The expensive rods have good tip sensitivity to see bites and set the hook easily. They're also very lightweight. Cheap rods will usually be stiffer and heavier.
Just like any other hobby, there will always be people who get excited about gear. Shrug.
Microfishing Rods
Started by
Guest_rndouglas_*
, Aug 15 2013 08:54 PM
49 replies to this topic
#22
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 22 August 2013 - 03:50 PM
Gerald, I assume you mean members of the Percidae family?
not only percidae... for example, in Georgia spotted sunfish are considered game fish... but L. punctatus is acutally a smaller sunfish and a great aquarium inhabitant. So to capture and keep legally here in Georgia microfishing woudl be the way to go.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#29
littlen
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Posted 23 August 2013 - 08:53 AM
I know everyone makes their yearly goals around the 1st of each year....but if you are yet to pick one, I think hooking an E. zonatum would be pretty sweet. Now, do you have to more or less see a fish and drop your line in the gereral vicinity, or is it as ramdom as "regular fishing"? From what AmMc was saying, the long pole keeps the fisher from spooking the fish as much. But considering the habitat of zonatum, I would imagine you'd have to have some good luck. Wouldn't a longer pole seem like a hindrance in this situation?
Nick L.
#30
Guest_AMcCaleb_*
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Posted 23 August 2013 - 09:37 AM
I have just started microfishing this year so my experience is limited to just a dozen or so trips right around where I live, but when I'm trying to catch topminnows (which I've only caught three or four) I do it by sight, but with shiners and chubs, it hasn't been so much by sight. Anything more specific than that I'd refer to Ben.
#33
mattknepley
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- NANFA Member
- Smack-dab between the Savannah and the Saluda.
Posted 23 August 2013 - 05:22 PM
I like Ben's ice fishing pole idea. One of my goals on the water is to enjoy myself, and I just see me turning into a nasty s.o.b. the fortieth time my 10' + rod got tied up in brambles or the tip stuck into the bank. What little microfishing I've done has been with my 5' ultralight with the hook just tied to regular 4lb test. (Put a loop on the end of the 4lb and on the tenago hook snell, and then loop the hook around the 4lb.) I am interested to hear people's hook setting techniques, the only one that seems to work for me is to keep the bait moving and let the fish hook themselves.
Matt Knepley
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."
#34
Guest_Skipjack_*
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Posted 23 August 2013 - 06:40 PM
I think the idea of longer rods makes more sense. You really are not doing any casting with so little weight on your rod. You are basically doing what fly fishermen call dappling. Getting a length of line out, and more often than not, putting the hook where you see fish. I fish an 8 foot rod on even the tiniest of brook trout streams. They are often so overgrown that a cast is impossible, so you rely on rod length getting you to your target. Micro fishing any stream can be quite similar, and a longer rod seems to keep you farther away from the fish, and spooking them much less when sight fishing. I have only micro-fished with flies with my 8 foot 4 weight rod. A size 26 blood red midge has been very effective for me. If I decide to actually purchase a dedicated micro rod, I think I will get one of the long crappie rods. Just my 2 cents.
#35
Guest_rndouglas_*
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Posted 23 August 2013 - 08:57 PM
I typically sight fish when I'm microfishing, even with the minnows. It's been so dry here this summer that the water is so low and clear that it's pretty easy to see anything that moves. I've really started to like having the 13' crappie pole for skittish fish and deeper areas (particularly when I don't want to get too wet), and a shorter ~6' pole when I'm fishing shallower water right at my feet. I got tired of having to really choke up on the longer pole, and getting fish/bait off/on the hook with 11' of pole sticking out behind me got me into some tight situations at times.
I like to use a bright pink Gulp PowerBait worm piece as bait, so I just try for a hookset when I see it disappear (I'm awful with the tanago 'smallest' hooks though). That bait doesn't always work though....sometimes only a piece of worm/nightcrawler will catch fish for me. Although, sometimes a rubberband dipped in crawfish scent will catch topminnows/sunfish/etc. for me.
I like to use a bright pink Gulp PowerBait worm piece as bait, so I just try for a hookset when I see it disappear (I'm awful with the tanago 'smallest' hooks though). That bait doesn't always work though....sometimes only a piece of worm/nightcrawler will catch fish for me. Although, sometimes a rubberband dipped in crawfish scent will catch topminnows/sunfish/etc. for me.
#36
mattknepley
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- NANFA Member
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Posted 24 August 2013 - 05:28 AM
The longer poles do have advantages. Before my girls graduated to more adult-sized rods they would use those Zebco kiddie rods. Very difficult to cast any distance and even harder to hook set with. And the lack of weight on the part of microfishing bait seriously hinders any casting, so dappling is a handy technique. I guess I'm just clumsy enough, and impatient enough, to need a happy medium. I'm thinking a trip to one of the local bamboo patches for a skinny 5' - 7' pole is in order. Definitely won't feel guilty breaking that down to size on site if needed.
Unlike rndouglas' situation, my chunk o' the country is running a water surplus this summer. (Considerable rains every day for a three week stretch in July, an no shortage on either side of that deluge either!) The streams are purt near impossible to fish with standard gear, let alone micro stuff, much of the time. I'm thinking that when the creeks are receding, yet still roiled up, would be a great time to go after smaller bullheads. Does anyone have experience microfishing down on the bottom in muddy waters, whether they be creek, backwater, pond, et cetera?
Unlike rndouglas' situation, my chunk o' the country is running a water surplus this summer. (Considerable rains every day for a three week stretch in July, an no shortage on either side of that deluge either!) The streams are purt near impossible to fish with standard gear, let alone micro stuff, much of the time. I'm thinking that when the creeks are receding, yet still roiled up, would be a great time to go after smaller bullheads. Does anyone have experience microfishing down on the bottom in muddy waters, whether they be creek, backwater, pond, et cetera?
Matt Knepley
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."
#37
Guest_CMStewart_*
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Posted 26 August 2013 - 08:13 AM
But if we agree that a stick can work, why would someone want to pay over 100 when they could pay 10?
It weighs 2 ounces instead of 10, collapses to less than 2' instead of 4', and if you happen to hook a somewhat larger fish, will actually bend so you can get some fight out of the fish rather than just jerking it out of the water. One of the most memorable and exciting fights I've ever had with a fish was probably a 7" creek chub. My gear was light enough I wasn't sure I was going to be able to land it. If what happens between the time you hook a fish and the time you unhook the fish is not at all important or exciting for you, you might as well get a Black Widow from Walmart.
Similar question, Why would anyone get a flat screen TV when the older boxy ones cost half as much? Why drink a "good" beer when you could drink Milwaukee's Best for half the price? Why spend more than the absolute minimum on anything? Because it's better and you enjoy it more. If it's all the same to you, save the money. MIcro fishing is no different than anything else.
#39
Guest_Skipjack_*
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Posted 26 August 2013 - 05:57 PM
I like to have good gear. I feel embarrassed to admit this, but I have a $500 dollar Winston fly rod. I have become much more conservative nowadays. But when I want to feel like a brandy drinking fly fisherman I pull it out. Honestly, it feels like no other fly rod that I own. It is the rod that drop a dry fly on gin clear water without a ripple. It was a once in a lifetime purchase, and if it ever gets slammed in the tailgate of my truck because of stupidity(which has happened with other rods) it will be replaced, no questions asked. On the other hand in my later years, I really like to buy what is most functional at a good price.
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