(08-24-2021, 10:47 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: lol it was 15.3 Celsius, which converts to 59.5 farenheit.

And yes, that was indeed considered, "warm," when I asked

Those links were superb, thanks for that! I now have some resources, if I ever choose to head to those places

The grocery store I used to work at, used to bring in Bluefish from time to time; it's inexpensive, flaky texture and can be cooked in the same manner as the Cods/Haddock. I know they have wicked teeth, but I would definitely be up for catching some, around Montauk, NJ, Cape Cod, etc.


You guys have Cutthroats and Bulls which we'll never get over here; our jealousy is much-more deserved



Trust me, I always carry my Micro gear in my car as well (pen rod, Ultralight spinning reel, couple of small lures and microhooks from Japan) and so many times, when I drive by a stream or pond like you mention, I'm so tempted to stop at the side of the road and just try for 10 minutes... but I've never done it.

My wife is going to be having a girls' weekend (bachelorette) in a few weeks and my parents are going to a cottage for the week (I should be joining them, but I need to work and watch the dog ), that same week, so after I'm done work, I should just go for a quick drive to some of said streams/ponds and just give it a shot! Thanks for the help, Matt :)

Last question though; should I use cut up worms (nightcrawlers) for bait or, "match the hatch," and use something like maggots or similarly-small creatures?

If you get a chance to go to the Keys try to go when the shrimp are running. You can fish during the day and go shrimping at night.

https://www.shrimpnfishflorida.com/howtocatchshrimp.html

Montauk is known for its shark fishing. I learned to scuba dive not far from Montauk. The day we were to work on our navigation the seas were too rough so the instructor moved the dive site to a bay with a muddy bottom. Visibility was less than a foot. Great to work on navigation because you couldn’t see shit. I started to notice what looked like pot holes on the bottom. I got curious and decided I’d take a closer look. My face was about 3” away from a huge mouth with more needle like teeth than I could count. That’s when it bolted off the bottom and scared the shit out of me because I thought it was going to eat my face. It was a goose fish.

https://njscuba.net/marine-biology/marine-fishes/ocean-bottom/goosefish/

We had been warned they occasionally like to latch onto a diver that swims too close and if the do, swim to the surface and they’ll let go because they don’t like being off the bottom.

I had a summer job in Maine as a scuba diver. Too poor to afford a dry suit. That water is cold! Especially when you’ve been down for about an hour. About 10’ below the surface you can feel yourself swim through the thermacline where it gets even colder. By the time the dive was over I’d be shivering so hard I couldn’t hit the head trying to take a piss. That’s when they asked me, “You don’t piss in your wet suit?” Northern divers.

(08-24-2021, 11:26 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: Yeah, but if you're in brookie country you won't have cutthroats or bulls. They shouldn't ever cross paths. though sometimes you can find brook trout stocked out west. Those two species, specifically, aren't spread around like browns, rainbows, and brooks. There are places with native cutthroat where they have no creel limits on brooks because of the invasiveness of them in the watershed.


When it comes to the true micros, I either use size 24 or smaller flies, tanago hooks with a little gluten bait, or tanagos with pieces of red wigglers on them.

Indeed, Tanago hooks are the ones I have; I need to fashion the leader into something that can be tied/snapped onto my line, but that's not too hard :)

Thanks again, Matt :)

(08-24-2021, 11:52 AM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: If you get a chance to go to the Keys try to go when the shrimp are running. You can fish during the day and go shrimping at night.

https://www.shrimpnfishflorida.com/howtocatchshrimp.html

Montauk is known for its shark fishing. I learned to scuba dive not far from Montauk. The day we were to work on our navigation the seas were too rough so the instructor moved the dive site to a bay with a muddy bottom. Visibility was less than a foot. Great to work on navigation because you couldn’t see shit. I started to notice what looked like pot holes on the bottom. I got curious and decided I’d take a closer look. My face was about 3” away from a huge mouth with more needle like teeth than I could count. That’s when it bolted off the bottom and scared the shit out of me because I thought it was going to eat my face. It was a goose fish.

https://njscuba.net/marine-biology/marine-fishes/ocean-bottom/goosefish/

We had been warned they occasionally like to latch onto a diver that swims too close and if the do, swim to the surface and they’ll let go because they don’t like being off the bottom.

I had a summer job in Maine as a scuba diver. Too poor to afford a dry suit. That water is cold! Especially when you’ve been down for about an hour. About 10’ below the surface you can feel yourself swim through the thermacline where it gets even colder. By the time the dive was over I’d be shivering so hard I couldn’t hit the head trying to take a piss. That’s when they asked me, “You don’t piss in your wet suit?” Northern divers.

