First Fishing Since 1983

[b2187101]

Been slowly getting gear together.  Got some basic tackle, reel, and rod.  Haven't fished since I was 13.  Can't get things put together until June 1 however.  Been scouting Maumee River locations.  Unfortunately, I live between Grand Rapids, Ohio dam and Defiance, Ohio dam... not exactly game fish territory.  Have to get my feet wet somewhere before better, farther, locations are visited.  Sorry for mundane post.

 

[galyonj]

12 minutes ago, b2187101 said:

Sorry for mundane post.

 

Ain't nothin' mundane about new adventures.

[CrankFate]

Talk to the guys in the BT stores. About half of the old guys who look like they have no clue about what they are doing will know a few places to go that have fish. Tell them you’re new to the area and what fish you want to target. Then when you’re out there and the guys in their late teens/early 20’s ask if you got anything, tell them you’re new to the area and what type of fish you want to target Half of the places they tell you to try will have fish. Eventually, between that and looking for places yourself, you’ll start to find the places to fish.

[Bankc]

1 hour ago, CrankFate said:

Talk to the guys in the BT stores. About half of the old guys who look like they have no clue about what they are doing will know a few places to go that have fish. Tell them you’re new to the area and what fish you want to target. Then when you’re out there and the guys in their late teens/early 20’s ask if you got anything, tell them you’re new to the area and what type of fish you want to target Half of the places they tell you to try will have fish. Eventually, between that and looking for places yourself, you’ll start to find the places to fish.

Agreed.  There are two types of anglers you'll meet.  The kind that will be glad to help you (with is most of them), and the kind that see you as a threat and won't say much more than "hi" (which is just a small handful).  I've talked to a lot of anglers at the docks and such, and many won't give up their personal secret spots or techniques, but they'll be more than happy to tell you about all of the places and techniques that are kind of common knowledge to the area.  And there's often like 20 spots that everyone knows about, and just one or two that only they know about.  So they won't be holding much back from you.  And most anglers love to tell stories and share what they know.  It's kind of an ego boost to help out the new guy.  Human nature and all.  Talk to a few of them, and that's usually enough to get you started, especially in unfamiliar waters.  

[b2187101]

I have actually been "scouting" Maumee River spots for the last 22 years (I commute parallel to the river).  I also thought to myself... that looks like a great spot should I ever fish again.  What got me back into fishing?  My wife and I were watching Toledo news coverage of Maumee River Walleye Run, I told her all my age 9-13 fishing stories and how much I loved fishing as a kid.  She seriously asked, "why did you stop?"  I seriously considered this for a month; here I am.

[CrankFate]

5 hours ago, Bankc said:

Agreed.  There are two types of anglers you'll meet.  The kind that will be glad to help you (with is most of them), and the kind that see you as a threat and won't say much more than "hi" (which is just a small handful).  I've talked to a lot of anglers at the docks and such, and many won't give up their personal secret spots or techniques, but they'll be more than happy to tell you about all of the places and techniques that are kind of common knowledge to the area.  And there's often like 20 spots that everyone knows about, and just one or two that only they know about.  So they won't be holding much back from you.  And most anglers love to tell stories and share what they know.  It's kind of an ego boost to help out the new guy.  Human nature and all.  Talk to a few of them, and that's usually enough to get you started, especially in unfamiliar waters.  

Everywhere’s different, but that’s usually how it is. I understand not giving up spots that are based on your own scouting and experience. But well known public spots are not exactly secret. There’s like 15,000,000 people out there to show up in places if fish, because I fish a lot of underrated, obvious places that everyone knows about. This is why I can’t post pics of me bragging of what I caught where. There are thousands of people out there that have seen me, stopped and chatted with me and who helped me out over the years. I don’t need to draw thousands of people to well known places that are under fished because everyone knows about them. A properly placed report can overrun a spot in my area with people for years. I happily tell people places to try, when it’s a private chat near the water. I’m just a regular googan for when I’m out there. With no clue.

[WRB]

So what type of tackle do you have; rod, reel, line majexand models help to advise techniques and presentations suitable for you and your location.

Tom

[b2187101]

A Shimano 3000 spin,  a Shimano spin rod, Mono line.  Soft shiny fish like lures with shiny jigheads. The Maumee is very muddy.  My guess is make lure and jighead as bright, yet prey fishlike, as possible.  Will start fishing where North Turkeyfoot creek enters into river.  Turkeyfoot is one of the larger creeks that flows into river.  I guess where creek and river meet might be a "hole" of deeper water.  Maumee wide yet not exactly deep there.  Where I live is Dam to Dam... not lake Erie to first dam.  Also there, probably many sunken logs and underwater hazards that might be small mouth?

[WRB]

Looking up the Maumee River it has Smallmouth and as noted a famous walleye run.

Your spinning tackle make a good finesse outfit along with casting jerk baits, in-line soinnerscetc.. Walleye and Smallmouth bass can be caught using soft plastics on a finesse C-rig (Slip Shot rig). The rig is made up using a tubular Mojo weight, Carolina Keeper or pegged glass bead with light wire hook.

You may need to online order the terminal tackle and soft plastic worms from Tackle Warehouse or Fisherman’s Warehouse, both are good.

Roboworms in Oxblood light red flake, Morning Dawn 4” &  6” Fat straight tail.

Owner down shot hook #5133 size 2/0.

3/16 oz Mojo weight for the river current.

Weight to hook leader length about 24”, easy to adjust length by sliding the weight Keeper.

This is a bottom dragging technique, just fan cast the area and use the rig to move the weight along the bottom. If a snag just lightly shake it free. You rig the worm weedless, look at video for weedless(T-rig) worm.

Tom

[QED]

The things I noticed after an extended leave from bass fishing were the following:

1) senkos!

2) bass rods are longer, pistol grips are gone.

3) proliferation of fluorocarbon and braided line.

Did I miss anything?

[TnRiver46]

On 5/17/2021 at 8:40 AM, b2187101 said:

Been slowly getting gear together.  Got some basic tackle, reel, and rod.  Haven't fished since I was 13.  Can't get things put together until June 1 however.  Been scouting Maumee River locations.  Unfortunately, I live between Grand Rapids, Ohio dam and Defiance, Ohio dam... not exactly game fish territory.  Have to get my feet wet somewhere before better, farther, locations are visited.  Sorry for mundane post.

 

My inlaws are up there, you probably know them if you drive along the maumee (Wilhelm). Everyone is mostly catfishing in that area from what I can tell. I want to try some of the marshes full of lily pads around erie. I don’t think there’s many if any bass far up the maumee from what the locals tell me 

[b2187101]

Double Digit, I was always disappointed as a kid for all the bottom feeding carp, drum, and catfish I caught.  Maumee very very close... got to start casting somewhere I guess.