2018 saltwater fishing thread

[crimson-talon]

Corpus in February


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[bloodtrailer28]

Braid 100% of the time for me. More sensitivity less stretch less break offs and better hook sets. No way I could ever go back to mono.

[Trumpkin]

Did I talk to you on the Jetty Saturday morning? I had the white Majek fishing tournament TShirt with a custom 12ft surf rod and a custom 10 wt fly rod with the green stripping bucket, blue Penn tackle back pack? Black and white Costa Rica ball cap with a gold fish hook on the bill - camo cargo shorts.

You had a blue stripping bucket?

Hey! That was me! I guess I should have moved on to another spot when you left. Sounds like you at least got into something. I didn't know enough to know where to try next though. And I'll be honest, I wasn't real keen on adding extra time to the 4 hour drive home.

Next weekend - I'm hitting the flats in the old skiff!

Good luck to you! I will probably be paddling my carp flats on the Colorado river. Carp are like redfish, right? Right?!

[fish4food]

Corpus in February


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Solid stringer!
Looks like your tag is out.

Went and fished a sandy bottom area. About waist deep with good visibility.
Fished middle water column with rat tailed soft plastics.
Had 4 trout, my buddy had 1 trout and 1 red.

Had about an 8' shark come say hello. Was literally a rods length away when it turned away.

[Mexico]

Corpus in February


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You know gill nets are illegal right?

[Mexico]

Quitter.

Man I tried, maybe I'll give it another go... doubt it though

[SaltwaterSlick]

Man I tried, maybe I'll give it another go... doubt it though

The one thing that can be aggrivating with braid is when fishing topwaters with the wind in your face, the old walk the dog action will tend to let the braid wrap itself around the end eye on the rod... I'm thinking I may have a solution even for that... Just got my first spiral wound eyes on a custom rod... did a bunch of practicing in my pond casting into this wind and popping a frog, a spook and such and not a single wrap up on the rod tip... Sure hope this continues...

[crimson-talon]

Solid stringer!

Looks like your tag is out.



Went and fished a sandy bottom area. About waist deep with good visibility.

Fished middle water column with rat tailed soft plastics.

Had 4 trout, my buddy had 1 trout and 1 red.



Had about an 8' shark come say hello. Was literally a rods length away when it turned away.

No thank you on the sharks [emoji23]


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[crimson-talon]

Never had such a quick big slab limit of trout, last year we were back at the boat ramp by 10am


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[JES]

Man I tried, maybe I'll give it another go... doubt it though

I was the same way, I tried Power Pro and couldn’t stand it. Switched to Spiderwire and couldn’t be happier.

[Mexico]

I was the same way, I tried Power Pro and couldn’t stand it. Switched to Spiderwire and couldn’t be happier.

What size and color do you use?

[tmurray]

I finally decided to give braid another try recently, went with Fins Windtamer in 30lb on a Lews baitcaster. Spooled it tight, casting great and really liking the sensitivity of it and the hook setting power. Here's the problem, my first hookup, the line buried into itself on the spool and I couldn't cast more than the distance the line was out at hookup. Tried pulling line off the reel and spooling it back up and it did it again but this time with a massive backlash, WTH! I put it down and picked up another rod spooled with the trusty mono and fished the rest of the day.

So how do I make it work? It's obviously something I'm doing wrong or everyone would hate braid just like I do.

Some info:

No I did not put electrical tape on the spool or use a mono backing.
Fish was only about 20' in front of me when he hit, I'm having a hard time believing that a mono backing would have prevented it given I only had about 20' of line out at hook set.

I want to use this stuff but man it's hard to not go right back to the Berkley Trilene Smooth Casting 14lb I've used for the last 20 years.

[SaltwaterSlick]

I too use Spiderwire and I use the 50# or 65#, not really for the strength but the size of it. It's like 12# mono or 14# mono, but it is MUCH easier to tie knots in it and if you get a backlash, it's a lot easier to get one out. The smaller stuff is plenty strong, but it is just too lightweight and small for me. One of the 125 yard spools will fit almost perfectly on my current reel of choice, Diawa Coastal TWS. I use a Crazy Alberto knot to tie on a mono or fluoro leader if I want a leader. For "trout green" water and soft plastics, I tie straight to the braid...

[SaltwaterSlick]

I finally decided to give braid another try recently, went with Fins Windtamer in 30lb on a Lews baitcaster. Spooled it tight, casting great and really liking the sensitivity of it and the hook setting power. Here's the problem, my first hookup, the line buried into itself on the spool and I couldn't cast more than the distance the line was out at hookup. Tried pulling line off the reel and spooling it back up and it did it again but this time with a massive backlash, WTH! I put it down and picked up another rod spooled with the trusty mono and fished the rest of the day.

So how do I make it work? It's obviously something I'm doing wrong or everyone would hate braid just like I do.

Some info:

No I did not put electrical tape on the spool or use a mono backing.
Fish was only about 20' in front of me when he hit, I'm having a hard time believing that a mono backing would have prevented it given I only had about 20' of line out at hook set.

I want to use this stuff but man it's hard to not go right back to the Berkley Trilene Smooth Casting 14lb I've used for the last 20 years.

Had the same issue with the small stuff... try a spool of the larger diameter line... as in my post above. You won't have that problem any longer.

I will say, IF you do this, remember the line will no longer be the "weak link" in your fishing system... A leader is a good thing to have in case you do get hung up or have a big fish hit solid when you set the hook... In the early days, I have had a bent spool on a reel and I have snapped more than one rod settin' the hook on bull reds...

[trjones87]

should have taken more pics this weekend but without service, its easy to forget the phone. We were fishing off PINS and caught over 30 12" cats, couple whitening, and a bonehead hammerhead (<2ft). Anyone got some good tips for getting the sand out? my buddies couldnt handle the grit