This page is like my Blog. I'll be passing along fishing stories and tips as well as shameless promotional stuff for the Fish Fanatic...
A new and funny gift for fishermen and women who appreciate wacky humor in the world of fish. I have included eight of my favorite irreverent pencil drawings in this 16 page 8 1/2" X 11" book. All are suitable for framing (See picture background). Pop them into a standard frame and you've got enough gifts for the next eight years! They are high resolution and look just like an original. One woman from Minnesota bought 100 of these wacky pieces of art and gave them as gifts to her loyal bar patrons. Take a look at this great deal on ETSY. Just click here www.fishfanatic.etsy.com
This cannibal largemouth bass was found thrashing around in front of my neighbors dock. His eyes were too big for his belly. I thought of making a GYOTAKU but didn't think anyone would believe it. The poor bass finally expired and was netted. He made a fine meal and a great fish story for my neighbor who had never seen anything like it in his 60 years at the lake.
This is why they are called Great Northern Pike! Just caught Sept 22, 2011 in a private lake in NE Pennsylvania. George used live bait in the form of a 7" perch. Note the classic light colored bean shapes on the pikes sides. This fellow weighed in at 16.6 lbs. and measurd 44" long. A wire leader is a must. They say the average wait for a fish like this is 100 hours of fishing. Thanks George. See a GYOTAKU of this at www.fishfanatic.etsy.com
Crew of Ren Ren (Captain, Mike Pavlovich) releases a small blue shark on a slow day at the Mud Hole east of Block Island, RI. Other sharks include: bonnethead, scalloped hammerhead, smalltooth sawfish, nurse shark, spiny dogfish, soupfin shark, sandbar shark, smooth dogfish, leopard shark, sand tiger, thresher shark, blacktip shark, shortfin mako, dusky shark, tiger shark, bull shark, white shark, whale shark, basking shark, and the broadnose sevengill shark. Sharks, unlike most bony fishes, lack a swim bladder and must move constantly or they will sink to the bottom.
Where to fish:ponds, lakes, streams, rivers, oceans and seas, swamps, channels, from piers, docks, rowboats and charter boats, kayaks and canoes, from the shore or a jetty. Paul Richards caught and released this largemouth bass from a private lake in Pennsylvania. If you fish...they will bite.
On a recent outing to the Tunkhannock Creek in Wyoming County I was hoping for a decent sized carp. You truly never know what you might catch in this beautiful stream and the scenery is worth the trip. That day I was joined by my good fishing friend George Turner and we were using corn, dough balls and crayfish for bait. We didn’t have to wait long. It was the crayfish that produced George’s first strike. I knew by the bend in his rod that a nice fish was indeed on. Ten minutes later we were looking at an odd carp with an oversized head and a deformed tail.
A very short time later, as I was about to pour some coffee from my thermos, George’s pole again bent over. “Go ahead and drink it, he cried, this is going to take awhile”. I netted it for him some time later and this one was a perfect specimen. By then we were already considering the trip a success.
Now, George knows that when I am planning to make some images, his fish end up being MY fish. Later that day he stopped by with a camera to document my work.
Getting the paper in the right spot is sometimes tricky.
The GYOTAKU image will be a mirror of the real fish.
Here is the finished GYOTAKU of a common carp.
Baits to use:Live things like worms, minnows, grubs, insects, squid, shrimp, hellgrammite, leaches and even mice. Artificial things like flies, spoons, spinners, plugs, plastic stuff, and jigs. You can even use fish eggs (row), cheese, and homemade doughballs
Relaxation at the lake:Here's George again with a pair of fine brown bullheads from NE Pennsylvania. Members of the catfish family, the bullhead can be distinguished by it's rounded tail. The catfish's tail is forked. They were right on bottom in about 12 feet of water. Nightcrawlers were the bait and light tackle made landing extra fun. Their strike is usually more like a gentle nibble. Watch out for the dorsal and pectoral fins, as they are spines loaded with a painful poison. I remember being horned by them as a kid and the wound would ache for hours.
What about trout?Pennsylvania lakes and streams are often stocked with brook, brown, rainbow and golden trout. Here's Doug Stevens with a nice stringer from Martin's creek on the opening day. Keep your fillet knife sharp because they are delicious. We use 6 lb. test line and no landing net. Did you know landing nets can be bad luck?
A good fillet job deserves a good beer. This is Nico a quiet Swede who loves to fly fish. He's holding a salmon caught in Alaska.
Now that's a stringer of fish! From a feeder creek of Lake Somerville, about 1/2 way between Houston and Austin, TX. The anglers are good buddies Troy Miller and Jim Fraser. There are 49 white bass (also known locally as sandies) which they caught in about 2 hours. Caught them on a special Clouser Minnow imitation that Troy refined over about 6 years of experimentation. It's semi-famous with fly anglers in TX and known as the Shaddie Clouser, you can google it and see what it looks like.
This is a nice keeper-size flounder caught by captain Doug. The best way to catch flounder is with a good drift in clear water. They lay on the bottom looking up and waiting for a meal like squid or minnow to go by. Another favorite fish for dinner, the flounder is hard to beat.
How can you preserve your catch?Taxidermy can be very expensive and mounted fishes will collect dust. Original watercolors and oil paintings of fish scenes can be beautiful. Interior decorators and designers often turn to fish rubbings (or GYOTAKU). This art form accurately records the size of your catch and also preserves the spirit of the fish. A framed fish rubbing is an immediate conversation piece and...they bring GOOD luck!