All Fish Bite

Deep Sea Fishing Tips

2014-10-25T23:08:00.000-04:00

Deep sea fishing is a wonderful and extremely enjoyable activity. Here are some tips that will make your salt water fishing adventure even better.

1. Watch the signs

If you see birds e.g. Seagulls that are feasting on small bait-type fishes, there are probably larger game-type fish below the surface of the water. Also, look for floating wood or debris. In most cases when you chance upon a large piece of floating wood, you will find a large game fish in the area.

2. Stop, Snook and Listen

Fishing for Snook is quite similar to fishing for Bass. Snook like to be around ledges, posts, rocks, and under docks. Snook feed in the early morning and early evening hours... sun-up and sun-down in other words.

3. Crabs for full moon

During a full moon use soft crab imitations as bait. That's the time when crabs shed their shells and Stripers (Striped Bass) come looking for them.

4. If you're looking for tunas, find the dolphins

Yellowfin tuna are usually found schooling with dolphins. So if you see a group of dolphins, chances are there are some tuna in the area.

5. Cut and Burn

If you have trouble cutting through a spiderwire braid, try using a lighter or a match.

6. Good Reef

The best place to fish is near reefs since big game fish feed on fish that live on reefs.

7. The Circle Hook

Use a circle hook if you would like a higher hook up ratio. These hooks guarantees more catch, because of the minute gap, and the reverse point. They are generally better for the fish since they do not hook in the gut just the lip.

8. Don’t have sea legs

Watch the horizon and stay on deck. These would generally help you if you're having trouble with sea sickness: Stay away from the boat fumes, breathing it only exacerbates the problem. Take along a box or bag of gingersnap cookies. Ginger is a natural nausea cure.

9. Anchors away

When your anchor is stuck at the bottom, try attaching a float to it. Return after the tide has changed in direction. This should be enough to loosen the anchor.

10. Fish where the fish are

A lot of fisherman have the idea that they should be catching their live baits over the reefs before going to deep waters. If the live baits are not in the area you're planning to catch the larger game, then why would you come up with the idea that the large fish are there. Wouldn't they be in the area where the bait fish are?

How To Get Free Fishing Baits

Fishing - Just the Basics by Jack Phillips

2013-11-13T23:14:00.001-05:00

I've been fishing for over 50 years and even more frequently in the last 10 years; during this time I have learned a lot of countless things about fishing in general. The most important is that you can never know it all. Even a novice can show an old timer a trick or two.

Over the years I've seen hundreds of anglers come to the areas I fish full of enthusiasm and determination and they end up leaving frustrated and confused. With just a little advice this could have made for a better experience and more than likely created another fishing addict like myself. It may take some time to turn you into that pro, but the enjoyment of the sport would be more easily realised.

When starting out the very first thing you want is just basic information on where and when to fish. Sounds easy and generally just ask other anglers, lodge owners, bait store owners, heck just ask.

Now for the fishing equipment, the rod and reel. Sounds simple enough, but maybe not. As in most other sports, cheap or poor equipment will result in poor results. As an example I met a fellow from southern Ontario (Toronto) while fishing here at home for Northern pike and asked him how the fishing was. His remark was that he was going to rent a boat and give it a try. So I asked him if he would like to go out with me that evening and he accepted. I met him at the dock and told him to load his gear in the boat and offered him a life jacket and away we went. I did not notice what he had loaded at first except he had a nice big new tackle box, as we moved away I asked where is your rod and reel. He went on to open his new tackle box and proceeded to pull out one of those pocket fisherman rigs. Of course I had a hard time from not laughing out loud, but went on to offer him one of my other rigs already in the boat.

Once we hit the area I intended to troll he went on to politely say he wanted to use his own rod but asked what one of his lures he should use for northern pike. He had one large red and white spoon and I told him to use that and made sure he let out enough line for what we were doing. I believe I was praying for him to get the first strike and sure enough he did after about 15 minutes or so and the fun began.

Now this pike he had on was I guessed about 15 pounds, not that big but the struggle with that little, short toy he had was hilarious to watch. I did not believe he would get the fish to the boat but he did although to fast, I had the net and told him to slow down, he did not hear me as I leaned over to net the fish he had it reeled up to about 2 feet from the tip of that little rod, all that pike did was lean on the line and he was gone.

I must add here that he also had no leader on that rig. After that he was so excited and of course wanted to keep fishing, but asked if he could use one of my other rods which was fine because I wanted to see him really hook and land a nice fish. To shorten this story he did land 2 more northerns and a small walleye. Oh yes I did catch a fish, one walleye and one pike, but we had a new fishing addict here. The next day he went into town to the Canadian Tire store and got properly equipped.

I imagine that young man from southern Ontario had some great tall tales to tell when he got home. I wonder how big that one that got away is Now!

A light action graphite spinning rod and reel will handle most fish you will want to catch, plus it is light enough for the beginner to feel even the light hit of those walleye.

So just get out there relax, take your time. Bring some coffee or lunch or even better catch your lunch and cook on one of the many small islands all over these northern lakes. Mostly just enjoy it all the fresh air, wildlife and scenery. Enjoy it all while your watching that loon, deer or even a moose feeding, a big walleye might just swim up and inhale your bait sending that twitch up your line through your rod to your fingers. Set the hook and there's lunch!

Well that's enough from me time for supper and a 5 minute stroll down to the river and make a few casts and see what happens.

Ice Fishing: THE QUEST FOR PIKE

This Carp Fishing Season What Can You Do To Make It Your Best Ever ...

2013-09-04T14:24:00.001-04:00

Do you feel you are taking too long in achieving your carp fishing goals? If so, how can you ensure you achieve all the success you dream of for less effort and time and what do very many big name anglers do that makes it look so easy? Shave years off and speed things up by reading on!

There is a vital pivotal point that is central to maximising your results in carp fishing that most anglers over-look in their rush for the most fashionable new rod or reel or latest bait. I will reveal this secret in a moment because it seems that far too many anglers on the bank misunderstand this! But possibly the first point to state is that everyone can catch the kind fish they dream of catching. It may well be that not really believing this is the first barrier. When you truly believe you can – you will because you will find yourself doing the right things at the right time in the right places! The subconscious mind works wonders when correctly programmed and Kevin Maddocks was spot-on when he said a positive mental attitude is of paramount importance (in this case when referring winter carp fishing in particular, but the principle applies all year!)

Very many carp anglers see the high profile anglers catching big fish and feel intimidated, feeling that these anglers are a cut above the rest and somehow have a bubble of huge advantages at their disposal that an average carp angler cannot match. It is certainly true that such guys have competitive advantages but it is also true that many of them have paid the price for these in advance by putting in far more effort and applied dedication to becoming much better in their sport than the average occasional or week-end carp angler!

The anglers you meet who seem to catch all the fish will generally have one thing in common and it is very simple. They are confident and they think confidently! This is their greatest competitive edge in many ways because unconsciously their minds are therefore fully open to receiving all input of every kind from every source that will lead inevitably towards further success. The fact that they might have more time, or money or bait or tackle or connections to get onto waters etc are meaningless if they do not think like a winner to begin with!

It is no secret that thousands of anglers every week fish with lots of bait, the newest tackle and on renowned big fish waters and yet really fail to succeed in comparison to other anglers around them. The fact is that carp fishing is about thinking. Only those anglers with the most open minds are flexible enough to be able to constantly change not only ho the think but the actions their thoughts produce so in turn keeping them ahead of the game in terms of the carp and their competitors.

There are creative innovations that we take for granted completely now but which have seriously boosted catches all around the world to the degree that carp fishing may well not have become the cult sport it is today without such ingenuity!

These creations include the following: the hair rig, hard over-flavoured instant boilies used with bolt rigs, long-term high nutrition boilies, polyvinyl acetate water soluble bait products, electric bite indicators and adjustable swinger indicators, use of high line capacity big sea fishing reels teamed with long–range customised rods for large water fishing, the application of sweetcorn, Robin Red, L030 fish protein and Minamino to carp fishing baits and so on. How many more can you think of?

