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Thread: Let's Go Fishin'!

  1. #1
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Let's Go Fishin'!

    Hey, we've got a Birder thread, so no one can complain about a fishing thread, right?

    I haven't been fishing in quite a while, but I really love fishing, have done it in a lot of different settings, and have a few good stories. I'd definitely like to do more, but not sure when I will.

    I also want to say, I have some reservations about the humaneness of fishing. I'm sure fish feel pain more than anyone wants to imagine, so fishing for sport isn't really a NICE thing to do. But whatever, I grew up doing it, and it's exciting when you're pulling one in.

    So, my first story:

    My grandmother lived on a little peninsula on Biscayne Bay in Miami Beach, Fl. This was back in the 70s mostly. We used to spend a lot of time there, and when I wasn't swimming in her pool or playing with my Evil Knievl toys, I was often fishing from her dock. When we were coming, she used to buy frozen shrimp (pretty expensive and tantalizing bait!), for me to fish with.

    The fishing was pretty interesting because I never knew what I was going to pull in. Some of the highlights:

    - Red Snapper
    - Catfish
    - Weird silvery fish
    - Crabs that would grab onto the bait

    Also, since the water was shallow at the dock, there were also a lot of interesting fish I just saw swimming past: parrot fish, cow fish, groups of blue fish, big pipe fish.

    One time I was standing on the sea wall and a big leopard ray swam up then turned around and swam back out. Kind of creepy but cool.

    One time I caught something like a snapper, and as I was reeling it in, a big barracuda swam up and swallowed it, then snapped my line.

    Anyway, it was a great way to spend days, and I just fell in love with that experience of casting your line, waiting for a tug, and not knowing what you were going to pull up. Good times!

  2. #2
    When I was a kid we would go fishing. Mostly pond fishing for bass,catfish,bluegill,sunnies and crappies. We would spend most of the day fishing then go swimming. I used to take my daughters fishing in different local ponds then take my grandson now. We would be just as happy to catch a snake or turtles.
    NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPID PEOPLE IN LARGE GROUPS!

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    Member Vic2012's Avatar
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    Haven't fished in decades. I've always fished off of piers or canal banks. I've been fishing in boats twice in 35 or 40 years. Both times I mostly made chum and turned every shade of green.

  4. #4
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vic2012 View Post
    Haven't fished in decades. I've always fished off of piers or canal banks. I've been fishing in boats twice in 35 or 40 years. Both times I mostly made chum and turned every shade of green.
    So speaking of turning green, one time we were in Cancun, and I called a fishing excursion company. I told them I wanted to go fishing but I didn't want to go for Marlin or Swordfish or anything like that. I just wanted to fish off a boat for whatever I could catch. They assured me that's what I could do.

    So I show up early the next morning, and there's a group of guys and a few boats and some food. I never really get motion sickness, so I ate a banana but figured that would be enough.

    Two guys take three of us out on one boat, we motor off for about an hour and then they say that we're where we can fish. They get one guy set up in the chair with a rod, and the head to where there's a bunch of seagulls landing on the water, obviouslyin a feeding frenzy - they say that means there are Sailfish there. They immediately put the boat in a tight circle, so we're just spinning around, inhaling fumes. After a few minutes they help the guy reel in a sailfish. There's some blood, and I'm suddenly not feeling so great.

    Then apparently it's my turn. Same deal, after a few minutes they help me reel in a sailfish, and there's more blood, and they start asking me if I want to keep the fish and get it mounted, and telling me it's $1000 or something. I said no, throw it back. They're disappoited, but I don't want a friggin' mounted sailfish.

    Next thing, the first guy and I are puking over the side. It was the spinning and the fumes! Pretty hard to avoid.

    The third guy has a go, and honestly I forget what happened. I think he got one too, and I think they both wanted theirs mounted. On shore, they took a picture of me with one of the other guys' fish. I did buy a copy, what the heck!

