Lunker Micros?

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

On 3/19/2024 at 3:42 PM, bfishn said:

Put a net like that on a cheap, aluminum telescoping handle and you'd be in business.

https://www.zizette.com/products/telescopic-handle-aluminum

Still, I can't see how any net would help in a situation where it's bite/lift/lost in just a second or two... 🤔

That's almost exactly what I did.   I will try to remember to take a picture this evening of my setup

  When you catch some of these, they wiggle ad shake so violently,  they get off before you can grab them.   They drop in tbe water and you weren't able to positively identify them.  A net would be a bit of insurance.  

[bfishn]

2 hours ago, Daryk Campbell Sr said:

...they wiggle and shake so violently...

I predict sometime in the near future one of you micro guys will be trying to convince us what a valiant fight that lunker guppy put up. 😄

[BilletHead]

3 hours ago, bfishn said:

I predict sometime in the near future one of you micro guys will be trying to convince us what a valiant fight that lunker guppy put up. 😄

Hey I heard it's not the size that matters it's how much they wiggle. 

[FishnDave]

I'm sure more than one of us, at some point, have tried to drop a hook in a bait bucket and hook a minnow to use for bait...not to catch per se, just to impale it on the hook , to see if you could.  Its extremely difficult, and takes considerable force to bury that hook into a minnow, right?  Trying to catch one in the mouth is similar to that.  Considerable force required to bury the hook, which often launches the fish into the sky, before it has a chance to double over your saltwater 9 wt fly rod.  Its not the fish's fault.  Don't blame it on the player...blame it on the game, man!  

[bfishn]

1 hour ago, FishnDave said:

I'm sure more than one of us, at some point, have tried to drop a hook in a bait bucket and hook a minnow to use for bait...not to catch per se, just to impale it on the hook , to see if you could.  Its extremely difficult, and takes considerable force to bury that hook into a minnow, right?  Trying to catch one in the mouth is similar to that.  Considerable force required to bury the hook, which often launches the fish into the sky, before it has a chance to double over your saltwater 9 wt fly rod.  Its not the fish's fault.  Don't blame it on the player...blame it on the game, man!  

I get that. But I have jerk-hooked a lot of bait. Tied up to a bluff snag at night with a light out... get a big school of threadfins or immature gizzard shad goin' under the light with a 1/2 oz lead at the end and three aberdeen crappie hooks about 8" apart. All you had to do was jerk thru the shad till you hit one, then let it drop a few feet below the school. Bang! Crappie, flathead or walleye. 

Gotta admit I never tried to hook bait I already had... what's the point? ☺️

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

Here is what I'm converting to be my micro fishing kit.  Not in the European use of the word kit, but an actual all in one type of bundle. Soda can for size reference. It all fits into a belt pack, and can be easily transported into the woods, to find the small waters that hold smaller fish, that nobody ever fished.  

The extending net handle stays in the tackle box above the micro rod.  See the rod?  Its in the black velvet ink pen case..

I can comfortably and easily touch the ground with my net. It should be able to scoop the lunkers out with ease.

 

here you see my micro rod.  It is a Frankenstein of Tenkara rods that have been cut down. The length extended is about 4 feet.  I hope to put this kit to use over the weekend and report back.   

[FishnDave]

On 3/22/2024 at 5:55 PM, bfishn said:

Gotta admit I never tried to hook bait I already had... what's the point? ☺️

There's probably not a GOOD point.  If you are a kid at the mercy of an adult's choice of fishing spot, and the fish aren't biting...the kid might just wanna try to catch the fish he CAN see... in the bait bucket. 😁  

[FishnDave]

While flyfishing for (and catching) Eyetail Bowfin and Common Carp, I saw few large pods of Mosquitofish.  I switched to a micro-fly setup (tanago hook), and couldn't get them to get hooked....they'd hit, but missed the hook?  Anyway, I did manage to catch some very small Bluegills and Green Sunfish, and then caught 2 other micros that I was HOPING were something new...but @Ham and @Johnsfolly both agreed they are likely Golden Shiners, which I've caught before.  

I'll keep trying for something new!  

[FishnDave]

Got something new!  After checking in with @Ham and @Johnsfolly, it was determine this is an Emerald Shiner (3 pics of one fish):

Also caught Blackspotted Topminnows:

Bleeding Shiners:

Northern Studfish:

Creek Chubs, Striped Shiners, Hybrid Sunfish, Bluegill, Green Sunfish, and Longear Sunfish.