Postby blast from the past » Sun Sep 25, 2011 4:16 pm
we used to catch the puntat by using handheld scoopnets (the old kind with the wood handle and the red netting). we paddled the inflatable up the north fork and scooped under logs and rocks, and in the fallen leaves along the shore bank's edge - staying in shallow water. Back in those days, far up the north fork, there were bends in the river that built up silt "sandbars" that were very shallow flats-like areas only ankle to calf-deep. we would adventure around with our scoop nets and scoop here and there. we'd scoop up tiny tilapias, a small bluegill or two, a lot of crayfish (two different kinds), mosquito fish minnows, the fry of all sorts of unknown fish, frogs, shad, small goldfish, sometimes a dojo, but very rarely a puntat - the puntat were the hardest to catch! Those puntat, live, on a bare 1/0 bronze standard j-hook, would always catch a bass. whopper 5lb largemouth would bite that puntat automatically. incidentally, in retrospect, if i had known to use spin-casting gear, i would have! Cheap and reliable, casts well with light line and can use very short, handy rods. works just like a baitcaster, too!