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Fishing By the Numbers

Recapping one my fastest and most-scientfic early Springs ever near home is best done by the numbers. 112 - number of fish caught on maggots vs. 35 fish caught using GULP in the shootout experiment. 224 fish I would have had if I hadn't used artificial baits that day. 22,000 grubs ordered for events, club fishing and my fishing for early Spring - they're on their way. 5 - the number of trout I will be after Saturday. 3,000 is the number of fish I set my goal for catching this season. 756 is my current catch for 2012 and fresh bait on the way.

I want to run a fundraiser for pediatric cancer and there are a couple other numbers I want to post up there. I need some help from local park districts, businesses and municipalities - I would love to raise $10,000 fishing 24 hours and getting people to pledge 1 cent per fish... stay tuned. This is a number I really want.

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Comment by Johnny wilkins on April 20, 2013 at 2:53pm: Thank you for the source Dave - there is a fishing site dedicated to only floats here:

Live Bait Fishing Tackle the store keeps adding float fishing accessories and floats in different sizes. They have added floats from the Gapen Company which are pretty cool and easy to use. See the picture below- these floats can be clipped on your line and taken off the line without tying a knot. They can be fished slip float style or fixed to the line just by using the sliding collar clip!

This new float on the market can be found there which is a bit more sensitive than the quill and more durable: Because they have this real nice paint job, they are very easy to see on the water and can be fished with a small crappie minnow as well (using the yellow top of the body).

You can find this Gapen float on sale also:
Gapen Fishing Float

Sorry I haven't been blogging so much lately - I have been working out preparing to fish. I have put on some bluegill pumping muscle which I hope will catch me a ton of fish. Two months to go and I am getting prepared for big, big numbers - more info soon.

Comment by Dave Campbell on April 20, 2013 at 2:39pm: You can find quill floats at inkminers.com. 8-10" and 6-8" sizes. Good Luck.

Comment by Lord of the Fly , Rods on April 12, 2012 at 6:37am: You should Quill while you are ahead on the puns.

Comment by Johnny wilkins on April 11, 2012 at 8:32pm: 32 Saturday (788), 12 Sunday (800), 46 tonight (846)... only one trout tonight, but I caught the 5 Sat. & 5 Sun. - the limit streak comes to an end as the lake was all slow (except for the 45 gills that thought they were trout tonight.

Comment by Johnny wilkins on April 11, 2012 at 8:29pm: Quill scored the only trout in the entire side of the lake tonight along with 45 nice bluegills-

Quill I ever fish another float?? Quill the puns keep getting worse?

Comment by Johnny wilkins on April 10, 2012 at 4:27pm: Well - on this day there were two motivations for throwing the porcupine quill -

1. I wanted to downsize my float - while I had high-tech floats but they were plastic and bigger, the bites were short and the fish were letting go before I could react. I did not remember this spot correctly, I thought there was a much larger drop-off. I got stuck in the shallows.

2. I was craving the Olde World fishing and was really loving the fact that I hooked up on some 20+ on that quill while my neighbors got fewer than 5 or so combined. It wasn't until I started setting up the kids next to me that my neighbor even had his first fish. The quill destroyed all else with a single grub on a hook - three split shot simple!

I return to the water tomorrow evening for some trout near me... I might have to do a morning session at 6 bells as well. UnQuill Tomorrow...

Comment by Lord of the Fly , Rods on April 10, 2012 at 3:31pm: Johnny, welcome to the world of porcupine quills,I warn you they are addictive when it comes to putting fish in the boat. LOFR

Comment by Leo Nguyen on April 10, 2012 at 12:39pm: Making a video would be a great thing to have. Since I have plenty of free time, not hitting the water as much as I hope, I'm putting videos together myself for the live bait glue. If I can see what method of hooking for your maggot to attract the fish, I can duplicate the same non-impaling method for the rosin for the live bait. I currently only have photos. Videos will be much more instructional.

Comment by Johnny wilkins on April 10, 2012 at 12:32pm: There usually is only one way to hook a maggot- I think if I create a video of this - it will open up some eyes (fish eyes)- and, anglers will get a kick out of it as well as the fish.

It is very possible to catch 2 fish on the one grub without them getting crushed- when the going gets tough -there is no substitute for bait at 100% - fresh beats all else. For bluegills I can usually catch 2 or 3 fish on the same grub before it starts to lose it's powers. For trout they usually tooth and pinch the thing making me switch. I have sat with an older grub then made the switch and scored fish. When in doubt - make the change...

Comment by Leo Nguyen on April 10, 2012 at 11:44am: Great job Johnny. Same maggot hooking method for the single as to the double?

By the way, what was the damage on each maggot after each fish capture? Totally destroyed or still good to use for second time around? I'm curious to know the suction and jaw crushing power of the species.