IcatchDinks

Today was a good day. We went camping this weekend up near Tippy Dam in Michigan. I tried all around the dam and caught nothing. Then we went to the beach on Lake Michigan today and I tried fishing off the pier but also caught nothing. Then just before heading home I tried little manmade pond (literally named Man Made Lake) just inland from the shore of Lake Michigan. Finally got lucky. First fish was a little pike on a Mepps inline spinner. He shredded the tail feathers right off it. After that I caught a little pumpkin seed on a swimbait the same size as the fish. Then I caught my PB smallie on a square bill crank bait. He hammered it the second it hit the water. Finally, just before heading back to camp, the largest rock bass I've ever seen hammered the whopper plopper. Tons of fun today.

I've only been seriously fishing for 2 years now. Not even. My only regret is not getting into it sooner. I'm young compared to most of you: 26 years old. Wish I'd spent more of the past few years out on the water instead of in front of a computer screen playing games. I still enjoy my computer games. But fishing is so much better. I used to see bumper stickers and Tshirts with the slogan "I'd rather be fishing." And I never got it. Now I do. There are very few activities I'd rather be doing.

Thanks guys. I fished up stream of the dam, and downstream. Crowds weren't too bad. But enough that I wanted to not be there. No luck in the river. We went to Manistee today and I fished off the pier in Lake Michigan. Also nothing. Then I fished Man Made Lake. Finally got lucky. Caught a nice little pike (22 inches), the largest rock bass I've ever caught (about a pound), and my pb Smallmouth: 16 inches, 2lbs 2oz. I plan to try the Red Bridge area tomorrow. Thanks for the advice!!!

Hey, my fellow Michiganders. I'm going camping this weekend with some family and friends up near Tippy Dam. I've read that there's good fishing there, but have never been. Have any of you been there? Any tips/tricks/advice for me?

Oh, I've got a lot of bad habits. Fishing the same spot WAY too long even if there's no evidence of fish is one of my biggest. Also not switching baits that aren't working. Probably the one that's the worst as far as costliness is buying gear I don't need. Whether I'm in Walmart or any of the big sporting stores, or browsing the web, the temptation to buy more lures or tackle or what have you is nearly irresistible. I have to bring my wife along to help steer me away from the fishing department every time we go shopping.

Congratulations!!!

Sometimes those little guys are shockingly aggressive. This is the only fish I've ever caught on this bait. Somehow the little fella thought he was gonna get that in his mouth.

It seems it's been a dry summer across the country. All my regular spots are pretty low too. Everytime it rains, I get really excited. Glad to hear you got some water. Also, nice catches!

Was able to get out today. Been pretty absent. Haven't had a lot of time for fishing. Caught a 13 inch and a 14 inch smallie. (I'm guessing on size. Didn't bother to measure them.) Plus a handful of dinks. Unless you count the pike and carp, they're aren't a lot of giant fish near me. But smallies fight like fish twice their size. Plus a couple weeks ago I caught this largie in a little pond. For the size pond, this guy is a beast. He was only 15 inches but weight a full 2lbs :

Been a slow summer so far. Finally caught a decent largemouth. He had a nasty cut on his side. And several previous wounds in his mouth from being caught before. Made me feel bad for catching him. I wish people would be nicer to the fish they catch. Also caught a beautiful little smallie the day before.

Been struggling for fish as of late. Smallies aren't biting anything I throw at em. Plastics just don't seem to work like they were, for bass or anything else. I've got probably 3-4hundred dollars worth of lures/gear/hooks, and today I decided that I'm just gonna be using live worms for a while. And it worked! Nabbed a handful of bluegill and panfish, and couple bass, and overall had a really fun day at the pond. I think sometimes I get so caught up in picking the right lure for the right fish/water/temp/location, that I forget how easy it actually is to catch fish. Sure. I didn't catch any records. I don't normallly anyway. But I had a lot of fun, and that's what makes fishing great. So if you're struggling for fish, maybe stop trying so hard. Grab a handful of worms, a bobber, and some splitshot and go drop a line in the pond.

Welcome!

I hope to avoid them in the future. Lol.

I've only ever gut hooked one fish, and it wasn't even me, it was my wife. In her case it was all due to reaction time. She was so determined to make sure the fish had the worm in it's mouth that it had already gotten it down its gullet by the time she set the hook. I just hope we didn't kill him.

