Fishing With Face

With a very calm forecast, I figured it'd be a good day to get the kids out on a hot one (bite, not temperature). Holy crap, I forgot to look at the rest of the weather.

89* and not a cloud in the sky. When we got to the buoy it was so calm I declared we were going to drift instead of anchor, figuring it was slow enough we wouldn't get snagged but would allow us to cover some ground. 5 hours later and we drifted about 125'. It was completely, utterly dead, and a hotter day on the water I've never had. The type you feel sunburned, but it's just the prickle of the salt on your skin. We left at about 1530, home at 2330, and not a single one of us pissed the whole day long. Damn, but it was uncomfortably hot.

But a better day would also be hard to think of. As much as I f#$% up fatherhood, I got the Cool Uncle game down pat. Shame I'm an only child lol.

Wrassled up the kids for a boy's night out and hit the city, back to the shoal we go for some craw jigging. And I just realized these posts are going to be a whole lot more boring, as absolutely nothing of note happened lol. As much as I love it, I don't suspect that "...and every single thing was 5-by" makes for good reading. But... just let me have this, OK? It's been a long 5 years lol.

The water was glass and the marina packed, but being Buffalo's Outer, it's so big you don't notice the traffic. The kids were oogling the rows and rows of boats trying to guess how much they cost. They couldn't figure out why one was a multi-million, but another that looked similar was $5k. I got to pass on one of the wisest pieces of wisdom a man can pass to a young boy - "T'ain't nothing more expensive than something cheap". Here's hoping 38 yr old me finally f#$%ing get's it lol.

Wham bam bang out to the shoal about as fast as you'd want. I'm still loathe to just pin it and leave it; hell, I'm still loathe to put it anywhere and just leave it. Something about sustained rpm + new motor just doesn't resonate with me. But a 20 - 35 - 27mph rip later, we were bobbing out the middle of nowhere. The water dark and gunmetal blue, just how I like it. Rig up the kids and watch them set out and I've got 20' visibility easy. It's gonna be a good day.

My boy hooked up immediately and kept up the pace as the hot pole of the day, bangin' mostly goobers and sheepshead. My little cousin was having a bit more difficulty, as my brother-cousin is the hunter. As such, kid hasn't done much more than toss bobbers into pools and isn't versed in the many finer points of fishing. Fortunately jigging's pretty cinch, so it wasn't long at all before he lit into one. Very poor form caused it to pop off, but now he likewise was into it and the questions started coming. I hooked up with one of my own with a bitty dink of not even 2 pounds when he started going nuts. This is all he's used to and, admittedly, it would've made for a great catch where he usually fishes. But not here. Once he found that that wasn't even hardly little and they get 3-4-5 times bigger out here, he was all in. Didn't take long at all either for him to hook into a 4+ smallie, horsing it all the way to the boat before again snapping his line. One look at his dejected face and I asked him if he wanted the heavy artillery, to which he agreed. Tossed him my salmon pole without worry and we were back in the game.

We spent all day in that one spot. My boy (now bestowed with the neighborhood moniker of "Turd Ferg") stayed content all day, banging in one after another after another ad infinitum. I gave it the business trying to keep up while also teaching Con Man, and night fall had us in argument. I think it was declared that Turd bested the count, but I landed more quality. In any case, just about everyone had a highlight.

Con Man banged a bunch of firsts; though he lost all his goobers (which is worth more than landing one, IMHO) he got his first of several sheepshead and some notable smallies. One he landed was near the size he lost, though a bit smaller. Good enough for him, though; there was nary a bitch or complain the entire trip.



After simultaneous cheering his idea that "big bait equals big fish" and deriding him as a cheater for same, I started chucking the smallest crays I could find, telling him I was gonna best him anyway. And hey, it's very, very rare my s#$% talking pans out (hence my refusal to engage with it), so it felt kinda of nice finally having it pay off. In yo' face, turkey!



On and on we went, and it just never stopped. The tunes kept playing, fishing was too engaging to want for food or drink, all aboard were capable enough to not need supervision really at all. It pretty much wasn't until 4 hours later when I was lamenting how in hell it could STILL be so gd hot until I realized what a stellar day we were all having. Everyone's comfortable and happy and entertained? God, that makes me uncomfortable lol. What am I forgetting? Something's gotta be going wrong right now...