Just think about it. Like-minded groups of disparate individuals as well as actual individuals and friends have evolved these or brought them into the carp fishing world. Each of these innovation applications were the result of belief in conquering a problem and were applied to over-coming them. But without the correct positive mind-set then many of these would simply be missed and never have been spotted or tried in carp fishing.

Many of these have made house-hold names of the originators or claimed originators of these things and applications. Sometimes there are periods when some of these kinds of special advantages you might say, are evolved or developed by numerous people at the same time without them knowing anything about the other. This can be seen in various areas such as the development of the hair rig, or the true inventors of our worlds electricity systems, the telephone, radio, TV and so on.

I was using a hook with line attached with a bait on in the Seventies originally for bass fishing and other anglers applied exactly the same thinking of improving hooking and bait presentation at the same time and long before this time to develop hair rigs for carp and other fish independently of any individual claimants of any particular rig origination. But carp fishing used to be a serious world of secrets. Just a few decades ago carp fishing secrets that are very well known now were simply not discussed unless you happened to be in the right clique or circle or group because everyone knew just how much effort goes into these things and wished to exploit them to maximum effect before the herd gets wind of them.

Now the point here is that you too can create your own innovative competitive edges and the problems that face in your fishing provide the very solutions you may be seeking. The trick is not even to event something new but to use something that already exists in new ways. You can do things just 10 percent differently and get a huge multiplication your success. For instance, being able to cast 5 yards further, being able to identify feeding spots just 10 percent better than most anglers, being able to choose and apply baits 10 percent better than other anglers.

You might think about the different characteristics of individual high profile anglers that make them that bit more successful. It might be excellent watercraft skill. It might be incredible casting acuity and acumen. It might be the ability to adapt rigs and tactics in response to changing carp behaviours and habits. It might be the willingness to move focus upon identifying finding fish and being totally willing to move swims at 3 or 4 in the morning. Some anglers may have a bottomless bait supply and through long practice know exactly how and when to apply various baits to maximum effect.

Some of these things may not seem like a big deal. But this is probably because some of these at least are easily within everyones reach. The difference between many of the higher profile carp anglers and the casual carper is that many casual carp anglers just do not seem to realise this sport and passion begins with the fish themselves and not with all the paraphernalia associated with it. In fact pretty much all the commercial oriented products do is exploit everything about the fish without actually making it very obvious that this is the key!

Success is a formula, a recipe of combining the right refinements together at the right times, consistently. Because fishing for big carp is a skill and an art that can be learned and developed this means all carp anglers with strong intention can become the kind of angler who is consistently successful and this really means always having an open mind! Remember when you were a beginner, when everything seemed magical and exciting and mysterious?

All the possibilities in terms of where to fish, what tackle to use, what bait to use; all these things with a positive mind set equal the fastest learning of all. Now I focus on the learning bit here because just a small bit of information can transform your catches completely and this goes on over and over again all the time for anglers with an open mind! But all too often the average carp angler gets caught up in a rut of thinking in ways that are out of date!

This is the biggest danger of getting too attached to what is new, what your mates are buying, what their opinions on what the best reel, or rod or bivvy or bite alarm or bait are. Do you see where this is leading? The starting point must always be the fish. They provide all the solutions you need because you and your fellow carp anglers are training them and conditioning them dynamically be everything you do and use while fishing and even your very presence on the bank trains them.

If you want most success and wish to achieve all your carp fishing dreams faster than your ever imagined, it all begins with studying your fish. As the saying goes, know your enemy better than yourself! The top anglers are doing things all the time that exploit weaknesses in carp defences that they have evolved and are constantly adapting in order to avoid getting hooked. This is the right mind set in action and is best described as thinking like a carp!

Many aspects of fishing for carp fishing are easily available to everyone including all the big fish carp waters and all the tackle and baits now available plus loads of magazines and websites on fishing. What really matters is how your mind sees all this stuff – because everyone is in a world of their own as each and every individuals perspective of reality and the big picture of things is unique to himself alone! Next time you go on a new lake and some of the locals or regular anglers say it is hard it is very often in their own minds. Beginners get much more luck because they are often employing different tactics, use of different swims, different baiting methods and tackle and rigs and a different mindset in general to those of anglers already entrenched on a water.

It is like Jim Shelley who went and fished Conningbrook for the British Record carp. The regulars had told him that using lots of bait is a bad idea. Lots of anglers these days just use PVA netting and pellets for instance. Maybe they know Jim Shelley often uses loads of bait, far more than average anglers might imagine. Either way, he fished for just a few days, baited up heavily in right in the weed I believe, and he caught the British record fish! You have to consider that here is a guy who is a pretty much full-time angler who is so in-tune and refined in his fishing he can unravel very many variables in terms of fishing pressure, fishing tactics to use and baiting levels etc based on what he has heard and seen on such a water that has seen many very good anglers over the decades.

Basically he knows how fish behave in response to anglers baits, lines, and tactics and he knows that being different even in what seems like minor ways makes all the difference; the fish themselves provide the clues. Many anglers hate fishing directly into weed, but carp can clear weed fast when feeding hard by regular baiting. Jim has been a regular at so many heavily weeds big fish water because in so many ways big fish and rich waters go inevitably together!

Some of the biggest breakthroughs in carp baits came anglers with open minds. And it is noticeable that Einstein had a way of questioning that helped constantly question conventional thinking so enabling further progress and advancements to be made.

How you noticed how you can go for long periods of time thinking something was absolutely right but finding this a limiting factor in your success? Then you might have thought to yourself, what if I consider that thing to be wrong – would this remove the limit to my thinking so I can see the light and find answers and solutions I never saw before? Imagine if you will if the boilie or hair-rig or pop-up bait had not been invented and you still had to think for yourself. (How would your mind reach the end result of the HNV or balanced profile protein bait, or pop-up baits, flavour over-dosed instant baits and so on?)

So picture this: when you have located your fish feeding in front of you, and you have a sharp hook on, what is it that will catch those carp that prevents a blank? The answer ultimately is it is the thing that delivers your hook into the mouth of the carp. It does not matter if this happens even for a fraction of a second - just long enough to enable the hook to penetrate and result in a carp self-hooking itself so deeply it cannot get off the hook before all the added pressure of lines, leads, back leads, indicators, clips, reel clutches etc kick in.

I have over the last year been testing really heavy rigs with eighteen pound monofilament line hook links and big size 4 hooks to remove any refinements. The tests were with paste on the hooks directly. In doing this I was replicating how most carp fishing was done prior to the hair rig in the immediately preceding years and this is a set-up that often produces fewer fish actually hooked even though baits may be held between the lips, pulled, and even mouthed. My tests were based around experiments with various fish feeding triggers and other things that enhance bait palatability and stimulate different aspects of the sensory systems of carp internally and externally.

Of course, when you have a really obviously heavy rig your bait has to work that much harder in convincing carp to keep trying to mouth the bait because they want it so much that they by repetition almost end up hooking themselves. The tests proved without a shadow of any doubt that the baits containing the most stimulating natural feeding triggers resulted in the hooking of the biggest fish most frequently after the fake baits and instant over-flavoured baits had been associated with danger and produced very few hooked fish by comparison.

Of course heavier leads were used with such pre-hair rig set-ups and often acted like bolt rigs, but problems still were apparent in terms of hooking and converting enough fish compared to the number of bites experienced. This was a problem the hair rig provided a solution to as the bait would enter the mouth will far less suspicion as the weight of the hook would not be noticed anywhere near so much as often the hair was 2 inches or more long.

Anglers came up with the length of hair on the original hair rig (off the hook bend) of 2 or 3 inches anglers. This distance is what they believed to be the correct length from the lips to the throat teeth that represented a safe distance of bait ingestion before a risk of bait and hook bite-offs. (But this distance can be much is longer than this.) Anyway, the long-hairs used that produced the effect of separating the bait from the hook (and so negating the weight and feel of the hook) was a huge step in getting more bites!

Equally important was density of baits, and floating baits applied on the bottom such as floating pastes became a huge advantage. Added to the development of great flavours designed purposely for carp the application of the pop-up bait made a huge difference to numbers of carp caught by individuals using them on so many waters for the very first time!

