Invasive species

[LDUBS]

haha man I like spam nothing like some slices of spam fried up in the old cast iron pan over the old white gas coleman on an english muffin with a fried egg on a cold morning duck hunting.

Awww, the good things in life. This past Saturday I had fried eggs, spam, & hot cakes for breakfast. Nothing better.

SPecial All purpose Meat = SPAM

 

[handyandy]

meh I'd still eat them maybe not all the time, but I'd eat them. I'd no complaints losing a 10" dink to catch a 47" musky. Apparently I'm the only one that doesn't have a shear hatred for the pike/musky.

Catfish do indeed bass, I know because I have used live bass for flattie bait. In a river I primarily smallmouth fish spotted bass(kentucky bass) also inhabit it. Way I see it the spots are the biggest competition of the smallies in terms of forage, so if I keep a bass it tends to be them. Anyways in this particular river bass between 12-15" can't be kept, only two over 15" can be kept a limit of bass is four fish. Most the spots rarely get over 13" in the river. Some of the small spots I have kept may have made they're way on to the end of line for flat heads, and I have gotten some nice catfish on little bass. However I question how bass catfish are actually eating other than weak ones considering in most watersheds that catfish are present there are plenty of small panfish, shad, baby carp, minnow species for them to eat.

The invasive species I hate are the f'ing asian carp those stupids things are the worst, far worse than any pike, musky, or catfish. The things are worthless and over take a water way really fast. Yes they provide a food source for some catfish, but not much of one. Only the largest of catfish are capable of eating ones of any size. When they are little baby fish that could be a good food source for bass and cats, but they grow so fast it doesn't take long before hardly anything can eat them. I have had times I've gotten so many baby ones in a cast net I've use them for bait. They have caught fish for me, but if the *******s jump in my boat they quickly get their head bashed or stomped in. They're ok eat honestly don't taste bad at all, just a pain to clean cause they have a lot of bones. Most the ones I kill end up in my compost pile, which most the time before they even compost racoons or buzzards get to them.

 

[richg99]

Any new fish, IMHO, that eats plankton most of the time, should be eliminated if possible. They eat the food of our bait fish and cause no end of trouble.

 

[New River Rat]

At the expense of how many smallie targeting $6+ jerkbaits/chatterbaits/spinnerbaits over that time frame?

Slimey *******s

OTW, I was pretty lucky not to lose too many pricey lures to them. Floating a point A to point B trip one day, I did lose three Lucky Craft Pointers. I told my grown son about this. He said if I can't afford to loose them, I have no business throwing them. I let him know pretty quick losing them costs nothing, it's replacing them that kills me.

I suppose a good number of my catches were due to a smallmouth spinner bait I used to build. I had a design that would drop on the downstream side of ledges without being swept away by the current. The slime rockets would blast them. I built them on a .045 chassis and was forced to use a steel leader.

 

[onthewater102]

I like building smallie spinnerbaits on .030" wire but they'll never support more than one or two slime monsters assuming they didn't get bit off immediately. I got into building chatterbaits thanks in part to the toothy devils as well. Speaking of which - do you powder paint the spinnerbaits with an airbrush? If you do, what airbrush do you use because I'm having a hell of a time trying to add detail to baits with thermo-set paints.


My jerkbaits are somewhat safer because for most of the coldwater season the river isn't fishable due to a combination of the season not opening until mid-April here and, once it does, the river is usually dangerously high for another month or more with the snow-melt running off. By the time I get out there I'm usually jerking a zoom superfluke rather than a hardbait, so the slimers don't make off with much money if/when they bite, but they seem to have a taste for more expensive baits for whatever reason. They especially like the new out of the package taste - something about the combination of cardboard, glue and plastic really turns them on...

 

[richg99]

I can't help with much of your query, but....most every fish here on the Salt Water Texas flats has plenty of teeth.

A couple of things that seem to help
#1. Using thin braided line tied directly to the lure. The braid apparently slips BETWEEN the teeth and doesn't get cut off too often. (wire is better IMHO)

#2. One of the true "old hands" down here, who I think may have passed on by now, wrote the book on Texas flats wade fishing. A lure that worked then, and still works today, is a small gold or silver Johnson Sprite spoon. Rudy Grieger, the well-regarded expert, used to pre-tie/rig his spoons with about a four-inch piece of light wire, tied onto a swivel. The swivel was necessary because the spoon would tangle likes without one. The wire kept Spanish Mackeral or Ribbonfish from taking his lures.