Shrimping might be worthwhile; all the shrimp we get in Canada is either farmed in southeast Asia or from Argentina (made the Argentinian ones on the BBQ on Sunday), so it'd be nice to try a different variety (or at the very least, something from the same continent).

And that's an awesome story XD I love the link for the Goosefish; pure tongue in cheek.

And THAT'S Monkfish; I know exactly the species now and they're delicious!

(08-24-2021, 12:20 PM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: Indeed, Tanago hooks are the ones I have; I need to fashion the leader into something that can be tied/snapped onto my line, but that's not too hard :)

Thanks again, Matt :)

The shop I linked in that post has what are called tippet connectors. They are a life saver.

(08-24-2021, 12:20 PM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: Indeed, Tanago hooks are the ones I have; I need to fashion the leader into something that can be tied/snapped onto my line, but that's not too hard :)

Thanks again, Matt :)


Shrimping might be worthwhile; all the shrimp we get in Canada is either farmed in southeast Asia or from Argentina (made the Argentinian ones on the BBQ on Sunday), so it'd be nice to try a different variety (or at the very least, something from the same continent).

And that's an awesome story XD I love the link for the Goosefish; pure tongue in cheek.

And THAT'S Monkfish; I know exactly the species now and they're delicious!

Something else I think you would be interested in . . .


https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/christ-of-the-abyss-florida

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_of_the_Abyss

If you’re at all a Hemingway fan (and what fisherman isn’t?) you should visit the Hemingway House in Key West. As a bonus, they claim they have more bars per square mile than anywhere else in the US. I don’t know if it’s true, but hey, they can still claim it.

(08-24-2021, 01:42 PM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: Something else I think you would be interested in . . .


https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/christ-of-the-abyss-florida

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_of_the_Abyss

If you’re at all a Hemingway fan (and what fisherman isn’t?) you should visit the Hemingway House in Key West. As a bonus, they claim they have more bars per square mile than anywhere else in the US. I don’t know if it’s true, but hey, they can still claim it.

Gesu Cristo! (no pun intended) I was in San Fruttuoso 3 years ago, briefly... I could've maybe glanced at the genuine article!

That seems very interesting indeed; the Keys look to be my next destination, but that still won't be for a few years

Thanks for all of this!

(08-24-2021, 11:52 AM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: I had a summer job in Maine as a scuba diver. Too poor to afford a dry suit. That water is cold! Especially when you’ve been down for about an hour. About 10’ below the surface you can feel yourself swim through the thermacline where it gets even colder. By the time the dive was over I’d be shivering so hard I couldn’t hit the head trying to take a piss. That’s when they asked me, “You don’t piss in your wet suit?”  Northern divers.

2 types of divers in the world..... those that piss in the wetsuits and those who lie about it.

(08-24-2021, 03:13 PM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: Gesu Cristo! (no pun intended) I was in San Fruttuoso 3 years ago, briefly... I could've maybe glanced at the genuine article!

That seems very interesting indeed; the Keys look to be my next destination, but that still won't be for a few years

Thanks for all of this!

Key West is my favorite spot in the whole world. Time does not exist there. Lots of bars and restaurants. People gather to watch and applaud the sunset. Love watching the sunset from Ocean Keys Resort's pier bar at 0 Duvall St. If you can stay there, do so. Hemmingway's house is cool, but there is a lot more to do as well.  Go see Robert the Doll, who was the inspiration for the Chucky and Annabelle movies. Take his picture without asking.  Rent a golf cart to get around the sites. 
Our ritual when we go is we stay at Ocean Keys, get up and walk about a block to a restaurant on the left side of the street (can't remember the name) and have breakfast on the porch, with some Bailey's and coffee and Bloody Mary's (not for me, I can't stand vodka) The walk across the street to  the Hog's Breath Saloon for lunch, which for me is usually a ribeye sandwich and beer. Then work down to Captain Tony's bar (the original Sloppy Joes where Hemmingway wrote, Buffet got his start, and they hung pirates from the tree that grows up through the bar), on to the new Sloppy Joes, then down to Irish Kevin's for live music. Throw in some walking, shopping, sitting with cigars and libations, then work back to a restaurant for dinner, then back to the pier for sunset. No more relaxing vacation anywhere in the world. (If you drink and enjoy live music. If not, there's not much to do there)

(08-24-2021, 11:26 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: Yeah, but if you're in brookie country you won't have cutthroats or bulls. They shouldn't ever cross paths. though sometimes you can find brook trout stocked out west. Those two species, specifically, aren't spread around like browns, rainbows, and brooks. There are places with native cutthroat where they have no creel limits on brooks because of the invasiveness of them in the watershed.