When you examine the details of why plastic sweetcorn or rubber hemp works as baits this reveals a lot of priceless secrets about carp senses and behaviours and how these work and can dynamically adapt and change over time. When you examine why balanced or high nutritional design boilies keep catching the same big fish over the years, carp senses and conditioned behaviours are implicit in this success. Far too many angler miss great competitive edges even if they are just using readymade baits by not knowing about the carp themselves! All kinds of known and yet to be discovered details of carp themselves are certainly many of the greatest secrets to successful carp fishing today they always have been and always will be!

Carp themselves provide the greatest challenges in carp fishing and but in studying them they provide the solutions to better catches!

High nutrition boilies have caught more big carp than any other form of bait over the decades. But they can cost much more than many anglers can afford to pay today. Making your own economical and unique homemade baits (and applying them in your own personal unique ways) is a leveller par excellence against anglers with more skill, experience, time, money etc!

The best starting point is not these but in studying the carp first! The British carp Study Group is a body that is a collection of highly experienced carp anglers who have proven in their own ways that they know something about carp and often then some, but most of all appreciate the fish themselves. Again, the fish provide the solution when you are designing baits because ultimately you are trying to maximise and use their own natural senses, instincts and behaviours against them in your own favour. Most carp anglers appear to make the biggest mistake of starting out with ingredients and flavours and not what will actually best exploit fish senses in ways that will give them more competitive edges over competing baits!

It took me a long time to realise that when you think of each and every carp as a unique personality and a unique genetic creation you will catch many more fish! Each fish has its own tiny or large differences in feeding behaviours, bait flavour and taste preferences or mineral needs or may have an enhanced ability to avoid certain rigs or areas of a lake or swim. Added to the fact that carp waters vary enormously you need to be able to more fully understand carp themselves in order to catch many more fish.

It is not an understatement to suggest that the majority of carp anglers on the banks today know more about the specifications of their rods, reels, bite alarms and bivvies than that of the fish sensory systems or baits meant to exploit them! So how can you get to know most about carp in the fastest way possible and exploit or even create weaknesses in carp defenses that this knowledge reveals to you that you can exploit to seriously multiply your success? Simple, as mentioned above, KNOW YOUR TARGET. Whether it be carp, bass, catfish, trout, salmon, or any other fish - they all have habits and individual sensitivities to baits. Armed with knowledge of your target, you're sure to catch more of them.

By Tim Richardson.

Fishing Tips For Beginners

2013-08-28T19:25:00.001-04:00

There are many kinds of fishing equipment in stores, numerous fishing methods in books, and fishing advice online. To make it all simple, here are the basic things you need to know for your first time fishing adventure.

1) How to fish with bait

* Tackle. To plunk the bait, you should purchase lead weights. The weight of the lead would vary depending on the current of the environment. Anglers commonly use and recommend bank sinkers with a number-two hook.

To avoid sinkers to slide, you would need a swivel to act as a stop. To protect the knot, you could use plastic beads between the swivel and weight. Using two appropriate swivels could allow you to rig the sliding sinkers.

* Bait. The commonly used bait for all kinds of fish is worms. Another popular bait is chicken liver. Remember to buy fresh bait and keep them cold to avoid them from getting soft and allowing the bait to stay on your hooks.

Some of the commonly used baits are cut-baits which include skin from fried chicken, fish entrails, grasshoppers, salmon eggs, shrimp, and crayfish tails.

2) How to fish – There are three basic methods for fishing.

* Plunking – It is the most common method used. Use a suitable amount of weight for you to be able to take hold of the bait in a position which is against any current. An option in plunking is to use minimal weight for the bait to move along with the water current.

* Back bouncing – It is done by lifting the bait off the bottom and raising the tip of the rod for one to two feet. Allowing the bait to walk with the current, you should free the back reel or spool. Repeat the steps when the lure settles down on the bottom. Back bouncing is effective in deeper water like fishing from a boat.

* Drift-fishing – It is a simple method wherein you cast upstream or downstream. This may vary depending on the current's amount. You should count the appropriate depth and start reeling.

3) How to fish from a boat – It is important to determine in which location you would perform your fishing. Deeper water needs heavier jigheads compared to fishing from shore.

* With heavy weight which keeps your bait near the bottom of the water and the line straight down from your boat, you are able to drift the boat along with any current. A good technique of fishing on boats is trolling slowly with a fishing device called bottom-walker.

Fishing is easy as long as you’re enjoying the trip. Bring some of your family and friends along and make your first time fishing a memorable one.

Bait Box tackle box

Trout Fishing With Berkley Power Bait

2013-08-21T21:58:00.000-04:00

There are many varieties of Berkley Power Bait. Each type has it's own benefits and rig requirements. In order for you to use this bait successfully to catch trout, I suggest that you follow these easy guidelines.

Trout Bait/Power Bait/Gulp

Berkley bait comes in several different colors, scents, and forms. In its dough form, it is best fished formed into a small ball around a treble hook. The treble hook allows the dough bait to retain its shape. Use the smallest treble hook suitable for the target of your fishing adventure. The Gulp nuggets work best fished on a small single size 8 hook or a salmon egg hook.

Rig your line with a slip sinker above a swivel then attach a leader to the swivel. Your leader length will vary by the depth and current that you're fishing in but generally for most streams I find that about 16 inches works well. Berkley Power Bait is a floating bait so using a slip sinker allows your bait to float naturally to the surface or near-surface. Or, in the case of lake fishing, a slip sinker allows your bait to float above the structure on the bottom of the lake.

Berkley Trout Bait also works well to catch bass, crappie, bluegill, and even catfish. Although, catfish do prefer the garlic scented doughs. Speaking of the garlic scented doughs...use these for trout when fishing streams muddied by recent rain. You'll have more hook-ups because the trout will still find your bait even though they may not be able to see it clearly.

I've been using Berkley's Rainbow Glitter Trout Power Bait for over 20 years now and I've never had a bad day trout fishing. This is one that you'll want to keep in your tackle box - in original scent and garlic scent. There are MANY different colors and scent combos of Berkley Power Bait. I have most of them in my tackle box. They all work well in their optimum conditions - water color, temperature, stream size, trout type, time of year - these all play a part in which color/scent will work the best. Until you get to know "what works best when" my advice is to try a few casts of each. I've fished many a trout stream and had a "good" fishing day, but then changed my color/scent choice and turned it into a "great" fishing day!

Good luck and happy fishing! JD

How To Make Easy Carp And Catfish Baits With Cheap Ingredients

2013-08-14T22:14:00.001-04:00

I'm always messing about with baits it's so creative and fun; I even make my own flapjacks too! Making instant carp and catfish baits that really work can be very easy and simple without the need for too much technical know-how! Fishermen go on about 'nutritional attraction baits' versus 'flavoured attractor baits' versus 'fake and plastic baits' and so on and the difference in the prices of these baits can be enormous. But who cares what you use as long as it's safe, does the fish no harm and really catches you fish! Here's a few 'alternative' tit-bits on making baits that will catch you fish.

Your local stores can provide all you need but you can use specialist fishing additives and attractor ingredients too. Very easy baits for carp and catfish of many species and sub-species often utilise the same ingredients to stimulate the fish which makes things simple.

(You can make yourself some flapjacks, brownies or cinnamon scones while you're at it if so inclined, all the ingredients you need for these are eggs, self raising flour, sugar, salt, margarine and a raising agent like bicarbonate of soda.) Making these things is a great fun way to practice making good palatable baits for starters! As a side note, have you noticed how addictive 'Marmite' or 'Vegemite' (yeast extract spread) on toast with lashings of butter' is? Unfortunately it makes your feel dehydrated and maybe keen to have a drink, preferably a caffeine, milk and sugar containing coffee or tea to wash it down?

This is just to remind you how easy it is to get our body and mind in a particular state just by eating a simple snack or a 'simple' beverage. In fact these foods and drinks are popular because they are literally addictive. Once you've been having these for long enough, giving them up is something your body and mind can have trouble with and even give you withdrawal symptoms!

From the monosodium glutamate and salt in the 'Marmite,' to the opiates in the wheat flour, butter and milk, these foods have strong impacts on your body and mind. Even the fat in the butter and milk, the powerful effects of the caffeine in the beverages and even the sugar and its powerful taste enhancing effects leave you wanting more...