 

[New River Rat]

If they got any paint at all, it was from a rattle can, covered in two part epoxy. Most were left in a "natural lead" color.

 

[onthewater102]

LOL - I'll take a picture of the pattern I make for CT when I get home - other than a different head mold it isn't all that different than what you've got there.

 

[LDUBS]

. . . . . . they seem to have a taste for more expensive baits for whatever reason. They especially like the new out of the package taste - something about the combination of cardboard, glue and plastic really turns them on...

Now that is funny -- :LOL2:

 

[New River Rat]

LOL - I'll take a picture of the pattern I make for CT when I get home - other than a different head mold it isn't all that different than what you've got there.

I had a guy pouring a 5/8 oz hidden head on a .045 wire. From the head to the "R" tie had to be roughly one inch. #5 Indiana blade in silver, about 5 different types/colors used in the skirt. Small surface area for hydro reduction, neutral, natural colors for the river I fish. Here's what they look like at work.

 

[onthewater102]

Of course I don't have any of the single blade designs handy when I went looking last night. This is another one that they love, albeit a double blade. The double frog hook works well over rocky/deeper weeds, but I have single hook setups for in and around weeds that reach the surface.

 

[user 29]

Regarding invasive and/or dangerous fish. This is from NJ fishing regulations.

https://www.eregulations.com/newjersey/fishing/freshwater/summary-fishing-regulations/

Potentially Dangerous Fish

The possession or release of live, potentially dangerous fish is prohibited. These species (see Aquatic Invasive Species) include Asian swamp eel, bighead, grass (diploid) and silver carp, brook stickleback, green sunfish, flathead catfish, oriental weatherfish, snakehead and warmouth. Anglers MUST destroy these species if encountered while fishing and are directed to submit specimen(s) or photos to a Fish and Wildlife Bureau of Freshwater Fisheries biologist for verification. To reach a biologist, call (908) 236-2118 for north Jersey or (609) 259-6964 for south Jersey. These non-native species are likely to cause environmental harm to the state’s fisheries resources by outcompeting preferred game fish species. Common carp are an invasive species but are NOT classified as a potentially dangerous fish and do not have to be destroyed.

 

[gnappi]

Regarding invasive and/or dangerous fish. This is from NJ fishing regulations.

The "No kill" people see these state by state advisories but they just go on and on about releasing these fish back after caught. Those tin foil hats are not working

 

[richg99]

I fished some northern Wisconsin lakes.

The guide would take an 16/18 inch Northern Pike/Snake/Hammer-Handle...and whack it on the head..and throw it back in the lake. He called it Eagle Food. They don't like small Northerns in Wisconsin.

 

[user 29]

Regarding invasive and/or dangerous fish. This is from NJ fishing regulations.

The "No kill" people see these state by state advisories but they just go on and on about releasing these fish back after caught. Those tin foil hats are not working

I thought you couldn't put return a carp. That's why I went to go check it out.

 

[handyandy]

common carp to my knowledge in most states is now considered a naturalized fish and can be caught and release. You have other species of fish similar to carp like big mouth buffalo, smallmouth buffalo and some others that are native to most waters in the US that would support them.

It's the asian carp that are invasive. There are two kinds silver carp ones that jump, and big head carp which get really big and have big heads with big mouths. I've caught and have seen others catch big heads on lures like spoons, and swimbaits. Silvers I've never gotten them to bite anything. The little baby carp do work for bait I've caught hybrid stripe/white bass on baby asian carp, as well as catfish. The problem with the asian carp is they reproduce and grow very fast. Although the little ones do a provide a food source for other fish the time that they are small enough to be a food source is much shorter than the species they over run like buffalo, various suckers, quill back and other rough fish that serve as a food source for others. I'm sure big blue cats and flatties eat some of the asian carp that are medium sized, but full grown adult carp don't have any predators to keep them in check other than humans.

Hence why I bash the brains in on any I get. I hate chucking them on the bank as it always irritates me to find rotting fish littering the bank around the boat ramp. So I take mine home where they either get cleaned and cooked occasionally, or chucked into the compost pile where usually raccoons or the buzzards get them in short order. So complain about pike and musky, but be glad you don't have asian carp. I'll take a toothy musky or pike that's at least a desirable fish to many over asian carp.