Fishing

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I'll let someone else elaborate on Texas rigging but here's another rig that everyone should know, the bottom rig. Works on anything from smallies to catfish. Don't use a floater with it. Just toss it in, spool up the slack in the line to tighten it up, then either keep your finger on the line or keep your eyes on the tip of the rod to look for vibrations.

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I'll let someone else elaborate on Texas rigging but here's another rig that everyone should know, the bottom rig. Works on anything from smallies to catfish. Don't use a floater with it. Just toss it in, spool up the slack in the line to tighten it up, then either keep your finger on the line or keep your eyes on the tip of the rod to look for vibrations.

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The dropshot’s a classic you can do in both salt and fresh and can get you many different species.

I like Texas rigging, you can get bass on a Texas rigged plastic worm, but it won’t do you any good if they can’t see it. This video’s about crappie jigs, but I’ve found it can apply to just about any kind of lure.

 
I really like fishing but I'm a magnet for mosquitoes. Is there a good alternative to the usual bug spray?
Also what's the average cost to go deep sea fishing?
 
My jam is usually Texas rigs, jigs or topwater nonsense (spooks, frogs, poppers) for bass or small jigs for crappie and bluegill. Also, surf fishing with live bait or FishBites for pompano (and whatever else bites) or jigging for flounder. Getting a boat setup put together as we speak so I can drift the flats in the bay for specs and maybe reds.

Not sure what tips I could offer for Texas rigs since it's pretty straightforward, but I would recommend tungsten weights (lighter is usually better) run loose unless your target area is super snaggy (in which case, stick a bobber stop on to keep the weight up against the eye of the hook). Lead weights are fine, but the tungsten ones are smaller and slicker so they don't hang up as much. Also, if the water is clear, run natural colors. If not, go crazy with either blue-black or white/chartreuse or other outlandish stuff for contrast.

I usually do a somewhat erratic slow retrieve - a couple of light pops, then let it fall (you get a surprising number of hits on the fall) followed by reeling up the slack and repeating. Lastly, you do need to be serious about your hooksets and I would recommend braid with a fluorocarbon leader to make sure that there isn't a bunch of stretch there.

Above all, bring a sandwich and beverages in the cooler - some days, it'll be a while.
 
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Smallmouth/big mouth/rock bass, walleye, three different types of catfish, crappy, sunfish and Pike, I had to look up the fishing game but I'm trying to Target for trout (I know I have to go to a different spot but still I want to see or catch a trout)
Now I know for walleye you will have to use some sort of sinking lure, we have those in a few of the lakes and deeper rivers near where I live but I've never fished for them. I do know they like to hang out deep most of the time. With trout depending on the actual bodies of water you're going to be at you might want to try going with a fly setup. I know a lot of people have great success with fly fishing for trout. Crappy and bass are the biggest demographics of fish in my neighborhood. As the other guy said can't go wrong with the Texas rig. Spinning lures also seem to work really well for me. Jigs work pretty good as well with a light weight so they don't sink too fast. The nice thing about Texas rigging is that you can drag it through a lot of different obstacles in the water if you rig it right and secure. And it's an easy one. One thing to keep in mind is if you're new and you can afford it you might want to get barbless hooks to practice so that when you release the fish you're less likely to fuck up it's mouth. If you have a hard time getting a hold of them you can use a pair of needle nose pliers that have a flat section to crimp the Barb on the hook inward.

My jam is usually Texas rigs, jigs or topwater nonsense (spooks, frogs, poppers) for bass or small jigs for crappie and bluegill. Also, surf fishing with live bait or FishBites for pompano (and whatever else bites) or jigging for flounder. Getting a boat setup put together as we speak so I can drift the flats in the bay for specs and maybe reds.

Not sure what tips I could offer for Texas rigs since it's pretty straightforward, but I would recommend tungsten weights (lighter is usually better) run loose unless your target area is super snaggy (in which case, stick a bobber stop on to keep the weight up against the eye of the hook). Lead weights are fine, but the tungsten ones are smaller and slicker so they don't hang up as much. Also, if the water is clear, run natural colors. If not, go crazy with either blue-black or white/chartreuse or other outlandish stuff for contrast.

I usually do a somewhat erratic slow retrieve - a couple of light pops, then let it fall (you get a surprising number of hits on the fall) followed by reeling up the slack and repeating. Lastly, you do need to be serious about your hooksets and I would recommend braid with a fluorocarbon leader to make sure that there isn't a bunch of stretch there.

Above all, bring a sandwich and beverages in the cooler - some days, it'll be a while.
The fall is where you'll get the most hits in my experience. Hooksets are also the hardest part to learn 😂. Many a weed has been pulled up in the process of learning and still to this day does happen semi-frequently 😂.
 
The fall is where you'll get the most hits in my experience. Hooksets are also the hardest part to learn 😂. Many a weed has been pulled up in the process of learning and still to this day does happen semi-frequently 😂.
Another thing to try, especially in grass with low/no current is a weedless Ned rig. There's a couple of vendors on Amazon that sell Ned heads with EWG style bent shank worm hooks or you can use a wobble head jig set up to be weedless. Stick a part of a Senko or a smallish creature/craw on it and just erratically slow-drag that thing along the bottom. The traditional straight shank Ned jigs are fine, but hang up a bit too much for my tastes in the places I like to fish.
 