You really want your catfish and carp baits to be like this and it is easily achievable, especially by exploiting the high-tech refined specialist bait ingredients available today. However much more simple baits can offer a level of this effect too using ingredients from your average kitchen.

You can make a wide range of successful baits by using soya powder or meal and semolina as the basic dry powder mixture, but corn flour and wheat flour can be used too as base ingredients to make paste or dough baits or even boilies, but be sure to use 'plain flour' rather than the 'self-raising' types. Your base mix powder may not be very 'nutritionally attractive' at this point but this is easily remedied as you will see... Your baits do not have to be high protein wonder baits to catch big fish. Even these marvels can 'blow' and become less effective after fish have been caught on them enough times. In fact very simple carbohydrate type baits with a couple of added special ingredients to effect the fish in powerful ways are often enough to tempt the biggest fish. But you need to know what ingredients affect fish the way you want...

Can you imagine what adding an alcohol flavour does to you bait and how it affects the fish? What about garlic; what's really going on there? Why is liver and blood so effective? What about the effects of betaine, green lip mussel extract, or honey, molasses or brown sugar? Knowing about these type of effects on the fish might seem irrelevant, or are they?

For pastes or dough baits, just add water, or eggs to help binding and bait durability. The usual number of eggs used per pound of dry mixture is 4 per pound of dry mix to 6 per kilogram of dry mix. Added eggs will enable you to make skinned steamed or boiled baits too if preferred.

Baits with added eggs will have a higher protein level than those with water and when rolled into balls can be boiled in water or steamed in a pan to make them form a resistant coagulated skin which makes the baits last longer. You will discover that experimentation is the key to making baits and recording the amounts and ingredients you use will really pay you back especially when you want to re-make that 'bagging bait' and have forgotten what it contained!

You can do a short-cut by buying prepared cooking pastry mix. This is attractive because of its sugar salt, fat and wheat content, all of which can be pretty addictive and it can work well on carp, but needs more ingredients to get the catfish biting.

You can make it that much better by rolling it out and liberally spreading peanut butter and yeast extract, like 'Marmite' or 'Vegemite' onto it, but the list you can add is endless. Liquidized chicken liver or pork liver are classic examples as are shad guts and chicken blood from a friendly butcher. However, Blood powder, liver powder and squid powder, fermented shrimp powder, shrimp and krill meal,

It may sound simplistic, but for example, yeast extract contains lots of attractive salts with those used in its production, enzymes, such as trypsin (the protein digesting enzyme,) soluble proteins, amino acids, peptides, minerals, trace elements, vitamins like B6 and B12, carnitine, chitin, yeast extract is also a major source of the infamous food enhancer monosodium glutamate for the food industry. It is also water-attracting being hygroscopic (like honey and malt extract and peptones interestingly,) and is highly soluble a digestible. Peanut butter has much going for it too including sugar, salt, high fat content, tasty oils and great palatability and even its own highly fish attractive enzymes. There are very good reasons why even the 'simplest' kitchen ingredient works.

The attractiveness of peanuts and peanut products is so well known, but fewer fishermen realise that crushed peanuts make great ground bait and cook-up well absorbing all kinds of added attractors like sugars, salts, flavours, spices, essential oils, colours and so on. Peanut oil is another great attractor too, while de-fatted roasted peanut meals can have a protein content above that of many fishmeals and are very well consistently proven fish catchers.

Getting back to your easy simple bait, a generous amount of molasses or brown sugar will really help. Many fishes love sweet smells and tastes and a quick energy 'hit' from the sugars is appreciated too. In fact 'polysaccharides' play a big part in wild fishes natural diet and are derived from ingesting mussels and shrimps and other shelled organisms.

It's a good idea to add a bit of protein to your simple flours baits. Fish can are very drawn to attractive proteins, amino acids, polypeptides and this has been consistently proven with catfish and carp etc. In fact, often the baits meant for carp or catfish end up catching other big specimens of other species including bass, big pike and tench, pickerels, eels and so on. Adding liver powder or mashed-up tinned fish, ground trout pellet powder, or any of a range of fish meals and meat meals, shellfish meals and milk powders will all make a big difference to your simple bait's effectiveness. You can even add ground-up sinking pond pellets if you want to really ensure your fish get a guaranteed 'balanced meal' if you're so inclined.

You could mix in large amounts of flaked cold-water fish food which is a very effective edge in making a very 'alternative' bait. These are high in things like spirulina, carotenes, complex sugars and daphnia. (All good stuff.) Incorporating casein and whey protein body-building powders into your simple flour or pastry mix really is an edge adding much recommended 'free amino acids' among a huge list of other beneficial attractors.

Many fishermen feel they need a boost of extra confidence by adding a flavour to their bait. While there are a handful of 'giants' than really shine through in the world of fishing flavours, just a few drops of butyric acid will do the trick. Even adding fresh juice from red or blue fruits like strawberry, mulberry, blueberry, acai berry etc adds great flavour and very powerful fish attracting acids, enzymes, flavours, sugars etc.

Even adding flavours at levels we cannot detect ourselves will work. E.g. half a teaspoonful per kilogram of bait. It is also a fact that many baits have proven to work without any added flavours at all. The best flavours are probably better called 'fish detection tools' or even 'fish mood and activity changers.' This is a far cry from the simple cake flavours many beginners start off using. The proven catches difference between using a simple alcohol based vanilla flavour compared to a fishing bait proprietary brand flavour proven for decades like 'Scopex' or 'Tutti Fruitti' or 'Monster crab' is gigantic.

Experiment kneading the mixture together into a dough. Until you have a practical bait and put into marked and dated bags, but many of these baits can quickly be made on the bank or boat which is really useful. Baits can be round shapes, square, triangles, pellets or just random shapes. You can use these baits fresh or store them temporarily in the fridge or freeze them. By noting what ingredients you add and the amounts used you will be able to make any bait in the future and associate with it any interesting results apart from personal best captures. Just putting bait into the margins where fish can browse on your baits is a very valuable thing to do to help assess their response.

Personally I'd do this with any batch of bait before bothering to fish. Watching fish feeding on your bait is fantastic. (And often the biggest fish are caught on a new bait they have never experienced before.) Testing different batches of bait like this will certainly show you the winners and dramatically increase your confidence in your new baits. You will find that some of your homemade baits will out-perform those expensive shop-bought baits and by making your own baits you will learn practical ways to enhance or alter those shop baits that are 'in' too in order to 'top' them. Although there is far more to making and enhancing baits this will get you on your way!

This fishing bait secrets books author has many more fishing and bait 'edges.' Just one could impact on your catches!

By Tim Richardson.

For the unique acclaimed expert bait making and secrets 'bibles' ebooks / books:

"BIG Catfish AND Carp BAIT SECRETS!"

AND "BIG Carp BAIT SECRETS!" And " BIG FLAVORS, FEEDING TRIGGERS AND CHEMORECEPTION EXPLOITATION SECRETS!" SEE:

http://www.baitbigfish.com

Tim is a highly experienced homemade bait maker big carp and catfish angler of 30 years. His bait enhancing books / ebooks now help anglers in 43 countries improve their results. See this bait and fishing secrets website now!

How to make Catfish/eel bait

Choosing The Proper Fly Fishing Leader and Tippet

2013-08-05T21:46:00.001-04:00

Selecting the correct tapered leader and tippet for the type of fishing you are about to do is crucial. Nothing can spook fish quicker than an oversized tippet for the particular situation. On the other hand, and undersized tippet can result in the fly fisher losing their trophy before they even get a photo opportunity. We will start at the very basic of leader and tippet selection and then get more specific, and hopefully conclude with enough information so we’ll always have the proper leader and tippet for all upcoming fishing scenarios.

What is leader and tippet

Leader and tippet is the final connection between the fly fisher and their fly. It is the section of line after the fly line and before the fly. It’s purpose is to transfer energy from the fly line down to the fly, allow for natural presentation of the fly, and then be strong enough for the fly fisher to retrieve any fish that might strike at the naturally presented fly. Sounds simple enough, but this is fly fishing, and fly fishers have been around a long time. And as a group we seem to think about everything related to our sport a lot, and therefore probably have over complicated things a tad.

