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Topics - SevengillTheVC

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Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / *TEXAS* Some Prehistoric Fish
« on: June 16, 2023, 04:43:22 PM »
Helloooooo everybody! So sorry I haven't been nearly as active recently, what with no sharks and making a big move. So I live out in Texas now, been loving it, except now that it's 101 plus with 86% humidity making a heat index of like 117  8). Been out here for about two months now and have been hitting the sweetwater hard. Had two days at the surf droning out some baits but nothing but kingfish(corbina) to speak of, but at least they tug pretty good.

I wont innudate this post with black bass pics to make it take hours to load so I'll only share the highlights, needless to say the fishing out here in the Houston area kicks the tar out of my neck of the woods freshwater wise for sure. Almost everyday is a multi fish day and the number of snakes, muskrats, and otters makes every trek out a true joy. The turtles can all die for all I care though, with the exception of the alligator snappers, they're way too cool.

Anyhow lets get into the first nice fish I've got out here. While bass fishing the closer bayou to the house I saw some tilapia making a nest and since they are a kill only species out here (technically illegal to release them, but doubt any game warden would cite you) decided to try him in the bigger bayou for one of my favorite fish species growing up, the GATOR GAR. Get to the bigger bayou and it is sloooowww, a few dips on the float but nothing substantial. Catch a couple dink blue and channel cats then I spend most of the day cast netting mullet. Then some less than desirable litterers on the pedestrian bridge over the bayou scream "Oh my god look at that fish!" It makes me look over as well and I see my float submerge and start flying upstream. Pick up the rod and tighten the drag but open the bail to let it take the bait more, it floats back up. I was thinking I missed my shot but then I see more tugs and another run, I don't give it nearly as much time this time and lay into it. With the heavy runs it was making I was pretty sure it wasn't a cat unless it was a monster flattie or blue. Get it to the "skinny" and there she is, a pretty respectable Alligator Gar, not a monster, but I was super stoked with it.

Finish up talking to a DFW officer for like 3 hours, a bit grueling but the guy was mega cool. He even showed me manual of arms and what he likes about his SIG365 XL since I told him I was thinking of getting one for EDC, which I now have and am super happy with thus far.

Weather rolls through for the next couple of weeks and we don't do any big trips, but I make it out to the local drainage ditch and smaller bayou to get some smaller good bait sized carp, here is where my girlfriend starts outfishing me. Second outing to this spot nails us both some nicer grade blues with her 12lber being the nicest. Then we decide to go further down the bayou and we have a 30 fish day. Mostly her catching bluegill, Rio Grande Cichlids, and pumpkinseeds. Along with some spotted gar and a few solid channel cats and dink blues. Then she's on the bigger rod, fights it like a pro and is rewarded with her biggest fish, another nice gator.



Their dentition is something else I get a lot more anxious dealing with these then even 7's. She nails some nice figer mullet in the cast net and we get rewarded with my first and her best reds. These things do fight like a train, and it freswater to boot!



The last one she got had the prettiest blue on it's tail, must find a lot of shrimp!

The next outing is very similar but started off much slower we got a lot of nice finger mullet and first cast bam! A smaller red that still dogged me to high heaven!

Then her float goes down, she's using the carp, I'm using fresh mullet. She lays into it and immediately we see a nice gar do a jump and flip, really cool seeing a 6 ft fish clear in to the air and land, and she breaks her pb after a week  8).


He had a hook and float from a previous battle in his mouth so we went ahead and removed that too. We end up having a couple of homeless people hanging around us, one was super cool and we let him hang with us, the other had me ready to draw potentially. Laying in the bushes, only aknowledging us when we noticed him being weird, stalking my girlfriend from afar as she was cast netting, asking for tilapia. Even the other homeless kid said he thought he was acting sketchy and didn't know him, anyhow who knows and thankfully he left as the sun went down. We give him one of our headlamps and he's tripping on all the bugs, and I get nailed on the carp rod hard. Dogging me left and right and then I feel a hang, and a pop, and it rocked me after 10 mins on my 8lb line. My heart sank as I felt that was my only opportunity to nail a nice fish this day as I missed a few bigger takes on the big rods. Then as we are packing to go home I get another screamer, since we're about to leave I ask my girlfiend to reel in all the other rigs, but it snags on two, so now i have a bobber, and another freeline hook around my rod tip, it's not looking good. Get it to color and I see it's a nice grade red, I really want to land this guy but with all the hangups on my 8lb it's not looking good, after about 15 minutes we get him near enough to net. First net attempt fails and the run makes me feel like he's gonna snap but by this point the fish was so tired I can easily gain back control. Last fish of the night, and I couldn't be happier. My first "Slot" redfish, and in fresh to boot!

