New to the State and the States, Tackle help required

[Sharpy209]

Hi all,

Just looking for some basic advice, I have recently moved over here from the UK and am looking to start fishing over here. I have fished in the UK for many years however it seems to be a different style altogether out here. What would you guys recommend in terms of rods reels tackle etc to get me started over here? I am near to FLSP and am intending to head there in the next couple of days as a good starting point to my american fishing experience!!!

Hope you all can pass some good kit advice, thanks in advance for your help!!!

Sharpy.[fishon]
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[Sil240sxrwd]

Welcome to the Forum Sharpy!

I will take shot at this...

I have fished FLSP many times with decent success over the years. Your tackle really depends on what type of fish you will be targeting. FLSP (Tule Springs) has a self sustaining population of Largemouth Bass, Sunfish and Carp in all ponds. The upper most pond is stocked with Rainbow trout or Channel Catfish depending on the Season. Channel Catfish are stocked during the summer months when the water temperatures are high and Rainbow trout are stocked when the water temperatures drop. I believe the last Catfish stocking of the year was on Oct 13. Rainbow trout stockings will begin in mid November of this year. Now for tackle..

Bluegill/Sunfish- When targeting these species of fish, Ultralight tackle is preferred. These fish are really small and do not put up much of a fight on larger tackle. An Ultralight rod and spinning reel with 2-6lb test rigged up with a bobber/worm is my preferred method. I put a small bobber 12-15 inches up the line above a size #6-#10 hook and bait the hook with small redworms, a piece of nightcrawler or a mealworm. I target these fish around the reeds unless I can spot them in open water somewhere.

Catfish- Larger tackle is required to target these fish due to the fact that you just never know how big of a catfish you are going to catch. I have seen Catfish pulled out of FLSP ranging from 1lbs all the way to 12lbs. I prefer a Medium Action spinning setup with 12lb+ test line. My favorite rig for Catfish is a Carolina rig, or a dropper loop rig. Erawk posted a good layout of both these rigs in the Sardine vs Anchovy sticky here: [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/Nevada_Fishing_Forum_C39/Nevada_Fishing_General_F42/gforum.cgi?post=584654;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;page=unread#unread"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/...d;page=unread#unread[/url]

as far as bait goes for cats, I like any type of catfish stinkbait, pieces of hotdogs, or chicken livers. Target these fish in open water or around the reeds.

Largemouth bass- Ahh LMB.. my favorite fish to target at these ponds =) My preferred tackle is either a baitcaster or spinning outfit with a Medium/fast action rod. I prefer using 6-10lb Fluorocarbon line on these ponds. Many different rigs work for these fish, but my favorite is a good Old Texas rigged powerworm. There are lots of debris in these ponds to get hung up on, and a texas rigged powerworm lets u work these areas without having to worry about snaggin up. I have used 4 and 7 inch powerworms with decent success. Colors that have worked for me are Camo, Black with Chartreuse tail, Solid black, and Purple. Other Methods that have worked for me are Drop shot rigs, topwater lures such as jitterbugs or poppers during the morning hours and Small Crankbaits that resemble bluegill. Google these rigs and you can find some great "how to" sites..

Bass I caught on lower pond


Target bass around any type of submerged debris you see in the water, whether it be a log, fallen branches, reeds, or water piping.

Rainbow trout- Ultralight tackle is fun but not required. You can get away with using a medium/fast action rod, but I prefer using a Medium light/fast action rod with 6 lb test. Small inline spinner lures such as rooster tails are always a good choice. I like using 1/8 ounce silver Kastmasters also. These fish are super hungry and aggressive usually, so any lure that is small and creates lots of flash will get there attention. If you prefer to use bait, a Carolina rig with a size #8 or smaller hook baited with Velveeta cheese or Powerbait will never steer you wrong... I have also had great success fly fishing for trout at flsp. Nymphing at 8-12 ft seems to do the trick for me, stripping wooly buggers works too.Target trout in open water anywhere around the upper pond.

Carp- I don't fish for carp, but I am sure someone on here can inform you on what to use if you are interested in targeting these fish.