The leader in fly fishing is tapered. It is thicker at the butt section, then at the tippet section. It is usually divided into three sections, the butt is tied directly to the fly line, and is the longest portion of the leader, about 60%. The mid-section is next and its purpose is to taper down to the tippet without losing a lot of strength. The final section is the tippet, it is the actual section that is tied to the fly. It is the thinnest section, it needs to be strong, yet allow for a natural drift, without alarming the fish that your offering is connected to a person that will pull back.

Commercial leaders by and large achieve all this in one smooth product. Although there are still knotted leaders out there, by and large knotless leaders are the choice. It is possible to construct you own leaders and many people do. But that is the topic of another article. A fly fisher does, however need to know how to attach new tippet portion to the fly line, I prefer the double surgeon’s knot, but the blood knot is also popular. Learn how to tie these knots before fighting that monster! A poorly tied knot will reveal itself at the most opportune times.

X factor

Now comes the fun part. A new set of numbers to learn. Different numbers then choosing flies or fly rods. Fly fishing is overwrought with numbering systems, and unfortunately leaders and tippets you are just going to need to learn. They are sized on the X numbering system. So when you hear someone say they are switching to a 6X, you now know they are talking about their tippet. X measures the diameter of the leader minus .011. So a 6X would measure .005. A 0X would actually measure .011. One really only needs to remember the HIGER the X, the smaller the diameter. The other number worth noting the test, or breaking factor, a 4lb test leader will break when more than 4lbs pressure are applied. This is worth noting, and many a trophy are lost when violating that #.

There are many variable to consider when selecting the right X, but the two most common are the size of fish you are going after, and the size of fly you are using when going after them. A quick guide is as follows:

X Fly
0 2-6
1 4-8
2 4-10
3 6-12
4 6-14
5 12-16
6 16-20
7 20-24
8 24 and smaller

Length

One must also think about the length of the leader itself. Leaders are sold these days anywhere from 4 feet to 15 feet. There are many things to consider when deciding on length, some are variable like wind and water clarity. Other variable are static like size of fish, current, etc.

Typically the easier it is to spook a fish, the longer the leader you will need to use. So

The industry seems to have settled on 91/2 feet as a good all-around length. For everything from trout to steelhead to tarpon. It is a good length to handle for all levels of fly casters, and it gives enough distance between the splash down of the fly line and the fly as to not spook most fish under most circumstances.

From this standard we can then begin to think of reasons we might need to adjust. Spring creeks or spring fed lakes will probably require 15 feet of leader. Whereas sinking tip lines used in spring run off will use as leaders as short as 4 feet. A weed choked largemouth bass pond will require a shorter, stouter leader, and therefore you will be able to muscle your fish away from snags. But a trout caught in a spring creek will have the advantage because your leader will easily break off due to its lightness. Windy days might require one to shorten up a bit to ease in casting. When switching from nymphing to dry flies one might need to lengthen a bit.

Summary

I hope this has clarified and not complicated things a bit. What all this means is one must carry a good assortment of tapered leaders and even more importantly tippets with them at all times. There are many times I switch sizes in the same day. If I am fighting fish deep in faster current during the day, I might go down one X factor, and then in the evening if I am dry fly fishing in shallow slow water, I’ll go up two X factors.

Not having the correct tippet can handicap one’s ability to land fish, either by breaking off if too small, or spooking them if too large. It is a nominal expense compared to the rest of your equipment, and a bad place to start watching that fly fishing budget. So make sure you’re well stocked for every imaginable situation before you hit the water. I guarantee you at some point you will be glad you are.

30 Carp Fishing Tips for Beginners and More Experienced Fishermen ...

2013-08-04T17:40:00.001-04:00

If you want a simple short-cut to carp fishing success you’ve come to the right place. This advice applies to any form of fishing because it is so vitally important. Here is a list of simple details that I wish I’d discovered when I began carp fishing when information was in much shorter supply. Over the years I have been shocked by the number of newer carp anglers who over-look the ultimate importance of their hooks and their hooking efficiency. So many unnecessary blank sessions come from anglers not realising details they’re missing on the end of their line and more awareness of aspects of the part of their tackle that truly matters the most...

Sometimes it’s very easy for a carp angler to get fixated by new products; like bait flavours, new boilies and pellets etc and the constant stream of new bivvies and ‘camo’ gear that emblazon the advertisement pages of glossy fishing magazines meant to seduce us. These products are very well designed to meet new anglers’ fashions and needs and specific purposes. However, the ability of a hook to actually hook a fish is a pretty old basic need and deserves far more personal attention from many anglers to improve the results of their fishing time and efforts spent.

The basis of the information below arrived from my use of thin wired light-weight ‘Kamasan’ hooks 25 years ago or more, which were extremely effective but occasionally opened-up on hooking bigger carp. The answer came in the form of very precisely sharpening thicker wire hooks like the ‘Kamasan’ low water salmon hooks with the longer shank. I have used this types of hook and many similar designs for years and believe their point’s angle of penetration to be absolutely ideal for my purposes. It’s proven superior in sea fishing applications for me also. (Ask England international Dion McFadden – ha ha ha!)

(You might bear in mind fishing hooks do not ‘hook’ fish by themselves, but require force, from a particular angle of line attached to make the point penetrate effectively enough to do its required job.)

In the ‘British carp Study Group’ magazine (Spring 2007,) famous angler and one of the group’s scientific advisers, George Sharman, proposes that an ideal hook point penetration angle / line angle of force of 26 degrees transferred into the hook point is about right, teamed with an in-turned eye. This has shown ideal initial ‘pricking of fish’ and secure hook hold properties with hooks of varied gap sizes. Now I’m not an engineer, but my practical trials and experiences with hooks and indication / conversion to hooked fish leads me to similar conclusions. It may be noted that I’ve fished for more than a couple of decades using bite indicators and various set-ups tuned to register the minimum of line movement since positive benefits of this were first discovered in my winter fishing especially.

I personally use a sharpened hook and I realise this sound ‘antiquated’ perhaps today. But I consider it is vital for many surprising reasons laid out below. Hooks catch fish but many benefit from a little help and close attention to maximise their effectiveness. It takes personal fishing trials and indication / catch rate comparisons over time to achieve true confidence in the hooks you choose to use. Why not use the best designed best quality hooks you can buy for your personal fishing styles and activities, which may be extremely varied indeed.

Sharpening hook has many hidden benefits on the whole of your fishing and confidence levels and even thinking and approach to everything you do to catch fish.

Fishing hooks are often an after-thought when compared to the attention brought to bear on expensive carp rods and reels for instance. By disciplining yourself into sharpening every hook you use you not only get a great feel for the action and success of any hook pattern compared over time, but ensures that no faulty eyed or blunt pointed hooks are used which definitely cost you fish.

The easiest way to lose a fish is to give it the chance to consume your bait and have a hook either inefficiently penetrate its skin, or that has the wrong design for your rig purposes or situation, size or shape of bait, hook link material action etc. Your rig is the converter of attempted bait consummation. If it is not maximised in every way possible to convert attentions to your bait into hooked fish you may as well fish with no hook or no bait for the majority of your time spent fishing.

Most fish are lost without an angler ever realising a fish was ‘on’ in the first place, which is a shame and is one area the best most detail oriented tuned-in anglers excel out. This may seem ‘over the top’ but then why should you not benefit from little differences that set the best apart from the rest? Rigs don’t need to be complicated just as with baits, but it’s the attention to details in getting the complete process refined so the right bait and rig for any given fishing situation are the right ones. This can produce above average catch consistency without an angler having the added advantage of access to better bait techniques and technology or more fishing time available.

Don’t forget many hooks bought in packets may not be as sharp as is truly needed. Mostly a carp will hook itself, but on pressured waters a hook any less that past needle sharp can well mean many lost fish you never ever imagined had taken your bait into their mouths. A diamond hook sharpener is essential to me – I’d not bother fishing without treating my hooks to a very precisely formed diameter point and length of point too. I find a hook with a longer point which is well sharpened and thinned along its length makes a massive difference to numbers of bigger fish hooked. This ‘point’ applies to chemically sharpened hooks also.