    But this was not at all what I wanted, that wasn't fishing to me.No patience, no skill involved. It was a racket!

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    I never caught the fishing bug. I fished on occasion when I was a teen (even owned a fishing pole), but it never did all that much for me. As an adult I went Ice Fishing one time.........froze my ass off and did not catch anything........it was my last time......

  6. #6
    Member Lopez's Avatar
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    My dad took us fishing when we were small to the local lake in Rhode Island. He always caught trout, pickerel, bass, and catfish. I just caught blue gills and sunfish, but it was still fun reeling them in. We always used what we caught. The trout, etc. my mom cooked, and my grandfather used the blue gills as fertilizer for the hedges he planted in front of the house.

    When my kids were little, I would take them each on a fishing trip to a lake in northern New Hampshire. Once my daughter, Lian, and I were in a rowboat not far offshore using worms as bait. We get a bite and start to reel it in when we feel a very sharp tug. I told Lian we must have snagged the line on a sunken branch. As we slowly reel in the line we see an enormous snapping turtle loom up out of the depth with the little perch we hooked in its mouth. We started to panic, Lian screaming, "It's an otter; it's an otter," but then the line broke and the snapper settled back. We talked about that for days.
    Lou

    Looking forward to my day in court.

  7. #7
    Member Vic2012's Avatar
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    Most fight I ever got from a fish was a red Snapper fishing off the White Street Pier in Key West. It wasn't a huge fish but it fed 3-4 people. I'm not the type that fishes just for sport, I usually consume what I catch ( depending, of course).

    As a kid in San Francisco I'd go crabbing off of Muni Pier. Good times.

  8. #8
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveSly View Post
    I never caught the fishing bug. I fished on occasion when I was a teen (even owned a fishing pole), but it never did all that much for me. As an adult I went Ice Fishing one time.........froze my ass off and did not catch anything........it was my last time......
    When I was in college, for some reason a couple of friends and I started going ice fishing. This was in Syracuse - we'd head out super early and drive out into the sticks about 45 minutes out to some lake. We'd stop at a bait shop, pick up some maggots (! For some reason that's what was recommended - I think we tried minnows too). When we got out on the ice there'd be a lot of more serious ice fishers, so we'd borrow someone's augur and make a hole, and drop our lines in. I don't think any of us ever got a single bite! The nice thing was once the sun came up it got fairly warm out on the ice.

    The best part though was when we were done. We went to this hick diner called Flo's. We were the only people who weren't authentically grizzled. We'd order perch sandwiches, and something called a Sunshine Salad, which was a salad with orange jello on top. Good times!

    Later on I sort of lost interest in it, but my friends got more into it, and built a big wooden sled/tacklebox type thing to pull all their equipment out onto the ice. They even started recording (and broadcasting) a tongue-in-cheek Public Access cable TV show called "Let's Go Fishin'!," hence the title of this thread. The brother of one of these guys had a boat up in the Thousand Islands, so we went fishing there occasionally, and they recorded some shows up there, and back down on the ice.

  9. #9
    Don't let your meatloaf! Paulie's Avatar
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    When I lived in Boston, I was an avid Striper angler. The season runs from April to as late as November. They are migratory and follow the Bunker up from the Chesapeake. My biggest ever was a 52" cow that took my plug merely 2' from the shore on the esplanade at UMass Boston (gorgeous place to fish BTW with lots of eyecandy to keep your interest between the action). That was quite the battle.

    Now that I've relocated to Central MA, I've only fished on my bi-yearly vacations as I'm not much of a freshwater guy. Mainly Barracuda, Jack Cravale, Red Drum, Wahoo, etc.

    Fin's up!!
    "That gum you like is going to come back in style."

