Your favorite kind of fishing pole?

I remember when I was little, all that my folks had to fish with was a bait-casting reel. They had to pull out the line and then throw it out into the water. This was not bad when fishing from the old wooden boat; but difficult when fishing from shore. Then, the (new-fangled) spinning reel came out, and eventually, my mom and dad changed over to those. Since that is what I grew up using, that is what i am most comfortable with fishing with.

I think it is interesting to watch the fly fishermen; but the skill of expertise in doing that is beyond what I want to spend the time to learn how to do it. I know that @JoshPosh has talked about his family actually diving and spear-fishing to get fish, and I think that is interesting to read about as well. What other kinds of equipment does everything use for fishing, and do you prefer lakes, streams, rivers, or ocean fishing?

 

Living in Maryland and so close to the ocean and the Chesapeake Bay, people are surprised when i tell them that I'm a 99.99% freshwater fisherman. I've been out on the bay and the ocean a few times, done some surf fishing, but I really prefer to hit the lakes and rivers. For one thing, the bay is crazy crowded in-season. There are sailboats and waverunners to contend with and, even if you do find a good spot, you usually find yourself crowded out when people see you pulling something in. I've got 3 good sized reservoirs within a half hour or so from me. When I go to one, I find out where all the "professionals" are going - you know - the people who always catch the biggest and the most fish, even when no one else is catching anything - then I go the opposite direction. When I'm out in the western part of the state, I've got the Potomac River and dozens of feeder creeks to find a spot to call my own. With the canoe or not, or just wading with the hip waders - there are tons of places to go drown lures.

It's all spinning rods for me. I tried a good baitcaster for a few weeks but found I'm King of the Backlash. I got tired of spending time trying to untangle a mess of line and just stuck with what I know I can work with. I run rod and reel setups that range from 5 foot ultralight to 7 foot medium/heavy action, leaning more to the light side of things. Pulling in a good sized smallmouth bass on a 5 foot rod with 6 pound test is a blast!

 

We go Perch and Walleye fishing on Lake Erie and use open reel setups.

We live near the Ohio River but rarely fish there. We live a few feet away from one of the rivers that feed into the Ohio. Used to run a trot line for catfish when the kids were little.

Used to go crappie fishing with my dad at Tridelphia Reservoir in Maryland.

 

That's the same rod I use to catch minnows for bait.

 

I usually fished for trout, and sometimes we just fished from shore, but it seemed like the fishing was better when we used a boat. My ex-husband had a small boat and we would go out in the evenings and troll for kokanee, and they seemed to bite better when we were trolling slowly along. We both loved fishing, and went almost every evening.
When we did that, we had regular fishing tackle that was set up for trolling, and it was a heavier pole than just a regular spinning reel.
We also had a fish finder; and I totally loved watching that.
It was way better than TV !!
I would see the little images go by on the fishfinder, and they showed the depth and relative size of the fish, and I was entranced watching them "swimming" by on the screen.
I am sure that the fishfinders they have today are much more sophisticated; but back then, I thought that the one we had was just the ultimate.

 

When I got married, our honeymoon was 2 weeks camping at a Pennsylvania State Park just north of here. We called it camping, but it was more like camping/flea marketing/spending money on everything we wanted. We both liked fishing and, up until that time, were content with fishing on the banks. But we started noticing that people on the other side of the lake seemed to be catching more fish than us. Walking around the lake would have been a lot of wasted time so I had the bright idea of buying a canoe, a couple of paddles and a couple of PFDs. We decided on a flat stern canoe, figuring we'd eventually get a trolling motor to put on the back. After paddling around all day, the wait for the motor was over. The next day we were at the store buying a little 35 pound thrust motor and a battery. And there starts a little story about the evolution of a fishing machine.

Before the next trip to "go spend more money while living in the woods", the motor got upgraded to something with more power and variable speed. The bench seats were replaced with swivel boat seats. Rod holders were added for trolling along with the cheapest fish finder we could find. Things stayed that way for years. The real fun started after the divorce.

The 12 volt motor got upgraded to a 24 volt 80 pound thrust motor and a foot controlled auto pilot bow mount motor was added. Then came a better wide screen fish finder around the same time I jacked up the seats on pedestals. Not one to sit and tie knots all day to change lures, I MacGyvered a rod rack that held anywhere from 5 to 8 rods that swung out of the way so I had access to the stuff in the boat.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the canoe with some local notoriety known as the Kosher Pickle...





(Yep - that's where my avatar comes from)

 

Oh, my gosh ! MacGyver, that is a seriously AWESOME fishing outfit ------ I love it ! ! I can see the Kosher Pickle name as being just perfect for the canoe as well. I am sure that it might resemble one when you were out there cruising around and people looked at it from the shoreline.
So, where is this wonderful fishfinder ?
Do they actually show a fish now, or is it still the little fishy-looking icon that the old ones had moving across the screen ?
What kind of fish were you usually fishing for ; those look like pretty sturdy fishing poles and a good-sized net ? ?
Where are the fish pictures ?

 

Find the little yellow stripe on the left, under the rods to find the fish finder. It's pretty old now - just the kind that shows icons - but it does what I need it to do. I actually use it more for maintaining a certain depth when I'm trolling.

On the lakes here, it's mostly about largemouth bass, followed by smallmouth, then yellow perch/white perch. Early in the year, when the water is still cold, northern pike and tiger muskies are great to fight. On the rivers, smallmouth seem to be everywhere.

I really don't have too many recent pictures. I've got a knee that's so bad off that I haven't been able to carry the deep cycle batteries without some serious hurt so I haven't been out for about 2 years. Believe me - I'm looking for something - anything - to change that this year. (If you happen to know of anyone with $3000 or so they can give me so I can buy some lightweight lithiums, let me know.) This was one of the last fish I caught, late in 2012.

 

Taking you back to the old school. My grandparents were chinese. They love to fish. What type of fishing rod did they use? Bamboo. They were plentiful and best of all free of charge.

 

I think that I actually like the more advanced and recent ones, but there is something about having an older one or one that kind of brings some nostalgia to the table. I have tried the stick though too, and that is fun it its own right.