So that was the last big game outing, if you guys would like me to make more regular bass, catfish, gar posts I will. Left out pictures of about 80 bass, a dozen or so spotted and longnose gar, and the catfish. Hope all are well and if I get into anything huge and toothy you can bet I'll let you all know!



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Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / FIRST 3 DRONE CAUGHT FISH!!! 08/15
« on: August 15, 2021, 09:09:06 AM »
So we headed to our old bat ray/shovelnose beach where the bait guys said they had seen lots of Ts while catching bait. Picked up some lively chunky dines, no macs which the bait guy seem genuinely sorry he could not provide, but it is what it is. Building a good relationship and reputation with the bait guys at CISCO's has proved worth it. Hit the beach a few minutes before greylight, saw some other's with less gear to unload making their way out as we pulled up. Started setting up and we see them coming back with a nice striper, thing was high 20s or even 30+ should've taken a pic but my phone was packed in. This thing looked like it would have been surf caught up north or in NJ. Promising to say the least since I planned on fishing a float for threshers and a dropper loop for gamefish.

Well the seagulls here were utterly ravenous, chasing the drone with the bait and starting conventions around the floats. Lots of dolphins playing and splashing and even messing with the seagulls. That was my first catch, a damned seagull, luckily the circle was easy to remove but I'm sure he was injured getting dragged 300 yds and going through the washing machine surf that this spot has. Ended up putting a small egg sinker on my leader of the float to keep the bait down and hopefully out of seagull reach. Pat quickly became discouraged by the seagulls and switched to a tri swivel. He got the skunk off and the pleasure of a long crank on this BAT RAYYYY!!!!! I didn't like where this was headed.

Current here was absolutely ripping which made fishing the skinny virtually impossible so the critter rods were ditched pretty early on. All in all it was pretty slow in general, and perhaps those people were smart for taking their nice striper and calling it a day. After a few hours and many lost baits I get a ripper on my dropper loop. I immediately knew it was a ray, but hey skunk off.

It was now past noon and our hopes of catching something nice were beginning to wane as our sleep deprivation kicked in. Just long soaked the float as we piece meal packed it in. As I was cranking the float in from 400 yards (as fun as it sounds) it felt weighty, but no fight, and this beach has almost no kelp. Maybe it was a small tail hooked thresher, I could only hope. In the skinny I couldn't see any sign of a fish and then there she was, my disappointment was immeasurable and my day ruined.

80% joking, I was happy to catch fish, but the two things I don't wanna catch when droning are bat rays and kelp  ;D. So the journey continues but hey the drone got us some fish in conditions that would have been unfishable without it so that's a definite plus! Next time! Anyone with success targeting threshers tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated, also what are any of your experiences catching suspended Bat Rays, maybe that weight was enough to put me at bottom?

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Went to go pick up some odds and ends for thresher fishing again tomorrow. Asked Pat if he wanted to hit up the spot I located near my house and we decided to give it an hour. Well it was a pretty eventful hour, I hooked up to the nice grade fish I caught a week ago and farmed it like a pro.
https://youtu.be/B4hlZsQJcuk
About 15 minutes after Pat is on, not much fight until it starts getting shallow, then it made it's size known, guy goes and outdoes me at my own backyard spot !

Also here is a pic of my first tilapia I caught earlier in the week at Lake Balboa (reclaimed water pond).

Gonna try an old producing beach we haven't fished in years, and most recent intel I got was that our T hopes and dreams may come true. Fingers crossed!