When it comes to the true micros, I either use size 24 or smaller flies, tanago hooks with a little gluten bait, or tanagos with pieces of red wigglers on them.

Over here all our brookies are in the streams, you don't see them in the big rivers with the cutthroats, bulls, browns and rainbows.

(08-31-2021, 06:00 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Over here all our brookies are in the streams, you don't see them in the big rivers with the cutthroats, bulls, browns and rainbows.

Yeah, brook trout need things a little cooler and cleaner than the big tailwaters out west often provide. But, they do tend to cross paths with cutthroats in their native waters when they've been stocked on top of them. This happened a lot more before we discovered rainbows and how much we could manipulate them.

(08-24-2021, 11:52 AM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: If you get a chance to go to the Keys try to go when the shrimp are running. You can fish during the day and go shrimping at night.

https://www.shrimpnfishflorida.com/howtocatchshrimp.html

Montauk is known for its shark fishing. I learned to scuba dive not far from Montauk. The day we were to work on our navigation the seas were too rough so the instructor moved the dive site to a bay with a muddy bottom. Visibility was less than a foot. Great to work on navigation because you couldn’t see shit. I started to notice what looked like pot holes on the bottom. I got curious and decided I’d take a closer look. My face was about 3” away from a huge mouth with more needle like teeth than I could count. That’s when it bolted off the bottom and scared the shit out of me because I thought it was going to eat my face.  It was a goose fish.

https://njscuba.net/marine-biology/marine-fishes/ocean-bottom/goosefish/

We had been warned they occasionally like to latch onto a diver that swims too close and if the do, swim to the surface and they’ll let go because they don’t like being off the bottom.

I had a summer job in Maine as a scuba diver. Too poor to afford a dry suit. That water is cold! Especially when you’ve been down for about an hour. About 10’ below the surface you can feel yourself swim through the thermacline where it gets even colder. By the time the dive was over I’d be shivering so hard I couldn’t hit the head trying to take a piss. That’s when they asked me, “You don’t piss in your wet suit?”  Northern divers.

I've eaten monkfish before.  Our local Kroger had it for a stretch and the seafood dept guy was pushing it hard.  It wasn't bad at all.  Kind of buttery flavor.  I had zero clue they looked like that.  Honestly, if I saw that and didn't know what it was, it would probably scare me more than most sharks.  That thing is right our of a horror movie.

(09-03-2021, 11:05 AM)samhain Wrote: I've eaten monkfish before.  Our local Kroger had it for a stretch and the seafood dept guy was pushing it hard.  It wasn't bad at all.  Kind of buttery flavor.  I had zero clue they looked like that.  Honestly, if I saw that and didn't know what it was, it would probably scare me more than most sharks.  That thing is right our of a horror movie.

It's so good, kinda like Cubera Snapper (have never eaten a Cubera, but have read from numerous sources); buttery, different-type of flake, just an all-around awesome flavor, most-likely because they eat a lot of crab and other crustaceans/mollusks, so their meat is similar (like the, "pumpkin," Swordfish caught in Islamorada; they are an orangey-pink, because they eat almost nothing but crab, shrimp and krill and their taste is reminiscent of what they eat, which is fairly-different from the standard, white-meat swords.

Hard to find Monkfish, nowadays.

(09-03-2021, 11:05 AM)samhain Wrote: I've eaten monkfish before.  Our local Kroger had it for a stretch and the seafood dept guy was pushing it hard.  It wasn't bad at all.  Kind of buttery flavor.  I had zero clue they looked like that.  Honestly, if I saw that and didn't know what it was, it would probably scare me more than most sharks.  That thing is right our of a horror movie.

Because the visibility was so bad if my face was any closer to it’s mouth we would have been French kissing.

(09-03-2021, 11:18 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: It's so good, kinda like Cubera Snapper (have never eaten a Cubera, but have read from numerous sources); buttery, different-type of flake, just an all-around awesome flavor, most-likely because they eat a lot of crab and other crustaceans/mollusks, so their meat is similar (like the, "pumpkin," Swordfish caught in Islamorada; they are an orangey-pink, because they eat almost nothing but crab, shrimp and krill and their taste is reminiscent of what they eat, which is fairly-different from the standard, white-meat swords.

Hard to find Monkfish, nowadays.

If you get a chance to go shark fishing off Montauk, Old Fort Pond off Shinnecock Bay seemed to be filled with them.