Who's ready to go fishing???

[HICKMAN]

I just stumbled upon (online) a place I've not heard about before: Green-Sullivan State Forest. From maps and reading it looks like they have many places to fish. Anybody been there and are any of the ponds good for shore fishing going after bass?

It's a fisherman's paradise... Bass Lake (dugger unit) and Res 26 are my favorites. Res 26 might be too full of grass this time of year, but GSSF is my favorite place in the state to fish.

 

[SigFan07]

Very cool. I will try to get down there some time this summer. Thanks for the info!

 

[Htrailblazer]

Yesterday I caught probably the biggest of my life. I didnt have a scale with me but I am guessing in the 6-7lb range. I have caught one other this size but this one was way fatter.

 

[HICKMAN]

that is a great bass!

 

[SigFan07]

I keep hearing so much about Gary Yamamoto this and Gary Yamamoto that on TV and in magazines I decided to buy some. I visited Dicks today in Avon and picked up some Gary Yamamoto Flappin Hog (Watermelon Magic). I bought a pack of Berkley Chigger Craws a few days ago. I didn't know till last night when I looked it up that crayfish swim backwards. lol. I was wondering why all the videos I saw on youtube, the crawfish were pointed backwards on the hook. But they do swim backwards, so I guess it's correct.

 

[HICKMAN]

The GY Senko is my favorite. T-rigged with no weight or wacky rig.

Love the watermelon in clear water and white in stained.

 

[RobbyMaQ]

Not sure what that all is...
But I have good luck with Jig and Paca Craw Sr. Change colors depending on how clear the water is. Weight depending on how deep I am fishing.
Naturally, things change... but the above is a pretty fail safe fallback for me. Might be just cuz I am comfortable/confident fishing it too.

 

[shadow6492]

Great bass! I like using the senko and super fluke. They are my main two baits.

 

[bwframe]

Isn't it about Walleye time locally?

 

[SigFan07]

I need to get some thick gloves or learn how to hold catfish the right way. I went fishing this evening with my nephew. Once again he used worms going after anything and I used artificial plastic lures. I didn't catch anything but he caught three or four. Three of them were catfish. My brother took the hook out of two of them. He puts his foot down on the them holding them down on the ground and takes the hook out. Once he was gone and our nephew pulled out a small catfish I had to take the hook out. I noticed the hook was very deep down the throat. I contemplated picking it up with one hand and taking my other and trying to work the hook out. But I've read small catfish are the ones that will fin you badly. I laid it down and tried using plyers but the hook was very deep. So I cut the line off the hook, graged it by the tail and tosed it back into the creek.

My nephew uses live worms and from time to time his hook has ended up deep down the throat. Now I've only caught two fish so far since I started fishing, both with plastic lizard and one rooster tail, and all were hooked in the mouth and easy to remove.

 

[spainy79]

Did a little fishing yesterday evening (not too good) and went back this evening and did better. I'm always excited to pull a saugeye out of Sullivan lake. It's been over a year since I've landed one from there. this guy measured 16". Got some pics and let it go.

 

[bwframe]

I need to get some thick gloves or learn how to hold catfish the right way. I went fishing this evening with my nephew. Once again he used worms going after anything and I used artificial plastic lures. I didn't catch anything but he caught three or four. Three of them were catfish. My brother took the hook out of two of them. He puts his foot down on the them holding them down on the ground and takes the hook out. Once he was gone and our nephew pulled out a small catfish I had to take the hook out. I noticed the hook was very deep down the throat. I contemplated picking it up with one hand and taking my other and trying to work the hook out. But I've read small catfish are the ones that will fin you badly. I laid it down and tried using plyers but the hook was very deep. So I cut the line off the hook, graged it by the tail and tosed it back into the creek.

My nephew uses live worms and from time to time his hook has ended up deep down the throat. Now I've only caught two fish so far since I started fishing, both with plastic lizard and one rooster tail, and all were hooked in the mouth and easy to remove.

Let me google that for you

 

[Dargasonus]

I need to get some thick gloves or learn how to hold catfish the right way. I went fishing this evening with my nephew. Once again he used worms going after anything and I used artificial plastic lures. I didn't catch anything but he caught three or four. Three of them were catfish. My brother took the hook out of two of them. He puts his foot down on the them holding them down on the ground and takes the hook out. Once he was gone and our nephew pulled out a small catfish I had to take the hook out. I noticed the hook was very deep down the throat. I contemplated picking it up with one hand and taking my other and trying to work the hook out. But I've read small catfish are the ones that will fin you badly. I laid it down and tried using plyers but the hook was very deep. So I cut the line off the hook, graged it by the tail and tosed it back into the creek.