  10. #10
    Man of repute progmatist's Avatar
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    This thread sounds fishy to me.
    "Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama

  11. #11
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paulie View Post
    When I lived in Boston, I was an avid Striper angler. The season runs from April to as late as November. They are migratory and follow the Bunker up from the Chesapeake. My biggest ever was a 52" cow that took my plug merely 2' from the shore on the esplanade at UMass Boston (gorgeous place to fish BTW with lots of eyecandy to keep your interest between the action). That was quite the battle.

    Now that I've relocated to Central MA, I've only fished on my bi-yearly vacations as I'm not much of a freshwater guy. Mainly Barracuda, Jack Cravale, Red Drum, Wahoo, etc.

    Fin's up!!
    Where do you go fishing on those vacations? I used to have a friend who went on some pretty exotic fishing trips in South America. They always sounded cool, but I never got to go on one. I'd love to do that though.

    BTW, wow, 52" sounds intense. A cow, LOL! Are the females called cows? And what is a plug? A lure?

  12. #12
    Don't let your meatloaf! Paulie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    Where do you go fishing on those vacations? I used to have a friend who went on some pretty exotic fishing trips in South America. They always sounded cool, but I never got to go on one. I'd love to do that though.

    BTW, wow, 52" sounds intense. A cow, LOL! Are the females called cows? And what is a plug? A lure?
    Key West, Bermuda, Aruba, Marco Island FL, Ft. Myers Beach FL, St. Pete Beach FL, basically anywhere I land I search out a captain with a small boat for personal charters.

    Yes, the big ones are called cows because only the females get that big (and she was delicious BTW). A plug is a lure.
    "That gum you like is going to come back in style."

  13. #13
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paulie View Post
    Key West, Bermuda, Aruba, Marco Island FL, Ft. Myers Beach FL, St. Pete Beach FL, basically anywhere I land I search out a captain with a small boat for personal charters.

    Yes, the big ones are called cows because only the females get that big (and she was delicious BTW). A plug is a lure.
    Cool - if you don't mind my asking, are those cruises on a large cruise line you go on, and if so where do you sail out of? Any recommendations? Sounds like a good way to do some fishing.

    EDIT: CTTOI, I guess if it was on a cruise ship you wouldn't really be able to cook the fish, so...

  14. #14
    Don't let your meatloaf! Paulie's Avatar
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    No cruises. Just destinations. I look up charters everywhere I land
    "That gum you like is going to come back in style."

  15. #15
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Do you mean you're on your own boat? Not sure what you mean by everywhere you land. Or do you mean you just fly to one of those destinations?

    Sorry, I don't vacation enough!

  16. #16
    Don't let your meatloaf! Paulie's Avatar
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    Yes, where I fly.
    "That gum you like is going to come back in style."

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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    When I was in college, for some reason a couple of friends and I started going ice fishing. This was in Syracuse - we'd head out super early and drive out into the sticks about 45 minutes out to some lake. We'd stop at a bait shop, pick up some maggots (! For some reason that's what was recommended - I think we tried minnows too). When we got out on the ice there'd be a lot of more serious ice fishers, so we'd borrow someone's augur and make a hole, and drop our lines in. I don't think any of us ever got a single bite! The nice thing was once the sun came up it got fairly warm out on the ice.

    The best part though was when we were done. We went to this hick diner called Flo's. We were the only people who weren't authentically grizzled. We'd order perch sandwiches, and something called a Sunshine Salad, which was a salad with orange jello on top. Good times!

    Later on I sort of lost interest in it, but my friends got more into it, and built a big wooden sled/tacklebox type thing to pull all their equipment out onto the ice. They even started recording (and broadcasting) a tongue-in-cheek Public Access cable TV show called "Let's Go Fishin'!," hence the title of this thread. The brother of one of these guys had a boat up in the Thousand Islands, so we went fishing there occasionally, and they recorded some shows up there, and back down on the ice.
    My wife's sister's husband is big into ice fishing. He lives in Madison Wisconsin has his own ice shanty that he hauls out onto the lakes. I think he even has a gas heater that he uses when it is really cold.

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