favorite rough fish

[Bluebasser86]

I just caught my PB drum this summer on a BPS Speed Shad. Drum were about all I could catch on it, big ones, and they were hammering it and pulling hard. 

 

[dave]

BOWFIN!

[Jonister]

My favorite trash fish to catch is green or brown, and will hit many lures of many sizes. They don't get giant, but they are a blast to fish for, and once you think you have them figured out, they decide they don't like your lure. They are voracious predators, yet they are picky eaters all the same. Yeah I'm talking about bass.

    Talk to most guys around here and you might as well be fishing for carp. I call it the "salmon mentality" that is, that salmon are superior to all fish in the world and if your not fishing to fill the freezer than you shouldn't be out there. It just leaves more for me though! I enjoy seeing bass fishing getting more popular here though, along with other warm water species. It means more caring anglers who want conservation of all the fisheries, not just one. 

Carp are fun too. They are fun to shoot, and fun to catch. I'm weird about it though, I put them in my garden when I shoot them, but release them when on rod and reel. Lures are fun. If you want practice with hair jigs, go find some carp! (Red marabou) They fight great! 

[scaleface]

I've spent a lot of time targeting carp .I have come up with my own " Bolt " rig ,make different dough balls,  set the rods in holders  , light a cigar , pop open a beer and wait for the reel to start screaming . 

[.ghoti.]

You want a true challenge? Try sight fishing for carp. With a fly rod. I requires the right conditions. Clear water, and little or no wind. Then it takes stealth, finesse and real casting skill.

[Jonister]

I have yet to try with my fly rod, but I do all my hair jigging by sight. Carp get a truly bad reputation, but honestly they are waryer, and spookier than bass. I spent about 6 months trying to figure out some canal carp, before I started to catch them consistently.  What kind of flies should I use? I might try tying up something marabou like.  

[Jon P.]

up in montana there are just as many carp fly fishermen as there are bass fishermen. my personal fave setup is a sucker spawn fly tied behind a golden agotcha

[lakeannaangler]

Carp are fun to catch on light tackle , also cat fish especially big blues and flat heads on bass tackle. But I would have to say my favorite is the snakehead. They're fun because they attack top waters and they pull like crazy when they get big. On August 21 I was at the Potomac and caught a snake head that weighted over 13lbs while flipping grass with a pit boss

[Team9nine]

Buffalo...

[JustJames]

I would love to fish for snakehaed again. I used to fish them in Thailand quit a bit.

If you see a group of snakehead fry, just use any topwater especially those buzzbait, either the mom or dad would hit your topwater like no tomorrow.

[IndianaFinesse]

7 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Buffalo...

Nice buffalo!  I don't suppose there's any in HL, is there? 

[edfitzvb]

I remember when I was a YOUNG man in the mountains, fishing with a black hula popper. The cicadas were EVERYWHERE and carp were feeding on them. Carp on topwater are a whole lot different than carp caught on dough balls.

[Team9nine]

3 hours ago, IndianaFinesse said:

Nice buffalo!  I don't suppose there's any in HL, is there? 

Never heard of one being caught here. They are actually not overly common on most waters. We do have some big carp though. 

 

[IndianaFinesse]

1 hour ago, Team9nine said:

Never heard of one being caught here. They are actually not overly common on most waters. We do have some big carp though. 

 

Bummer, they have always looked like hard fighters.  And it sure does have big carp, I caught a 38 pound common carp last summer on the ned rig.  I'll try to remember to bring the photo of it and the big bass I caught last spring for the next time I see you out.

[VaMushroomHunter]

Snakehead, definitely.

Matter of fact, it's the only thing I fish for.  I'll reel in the occasional largemouth bass or chain pickerel, but I release those.

The thing about snakehead, the primary reason I fish for it, is that it is delicious.  I'd rather have it than rockfish, salmon, flounder, tilapia, whatever.  Firm white meat with no fishy taste.  Beats cod or haddock hands down for fish n chips.  The thing looks like a monster, but oh, is it tasty.  And since it is so large, it is easy to make fillets.  (As a matter of fact, being tasty is the reason it ended up as an invasive species here in the USA:  people took live snakeheads from Asian groceries and released them into local waters.)

Also, it's an exciting fish to catch.  I love the way it assassinates a topwater frog.  It waits in ambush for the lure to go by, then savagely attacks it.  Thing looks like a torpedo slicing through the water.

[JustJames]

On 10/1/2016 at 7:24 PM, Jon P. said:

 

here are some snakehead-specific lures that also work spectacularly for bass. I fished them almost exclusively this summer for bass and I'm taking them down south this winter. they're a little bit of buzzbait, little bit of popper, and a whole lot of fun! (also they wont get chewed up over time)

Jon, those buzz baitis look pretty good for snakehead. I have been searching for quite awhile in thailand. It just a balsa wood equit with buzz blade in the front. It can float when stop but makeing a lot of noise when retrieve.

on the other hand, I already have a plan to DIY my own buzzbait just like that.

[Bassun]

Oh lord -- talk about a can of worms!  I love catching carp on 4lb set ups.  Amazing fight, and resilient fish.  So that is my big, freshwater junker.  I wish we had those pike minnow carp locally, they would be a ball!

Small freshwater junk fish is the Green Hybrid sunfish, which are annoying at times, but if you just want to catch "fish" they can be a ball.

