Warmer and Deeper...

Yesterday, I caught all fish on bottom bait. I tried the same thing today, but didn't catch any. Yesterday was really warm, over 90 degree F. Today, it got little bit cooler thanks to thunderstorm yesterday night. Probably, water didn't become cool enough. I suspect fish moved to deeper pool. I got some bite, but most of them were small sunfish, I guess. Carp fish were really active. They were close to the shore. It is the mating time for them. I hope large mouth bass move close to the shore soon.

Dardevle

When I was fishing, I found something shiny at the shore, Darevle spoon lure! It seems that the spoon has been there for a long time. Hook and split shot are gone, but amazingly spoon itself is rust free (as its manufacturer, Eppinger, advertises). You can find the indication of devil's head, which is the symbol of product.



On the back,

"DARDEVLE"
DETROIT
U.S.A.

are stamped. Is there anyone can tell how old this spoon is from the stamp?



My first impression was that it is heavier than other copy cat spoons. As a matter of fact, I have not fished often with spoons, although I have a set of cheap fake spoons, which have never produced fish to me. This original Daredevle makes me re-think about spoon.



Here is a side view. I may give a shot with this spoon. It became really warm here, and fish moved down to bottom. Top and mid water didn't produce at all yesterday. After changing to tube on 1/8 jig head, I could caught three: 11.5 and 14.5 smallies, and small rockbass.

Monster (flex) Jig

Professional bass fishing started and flourished in the U.S. But nowadays, thanks to introduction or "invasion" of the mighty species, black bass, many anglers in other countries also enjoy bass fishing. In Korea, bass was intentionally introduced by the government to its waters as a potential protein source in the 1970s. Now, although they are considered as invasive species, as are Asian carp in the US, many sportfishermen enjoy bass fishing in Korea. They are also developing new techniques and lures, which can be referred by American anglers in reverse. This is a good thing.

I saw a post about so called, "monster (flex) jig" at a Korean lure makers' website, http://goldworm.net, which I thought brilliant. Basic idea is to separate sinker and hook parts of jig head, and link them with a split shot. This makes it easier to customize presentation and give more erratic action. You can find pictured tutorial of monster jig making, which was presented by Jinchoong Kim (Sorry, it is written in Korean, but you still can look at the pictures.). Here I put only a few pictures to give you some idea about the monster jig.





This was originally developed by a professional bass angler, Jae Bum Park, who is a member of Korea Sportfishing Association. Here is a link to his blog post about the monster jig (in Korean). Recently, this jig was commercialized by Sure Catch Korea (also in Korean).



I did some web search using key words, 'monster jig' and 'flex jig,' and found that Hogie's has a similar product called flex jig. This jig head is for salt water fishing, but I could not find further information about how this is rigged. It seems that they do not put skirt on it. When I find cool products and tactics developed in Korea, I will introduce them here.

How to remove fish smell?

When I started fishing, fish smell was like a badge of honor to me. Well, the smell is not super pleasant, to be honest. I found that the smell is hard to remove with regular soap and lingers for a while. I am sure you know better than me. So, how do you remove fish smell from your hands? Many suggests simply to use lemon juice or vinegar. Here is the list of solutions that I tried from the worst to the best:

1. Rubbing on stainless steel utensil: Just temporary removal of smell. It returns after a while.
   
2. Vinegar: I think it only disguises the smell, but vinegar smell is not that refreshing.
3. Lemon juice: Ditto, but much refreshing.
   
4. Dish detergent: I expected this solution perfectly work, but it did not. Dish detergent is great in oil removal but probably not good at protein removal, I guess.
   
5. Special hand-cleaner soap for auto mechanics (e.g., Fast Orange): A friend of mine recommended it. It works, but not so effectively. I have to rub my hands rigorously. I guess pumice does the job of physically removing the protein residual. But chemically, it is the same as dish detergent.
   
6. Shampoo: I recommend this. Simple, but works great! I guess because shampoo is a detergent specialized in oil and protein removal. Cannot believe it? Try it.
   

Any other working solutions to suggest?

Energy song from Industrial musical

I found this video clip at Youtube. I planned to use the first song as an opening of my dissertation defense. Hahaha, yes seriously, I thought that it was too good to be missed in energy related discussion. Fortunately, my advisor stopped me. It is amazing to find that our dialogue about energy has not changed much since this short musical was filmed in 1978. Same story again and again. The second song, "the Great American consumer," is a master piece. It was used some other places in media, I cannot remember. I hope you like it.

When swimbait snagged

Caught two small mouth bass this evening at the Hudson shore: 16" and 10". I hooked one more 15" something bass but line broke. I should re-tie the knot after casting 100 more times... My laziness was punished.

Anyway, when you fish with swimbait, how do you handle snagging? Kick and scream out loud, then cut line? When I fish with long tail swimbait on jig heard at shallow water, it often snags. Here is what I do when I fish at the shore:

1. When I feel resistance, it is a critical moment. It could be fish or snag. I shortly pause reeling to determine. If it is fish, it will pull. Then set hook! If it is snag, it will not. It is hard to tell, but experience can help.
2. If it is snag, shake rod tip gently. I do not attempt to force it free. This could break the line or even rod. From my experience, it solves about 40% of problems.
   
