. So got there early, but on time with what we planned.

Well it was a pretty good day out fishing for the first one of the season. Went to Conneaut for the first time and couldn't have had better weather to go. It was a little hot later in the afternoon and forgetting my gatorade in the car was horrible once the sun really came out to play. There was a lot of walking involved that I did not know of. I REALLY need to organize my bag so I don't have 40lbs of stuff on my back. But the highlight of the day fishing wise was seeing the first "catch" of the day jump out of the water. At first I though chris' friend caught a carp but it turned out to be the biggest small mouth I had ever seen. I have never really seen one any bigger then a pound but this thing had to be at least 6. It was impressive, though he did not land it due to the fish going under a rock where he tried to pull him up and snapped the line while trying to get away . But no one landed anything they had on the line. Lucky for me I didn't loose any, but that's only because I didn't have any bits. Next time we go I'll be more prepared and well aware of the amount of walking.
So yeah.... One More Cast!!!

It's the First, and the second...

Well turns out the fishing season is starting sooner then I thought. Today I picked up my new (yellow) fishing license for the 2010 season, which means tomorrow starts the roster between Chris and myself. Starting this season we're going for smallmouth and having good intentions of getting up early with Burger King breakfast as the main motivator that early. I'm going to say that tomorrow will probably get a last start, miss breakfast time, and get their later then planned. Either way it will be an enjoyable day fishing with high 70's for the first time this year. Lets hope that it goes as planned and we catch some nice fish.

Last day of March, First Post!

There's something going after the line, and its the anticipation of this years fishing season. Once the time actually comes around I plan to have my keep an up to date fishing roster of each day I'm out. Last year the count wasn't as high as it could have been but each year I try and expand the lakes and species of fish I go after. The goal this year is to once again obtain my Fish Ohio Master Angler Award. Once I get out on the lakes I'll be giving reviews to all the new products and old lures I use. Also I plan to get a flip HD camera and have a vlog for my fishing trips to document my catches.