Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Help....I Suck At Fishing!

That'd be great. I hear anglers talk about it all the time and when I pick up my reel to practice it's like looking at hieroglyphics. "Wait, what did he just say again?..."

EDIT - Hey, did you just call me a dummy?

You and me both.

I use the highly scientific method of setting the drag in the approximate middle of the range. I pull on the line and if it seems hard to pull, but I can pull some, I say "yup, that's about right." Then if I catch a fish I adjust it on an as needed basis. It the line is going out faster than I can reel it in, then I increase the drag. It the line feels like it's getting so tight that it's going to snap and take my eye out, then I loosen it up.

Is there any other way to set drag?

The "gut feeling" is usually fine... HAHA

If you wanna get real technical, find a digital scale. Set your rod and reel up like your fishing but instead of tying a lure to your line, tie the scale to it. Then pull on the line with your digital scale and see what weight it reads(it helps to have a friend help you). I like the drag to kick in at about 75% of the line rating. So if you are using 10 pound test, the drag should kick in when the scale reads 7 lbs, 8 oz, if you're using 4 pound test, it should kick in at 3 lbs, etc...

As with almost anything though, it all depends and can vary with different fishing methods and styles. However the 75% rule seems to work well for me for most styles and methods.

tighten the drag until when you pull on the line, it almost breaks, then back off a little.

Gflo,

I also live in San Luis Obispo, actually Los Osos. I don't fish in fresh water nearly as much as the ocean but I have had great luck at San Antonio and Santa Margarita with what we call a "reeper". This consists of a hook with a 90 degree dog leg near the eye and an artificial worm (red & motor oil works well around here). Thread the hook through the head of the worm all the way to the dog leg then bring the hook back into the body of the worm until it almost comes through the other side. This will create some tension between the head of the worm which is anchored on the dog leg and the body which is anchored on the hook point. Attach a split shot about 18" up the line. This is a great weedless set up that work especially well at Lake San Antonio. I know there is another, more well known name for this set up. Can anyone educate me here.

Don't forget, your right next to the biggest pond on the planet (Pacific Ocean). Rock fish are so dumb they would bite a hook attached to a coors light can and halibut are available for the more sporting angler. Virg's Landing out of Morro Bay has several charter options ranging from $50 - $250 depending on length of trip. BTW, tuna are within range for the first time since 2002. Thank you El Nino! Heading out on Sunday or Monday weather dependent.

P.S. There are also some good ponds to fish on Cal Poly Campus. Send me a PM and I can point you in the right direction.

texas rig or carolina rig http://www.bassfishingusa.com/Rigging/rigging1.html

CJ, I've got a stand-up rig Penn 50SW 2-speed spooled with 100# that I'll loan you if you need it if you'll let me watch!

What knot do you normally tie when using mono?

That's exactly the way I set mine. What a coincidence.

It would be fun to watch me get yanked into the water without a fighting chair wouldn't it?



The Palomar Knot Definitely the strongest knot out there... If I am lazy and am not concerned with the line breaking I use the The Uni Knot.

I liek the Uni because it's so versatile, but the Palomar IS stronger. Hard to use on small hooks tho.

We'd just make sure to tie a bouy on your belt before you went over. You'd be harder to yank down and easier to find!

Before they started to tie on bouys, they'd just tie on another heavier rod 'n reel and dump the first one overboard after buttoning down the drag. They'd continue the fight on the 2nd rod 'n reel. They figured that they'd better tie on a bouy after getting spooled on 2 reels and having the line break on the 3rd one. That was a BIG whoops!

Thanks for the rig lesson Burg. That was the rig I was talking about except that we always use split shot rather than a slider. Also, what we call a Carolina rig is a bit different than what was shown there as what we use is typically for soaking dead bait. BTW we caught 18 albacore up to 30 lb. between three anglers on Sunday. Smoker and cannery is in full operation. Between that trip and Salmon fishing Lake Michigan last week, I am up to my gills (no pun intended) in salmon, trout and tuna. If anyone out there is into Tuna fishing, now would be a great time to go anywhere between So. Cali and Oregon.

WaterWizard:
How big are the albies running? When I lived out there, it was during the albie drought and I never had a chance to chase after them when they did finally show up.

Esshup,

Albies are in the 15-40 lb range right now. As the season goes on they tend to get bigger. A good friend of mine caught a 77 lb albie in December 2002. We just had gale force winds and it kind of stirred up the temperature breaks but it's expected to clear up again soon. If you're considering coming all the way from Indiana, you should look into Oregon Tuna fishing. It's been wide open out there for a long time.