OK, I’ve over-done sharpening sometimes and lost 40 pound plus fish at the net as the point opens, but would such fish have ‘spit’ the hook anyway and not been hooked? It’s very likely. Most anglers use a heavy lead on any of a range of rigs styles and lengths. But most don’t consider the fact that we are really trying to get around how the fish are feeding in response to angling pressure and associated feeding behaviours in response to what the anglers themselves are doing. Sure a heavy lead and tight line hooks lots of fish, but very often a light lead even at range with a longer hair and hook link will produce more fish and, often more warier bigger fish too.

If you find you are ‘dropping fish’ or ‘pulling out’ of them during the fight, or even getting odd single bleeps on the bite indicators which don’t produce positive action afterwards, try sharpening your hook. I cover my freshly sharpened hook with paste and coat the hair and bait in paste. I often use 2 or 3 types of homemade paste on a rig beside other boilie or paste baits for example in order to vary the solubility and rate of breakdown of bait and give the fish more to ‘think about’. This covers the taste of a sharpened hook and glint of hook metal before it oxidises and fades. Plus paste melting produces unusual bait movement and added dimensions to a curious fish.

In fact using paste on the hook and similar paste in different states in a PVA bag can really trip up fish even better than common set-ups that just use paste on the bait on a hair alone. I like to actually draw attention to the hook itself which is unusual these days. By using fresh balls of paste, air-dried paste and scalded paste bits together with a diversity of strategically included items in the PVA bag many fish seem to lose the grip on their ‘danger reference points’ momentarily. This is after all the aim of all our rig and bait efforts right?

If you’re still not convinced, why not trial identical rigs with sharpened and unsharpened hooks and see the difference over a range of hook designs. The results will be clear; I actually refined my results using rigs and a range of hook patterns to hook very shy biting crucian carp. I could actually observe the fish taking each bait and I was shocked that many makes and designs straight from the packet rarely produced a hooked fish. Often a fish would get hooked and get off in a second, while others stayed in the mouth despite attempts to twist and shake the hook out. I do appreciate that the quality and technology and design involved in hooks has been raised over the years by manufacturers but a personally physically sharpened hook has enormous benefits.

The realities of simple peace of mind and improved confidence that you are fishing as efficiently as possible really counts especially on tougher waters and when fish are not ‘playing the game!’ Using the most important piece of your fishing tackle which you have intimately inspected and shaped yourself really does produce more fish; getting into the habit of being more detail oriented adds up and the extra effort even influences your effectiveness in fish location and swim choice, thinking and approach to bait and efforts to minimize lazy conventional fishing practices whose edge has already passed.

As its Christmas coming up why not invest in a hook sharpener and really experiment in achieving the longest sharpest hook points possible, perhaps while watching all that Christmas TV. (I have no connection with ‘Fox International’ except I used to fish alongside Cliff (ha ha ha!) But their bar shaped diamond sharpeners are the most effective tool I’ve used for many years now.) The effort of sharpening your hooks will really pay you back for sure. It did for carp fishing legend Richard Walker...

Best of all, doing this will raise your confidence when you cast your rig into those cold winter waters, where a fish may only be willing to move just a few inches to feed and an extremely sharp hook is all you may have to initially efficiently hook a winter fish. Especially at times such as this, just a few minutes in concentrated effort sharpening your hooks, could well produce for you a very memorable fish worthy of your efforts.

By Tim Richardson.

License-Free Freshwater Fishing Days 2013

Fishing Tips for Berkley Power Bait

2013-05-24T21:22:00.005-04:00

Berkley Powerbait For Trout Fishing Review

Author: Escalure Fishing Tackle

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As with any type of trout lure, it's important to use Berkley Powerbait with the right equipment for trout fishing. A short, lightweight, and nimble rod and reel combo will provide the most success. Make sure that your rod is no longer than five feet and that your line is four pound test at the heaviest.

Berkley Gulp! Dough Trout Bait and Berkley Gulp! Dough Trout Nuggets are very similar products. The Dough Trout Nuggets are sold in preformed dough balls, while the Dough Trout Bait is a large wad of dough sold in a jar that allows its users to create their own dough balls and control the size of the bait. Both types of dough bait come in a variety of vibrant colors, such as orange and chartreuse. The best way to fish using Berkley Dough Trout Bait is to use an 8 or 10 sized hook with a portion of the bait molded onto it. A small egg sinker will provide appropriate weight to your line.

You can also use a small egg sinker with Berkley 2 Inch Power Minnows and Berkley Powerbait 3 Inch Trout Worms. Both these baits can be attached to a jig head or used as trout bait. The Power Minnows should be attached to the hook through the head. The worms can be hooked about two inches from the end. If you are using the Trout Worms, flicking your pole every couple minutes will help give the illusion of a sinking worm.

One drawback to using Berkley Powerbait is that some trout streams have restrictions against using scented bait. You will need to make sure what the regulations are for your fishing locales before heading out into the water.

There are even more types of Berkley Powerbait than the ones mentioned above. If you have never used Powerbait before, give some of these trout lures a try and you will soon identify your favorites.
Berkley Gulp Alive - Catching Surprise Smallmouth Bass

I am going to tell you a fascinating story about something I never thought would happen when using Berkley gulp alive. You will want to read this, for it will benefit you in your fishing success, as it has me tremendously. If you like to catch a lot of big fish, then what I am about to tell you will benefit you now.

I was on a lake that i have never fished before but was told it had nice over sized walleyes, so my eyes lit up and off to the lake I went. It was about a 2000 acre lake, and what I like to do is jump from point to point as great way to find fish. After i had caught 7 or 8 very large walleyes, I hooked onto a fish that gave me a much better battle. I thought I had a monster walleye on as I was using large crank baits, but after about a five minute battle I landed it, and it was a huge bronze back!

I was shocked to see a small jaw on this big crank bait, as small mouth tend like smaller lures than walleye. All I had was crank baits and jigs and so I cast my crank bait out for another half hour or so and was not catching any small jaws or walleye, but I knew the small mouth were there somewhere - I asked myself what to do?

I was panicking a little, but then it hit me: I have jigs and Berkley gulp alive minnows and leeches in my box! So I tied on a 1/4 ounce jig and put a gulp minnow on and immediately I was into my favorite fish: Mr. Bronze Back. For a period of several hours I was catching quality small mouth bass, until my arms were s sore I had to stop.

The point is the small jaws were there all along and I knew it. I was just cranking through them with crank baits, and then when I switched baits, it was an amazing transformation. And those minnows were not like live bait that you have to change every time you catch a fish. I bet I only went through 7or 8 Gulp lures in three hours of catching large bronze backs.

Some guys in a boat that were watching this asked me: 'What in the world are you doing to catch all those big tail jumpers, this lake is not known for small mouth in the first place?

I showed them the Berkley gulp alive and said they had seen it before but did not think much about trying it until now. That was one of day' I will never forget 'and there have been many days like that since, in rivers, lakes and reservoirs!

Berkley Urban Spirit Rod Review

The all new Berkley Urban spirit rod is a fully adjustable rod that allows you to extend the handle grip for extra rod length. This series of rods are designed for maximum casting ability for both plugging and spinning for Bass both here in the UK and overseas. The rod itself is made from IM7 Carbon complete with Fuji Alconite guides and a Hi-Grade EVA handle. With a price tag of under Â£90 it is a great buy for all sea and freshwater anglers and makes a very good all rounder in you rod artillery.

The performance is very good indeed for the money, there are no corners cut with these models as the IM7 blank performance really pushes through no matter what length you set the rod up to. If you are a keen plugging or soft plastic fisherman then this rod has superb action without losing control over plugs when combined with Braid. I tested the rod off the rocks in my coastal area and even for hard fighting 5lb Wrasse this rod still has the pulling power to pump them up from the depths and through thick weed.

The adjustable handle allows you to extend at full length for great distance or short for easy one handed underarm casts. The handle has a ruler which is marked in approx one centimeter increments for easy adjustment. The rod comes with a handy custom made carry holdall bag with a padded adjustable strap for easy transport and manufactured from a light robust material to reduce traveling weight.

