Fishing. Let's see your work.....

I caught this monster. It was tough. Almost couldn’t land him.....

 

same here but man get that reel off the sand!!

 

I had the same thought.

I think that reel is built for that type of abuse, though. It looks like a Van Stall. The only thing I really know about them is that they're expensive as hell! They look really nice, though.

 

Yes, stripes bass from last fall run on south shore Long Island - my first season in Surfcasting. Landed about 20 fish in a 2-hour window that day, arms were sore. But what a blast! Can’t wait for spring run to start.

Van Staal reels can be dunked, rinsed and reeled underwater.

 

My friend caught a 36 inch citation Striper on softshell crab while out on my boat.....

 

It looks like a great reel. It's worth whatever it cost if it holds up to saltwater like that.

Is that a bail-less reel?

 

Yup. Mine are all bail-less. Replacing seals and grease every couple of seasons, I’m told they last decades. Will see.

 

Nice! Maybe after I'm done dumping all of my money into the 4runner, I'll try out a high end reel like that. For now, I'm pretty happy with my Penns and Abu Garcias.

By the way, welcome to the forum!

 

Any ice fisherman out there? How about these babies from Petenwell here in Wisconsin!

 

nice stripers!! i know van staals are badass, its just a pet peeve of mine, no matter how good they are! love fishing for stripers in NJ...gonna be tough for me to get to the beach to fish the run this year which reallllly sucks.

 

I have been slacking on the ice-fishing for a few years. Maybe I'll get out next winter.

Petenwell is a cool flowage. I've never had the boat out there, but my girlfriend caught the biggest bluegill I've ever seen out of there. I thought she hooked a carp!

I didn't realize it was a trophy fish at the time and we ate it.

We caught a 16" walleye later that day at the park across from Friendship lake, and the bluegill fillets were thicker than the walleye fillets! I wish I had a picture.. Typical fish story

 

Still a beginner here fishing for about 3 years now. Im out of Northern California. most of the lakes have been turned due to the weather Heat/Cold/Rain.

 

I caught the biggest Crappie of my life visiting Wisconsin, 16 inchers!!! And I caught my first Walleye, 18 inches.....

 

“Ain’t Nothin Safe”, tomorrow back to tidal water to catch and release Striper!!!

 

Well with a 40 mile per hour wind gust. I didn’t catch much. But I did land an American Shad. Released unharmed a lot of people use them as cut bait but you can not possess them. She’s about to lay thousands of eggs....

 

So I rolled the 4R out to the trout stream. Didn’t even see anybody. Fished hard didn’t catch anything until I got to a hidden pool. Covered by overhanging mountain laurel. Let my bait wash down under a log and wam, caught six one right after another. I’m SO freakin happy!!!!

 

Too bad they're off limits. I bet a blue cat would love some cut herring!

 

I’m saving all my trout heads to use as bait. I guess it’s legal? I buy 18-20 inch eels in the summer time at the tackle shop. Only the ten pound plus Blue Cats bite them...

 

Not sure what the regulations are there, but I've caught many catfish on fish-heads.

In Wisconsin, anything caught legally, in season, can be used as bait, on the body of water it was caught from, but must be counted towards your daily bag limit for that species.

It's funny, I've actually had to explain that to a warden in the past.

 

Ya there are some weird laws. Like wearing felt bottom shoes. You can where them on one trout stream but can’t take them to another....But that’s on “native” streams I think..

 

Weird.. I wonder if it has to do with invasive species or plant life.

Here, we have VHS(a condition that affects fish), invasive plant species, and invasive crayfish. The DNR has a lot of strict rules to try to prevent the spread.

 

Double digits! 10.18 pounds.

 

Holy crap! Well done!

Looks like a spawned out female. Are they on beds down there? Or, post spawn?

 

The bluegills and shellcrackers are on beds. No idea about the bass honestly. I don't really bass fish... I caught this with a live nightcrawler worm

 

I'll bet that was a pleasant surprise! Great fish! And it looks like a snaggy area, so it was probably a challenge keeping it out of the wood and the lily pads.

 

I almost lost it a couple times. 6lb test line and a 5' rod. Ultralight setup for bream/panfish... No net...Didnt think I'd get it out the water. She got tired. Finally

 

Good job holding on!

I really need to go bass fishing down there! My PB is 7#, which I consider very respectable. Our state record LMB is only 11#, 3oz.

 

That's still great. Before yesterday my biggest was an 8.... That was also an accidental catch, that time I was fishing for catfish at night.

This creek has some monsters. Several 10 pounders have been caught here and a 12 pounder.

But I love eating bream... Grilled with Cajun seasoning... And fried catfish... So that's about all I fish for in freshwater. I try and leave the bass for people more obsessed with it LOL

 

Is a bream similar to a bluegill? We don't have bream here.

 

Bream is just a southern term for bluegill, redbellies, shellcrackers, and other sunfish.