But it just never did. As the sun sank and the bite cooled, I inquired if they wanted to stay out even longer and try for some walleye, to which both excitedly agreed. Wtf? Really? Ok, then! Far be it for me to shut it down, and ain't no one here to stop me. I swapped lures quick as could be and after the shortest training ever, we were trolling.

Light was fading and fast, so though I was down for it, I was mostly done fishing. I was on the bow cuz it's comfortable af, boys in the two stern seats eyes locked to rod tips. I figured I'd best start cleaning up while I could still see (See petro? Need some lights, man!) when I heard my boy yelling "Con Man! Get it!" and see his pole bent in twain.

No way.

No way we're gonna have a banger day AND set the boy upon some walleye, it's just too good a thing to happen in my world. But sure enough, some 5min after setting out, Con Man was pulling in "a log". It was "heavy but not really moving". I just said "Yup. You got your first walleye" and sure enough, that he did.



Big excitement all around and then we were back at it. I jammed my pole up under the biminy wedged into the gunnel and began to really clean now, fishing completely forgotten. Answer questions, pick up mess, full dad mode, you know how it is. Suddenly, amidst my cleaning, a splash. We all look up to see the wake dead in the middle of the kid's lines. Wtf? I start to ask my kid what's going on (you see the power changing hands? lol) and I see him looking over my shoulder just yelling "Daddaddaddad!" Having just done the same, I know what that call means. I snap around and reach before looking; sure enough, it is me who's hooked up, I'm just better at using the biminy as a rod holder than Turd lol. Yank it out and fish on! I was certain of a smallie as it jumped, but it was no smallie. Was like reeling in a log; this was a walleye. I can only assume I had dragged it a bit which forced it to surface, but now that it was on, Jesus, it was a log. I don't dislike walleye, but finding them and getting them to bite IS the game. Do that and it's game over, they don't do anything once hooked. I was in that sort of half don't care, half but holay it's big mind when it got close, I felt it roll, and PEENK! off it came without a look.

Oh well.

That pretty much sealed the night. We finally came in well after dark, the whole of Buffalo lighting our way home. The city's kinda pretty, from afar.

A great story and a great day Face. keep them coming.

Do you use any of those fancy lures I see advertised? What variety of bait do you use? What do you consider cheating? (dynamite and a big net)

Quote: DRich

A great story and a great day Face. keep them coming.

I'm at "drain the weedwhacker to fuel the truck" levels of poor right now, ain't gonna make a single August bill lol. I might have enough in the race car to make it back one more time...

Quote: rxwine

Do you use any of those fancy lures I see advertised? What variety of bait do you use? What do you consider cheating? (dynamite and a big net)

Fancy? Don't get it twisted just because I bought new. I'm the same ol dirt bag lol.

I've got probably 5 large tackle boxes worth of gear, but easily 4/5ths of it is accumulation since 10-ish years old, and a full half was acquired before I was even born. My fishing is like everything else, simple and spartan. On foot it all fits in my pockets (basketball shorts, not cargo pants and fly vest), otherwise I try to keep it to one tray.

If crick, it's just inline spinners (1/4oz) or J7 Rapalas (jointed, index finger sized). The Raps are a bit expensive ($5-$7 in this case), but the Rooster Tails are $2 each. Just wire, hook and blade, can't go wrong. If I get really bored, I might toss a jig head with plastic jig (I dunno, $0.55 maybe) or mess around with a Zara Spook ($8), but I prefer to cover a lot of water (jigging is slow work) and the Spook retrieve wears me out. So with being the cheapest, fastest, least straining and giving the possibility of both bass and trout, I almost always only ever throw a spinner.









Pond is probably the cheapest, assuming this whole post ignores the fact I fly fish. Very early pond (which I rarely fish in favor of crick runs) you can get away with the same J7 / Rooster Tail / Spook offerings, but by June it's far too weedy for any of that stuff. At that point we're tossing plain ol trout hooks tipped with a tiny bit of bit-off jig and nothing else, just flipping it in weightless into holes in the weed mat. Maybe switch it for worm or nearby bugs, or, once a panfish is caught, swap to a bigger hook and toss HIM right back out there for something bigger. If targeting bass specifically, then it's either topwater like weedless frogs ($4), or Texas rigged plastics, usually big ol worms, lizards, or craw imitations ($0.XX). Crawl on the top, rip it across the water, or let it sink and jig back to the canoe.