Reviewing the New Berkley Vanish Transition Fluorocarbon Line

The visibility of the line was good. As we were using 2 green lines, a yellow line plus a blue line on this day, it was easy to pick out. I am sure it would be just as easy to pick out among any other line as it picked up the light very easily and reflected a golden color very useful in a tangle.

Casting was no different than any other line we were using once the line had been cast once or twice to bed it down on the reel.

We never had any problem with memory as there seemed to be very little compared to Berkley Trilene or Diawa Tournament which we were also using at the time. Memory is a major headache if you are using a fixed spool; we were testing this on 7500 multipliers but it performed so well I would use it on a fixed spool.
The only problem we found was the elasticity. Although soft to the touch and nice to feel, it was very difficult to break out the lead if you wanted to change bait. We were not sure if this was good or bad as at least we found that our bait stayed anchored to the bottom.

Proved by the fact we caught several fish on the two rods used in the competition with BVT. We did not get any rod thumping bites but bites were easy to detect using both fixed and running end rigs.

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Although the stretch level was a bit of a pain when trying to break out the lead it was a safety factor when a nice fish was close to the boat.

The 12lb line we only used as hook lengths but compared to Berkley Vanish it was much nicer to use as it felt much softer and easier to untangle and less prone to twist and kink.

We also used 17lb as hook lengths as well and this was again better than normal Vanish as it was more user friendly, using our version of knot we had no problems.

We did not take any more particular care with the 17lb BVT than the other lines used on the day and gave the line a good test probably more abuse than normal due to the terrible conditions we fished in. The view was that we would definitely use BVT in place of BV as hook trace but the price would be a major factor in using BVT as a main line.

Berkley Gulp Alive Spray Attractant Review

So what is it?

Berkley Gulp! Alive is the next generation in Gulp!(TM) scent and attractant technology. Now that technology is available in a spray bottle. Gulp!® Alive(TM) spray fish attractant will make any bait taste and smell alive. It's like a blood trail in the water that fish can't resist. It enhances baits effectiveness whether it's a soft bait, a hard bait, or a live bait. The Spray is also very good for tipping off baits such as worm or mackerel.

Does it work?

I have always been a bit unsure with other Berkley Gulp artificial products as they are a very new idea on the fishing market, plus the fact that a lot of anglers say real bait is best bait. Well this is not really a bait this time it is a bit like Rag or Lug oil and not to forget the famous Pillchard oil.

The great thing about this product is it produces a great scent trail in the water which is far stronger than natural which in turn will draw fish in a lot quicker. When tipping off other baits such as rag or Lug worm all you have to do is combine the live worm bait with a quick spray of Gulp!® Alive(TM) Squid. It is no different than using real squid to tip off the bait. Plus you don't waste any as it is a lot more practical than buying a box of squid and use just a bit and let the rest go off in your bait bag. However you can carry this easy Gulp 8 oz spray bottle around with no problems in your tackle.

I have seen anglers use this product with great effect. Some anglers are spraying it onto lures to increase there chances of catching. It works on Pollack, Bass, and most other Predatory species. At around £6 per bottle you can't go to far wrong. Or at least it's worth having a try. The most effective types in this range for most anglers is the Squid.

Fishing Tackle - Spinning Rod Review

Any fishermen like me who apply spinning rods almost always are attempting to locate new fishing gear to boost their chances of snagging a valued specimen. There is an overwhelming range of gear around, so sometimes it's tricky to select what's very best. One helpful technique to do this is to study reviews of any tackle you are considering buying. It's also vital to post your personal review of equipment which has possibly been an excellent or a negative attainment to your collection. In that spirit, I'd like to put forth an assessment of the Berkley Urban Spirit 9' spinning rod.

About the Berkley Urban Spirit 9' Spinning Rod

This is indeed one of a series of rods created with short transport lengths. This is achieved by way of a cleverly developed changeable handle. The rod as well has an amazingly speedy action as a result of the IM7 carbon blank construction. So what makes this essential? Well, though there is certainly no trade standard for spinning rod arrangement, some builders do categorize their rods in relation to what's known as the 'modulus' content. Modulus describes the ratio of a rod's stiffness to its weight. The larger the modulus of a rod, the greater its capability to keep and free the energy that is required for casting length and casting correctness. Put another capacity, an amplification in modulus implies an amplification of the rod\'s outcome rapidness and power.

Much more Concerning the Berkley Urban Spirit 9' Spinning Rod

This rod contains a top quality-grade EVA handle that gives the maximum in comfort and opposition even in challenging conditions. EVA is short ethylene vinyl acetate, a resilient, bendable and see-through sort of copolymer plastic. EVA is specifically useful for absorbing shock, is non-biodegradable and exceptionally inert. The Berkley Urban Spirit 9\' spinning rod weighs only 256 grams. The rod sports top Fuji guides and features a Neoprene transport bag. The rod is made in either 1.80 or 1.90 metre lengths, both of which contains two pieces. The rod furthermore has outstanding action. Should you fish with plugs and braid, you are no doubt going to be glad of this. In testing, the Urban Spirit showed to be quite able when fishing in an array of places, such as from rocks, on a shoreline, at significant depths or even in thick weed. It's mostly effective for wrasse.

More Aspects

The handle on this rod is modifiable for an excellent scope of casting spans, both close, far away and even single-handed or underarm. The handle offers a fitted ruler marked in one-centimetre increases. The Urban Spirit also contains a handy carry bag that has a changeable shoulder strap for effortless transport. The bag is prepared from a lightweight, easy-to-handle material that reduces travelling weight, something a highly mobile angler will appreciate. The Urban Spirit is mid-range priced at nearly Â£70.00 and has a status for strength and good service. It is highly advised for bass lures.

While trying to find spinning fishing gear, make sure to think about the Berkley Urban Spirit 9' rod. It won't let you down!

Find the best and the cheapest fishing tackle here at www.innovativefishingtackle.co.uk
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/fishing-articles/berkley-powerbait-for-trout-fishing-review-4023995.html
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Sea Fishing Tips - Fishing TV

2013-02-27T13:04:00.001-05:00

Sea Fishing Tips - Fishing TV

click here for more information

Fishing With The Right Line

2013-01-24T19:02:00.001-05:00

There will always be challenges whether one decides to fish either in the river or in the open sea. The important thing to remember is to have patience waiting for the fish and doing the best to catch it when it appears.

To be able to fish, a person would need to get a fishing license since this is requirement by law and the regulations regarding fishing varies from one state to the other.

Getting the right equipment for fishing is also an important factor in making that experience a memorable one. Using the wrong kind of fishing line or one that is made of poor quality will cause many problems such as tangles and lost fish.

There are 4 kinds available in the market. These are monofilament, braided, fused and fluororcarbon.

Monofilament fishing line is the most popular of the four since it has been around for a very long time. It also works well in different fishing conditions. The problem with this line is that it has “memory.” This means that it has a tendency to keep to a certain shape if stored for some time. If a person does not fish often, it is best to purchase a line that is not very long and it is advisable to change it every time one goes out fishing.

Braided fishing lines are the strongest of the 4 available. These lines don’t stretch and are quite easy to see since the woven nature of the line makes it float. The bad part about this line is also about its strength that causes abrasions on other things like one’s hands, the fishing rod and the line that guides the reel. As such, one should have the right hardware around when using it.

Fused fishing lines are similar to braided fishing lines. The only difference is in the manufacturing process where fused lines are glued together with a coating applied over it instead of woven. This makes fused fishing lines share some of the difficulties with braided fishing lines such as making it difficult to cut without a sharp knife or scissors, its tendency to slide around a bit on the reel spool and its visibility to fish which will make catching fish a bit challenging.

Fluorocarbon fishing lines are getting more popular these days since fish are not able to see it in the water.

Deep Sea Fishing Tips

2013-01-11T11:47:00.001-05:00

Deep sea fishing is a wonderful and extremely enjoyable activity. Here are some tips that will make your salt water fishing adventure even better.

1. Watch the Signs

If you see birds e.g. Seagulls that are feasting on small bait-type fishes, there are probably larger game-type fish below the surface of the water. Also, look for floating wood or debris. In most cases when you chance upon a debris float, you will find large game fish in the area.

2. Stop, Look, and Listen

Fishing for Snook and other shallow Gulf water denizens is quite similar to fishing for bass. Snook like to be around ledges, posts and rocks.