Im sure some people on here with experience fishing these ponds can reiterate and give you advice on what works for them. This is what has worked for me..Hope this helps =)
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[TheWhizzle]

Welcome to Nevada, and welcome to our forum - you will find plenty of great tips here.

FLSP is stocked during the warmer months with channel catfish that average 1-3lbs.


And during the colder months, they stock with rainbow trout that average 8-14 inches in length.

There is also a small breeding population of largemouth bass

and bluegill sunfish





A quality, medium action spinning combo, like this [url "http://www.basspro.com/Pflueger-President-Reel/Bass-Pro-Shops-CarbonLite-Rod-Spinning-Combos/product/10205075/-1669331"]Pflueger[/url], will handle most of the fishing you will do out here.


There are a few guys on this forum that fish FLSP frequently, and can give you some good tips - I'm sure they will chime in.



The Whizzle
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[4poundonly]

Welcome to Vegas[cool] you should be able to scrap something up at floyd Sil pretty much sumed it up. The rainbows can be somewhat fun to chase around in the winter I always use bluefox spinners with decent success and if you dont like fishing shoulder to shoulder with cranky retired folks theres always lake mead check out the sticky. Good luck [fishin] Hows fishin in the uk?
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[Sharpy209]

Guys,

Thanks to all of you for the tips, It has been really appreciated, I have been out this morning and come home with arms full of stuff and am going to head up to FLSP this afternoon to go and give it a try! I will post an update later on to let you know how I got on!!

Thanks again and thank you for the warm welcome to the Forum!

Sharpy.

'[]Tight Lines'
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[syncityangler]

welcome sharpy, as for carp i am a fan!!! i fish these weary fish with a medium heavy uglystick with 15lb test, these boys can get pretty hefty ranging in weight from 5-10lbs average the max record at one of our urban ponds i think its sunset out in south vegas/henderson was 23lbs. my son targets them by using a drop shot rig with a 2-4 size hook and some canned or frozen corn, i target them in the shallows with no wieght just toss the bait out where i can see them "grazing" and wait for them to take it and then hold on. hope this helps a bit if carp is on your "to-do" list. [fishin]
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[Erawk]

Welcome Sharpy. Ask and you shall recieve, haha. I think the guys covered it well. Good luck out there and let us know how you do.
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[Sharpy209]

Well thats the first outing over with and the result?....... a blank!! hahaha,

No more than I expected though to be honest, I used the afternoon to try out a few of the suggested rigs and get used to using the bait caster reel that I bought this morning. Entirely different from the normal reels that I am used to but good fun to learn how to use. I fished the top lake by the weed beds as I saw a fair amount of trout moving near the surface and got a couple of bumps using a shiney non- descript spinner. Will be heading back there tomorrow afternoon so as to continue in my goal of catching my first American fish!!

Sharpy. [fishon]
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[Sil240sxrwd]

I am gonna go out on a limb here and say the fish you saw breaking surface around the weeds were probably bluegill or Small bass. Both of these species of fish are attracted to spinners.... Rainbow trout usually do not survive the summer months in the urban ponds around Vegas. Usually start to see them die off around the end of June. The first stocking for trout this season will be in November. After that they will stock the ponds with trout every 2 weeks until the end of April. What baitcaster did you pick up? if u dont mind me asking..
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[REAL_RAT_FINK]

I fished Floyd Lamb on Saturday for a few hours and no luck! I was fishing alongside probably 100 fisherman and no one was catching any fish. Don't mean to put a damper on Floyd Lamb, as it's a great little park, but don't forget that Lake Mead is a must!
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[4poundonly]

Thats good ol floyd scam park for ya[cool] fish it many times year round. Its all or nothing. Love the little sunbeaten LMB they got on the back pond. The ponds have alot of potential if ndow dumped some more $ into it. Still nice close place to take the kids.
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[iamthesmf]

I was at the pond for the last catfish stocking. The fish dump slide fell off as they were opening the shoot. About 100 fish hit the ground then bounced into the water.

Ended up with one skinny bruised & bloodied catfish, threw it back in, nasty looking. The fish was bleeding from it's assault on pond entry.
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