Caught my biggest bass ever (9lb 14oz largemouth*) out of a s#$% pond so thick one of those 10", Texas rigged plastic lizards couldn't even punch through. Dragged it across the top and *slurp*. 20oz off the state record (*weighed by formula - length x length x girth / 1,200)

Lake is sort of fancy by necessity, but cheap options still abound. That same jig head + Mr Twister is how I learned to fish the lake and (almost) the only thing I ever used for years (I sometimes tossed on a worm to encourage sheepshead if the bite was slow). Most of the stuff I still have from my youth are plastics, and they're like $5 a bag. "Cost" is just about completely inconsequential. Otherwise, the same rig but tipped with worm, craw or leech is even better, though those run about $4 a dozen and are one time use. Live bait (whether cut bait or actually alive) is by far the most expensive option, unless you forage yourself (which is illegal in NY save non-aquatic bait like worms / grubs / bugs) On the lure end, Rapala simply has all my business. Xrap Shad Raps ($8) are my personal lure of choice and I'll rarely throw another if I can help it. If not, then regular Shad Raps ($7) are just about the only other option, we just get different sizes, depths, and colors. The engineering just works, and works well, and other than a bit of an issue with durability when in the crick (I snap off a few bills each year due to slapping the water due to casting from thigh deep water) I just can't find a gripe. Even my real big stuff (the expensive stuff) has lasted some 4 trips to the sea and banged in a number of dagger mouthed beasts, and the only issue was I had to swap the hooks due to corrosion. That ragged ol Husky Jerk ($17) is in my box right now still, chipped to s#$% from 'cuda teeth, but ready to haul another beast at any time.







I guess it's not terrible as is sometimes seems. You start getting into downriggers ($350) and masts ($200) it can add up, and the $5 for wire leaders here, $3 for split shot there likewise. But done properly, much of it is one and done. Rarely do you get "surprised"; if you lose a tenner at the lake, it's because you were dumb or lazy. Most losses are baited hooks and sinkers, or $2 spinners, and besides being the cheapest, many of those you can (and I do) just walk out and retrieve. Only way it gets out of hand is if you fall into the TV trap, believing you need every single size and every single color because Mike Ioconelly has it. Take everything I just listed, buy one light, one dark, and call it a day. $100 and you're set for life with enough left for the first thirty pack of Genny ;)

"Cheating" is tougher as it depends on context. I use a misnomer as I'm specifically "angling", as "fishing" entails a number of different things that are against MY rules when it comes to our games, but are still technically fishing. Netting, bowing, spearing, herding, kicking, noodling, lifting, shocking, they're all viable ways to fish (at times and depending on regs) but aren't part of our game, and are expressly prohibited. Where my games are considered, while the specifics of the rules may change depending on party, there's not really a "cheat". Live vs lure? Everyone has the option, choose wisely. Target bream instead of sportfish? You have that option too, fair game. I guess if you hooked it in the face but unhooked quickly and claimed mouth, then that would be a cheat (foul hooks don't count). Or if you bang your rod in the water before the boat even coasts to a stop and already have a 3min soak on before dad even has his pole out you little s#$%... that would be a cheat.

Course it matters who the game is with. I roll with mostly kids. Try humping out with The Fed one time, Jesus Christ. Spinner is cheat, worm is cheat, spinning rod is cheat, boat is cheat, fall run is cheat... if you don't pull out a native (f#$% stockers) with 4wt line in a natural stream out of the middle of summer, you're a cheat and it doesn't count. And as bad he is, his brother is somehow worse. It's like all of those conditions but also in a boat, in running water, by yourself, and the boat has to be handmade by yourself. Otherwise DOESN'T COUNT.

"Hey, man, why you talking to yourself?"
"I NEED AN EXPERT OPINION"

Never ends with those two =)

I haven't fished in many years but it sounds like most of the equipment is still the same.

I used Rapella's, Mr twisters, and many of my spoons were Daredevil's. Most of my fishing in Erie was for lake perch and walleye. The lake perch were abundant, the walleye you still had to work for.

Pretty much. In my box of gear inherited from my Great grandfather, it's hard to find a piece that I couldn't go get from Walmart right now. There's probably a Dardevle* in some Egyptian tomb right now; I swear that particular style and color predates humanity. The Georgia Guidestones prolly has its blueprints inscribed lol

Why not sell fish ?

Quote: petroglyph

Why not sell fish ?

Tired of workin' ;)

That's pretty much how I paid for my first boat

Worm farm.