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Another thing to try, especially in grass with low/no current is a weedless Ned rig. There's a couple of vendors on Amazon that sell Ned heads with EWG style bent shank worm hooks or you can use a wobble head jig set up to be weedless. Stick a part of a Senko or a smallish creature/craw on it and just erratically slow-drag that thing along the bottom. The traditional straight shank Ned jigs are fine, but hang up a bit too much for my tastes in the places I like to fish.
I've not used the ned rigging yet tbh 😂. Mostly out of laziness. I haven't done much fishing this summer because work has gotten intense. I need to slap one in. Everyone around here (Alabama area) has good luck with them that I've talked to.
 
I've not used the ned rigging yet tbh 😂. Mostly out of laziness. I haven't done much fishing this summer because work has gotten intense. I need to slap one in. Everyone around here (Alabama area) has good luck with them that I've talked to.
If you're looking to try topwater (and lazy summer days are the best time for them), this little guy is pretty great. Its basically a smallish popper that also has a shallow squarebill lip. You can work it chugging and spitting up top, run it as a particularly active diving crank or do a mixed retrieve where you dive it down and then follow with the popping. The summer gill color is great if your local bass are noshing on bluegills, but the bone and black ones also deliver. The Rebel Pop-R is also great as a pure popper, but I've mostly been tying the Prank on instead lately.
 
Now I know for walleye you will have to use some sort of sinking lure, we have those in a few of the lakes and deeper rivers near where I live but I've never fished for them. I do know they like to hang out deep most of the time. With trout depending on the actual bodies of water you're going to be at you might want to try going with a fly setup. I know a lot of people have great success with fly fishing for trout. Crappy and bass are the biggest demographics of fish in my neighborhood. As the other guy said can't go wrong with the Texas rig. Spinning lures also seem to work really well for me. Jigs work pretty good as well with a light weight so they don't sink too fast. The nice thing about Texas rigging is that you can drag it through a lot of different obstacles in the water if you rig it right and secure. And it's an easy one. One thing to keep in mind is if you're new and you can afford it you might want to get barbless hooks to practice so that when you release the fish you're less likely to fuck up it's mouth. If you have a hard time getting a hold of them you can use a pair of needle nose pliers that have a flat section to crimp the Barb on the hook inward.
I'm not trying to sound stupid but is a fly rod a different type of fishing setup or what kind of bait is that, I feel like I'm learning more off of this site than I was on the actual fishing site
 
I'm not trying to sound stupid but is a fly rod a different type of fishing setup or what kind of bait is that, I feel like I'm learning more off of this site than I was on the actual fishing site
Fly fishing is a completely different thing. Super light rods, lightweight direct-crank reels, weightier line and teeny tiny baits that are meant to be delivered on top of the water to mimic an insect. Can be used for freshwater or saltwater but the former is more prevalent. It's super interesting and seems like my kind of rabbit hole, but I've got my hands full wrt hobbies and fishing gear as it is.

Speaking of which, tossed some surf rods in the truck and headed out to try my luck today, but the surf was way too rough (even with a 1/4 pound Sputnik on the end) so I just ended up hanging out and enjoying a nice summer day at the beach.
 
Fly fishing is a completely different thing. Super light rods, lightweight direct-crank reels, weightier line and teeny tiny baits that are meant to be delivered on top of the water to mimic an insect. Can be used for freshwater or saltwater but the former is more prevalent. It's super interesting and seems like my kind of rabbit hole, but I've got my hands full wrt hobbies and fishing gear as it is.

Speaking of which, tossed some surf rods in the truck and headed out to try my luck today, but the surf was way too rough (even with a 1/4 pound Sputnik on the end) so I just ended up hanging out and enjoying a nice summer day at the beach.
Oh nice that's one I'm also learning about is Ocean fishing
 
Saltwater fishing is great, never know what you're going to catch. Make sure to spend the money on quality gear. Trying to buy cheap and then having to upgrade is not the way to go.
In general I agree, though one of my favorite surf combos is a cheap 9' rod/6000-size reel Penn Wrath spinner that I bought for ~$60 new and swapped out the drag washers for a carbon fiber stack that was an additional $20. As long as you're good about cleaning and maintenance, you can make budget gear work for a good while.

Also, I know that a lot of anglers look down their nose at them, but KastKing makes some decent stuff if you don't mind imported gear. The Kapstan spinner I've got mated to a 10' Ugly Stik Bigwater rod is pretty nice and IPX6-rated for water intrusion. They also make what I think are some of the best 3600/3700 tackle boxes in the business.
 
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The Susquehanna valley in PA, that's where my family comes from. Specifically that Wilkes-Barre/Pittston/Nanticoke/Mountain Top triangle. Enormous amounts of smallmouth bass in that river.

I'll shoot my dad a text to see what other fishing he did in the area back in the day, there are a lot of good fishing creeks that feed into the river too. I know about the bass because I used to fish when I visited my grandparents as a kid.
 
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