Holes and stuff to ponder

[FishinFrenzy]

Aloha all,
While I was float tubin' yesterday (by the way...Stan, thanks for the flies and H2O) I thought of a few things while I was waiting for a strike. And believe me I had plenty of time to think...the fish did not cooperate at all! (Again...Thanks Stan for stopping by to brag about your success with all the small tucs...LOL) Anyway, does anyone know what makes all the softball-sized holes in the dirt banks? I thought maybe crawdads but then I thought maybe the ciclids??? I know in Oklahoma/Texas the catfish make holes in the banks of riverbends where guys would go noodling, but these holes are way too small. I don't know...please enlighten me. Also, here is something to ponder...If companies make red monofilament fishing line (ie...Red Cajun) which disappears in the water so the fish supposedly won't see it, why in the heck would they make a red hook to increase appeal? I thought red colors disappear? I guess maybe we are just gullable or something! LOL. Does anyone else have something to post for us all to ponder? Good fishin to all.

[skunked]

I am 99% sure that the armored catfish A.K.A. Plecostomus are the ones responsible for all the holes in the bank. These fish can often be seen surfacing for air, much like the Chinese catfish.
I think the red hooks might help in shallow water only, OR it could be just a bunch of BS! Kevin VanDam swears by them, but he is sponsored by Strike King, which is one of the main manufacturers of the red hook equipped lures.

[bsp]

Red line becomes invisible at a depth of 15ft. Hence, Red hooks and the line are easily seen as long as you are fishing in water that is less than 15ft deep. As to whether it works or not I have had days where red hooks have not seemed to matter and days where they made a huge difference. I personally use them in shallow water because I do not think that they could hurt.

[FishinFrenzy]

Skunked - that's a real good possibilty about the plectos. I didn't think about them and the lake is loaded. BSP - Good point on using the red hooks as they might not hurt. I personally haven't noticed a huge difference between hook colors but anything that makes an angler more confident is a big bonus.

[bsp]

Skunked - that's a real good possibilty about the plectos. I didn't think about them and the lake is loaded. BSP - Good point on using the red hooks as they might not hurt. I personally haven't noticed a huge difference between hook colors but anything that makes an angler more confident is a big bonus.

Exactly. Confidence plays a large roll in how well you catch fish and what got me into red hooks was an incident about a year ago. I was shore fishing in very clear water (20ft visibility, from what the guys on the boats told me) for trout. My friend and I were using the very similair setups(ultra-lights with 4lb flourocarbon), the exact same plastic worms, but I was using scent and a red hook. I outfished him 4:1. Then I gave him some of the scent I was using, and the ratio changed to 2:1. What made it so I still caught twice as many trout as he did? I think it was the red hook. That day I was very confident, and as a result I really focused on where I was casting and my retrieve. I was confident because I had caught more trout than my friend, and I believed that the only reason was my red hook.

[FishinFrenzy]

I can see why you would use red hooks with a story like that. I'd use them too. Your story reminds me of why I use Powerbait products. My best friend and I were bass fishing Lost Lake in the Wichita Mt Wildlife Refuge in OK. I was using a redshad Powerworm and he was using a regular plastic worm. I was smoking him bad and he was catching nothing. His fish would not hold on long enough for the hookset and mine were inhaling it. He finally gave in after many refusals and I gave him some worms. He started catching fish. Been using Powerbaits every since with great success.

[Stan Wright]

I thought Red Devils made all those holes in the bank. I always see them hiding in the holes. The RD we had in the 50 gallon tank was a real earth mover. Every day he would pile all the gravel into one end of the tank.

[Lrry93]

Those holes are from the plecos. They are famous for it and cause tons of erosion in streams doing it. They need to shock the lake and remove as many as they can. They multiply like rabbits. They lay 300-500 eggs at a time.