WW:

I think that if I come out there for fishing, I'd probably go out of Fisherman's Landing on the Excel. I made a few trips on her and really liked the accomidations. Plus I have a friend out there that would go as well.

But, OTOH, she's from Oregon, so she might want to fly back home, visit the family and get some fishing in as well.

It'd ba a shame not to be able to take back all the fish that would be caught. I don't think flying the fish back is very cost effective with the airlines charging for every little thing nowadays.

16 state rooms!...that's quite a boat, or should I call it a yacht. In fact, that thing looks nicer than most houses I walk into. I'm just happy to get back alive on the boats I usually go out on. You say you lived "out here". Where abouts?

O'side, Jeffries Ranch Road, right off of Mission, just West of the Bonsall Bridge. Spent 10 years there, worked in Vista.

Yeah, it is a nice boat. About 1/2 of the staterooms have their own bathroom with shower. When it was first launched, it rode pretty low in the water. They ended up taking about 20 tons of lead sheeting out from between the engine room and the staterooms that they thought would make for a good noise supressor. It has stabilizers like the cruise ships do to help stop the rock-n-roll while underway. They did a good job on the design, when it drifts, it drifts sideways, not stern first like a lot of boats.

I'm familiar with the area. I grew up in San Clemente and we have equipment at The Golf Club of California there in Fallbrook and Shadowridge Golf Course in Vista.
I also head out the 76 at least once a winter to go dirt biking out at Ocotillo Wells and my Dad still likes to go to the "Indian Gaming" at Pala and Palma. I call it luxury tax for morons.

Seriously though, that is a sweet boat. It must cost a pretty penny to get on that thing.

I was a member of the San Clemente Gun Club for a number of years.

Actually, it wasn't that bad, considering there were 5 meals/day (3 main meals and 2 "snacks"), and all the fresh fruit, milk, soda and juice that you wanted to eat. No extra charges for baitfish, etc., etc. The only thing that was extra was if you wanted to drink beer on the boat. You could bring your own hard liquor if you wanted. IIRC, I think it figured out to somewhere between $100 and $150/day, depending on the length of the trip - longer trips were less $. They didn't clean your fish, but anything up to about 100# was completely frozen in less than an hour after hitting the hold, larger fish took longer. No special fishing times, you could fish 24/7 as long as they weren't at speed going to another spot to fish. It wasn't on the Excel (it was on The Spirit of Adventure) but I caught Wahoo fishing at night while fishing for Blackfin Skipjack. If you are ever on a boat fishing at night WAAYY out in the ocean, there are some pretty strange things that come by in the middle of the hight!

San Clemente Gun Club....I love it. In all my years growing up in SC I've never heard it refered to in that way. Thanks for your service.

WW:

Believe it or not, there was a real San Clemente Gun Club, not Pendelton. I was never in the service (officially that is).

Alright guys,

I finally had got a free weekend, and tomorrow I am heading up with my dad (who is equally as fishing clueless as I am) to hart park in kern county to do some fishing.

I am going to put some of this advice to the test, and see what happens!

Bringing some power bait,

A few blue fox lures,

some nightcrawlers (and jig heads)

and a good attitude!

I'll let you know how it goes. We are going to get out there pretty late at about 10:00am or so.

Targeting trout, but I'll take whatever I can get!

I too am a poor fisherman, so this is in that vein. Above the town of Kernville, on the Kern River Highway, at the base of the power station starting around 6AM, fishing with the lure at the top on the list, 1/16 oz/ http://www.panthermartin.com/lures/Spinners/Regular.aspx
21 trout in a little under an hour. Ignore the Great Blue Heron.

On the road to the Kernville airport find any place you can get to the river and walk/fish to towards the lake. We saw beavers, bear and the occasional trout. If you get to the airport the cheeseburger will be worth the drive.

Lake Isabella is another option, but I like to walk or wade and fish so my experience there was not good.

I always thought the reason we continue to go fishing was so we could learn how to fish. I was practicing fly casting in a nice open area body of water and this lady came up and was watching me closely and I felt terrible as I did not know what I was doing. I finally got tired and quit and she said she could fly fish. At this time I could of crawled in a hole, but she was very nice and not overly critical. She proceeded to inform me of a few improvements that I might desire to work on. She was a very nice person. I have noticed in the past the tendency of fisher people to stick together and support each other.