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Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Experience, NVC 08/08
« on: August 09, 2021, 10:37:17 AM »
So we switched it up and did a night time grinner hunt. Chopped salad was present but not too much of an issue, at least a couple hundred yards out. Dropped two chunks of Stingray on tri-swivel rigs and I pinned a perch Pat caught on a float rig. Pretty slow day with Pat scraping out two BSP and the stingray and BSP I sent out all went untouched, save for something that was munching on the outside of the disk. Fished from 2PM to 11PM. As we were packing up I finally got to witness a proper grunion run, thousands of the little guys invaded the beach and while it was awe inspiring to watch since I have never witnessed one so large, it made me wonder, WHERE ARE ALL THE DAMN PREDATORY FISH?! I technically didn't get skunked.

Looks like it's really time to try new spots as the honeyhole this spot used to be just doesn't seem to produce anymore. Another nice day at the beach and witnessed something pretty cool so I'll take it.

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Freshwater Shore Fishing Reports / When the Ocean Won't Put Out
« on: July 31, 2021, 09:41:25 PM »
There's always your local sewer! Took a few anchovies to the wash near my house where I had noticed a nice deep pool. Saw a catfish, as well as a few 2-3lb bass cruising around so things seemed good. Many crawdad chewed anchovies later I finally got a decent run.

Always nice to find a nice spot in walking distance!

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Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / NVC 7/29
« on: July 30, 2021, 08:45:24 AM »
With our macs we'd painstakingly made over the week we had hopes for greylight thresher fishing. The guy at the bait barge was super cool and tried to give us more macs but there were only a few and very elusive, also provided some intel where they had seen threshers close to shore while out hauling the bait. He ended up giving us a scoop of anchovies for five dollars which I just gave him ten due to his great service. Got at the spot around 7AM and conditions were fantastic, very little salad, mellow surf and no wind. Buzzed a mac on float out to 350 meters and another one at 250, these baits would not get touched even after a 2 hour soak. On the flip side it was wide open on perch, all of them decent cookie cutter 10" models. Corbina were slamming the sand crab beds in skinny water as well, they seemed to be everywhere even bumping into our feet. Still didn't manage to get one lol. Kept 4 of the 20 or so perch we caught, Pat ended up sending one out on the float rig at 200 meters, earned it's freedom by not getting bit and being still fresh alive after spending over an hour on a float. We saw a momma harbor seal training her pup on hunting the fish in the surf so that was pretty cool.

At around 12 we decided the big stuff wasn't wanting to play here so we moved South, and as we did the wind really picked up. Weather said the wind where we were was a consistent 9 knots with gusts to 13 and the drone can handle that, but I wasn't feeling the risk was worth the reward judging by our morning session. Called it early and the remaining 3 perch were released. Gonna try for some Sevengills on Monday, hopefully I'll have a picture to post!

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Fishing Talk / Why? Just...Why?
« on: July 27, 2021, 10:06:22 AM »
Went to make bait yesterday, started in Ventura Harbor with plans to hit the pier if we couldn't find macs there. There weren't macs there, but I did see this.

I have seen many thornbacks thrown into the rocks at this location, which I always find pretty repulsive despite my dislike of them personally. But here we have a 2 1/2 ft horn shark just left on the rocks to die, looked pretty fresh as if it was caught overnight or that morning. It's just really sad to see both from a conservation/steward standpoint and what a bad rap it gives responsible fisherman. I can't believe there are still people, in this country especially that think that any good will come from wasting a crustacean eating shark or any part of our oceanic ecosystem. Not to mention I still need to add that one to the life list and would be happy to catch and release a specimen such as this. Rant over.

The upside is we did make two mackerel, two queenfish, probably 20+ white croaker between us, a shiner perch, and the exotic showing of a Pacific Pompano, which I cast out on my medium setup and got slammed and jacked.

Hoping to hang something nice later this week, will report!

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The new equipment I mentioned in general fishing is a Splashdrone waterproof drone specifically made for fishing and SAR. I was leery on how it would preform in actual fishing conditions but it proved to easily be able to handle winds and relatively large baits. Was able to run baits out 300 plus yards in a minute or two. It was pretty fun being able to mix two hobbies into one with flying and fishing.

