Boats / Fishing / Ft Lauderdale / Ponds

[knapplc]

Google "bowling lake lincoln ne"

[scottaa1]

Google "bowling lake lincoln ne"

Looks like it was drained, renovated/rehabilitated, and then restocked not too long ago, so the fishes need time to grow and breed. Looks like a nice area though with the lake surrounding the park in the middle.

[Omaha Red Sox]

Figured I'd bump this thread with some recent fish stories.

Yes, Scott, this will sound very familiar to you.

Fished a little Saturday, caught one good bass. Didn't measure her officially, but I'd guess right around 18". I wanted to let a kid fishing nearby let her go and get her back into the water quickly so I didn't measure or take a picture (likely excuse right ). I was quite surprised at her size considering the lake I caught her was newly renovated. Only finished filling about a year ago. However, I do believe they began stocking before it was full, so this could have been a fingerling going into a virgin body of water and getting stuffed with all things wonderful in a new lake. Didn't catch any walleye or cats like I was hoping for, but was pleased with that fish.

Sunday, we hit a small lake in the middle of nowhere in Iowa. Between this buddy of mine and myself, we lost 3 what felt like BIG cats. Mine I had on my big baitcaster with 20# test braided line. Broke the knot after diving under a dock. I think I made the mistake of keeping this knot too long. It'd been on there from fishing for cats at another lake a couple weeks ago. Might have worn a bit. Sucks when something you know is big gets away like that. The other two that got away were my buddy's and both of them ducked under some submerged logs and he wasn't able to pull them out. We were pleasantly surprised with some very healthy bass while catfishing though. Tops was only 15", but they were footballs. My buddy finally landed one skinny 22" channel cat. Eater size. His friend caught a 25# flathead out of there about a month ago so our hopes were up. We had the most success with a live green sunfish (smaller the better) on a big circle hook, on the bottom. Tried crawlers too, but other fish kept stealing it off the bottom. Pretty fun little trip though.

Here's my buddy fighting the cat he actually landed. I gave him a hard time about his "kid pole".



And this is the only picture taken of me, but it's one of the smaller bass, albeit a very healthy one that's still swimming.

[knapplc]

Super frustrating day fishing yesterday. At the parent's private lake, fishing with a couple of different jigs and a plastic worm, I got hit after hit after hit, but I couldn't snare anything larger than a sunfish. Stupid. I lost my hook on a tree I forgot they tossed in for habitat, too. And I got sunburned.

[Omaha Red Sox]

Super frustrating day fishing yesterday. At the parent's private lake, fishing with a couple of different jigs and a plastic worm, I got hit after hit after hit, but I couldn't snare anything larger than a sunfish. Stupid. I lost my hook on a tree I forgot they tossed in for habitat, too. And I got sunburned.

You mean you kept losing the ones you hooked into? They kept spitting the hook? What size jig were you using? If you're targeting bass and they successfully continue to spit the hook, you can up the size of your jig to a larger hook. That way it generally ensures a more secure hookset. Typically, when targeting bass, you don't even need to go small since they don't nibble like panfish do, their mouths create a vacuum and they suck the lure in. I was transferring stunted bass from one pond to another last weekend and managed to only catch bass (50 of them in a couple hours) because I kept the jig fairly large (1/8"), too large for the panfish to effectively strike the lure or simply avoid it altogether.

[knapplc]

I caught sunfish with the jigs, so I switched to a worm. Dad was catching bass left and right with a worm, so I gave it a whirl. Bit by bit they gnawed that thing away until it was minnow-sized, and it actually swam through the water pretty well. So I used that, but they kept hitting the end, not the hook. Finally it ended up in the tree and I said "screw it" and went in.

[Omaha Red Sox]

I caught sunfish with the jigs, so I switched to a worm. Dad was catching bass left and right with a worm, so I gave it a whirl. Bit by bit they gnawed that thing away until it was minnow-sized, and it actually swam through the water pretty well. So I used that, but they kept hitting the end, not the hook. Finally it ended up in the tree and I said "screw it" and went in.

Whenever that happens to me I like to speed up the retrieve. You'll throw more casts, but a fish can't nibble something that's moving quickly away from them. If they really want it they have to take it, hopefully take it all.

[scottaa1]

sounds like the small fry are nipping at your bait. If you're getting small fry, look further/deeper.

[Omaha Red Sox]

Good point Scott. Another thing about the speedy retrieve is competition. Bigger fish are bigger because they've managed to outcompete their counterparts. They're can be more aggressive. So you'll typically weed out the smaller fish with a quicker retrieve. You tend to snag some decent bluegills this way.

[knapplc]

Where were you people Sunday?