3. When no.2 fails, I use more force. I rhythmically twitch my rod. It solves about 20% of problem.
4. When no.3 fails, I open my bail arm and move to other spots. Changing angle, I repeat nos. 2 and 3. It frees about 30% of snags.
5. When no.4 fails, well I abandon the rod for a while and retry. It could free the snag at river, but the chance is rare. Finally, I give up and break the line by pulling it slowly. In this way, I lose my tackle 1 output 10 snags. I think it is not bad.

The method to free from sang highly vary depending on bottom conditions. Thus, it is just general reference. One my strong recommendation is, "do never pull hard when you first feel snagged!" I hope it will save more your tackles.

Female Angler

When I went fishing at my everyday fishing spot at sunset yesterday, I saw one young lady fishing from the shore. Yes, a single lady in a long one-piece skirt! Female anglers are rare to see, and even a lady alone with fishing rod?! I could not believe my eyes. I looked for other companions around. Nop, she was alone. I was so glad and greeted her. She must be a brave woman. It was brave enough for her to fish alone at quiet river bank at sunset, but also she was even more brave to come for her first time solo fishing with new tackles!

While I was fishing aside her, I watched her fishing. Well, unfortunately she seemed clueless. She used no sinker rig with tiny soft plastic warm on medium power 6'6" rod. Additionally, she put a large bobber as a big sign of beginner and struggled to cast. This scene reminded me my first time fishing trip five years ago. At that time, one lady, who was not fishing, came to me and fixed my reel and rod. So, I approached her and took a look at her tackles. Drag of her reel was too loose, and reel seat was not tightened. Anti-reverse switch was even off. Everything was just as it was at store. I fixed her reel and rod, then recommended her lure and jig head from her tackle box.

She told me that her father used to bring her fishing when she was young. Generational memory always attaches to fishing, and that is the beauty of this sport. I really hoped to see her catching first fish, but it was not the lucky day. She said that she would come more times for fishing. When I see her next time, I will teach her how to make lure actions.

Left-Fined or Right-Fined?

I found one thing strange while fishing with swimbait this season. All bass that I caught were hooked at left side of mouth (see the picture below at "Deep Throat"). It means that when bass bite the lure, they tilt their body to swallow it easier. But why always right side down? Does it mean that bass are left-fined or right-fined? Not sure which way. But it seems clear they always prefer right side down. When you catch one next time with swimbait, please take a look where it was hooked.

2010 Troy striped bass trounament results

Striped bass tournament was held in Troy on Saturday, May 15th. Unfortunately I was out of town on the day, and I could watch or participate the tourney. I saw an article about it on Troy Record: because it was windy, results were disappointing. Here is a list of winners:

1st place Robert Hicks

• 17.88 pound, 33 and ¾ inches
• a 3 oz jig on a 10 foot rod (I saw many using this tactic near the Troy dam. I have not seen anyone catching striper in this way, but clearly it works. Casting 3 oz jig is a back-breaking job though)
  
• from the shore at at 8 a.m

2nd place Brian Atchinson

• 16.76 pound

3rd place Beth Dare (first ever female ranked in the competition)

• 16.22 pounds, 33.5 inches

No 20 pounders this year. Last year, the tourney was held early May. They may need schedule it back to earlier time next year.

Dissertation Defense

I passed my dissertation defense. The title of my dissertation is, "Energy, Emissions and Structural Changes of the Korean Economy: Implications for a Low-Carbon Economy." To be honest, I barely made it. My research committee was not so happy about it and suggested me to revise it from the beginning to the end. Sigh... Well, we always need to see the bright side: "I passed, yay!" I will keep editing my dissertation during summer. Of course, I will be fishing, too. Now, I really want to go out for kayaking. I want to feel the water on the right surface.

Smallie at sunset

I submitted my draft of dissertation to the research committee. Relief for a while, and I am receiving comments from committee members. I thought that I got used to tough criticism, but it is always hard to swallow... Anyway, to refresh myself, I went fishing at sunset time. It was low tide and cloudy. After less than 10 casts, I caught 17 1/2 Smallmouth bass at 8:05pm. It was tall but not fat; definitely male bass. I used long tail swim bait on 6'6" med rod + 2500 size reel spooled with 12 lb test braid line. I started using jig heads designed for swimbaits, and I like them (see the picture below). I don't think that the jig heads make difference in catch rate, but they help to rig swimbait right and minimize damage on the baits. I will talk more on rigging with the swimbait jig head later.

(Image from BassTackleDepot.com)

I saw many boats fishing for striped bass on the Hudson all day. I cannot wait to join them after my defense next week. Troy's Striped bass tournament is scheduled on Saturday, May 15th. Kinda late this year.