Now to the fishing. Picked up some live bait form CISCOS in Oxnard, mostly anchovies, I asked the guy if he could seek out some of the mackerel I saw swimming around and he obliged me, with one, since I didn't want to waste his time making him chase the things. He asked how much I wanted and I told him a kayak scoop, which they offer for 10 dollars. He then proceeded to completely fill my bucket with fish, like wayyyy to many, so they were not gonna live for long, but I can't say I didn't get a good deal on fresh dead bait.
Ended up getting to the spot around 7:00AM. Pinned the only fresh mackerel I had on a float rig and buzzed it out to 400yards. Since this beach is pretty secluded and rarely has more than a few people I figured I wouldn't apply any weight and just let it drift. Salad was an issue with that presentation as the breakers were utterly filled with it.

Started cranking it in after it seemed to be drifting hard down the beach to notice that the float had not drifted much and the drift was just salad pulling the slack on my mainline. A pelican was really adamant about getting the mackerel but popping the float seemed to dissuade him. About 150 yds out or so, it happened, a Thresher breached clear out of the water right behind my float. I left it where it was for a while and it seemed it wasn't making a return trip I reeled it the rest of the way in. The mackerel was only a head now with the signature shark shred. MAN! Welp I still got some dines and market mackerel.

The sardines were just getting pulled from the hook by smaller critters, but man was there a lot of activity. We saw no less than 3 threshers breach in the early morning grey light. Their long tails really don't lend to graceful breaching as they just kind of flailed before they landed in the water. Pat opted to use a tri swivel rig and didn't seem to get many sniffs. Around noon activity ceased. Ate some lunch at the beach and watched a fly fisherman nail a really nice corbina, shortly after Pat threw his ultralight and caught a decent sized BSP, but with how much salad was in the water it was a lot of work for these few fish.

Pinned on the perch live to my float rig and sent it back out, right after landing the drone and storing it my rod gets absolutely hammered but instantly pops. By this point we were sliding the floats with weights, and I could feel my sputnik but it definitely was light.
My float was not made at all for whatever it was as it ripped the core out of the float and broke the swivel. Lesson learned. By this point it was about 5PM so we both switched to tri rigs with half of the 2 pound store mackerel. Gave it until 9PM with no action and called it a day.

All in all it was a good test run and learning experience and hopefully the next report will have a picture of a thresher or whatever nailed that perch. Was able to make about 15 drops with two batteries all at beyond 250 yds. Probably the most fun day of catching the stripe I've had in a long time though aside from today feeling like I dipped my legs in acid due to the bad sunburn. Thanks for reading!

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Fishing Talk / Please send me any spare luck you may have!
« on: July 20, 2021, 05:24:48 AM »
Going for Threshers from the sand this morning as a test run for some new equipment I got a few weeks ago. I'll go into more detail on it, hopefully when I post a good report! Thanks in advance guys!

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Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / I should move to SD 11/12 VC
« on: November 13, 2020, 04:33:13 PM »
Hit up the usual spot, free of weeds, small surf, and a major cliff of sand created by the storm that we had. Got out a little later than usual so we had minimal action on the critters, but bait thieves were out in force. Finally around 8PM I see two significant bounces in my rod and  then slack. Reeled up quick and sent the hook home! Fish on! Very slow but strong runs, and twisting and shakes, this for sure is the right kind! Get it to the skinny, well damn, 70 pound class bat ray that I managed to hook right in the center of it's belly, explaining why he didn't fight like a bat ray. I was happy to get the only fish of the night but man, it's been over two years since I've gotten a real grinner. Welp, there's always next time!