But, my favorite - is an annoying, pesky, toothy abomination in salt water.  The lizard fish.  Find a nice flat, grab your light gear and bunch of 2" grubs and you can catch these crazy things like mad.  I don't know why I like them so much, they don't fight that well - are ugly as sin, and take no real strategy to catch.  Maybe that's why I like em, lol.  Kind of like the bluegills of the sea.  To be fair, my first experience with them was with a good friend and we had a ball with them, so I'm certainly jaded.  In fact, before my wedding - we went fishing.  And we went just to catch a bunch of those little guys, so I guess they have a special place with me.

[IndianaFinesse]

1 hour ago, Bassun said:

 

Small freshwater junk fish is the Green Hybrid sunfish, which are annoying at times, but if you just want to catch "fish" they can be a ball.

Yep, they are so aggressively stupid that they will literally eat anything.  I've caught them on bare hooks, twelve inch worms, big bulky jigs, frogs, crankbaits, etc. I can not think of a single lure that I haven't caught a green sunfish on.  They seem to really love the ned rig, I always catch at least a few on it.

[MBB Nate]

I really wish I had a place to fish for snakeheads.  They're definitely on my bucket list.

[Jon P.]

On 10/15/2016 at 10:19 PM, MBB Nate said:

I really wish I had a place to fish for snakeheads.  They're definitely on my bucket list.

I've only fished for them once in a little airport ditch while waiting for a flight in florida, absolutely crazy fish. right now they are in about the same place in north American game fishing as our largemouth bass was in the early 1900's. few anglers fish for them exclusively but they are growing in popularity. if they weren't so small I would value them over the largemouth.

[MBB Nate]

5 minutes ago, Jon P. said:

I've only fished for them once in a little airport ditch while waiting for a flight in florida, absolutely crazy fish. right now they are in about the same place in north American game fishing as our largemouth bass was in the early 1900's. few anglers fish for them exclusively but they are growing in popularity. if they weren't so small I would value them over the largemouth.

Northern snakeheads do get bigger than bass.

I wonder what the population of them is like, especially since you are required to cull them if you catch them.  I know the media makes them out to be monsters but I'm curious as to exactly what kind of impact they have on native gamefish.

[DrMarlboro92]

On 9/4/2016 at 6:24 PM, Penguino said:

Green Sunfish are fun as hell to catch even though they can be a nuisance in the majority of ponds I fish in.

Haven't caught a Snakehead or Bowfin yet and would suspect those fish will jump to the top of my list.

Snakehead are incredibly fun. I haven't caught a bowfin yet, but I'm sure it's a similar experience, and if you are set up for bass you don't have to get anything else. 

Aside from snakehead, which are my favorite non-bass/trout fish, I'll catch just about anything. Sometimes I really like targeting chain pickerel in the ponds around me with my fly rod because they tend to be incredibly aggressive and put up a great fight. Sometimes I'll fly fish for shellcrackers as well which are really fun to catch.

[webertime]

On Wednesday, September 07, 2016 at 11:10 AM, J Francho said:

Drum are fun, when you're not in a tournament and think you've hooked the next record smallmouth, lmao.

 

Sheephead...  by a large margin.   Buddy whacked this one in the St Lawrence last month.

[ww2farmer]

I have had  a bit of fun on Erie with a few large drum while smallmouth fishing, and I have never been displeased to catch the several 20-35+ lb carp I have hooked into with bass tackle over the years on my home lake. Anytime I am not tournament fishing, anything I catch outside of the target species, is just a bonus and is never met with profanity...............unless it's a pike that has swiped a hot lure that I am running low on. About the only "rough fish" I don't like catching are bullheads. Flip into a grass mat or hole, get a good thump, set the hook, and the barrel rolling begins, and you just know in about 15 seconds your going to have to deal with one of those miserable little jerks who can clamp down on your thumb tighter than a pair of vise grips, and have pole barn spikes ready to impale you if you blink wrong.

A few weeks ago while frogging I hooked a giant snapping turtle, and a bullfrog about 10 mins apart, I wisely played the turtle boat side and cut the line, donating my frog to him so as to keep as much braided line out of the lake as possible............and keep my fingers in the process. I landed the frog, which was huge and MAD, got the crap kicked out of me, and got bullfrog stank all over my hands and shirt, but got my frog back and kermit swam off in the end. I had enough of this, and went looking for smallmouth the rest of the evening LOL.

[Jon P.]

On 10/22/2016 at 9:16 PM, ww2farmer said:

I have had  a bit of fun on Erie with a few large drum while smallmouth fishing, and I have never been displeased to catch the several 20-35+ lb carp I have hooked into with bass tackle over the years on my home lake. Anytime I am not tournament fishing, anything I catch outside of the target species, is just a bonus and is never met with profanity...............unless it's a pike that has swiped a hot lure that I am running low on. About the only "rough fish" I don't like catching are bullheads. Flip into a grass mat or hole, get a good thump, set the hook, and the barrel rolling begins, and you just know in about 15 seconds your going to have to deal with one of those miserable little jerks who can clamp down on your thumb tighter than a pair of vise grips, and have pole barn spikes ready to impale you if you blink wrong.

A few weeks ago while frogging I hooked a giant snapping turtle, and a bullfrog about 10 mins apart, I wisely played the turtle boat side and cut the line, donating my frog to him so as to keep as much braided line out of the lake as possible............and keep my fingers in the process. I landed the frog, which was huge and MAD, got the crap kicked out of me, and got bullfrog stank all over my hands and shirt, but got my frog back and kermit swam off in the end. I had enough of this, and went looking for smallmouth the rest of the evening LOL.

at my grandpas old house we used to catch bullheads that weighed up to a pound and a half with freakish baseball stomachs, few things taste better but they are a pain to deal with. i still have a scar on my thumb from being impaled by one when I was six.