My nephew uses live worms and from time to time his hook has ended up deep down the throat. Now I've only caught two fish so far since I started fishing, both with plastic lizard and one rooster tail, and all were hooked in the mouth and easy to remove.

Small ones are definitely the ones that will stick you. I like to straddle the drivers side fin with my index and middle finger, push down and hold the dorsel with my ring and pinky, and get behind the passenger side fin with my thumb. When you go to release them or throw them in the cooler (the small ones are great fried whole IMO), flip them backwards throwing the tail out first and you'll be okay. When you first pull em out just lay them on the bank or the bottom of the boat until they stop flipping so hard and calm down a bit, then pick them up. If they are hooked really deep and I don't plan on eating them I'll just cut the line to avoid any severe damage to them. You can do a lot more harm than good trying to rip a hook out of the throat.

 

[Frosty]

I need to get some thick gloves or learn how to hold catfish the right way. I went fishing this evening with my nephew. Once again he used worms going after anything and I used artificial plastic lures. I didn't catch anything but he caught three or four. Three of them were catfish. My brother took the hook out of two of them. He puts his foot down on the them holding them down on the ground and takes the hook out. Once he was gone and our nephew pulled out a small catfish I had to take the hook out. I noticed the hook was very deep down the throat. I contemplated picking it up with one hand and taking my other and trying to work the hook out. But I've read small catfish are the ones that will fin you badly. I laid it down and tried using plyers but the hook was very deep. So I cut the line off the hook, graged it by the tail and tosed it back into the creek.

My nephew uses live worms and from time to time his hook has ended up deep down the throat. Now I've only caught two fish so far since I started fishing, both with plastic lizard and one rooster tail, and all were hooked in the mouth and easy to remove.

I use crawlers all the time, you just need to be on the ball with your hook set, usually I don't have much problem keeping the hooks in their lip unless they are be really finicky with it and don't try to run after they grab it. I take cats off the same way your brother does, I've been horned a couple times, that's enough for me, those things hurt!

 

[Dargasonus]

I use crawlers all the time, you just need to be on the ball with your hook set, usually I don't have much problem keeping the hooks in their lip unless they are be really finicky with it and don't try to run after they grab it. I take cats off the same way your brother does, I've been horned a couple times, that's enough for me, those things hurt!

A hungry little mudcat or fiddler can have a hunk of liver half digested in a few seconds, hard to avoid sometimes .

 

[Frosty]

A hungry little mudcat or fiddler can have a hunk of liver half digested in a few seconds, hard to avoid sometimes .

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, it's gonna happen, I usually go for bass and bluegill, sometimes they will just grab it and sit there, so while I'm sitting there looking at going "was that a bite" they are pooping out my hook...

 

[SigFan07]

Let me google that for you

I looked on google and youtube for videos on how to hold catfish. But there is no way I'm going to try it until I find someone in person that will show me in person. I read some comments on how to hold catfish and some guys say they take thick towels and use them to hold the catfish. I read another guy's comments and said he bought some cheep welding gloves from Harbor Freight to hold catfish.

 

[SigFan07]

...I've been horned a couple times, that's enough for me, those things hurt!

How bad does it hurt? Does it hurt like getting a shot at the doctor? A bumble bee sting? A Yellow Jacket sting? Or worse?

 

[bwframe]

...I read another guy's comments and said he bought some cheep welding gloves from Harbor Freight to hold catfish.

Do you want to be the GUY who puts on gloves to handle catfish? What are you gonna do if you fool around and accidentally catch a toothy fish like a walleye or pike?

How bad does it hurt? Does it hurt like getting a shot at the doctor? A bumble bee sting? A Yellow Jacket sting? Or worse?

It's like a pretty serious bee sting. You don't like it at all, but it's not debilitating or paralyzing.

I prefer not to touch the catfish if I can avoid it. I would rather not mess up their skin slime, whether I'm keeping them or not. I'll hold them if necesary, but 9/10 times I'll use the needlenose to jerk the hook after I have them on the stringer or while in/over the water, so they'll fall in.

I try my best to respect the lives of all critters. Either quick clean kills or handling with as little pain as possible. If I had to use my foot to hold the fish on the ground to take the hook out, I wouldn't fish.

 

[Zoub]

Gloves, baseball bats and handguns OR you can buy some jaws spreaders. I own a bunch of them, for large pike, but you could use them on catfish until you figure out how to do it. Fish tend to become very still once you pop the spreader.