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Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / People, Salad, and Bat Rays (8/17)
« on: August 17, 2020, 12:26:00 PM »
So I have been out maybe 5 times in the last year but with nothing but perch to show for it. Pat and I decided that the conditions looked excellent to do a real stab at some sharking. Lake like conditions, no wind, and a nice high flood at 8:30. We arrived at our go to beach to see it was PACKED, I have never seen this beach with so many people, literally every inch of sand had a gaggle of people on it. We did some random busy stuff like putting on new top shot, I respooled my critter rod, all in hopes the crowd would start to leave by hopefully 5 or 6 but no they weren't budging. Made the move a bit farther North to  a beach with some real estate only for it to be a single cast quitter when we saw how much chop, grass, and serious paddies were floating around. Moved back to the other beach and now it was 7 which only gave us three hours to fish this beach. Oh well, water was clean and now there wasn't nearly as many people to snag, but still more than usual. Pat puts himself on the board with a small perch. I was using mac slivers on my critter rod to see if any guitarfish wanted to play because I scared a few off while wading to cast the long rod. Around 8 my critter rod goes screaming and I get on the board with a bait ray, that we didn't keep, but it was fun on the light gear.

About 20 minutes later my longrod does a big dip with and pops back up I ran over and sent the hook home. Felt like the right kind but once we got it in realized it was just a medium bat.

It was quiet for the next hour or so and it was nearing time for us to pack it in but I got one more buzzer beater run, this time I could tell it was a bat again, but a slightly nicer sized one.


I'll probably wait a bit for the weather to cool off, sun go down earlier, and not a huge cluster of people are giving each other COVID :D. It was nice to get out and have some drag peeling fights, I'm starting to realize maybe I need a boat for summers.

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Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Me too Verne
« on: January 05, 2019, 10:31:18 AM »
Inspired by the conditions and Verne’s report I hit a stretch of sand I’ve been pounding a while. Perching was tough but I managed a 8 incher that immediately went on the hook. 30 minutes later I got the right bite and hauled in a 54” kitty. Was too cold to hang out any longer but wasn’t a bad 2 hours. It’s been too long! Happy fishing guys!


What site are we using to imbed nowadays?

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General Board / Merry Christmas All!
« on: December 25, 2017, 11:53:09 AM »
Hey guys,

Haven't been on much, pretty tumultuous year. And no fishing to boot :(! I am still alive and chomping at the bit to get out! Merry Christmas to all my P-Soul family!


-Adam

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Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / I feel ya Joe 04/22/17
« on: April 23, 2017, 01:15:36 PM »
Went out with Pat last night to see if the 7s were still home, but didn't have super high expectations because of Chad's weedy report. Got out around 5 and the beach was filled with people. As we waited for them to clear out we were just casting crack off the rocks and to my surprise got into a WFO walleye perch bite, a bunch of chunky pregnant females. I also kept one male to add to the bait pile since we only had 1 1/2 macks. After some people vacated we got our long rods out, salad was not too big of a problem but man the downhill current was ripping. Got the first hook up and my albright connection failed immediately on hookset, I was pretty embarrassed. Cast out again and the bite was slooow, about an hour after casting out I get a hit and know that it was a bat ray, reel him in, nothing very special, except that he had my other rig in his mouth! LOL! I was stoked since we were running low on hooks and weights as well!

Slim pickings for another hour then I got picked up again but this one seems sharky, but with some spirited runs, I thought, I may have my first soupie! Nah just another cookie cutter ray.

No more hits for the rest of the night but there was a ton of life at the spot. Other notable mentions was seeing a whale breach far out off the beach where a bunch of birds were diving, and seeing a B17 and B24 bomber fly over. A great day even with no grinners!

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Salt Water Shore Fishing Reports / Easter Sharking 04/16/17
« on: April 17, 2017, 10:16:32 AM »
So my girlfriend and I had decided to go shark fishing on Sunday earlier in the week since the surf looked so good, and with Ron's report we arrived to stellar conditions with high hopes.

We got a late start and got to the spot around 6:30PM to small lapping waves, mild wind, and clean water. Got the first takedown around 8:00. Had a hearty little battle and got this 87" male 7.


About 30 minutes later I jumped the gun on a hit and missed. Action was going bonkers for the last two hours, with missed hookups and shredded baits every 15 minutes or so. Finally got a solid hookup around 9:30 and handed it off to my girlfriend and she landed this 74" male.

She didn't want to get close to the mouth so now adopted a strange dominatrixesque pose lol. Well the parking gods said it was time to go, left the fish biting, and the spot is on fire up here. If you're a part of the VC seven group you guys should make a point to hit it soon. Also both males had fully engorged claspers, still?

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