Hello all,
Quick history: Recently purchased a house on the Fox River; previous owners left some fishing stuff, so I thought I'd give it a go. Did some research online and asked those nice people at Gander mountain to give me a beginners load of tackle. And off I went to the bottom of my yard.
Now, in the last week or two I have had lots of, well I guess you'd call it success. I have 4 rods, usually use only 2. One has the thickest line on it ever (seriously, it's about 1/8th of an inch diameter). There's a treble hook coming from a triple swivel thing on about 8" of line. There's a big heavy #4 weight attached from about 12" line on the other part of the swivel. The other rods have a sinker freely moving to a swivel then maybe 12 to 18 inches of line to a single hook. All have 12 Lb monofilament line on them (re-done by those nice people at Gander, who suggested it then took my money)
I have, so far used corn (the 'default' bait as the wife doesn't mind it in the fridge), chicken liver (yuck), red worms, nightcrawlers and something called 'Cheese-O' from the Gas station.
Results:
well over 200 Carp.
One Drum.
One 4 inch Catfish.
The biggest carp was maybe 20". Hauled it in, no fight whatsoever. The catfish was a suprise and broke up the monotony of carp
My spot is at the end of my yard, which lies pretty much midway between the Saint Charles and Geneva dams/weirs.
Help needed: I don't know what else to do - Carp are getting a bit tiresome, especially as all I need to do is reel in and there they are. They don't even fight. I catch one every 3 to 4 minutes between 6pm and 8 pm with 2 lines in the water. Some specifics though:
- It's alittle too hot to stand at the edge of my yard throwing jigs(?) out for Bass, although I would love to. Any other ways to fish for bass?
- The hooks seem to rip the fishes mouth sometimes, and it is worrying me. I don't want to hurt them (I throw them all back in btw). Is there a way to stop this?
- Am I doomed insomuch as Carp are all that live at the end of my yard? How can I catch catfish or pike or some bigger fish? With 'simple' baits that won't freak either my wife or me out?
- Is it possible to float fish without the float always ending up next to the bank?
I don't really want to spend too much money (house renovation is draining the funds) but am willing to buy new equipment if it's really necessary.
Many thanks and apologies for the long post and long list of questions.
Cheers
Gal
Quick history: Recently purchased a house on the Fox River; previous owners left some fishing stuff, so I thought I'd give it a go. Did some research online and asked those nice people at Gander mountain to give me a beginners load of tackle. And off I went to the bottom of my yard.
Now, in the last week or two I have had lots of, well I guess you'd call it success. I have 4 rods, usually use only 2. One has the thickest line on it ever (seriously, it's about 1/8th of an inch diameter). There's a treble hook coming from a triple swivel thing on about 8" of line. There's a big heavy #4 weight attached from about 12" line on the other part of the swivel. The other rods have a sinker freely moving to a swivel then maybe 12 to 18 inches of line to a single hook. All have 12 Lb monofilament line on them (re-done by those nice people at Gander, who suggested it then took my money)
I have, so far used corn (the 'default' bait as the wife doesn't mind it in the fridge), chicken liver (yuck), red worms, nightcrawlers and something called 'Cheese-O' from the Gas station.
Results:
well over 200 Carp.
One Drum.
One 4 inch Catfish.
The biggest carp was maybe 20". Hauled it in, no fight whatsoever. The catfish was a suprise and broke up the monotony of carp
My spot is at the end of my yard, which lies pretty much midway between the Saint Charles and Geneva dams/weirs.
Help needed: I don't know what else to do - Carp are getting a bit tiresome, especially as all I need to do is reel in and there they are. They don't even fight. I catch one every 3 to 4 minutes between 6pm and 8 pm with 2 lines in the water. Some specifics though:
- It's alittle too hot to stand at the edge of my yard throwing jigs(?) out for Bass, although I would love to. Any other ways to fish for bass?
- The hooks seem to rip the fishes mouth sometimes, and it is worrying me. I don't want to hurt them (I throw them all back in btw). Is there a way to stop this?
- Am I doomed insomuch as Carp are all that live at the end of my yard? How can I catch catfish or pike or some bigger fish? With 'simple' baits that won't freak either my wife or me out?
- Is it possible to float fish without the float always ending up next to the bank?
I don't really want to spend too much money (house renovation is draining the funds) but am willing to buy new equipment if it's really necessary.
Many thanks and apologies for the long post and long list of questions.
Cheers
Gal