Report 9/27 Bw. - 9/28 R.

[drag4striper]

9/27 Bw

Figured since I was going to get wet trying to throw the net I would go in the rain. I had some crappy throws to start but got better.

My biggest problem was figuring out where the bait was in relationship to the sonar and the boat. I didn't catch any mongo's but got

60 or so 4 inch gizzards.... peanuts and one perch. So I fished 2 down lines and 2 ready rig floats. I had several fish come up in line

with my sinkers on the down lines and seemed to check my bait out. No bites, I got skunked. I have a lot to learn about bait fishing.

Getting bait was fun though. I called myself Mr. Taco to start with while I throw the net. LOL

9/28 R

All the bait made the ride home and lived over night and for the ride back. I did a partial water change when I got to the lake. And as

soon as I got out on the main channel I could see some bait being chased around. While I was watching a pleasure boat busted right

through the middle of them and they went down. So I dropped out 5 down lines. While I was doing that Travis of Cats and Stripers stopped

and I spoke to him a minute. We got no action and move around looking for more fish. Later in the day we found a fare amount of fish.

We dropped the lines out and I lost count of the fish that came up and followed my sinker lines on the sonar. We had one strike out of all 

those fish that came up and followed our baits. Finally we had a hook up and that was a 24 inch flathead cat fish. Maybe those fish wanted

bigger baits or ale's, I don't know. It's fishing not catching, but I sure enjoyed myself. 

[striperjohn]

What it is all about. Keep trying it will work for you.

[Deleted]

Great report. It is interesting to see the fish come up out of the trees and look at your bait.

[Gator]

Nice report Drag4striper. I usually don't use my sonar to catch bait. I look for tail flips or "clouds" of bait for the most part. I feel like I know exactly where they are when I see the tails flipping and I am not throwing the net more than I have to. After 5 surgeries on my left shoulder I have to make my throws count.

[drag4striper]

Gator, keep fooling around with that beef and you will get HORN.  LOL  Good info, but with sideways rain and choppy water I found no

flips. I had to use the sonar. You guys where right about everything on the boat grabbing your net. How long do you guys leave the gizz in 

the tub to poop/slim off before the transfer to the tank? I waited about 5 minutes , but they pooped a lot more afterward.

[Deleted]

Sept 29, 2015 8:44:50 GMT -5 drag4striper said:

Gator, keep fooling around with that beef and you will get HORN.  LOL  Good info, but with sideways rain and choppy water I found no

flips. I had to use the sonar. You guys where right about everything on the boat grabbing your net. How long do you guys leave the gizz in 

the tub to poop/slim off before the transfer to the tank? I waited about 5 minutes , but they pooped a lot more afterward.

I wait 5 to 10 minutes. There is no exact science to it. I only know that if I drop big gizz directly into my tank, I will be dealing with serious slime the remainder of the day. However, if I let them purge for a bit, my slime issues are drastically minimized. 

Frankly, they can poop all they want into my tank...it's the slime that makes it hard on the filters.

[drag4striper]

Thanks Yam. I must have waited long enough. Because I had no slim issues. But on the ride home the poo made the water muddy.

[BentRod]

Sept 29, 2015 9:50:00 GMT -5 drag4striper said:

Thanks Yam. I must have waited long enough. Because I had no slim issues. But on the ride home the poo made the water muddy.

They'll poop for 24-48hrs. Slime is really the only thing you can help limit initially - I don't even deslime mine anymore in a tub these days - prefer to limit the times the net or my hands touch the bait.

[mwardncsu]

Here's a tip for the slime..... get some Eheim FIX (or EhfiFix)

www.eheim.com/en_GB/products/filter-media/mechanical/fix

use it as your 1st filter later - this stuff will catch most of the slime and then easily wash out without destroying your poly-fill or foam filters. If you're on the boat, leave the scale basket in and it will catch the slime too... but if you're going to be away from it (trailering, or in the house, etc), leave the scale basket off for the 1st while so it does not clog up

[Gator]

Sept 29, 2015 12:34:02 GMT -5 BentRod said:

Sept 29, 2015 9:50:00 GMT -5 drag4striper said:

Thanks Yam. I must have waited long enough. Because I had no slim issues. But on the ride home the poo made the water muddy.

They'll poop for 24-48hrs. Slime is really the only thing you can help limit initially - I don't even deslime mine anymore in a tub these days - prefer to limit the times the net or my hands touch the bait.

I dump mine right in the tank too. That gives whoever is fishing with me something to do. Ummm, hey....clean the filters. 

[Deleted]

Sept 29, 2015 12:34:02 GMT -5 BentRod said:

Sept 29, 2015 9:50:00 GMT -5 drag4striper said:

Thanks Yam. I must have waited long enough. Because I had no slim issues. But on the ride home the poo made the water muddy.

They'll poop for 24-48hrs. Slime is really the only thing you can help limit initially - I don't even deslime mine anymore in a tub these days - prefer to limit the times the net or my hands touch the bait.

So how does it make you feel to drive a big hook through your carefully handled bait's nose and then slap his ass in the water?

Do you apologize?

[mwardncsu]

Nah - they like it - makes them cool

[Happy Camper]

I allways thought that the first load of gunk was gizzards upchucking stomach contents, as its green/brown like algie and the extra slime was reaction to the heavy salt water and stress from the whole ordeal. kind of like me on a carowins ride. lol

[striperjohn]

I agree with you Happy. It seems to me the stress makes them upchuck and the saltwater causes some reaction as well. In warmer water that seems to be amplified. I just use a good pre-filter, like Mward mentioned, and clean it every 15 minutes or so until they stop.
Oh yeah if you give them a nice bumpy ride it will start the process all over again.

[Deleted]

There is no doubt in my mind that a purge tank works well for not having to clean your filters so drastically at first. I have had situations where the entire surface of the water was a layer of slime and it did not get sucked into the filters. I had to skim it with a net. This has never occurred with a purge tank.

However, if I am catching one or two at a time, the purge tank becomes less necessary. No doubt, the less you handle the bait, the better. Yet mongos are pretty stout creatures.

When it comes to ales, replace the above slime with scales.

For me, I use my big front fish box which is over 40 gallons to purge. I find that dropping them into this is less violent than trying to drop them in my tank.

At the end of the day, you have to do what is right for your boat and situation. There is no perfect answer.