Ontario Shore Fishing Forum

Hey,

Here's a topic worthy of some discussion........... what do you do to target a particular species?

For instance: using a dry fly to target channel cat is a bold and reckless statement , but may take a substantial investment in time to prove successful.

Me - I use a good quality fish cut bait of good size on big circle hook slider rig in a river's slacker water pools, or major current breaks (jams, holes).

So how do you specifically target bass, or carp, or cats, or mooneye, or redhorse, or pike, or walleye, or pike or resident stream trout.... etc?... while SHORE FISHING.

Cheers.

OldTimer

So far the only thing I've been able to catch from shore this year is bass and a couple small perch. Either I'm unintentionally targeting bass or I'm just fishing in area that they are all in.

I'd love to catch some other types of fish from shore, hopefully I can learn a thing or two here.

Wish I had more to offer, I'm a newbie again.

The only species I've targeted, and by that I mean made a specific trip for and not adjusted my setup once I realized something was in the area I was already fishing, was channel cats. I did online research to find a likely spot where I could fish and more importantly park, saved turkey giblets as bait as they became available and used appropriately sized gear. It worked like a charm. I have also tried for carp with a premade corn, sugar, vanilla concoction but haven't had any success in very limited time trying.

My experience...

Largemouth Bass - heavy vegetation, plastics, weed edge

Smallmouth Bass - rocky areas, tube jig or drop shot in lakes, bottom bounce worms, minnows, leeches or crawfish in current seams or breaks in rivers

Carp - shallow, muddy, weedy, look for mud plumes and bubbles, active fish feeding on bottom, corn on hair rig, chum sparingly but in small focused area

Channel Catfish - cutbait or worm, pools or current breaks, low light hours, lots of scent, sliding sinker rig, short leader

Bullhead (Brown or Black) - muddy, splitshot rig, chunk of worm, shallow margin areas, spring, low light hours

Mooneye - late spring to summer, current seam, bottom bounce worms or flies

Pike - low light hours, fall, winter, spring, weed edge with immediate access to deep water, minnow under a float, crankbaits or spoon or spinners

Walleye - assuming southern Ontario...spring, summer, fall, rocky areas of lakes or rivers, weed edges, jig or bottom bouncing with worms or minnow, current seams or breaks, bottom 12"

Resident stream trout - without bait ban: split shot, 4lb fluorocarbon leader, 1/2 nightcrawler, pools; with bait ban: nymphs and dry flies (I often outfish people using small plastics, spinners and crankbaits)

This is all so very general though... I can fish one headwater stream where Elk Hair Caddis reign supreme 80% of the time...while another headwater stream where beadhead nymph takes most of the fish...and yet another stream where there is no bait ban and most of the fish are caught on nightcrawlers. If I fish at a time when there is a Trico hatch, forget everything else because the trout are feeding only on Trico and nothing else. So how do you target fish for resident stream trout?

Walleye - fall time (now and for the next six weeks); rocky shorelines of rivers; shallow water (<10'); fan casting 3-5" white swimbait on a 1/2oz jig; retrieve just fast enough for the tail to flutter.

Pike - weed edges, the greener the better; large swimbait (>6'') in warm water; large inline spinner (red/white panther marten is personal fav) in cold water.

White sucker - spring run; sight fish to specific fish from pre-spawn pod; sliding rig; #8 hook; 1/2 crawler; smiling entire time.

American shad - cast shad darts; keep casting; cast some more.

I'm going to start keeping a small book with me I think to write down the water/terrain of the locations I find so I can remember what might be where and when. Some great Info here!

Redhorse - spring - side current breaks, eddies, or pools below riffles - 1/2 worms, one split shot or light sliding rig - keep line taut to detect the amazingly light strikes.

Carp - calmer waters, relatively shallow with some shoreline weeds - corn chum, corn bait - smaller hooks and light tension sinker rigs (sliders). Use hair rig setup in heavily fished waters. Open bail.

Question, I've been seeing it a lot lately online.

Why do people catch carp, Is it just for sport/the fight or do people eat it too? (I'm just curious)

I caught one by accident when I was a kid, and it was one of the heaviest fights I've ever had fishing, was really fun.

(10-02-2015 03:54 PM)TASPL-Designs Wrote: [ -> ]Question, I've been seeing it a lot lately online.

Why do people catch carp, Is it just for sport/the fight or do people eat it too? (I'm just curious)

I caught one by accident when I was a kid, and it was one of the heaviest fights I've ever had fishing, was really fun.

Most people fish carp for the sport of it... The fish, though, is perfectly edible; that being said I have never tried it.

(10-02-2015 10:12 PM)zippyFX Wrote: [ -> ]

(10-02-2015 03:54 PM)TASPL-Designs Wrote: [ -> ]Question, I've been seeing it a lot lately online.

Why do people catch carp, Is it just for sport/the fight or do people eat it too? (I'm just curious)

I caught one by accident when I was a kid, and it was one of the heaviest fights I've ever had fishing, was really fun.

Most people fish carp for the sport of it... The fish, though, is perfectly edible; that being said I have never tried it.

I catch most of my fish for sport and rarely keeps any. I've tried Common Carp a couple of times...OK, but not great...so I don't keep any of them.