I should have realized the snapper would go after the lure. But for some reason I assumed he would only be interested in live bait. Speaking of, that's the only thing I could get the bass to bite last night. Ned rigs, senkos, jigs, spinners, cranks: all came up empty. But I caught four on the old worm and bobber set up. Sometimes the classics are the way to go.

That's how it is in Michigan, too. I love seeing new records set. Even if it's in another state. It means that the big ones are still out there, growing and thriving and just waiting to be caught.

This happened a few weeks ago, but it was interesting, and I like telling stories, so I'm gonna tell it anyway. Memorial Day. We had a family BBQ later that evening, but I decided to go fishing in the afternoon, beforehand. Tried a couple small ponds around town, with no luck. There's this little abandoned pond behind the Kohl's that I've seen some people fishing before and figured I try. Caught a ton, and I mean a TON, of large pumpkin seed. Average size for them was seven inches, biggest was over 9. Caught three or four at 8. Lots of fun. But I like bass. So I switched ponds again. Caught two small bass on a Texas rigged senko, and decided to try my luck with top water. (whopper plopper to be exact.) Nothing doing. I'm fishing, nothing striking. But it's a nice day, and I'm enjoying it, so what the heck. I keep fishing it. I notice a smallish snapping turtle at the water's edge, two or three feet in front of me. He eyes me up. I eye him up, we decide we're okay hanging out together, and I keep fishing, and he keeps doing whatever turtles do. Fifteen minutes later, I've decided it's time to head home. One more cast. I throw out the plopper, real it back in, nothing all the way back to the shore. I'm about to lift it up out of the water when that old snapper pokes his head out of the water right next to it, eyes it up for a split second, and bites. And I don't have my pliers. So I drag the old boy onto the shore, hold him in place with my foot, and carefully begin to extricate my lure from his very powerful, very angry mouth. He's mad. I'm mad. He's hissing. I'm cursing. How do I extricate my hook, you ask? You and me both. Normally, I would just cut him loose and be done with it. But he had the treble hook caught in both the top and bottom of his mouth. I felt like I would be seriously harming him if I let him go like that, and besides- I wanted my lure back. It's really tough, leathery skin in there. Kinda like hooking your jeans or something. And all I had at my disposal was the contents of my tackle bag. And it had a surprising lack of actual tools. I tried using my car keys to pry the hook out of his mouth. And was partially successful, getting the hook out of the top of his mouth But that was working way too close to those jaws for my comfort. And he was activley trying to take off my fingers. I finally found my fish stringer. The kind you hook through the gill flaps and let them swim in the water until you're ready to bring them home. I bent the wire of one of the stringer hooks out straight and used that to fish the other treble hook out of the bottom of his mouth. Finally he was free. And I was late for the BBQ. But it was a fun story to share, and I took a couple pictures.

Only caught a couple of little guys. After hours of fishing, I switched to a Rebel floating frog crank, and finally found some action. Both of these guys chased it up into 3 or 4 inches of water and would only bite it when I stopped reeling. Saved me from getting skunked.

I've had rock bass. Not bad. Very similar to other sunfish. I've heard you do wanna watch for parasites, but I've never seen any yet.

Went fishing today. Didn't drink enough water like an idiot. Got some bad heat sickness. But the wife caught a nice little smallie. I caught nothing, other than a really little small mouth that wrapped me around some brush near the bank and freed himself. So, yeah. I've had better days fishing. ? Drink water, folks.

I think there's alot to fishing for me. I love it. It helps calm me down, it gets me away from everything man-made and out into the beauty of creation. I'm generally a really impatient person, but not when it comes to fishing. I'll spend hours trying to get a bite, trying different lures, presentations, angles, bodies of water. Most of all, it affords a place to be alone with my thoughts.

Richard Gene The Fishing Machine knows best.

I just realized I uploaded the wrong photo. That one was later in September. Weighed closer to 1.5 lbs.

This thread is not good for me. Jealousy has turned me pea green with envy. I would love to get out on the great lakes someday. But without a boat and living almost in the dead center of Michigan, that makes it kinda hard. So I fish my local rivers (mostly the Chippewa) for smallies. My PB is the 2lber in my profile pic. I caught him in early September last year.

I woulda just said go to Amazon.com, search for fluorocarbon and sort by price from lowest to highest. But, this whole venture smells fishy to me.