A couple of questions

[Ken]

Hey guys!

1) I remember the one time that I went to the lake and there were these half beak needlefish (or something like that)...do you ever use them for bait? Has anyone try to catch them? They would attack my topwater lure...but since they are very small, I never hooked any of them

2) Again, I remember fishing near the boat launch and seeing some shoreline bush on one side. I remenber hearing a couple of big splashes around the tangles of the roots (from what I can vaguely remember)...is that what you would call tucs pushing bait against the shore?

Thanks much in advance . I'm trying to learn as much as I can now...so 7 months from now, I can go there, read areas and work areas effectively.

Ken

[OO7:BASSINASSASSIN]

Howzit Ken,

On question #1, never tried using them for bait but I have seen a tuc eat a medium size one before. It was pretty cool! I think pongee hate them.

On question #2, high probability that was a tuc. A lot of times they will be right up in the roots. I have had the fish blow up on the lure as soon as it hits the water when they are in the roots. I also noticed if you see a heron along the bank and he is staring at the water, there is a school of tucs working the bank. Sometimes when the tucs charge, the bait fish jump onto the bank. This use to happen a lot a long time ago.

[leoric]

Hey Ken,

Did those half-beak needlefish look somewhat like this?

I'm not too sure about this (maybe somebody can confirm) but I think they're called longnose gar. I've seen a few of them on the right side of the parking lot (by that little pocket with a sunken tree in it). The tucs don't pay attention to them though (at least at that time when I was there).

[Modest_Man]

The needlefish in the lake are called "needlenose gar" but the aren't a gar.

I've been tossing around the idea of catching some and putting them in an aquarium. They have interesting topwater hunting behavior.

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/species ... me=cancila

[Ken]

Thanks for all the replies guys!

OO7:BASSINASSASSIN, pretty cool regarding the baitfish jumping onto shore. I'll make sure I look for herons.

On a side note about herons...I was just fishing tonight and a great blue heron almost flew right into me. These birds stands about 4-5 feet tall. I'm only 5'2"...so that was a close call. It managed to turn away from me about 5 feet from my face. It also missed my friend by a hair, who was fishing about 20 feet from me.

leoric, no...it's not a longnose gar. We have longnose gar in Canada. I have yet to catch one...but definitely on my list of fish I need to catch.

Modest_Man, yeah, that's what they look like from what I remember.

Much mahalo!

BTW, my friend Matt caught this pike tonight. The fish initially came up to grab my lure as I was pulling my lure out of the water for the next cast. Less than a minute later, my friend had this fish on!



I only caught 4 rockbass...which were about 7-8" long each...not worth a picture. We were fishing for pike and walleye.

[OO7:BASSINASSASSIN]

Dude! Next time you have to try my signature move, the figure 8, on the pike and musky. That pike would have been yours!

[Ken]

No chance from shore...not enough room to figure 8 . It was shallow (less than 2 feet), lots of shoreline tall grass, and there were shallow weed clumps in the water. Otherwise...like you said...I would have figure 8 and that fish could be mine.

[OO7:BASSINASSASSIN]

My bad, I assumed you were on a boat. On the other hand, I fish from shore also. I guess tucs are more vicious, they will chase and hit lures right up to the edge of the water. I had one on land as soon as he hit.

[OO7:BASSINASSASSIN]

Last November decided to try some saltwater fishing. The conditions were good, calm and little wind. It was late in the afternoon and I took my freshwater gear. I started off slowly, I only had caught and released one papio and it was getting late. As I was walking along the reef I was skipping a plug when I noticed a huge wake behind my lure when it was about 10 feet out. I transitioned my retrieve into several figure 8s and saw a GT (10 pounds?) going back and forth eyeballing my lure about 3 feet away. I pulled my lure towards a little cove on right and drew the GT closer. I went from my right to the left accelerating out of the cove, thats when genetic response kicked in and the GT swallowed the lure. He kept on running, I did not think he was going to stop until he reached Kauai! He took out 50 yards of 6 lb power pro in a few seconds and was into my 12 mono backing. When he stopped, I had about 1/4 of my line left in the reel. I actually started to gain some line. As the fish started arching slowly to the left I could hear Darth Vader say " I have you now!". At that moment as if to say psych he went ballistic. The fish quickly emptied my remaining line, and then I had a brain fart. Instead of stopping my spool I just let the drag go until it got to the knot and bam all my line was gone. I hope he did not die because of that.I still had my other rod so I got to catch and release a few more papio and I lost a kaku.

[Stan Wright]

We've caught those needle fish on very small lures. I've also had them chase a streamer fly and get their teeth tangled in the feather and hair. Every time it was an accident rather than fishing for them. Sharp little teeth.

The peacock bass work the shoreline looking for the little baitfish right against the bank. I've seen them all up on dry land.... baitfish, peacock bass and the bird.

Stan