3. Crabs for a Full Moon

During the full moon use soft crab imitations as bait. That's the time when crabs shed their shells and Stripers come looking for them.

4. Find the Dolphins

Yellowfin tuna are usually found schooling with dolphins. So if you see a group of dolphins, chances are there are some tuna in the area.

5. Cut and Burn

If you have trouble cutting through a spiderwire braid, try using a lighter or a match.

6. Good Reef

The best place to fish is near reefs since big game fish feed on fish that live in the reefs.

7. The Circle Hook

Use a circle hook if you would like a higher hook up ratio. These hooks guarantee more catch, because of the minute gap, and the reverse point. They are generally better for the fish since they do not hook in the gut, just the lip.

8. Don’t Get Sea Legs

Watch the horizon and stay on deck. These would generally help you if you're having trouble with sea sickness: Stay away from the boat fumes, breathing it only exacerbates the problem.

9. Anchors Away

When your anchor is stuck at the bottom, try attaching a float to it. Return after the tide has changed in direction. This should be enough to loosen the anchor.

10. Fish Where the Fish Are

A lot of fisherman have the idea that they should be catching their live baits over the reefs before going to deep waters. If the live baits are not in the area you're planning to catch the larger game, then why would you come up with the idea that the large fish are there. Wouldn't they be in the area where the bait fish are?

As with any kind of fishing, try different locations, baits, and presentation methods. Happy fishing and good luck!

Winter Trout Fly Fishing

2013-01-07T17:20:00.001-05:00

It is winter time now. One step on the frozen porch steps first thing in the morning removes any doubt of that fact. Winter time brings on many thoughts, holidays, dark afternoons, football on TV and for me some of the best trout fly fishing there is. That’s right trout fishing, winter steelhead fly fishing has been around a long time, and gets more popular every season. But the truth of the matter is trout fly fishing can be excellent, the crowds are down to non-existent, the scenery and wildlife are plentiful, and it makes those long days of early spring with non-stop rain and overflowing rivers more tolerable.

When to go:

Winter fly fishing demands a little timing and planning on your part. One nice thing is, the weekends aren’t crowded, so you really don’t need to ask the boss for time off, to really get some peace and solitude. But other planning does need to be done. The first thing is checking your local regulations. Many, many places now offer year around trout fly fishing. A good portion of this is probably catch and release, but that only helps in further reducing the crowds. Some areas allow only lakes to be fished year round, some only allow rivers, but most places will allow something to be fished year round.

After you have your areas selected, you must really get an idea on the weather. Mild winter days, specifically afternoons, can provide some shirtsleeve fishing opportunities. Coastal regions that rarely get snow or ice, need to be checked more for river levels. Three or four days of steady rain can really put a river in at unfishable levels. It is also rarely enjoyable to fish in well below freezing temperatures. Even if you can dress warmly enough, the ice on the guides make casting nearly impossible, and the slickness of entering the river is extremely dangerous. Extreme care should be taken when wading in general, one slight misstep, can send you into the river, dangerous all year, this is multiplied by the cold air temperatures in the winter. Also light is much less, making it difficult to see the river bottom while wading. So step very cautiously. And always fish with a partner.

OK, enough of the warnings, when to go is what we are after. I prefer a nice period of dry weather, with mild afternoons. I rarely fish in the early morning, in the winter, but if you can get a fogged over morning with nicely rising afternoon temperatures that reach in to the 40’s, you have a day to hit the water!

What to wear:

A few years ago I switched to breathable waders and I actually have never been more comfortable while winter fishing. I layer underneath with two or three layers of thermal wear, including one layer of fleece pants. I can move much better than in neoprene’s, and there is no clamminess to bring on chills. Socks are also important silk liners with thick winter socks work for me. I have a roomier pair of wading boots specifically for winter to allow for the extra bulk. I also don’t cinch my boots down too tight, as that seems to cut off circulation, nothing will ruin a fishing trip quicker than cold feet.

Many angler’s wear fingerless fleece gloves. I like them only if there is a biting wind, otherwise I can’t seem to keep them dry long enough to make them worth the effort. I can cast adequately with either hand, and will sometimes tuck my free hand inside my waders by my chest.

To me a hat is virtually as important as waders, and I layer shirts, remembering my vest will also provide some warmth. Don’t forget the inside, a nice hot thermos of coffee, has brought many a sigh of satisfaction.

Fishing:

Winter trout fly fishing requires some adjustments. Plan on sub-surface fishing primarily. The warm afternoons like I mentioned above will produce Blue Wing Olive hatches in many locations, and midges hatch year round as well. Some dry fly action can occur, especially on smaller streams where options are less for trout. But by and large plan on fishing nymphs. And plan on fishing them deep. Depending on the size of water, a split or two is mandatory, and perhaps a sinking tip line. I usually use two flies, one as a dropper. Good patterns include, imitations of food sources that are available year round like San Juan Worms, Chironomid Pupas, Disco Midge, and Wd-40’s. General nymph patterns like Hare’s Ear and Prince Nymphs, will work to imitate the occasional nymph that might come in the trout’s path.. Streamers also make excellent winter flies, including Woolly Buggers, Muddler’s and Mickey Finn’s. Don’t forget that like trout, small fish and nymphs metabolism is slow as well, and they are apt to stick to the bottom, and out of the main current.

Winter fishing usually means clear water. I use lighter tippet than normal, because fish seem more easily spooked. Trout’s metabolism makes them want to seek out pools near the bank that are warmed by the sun, so they are more vulnerable. I usually forgo strike indicators as well. Also remember that due to the slower metabolism, the fish will be sluggish. They often will bite gingerly, hook-ups will be primarily in the tongue. As trout may often go after several small insects in one mouthful. So rigorous setting of the hook is not required.

They are not likely to chase food down, as this will burn more calories then they will take in. Especially when fishing smaller patterns. While small pattern are very effective, in fact the first choice of many winter angler’s, they need to be fished deep, and in front of the fish. Dead drifting nymphs is my first choice. If no luck I will try swinging streamers, second. I mend my line as soon as it hits the water, to ensure a drag free drift, and wait for the gentle take. I let the fish do the setting.

Once landed the winter fish might need more that it’s usual care before allowing it to swim free. Landing fish should be quicker do to their lower energy, and then one must make sure the fish is 100% revived before it’s release.

Summary:

There you have it, like all forms of fly fishing winter fly fishing takes a little practice, and a lot of patience. But the surreal beauty of winter combined the solitude it brings, makes this an especially rewarding time of year, to flog the water.

Bluegills, Trout, Walleyes, and Catfish

2013-01-04T11:21:00.001-05:00

BlueGills, The Basics

Bluegills are popular game to go for because they are plentiful across the continent. Another reason they are popular is because they go for a variety of natural bait and artificial bait. They usually opt for areas with clear water and reasonable weed growth.

** Quick Tip: No matter what kind of fish you go for, and no matter what conditions you fish (ice fishing included), the 1947 “Evening Secret" (fishing.com/specialsecret/BlueGills Trout Walleyes.php" target=new>http://www.eveningsecretfishing.com/specialsecret/BlueGills Trout Walleyes.php) will bring the fish to you, it really is an impressive tool that every fisherman worth his salt should own.

Typically they like water from 50 degrees up to 90, and can even be taken through ice! But, the best time to get them is when the water is around 70 degrees. It is then that they become aggressive because they are ready to spawn. You can find nests from about 2 – 12 feet deep.

When it is warmer, fish early and/or late in the day, especially if you are in shallow water. Bigger bluegills can be found in deeper water, and can be up to 20 feet below the surface. When fishing lily pads, approach it as if you were going for bass. Work the points, pockets and indentations where there is open water.

Make sure to fish with small hooks and bait. They have small mouths and have a hard time taking in larger bait.

Great baits to use are pieces of earthworm, crickets, grasshoppers, grubs, wax worms, minnows, leeches, and even sandwich meat. If you go the artificial route, use tiny jigs and spinner baits.

There isn’t really a need to use more than 2-pound test line – maybe up to 4-pound maximum. As you may know, light lines make the bait appear more lifelike.

They are easily spooked so make longer casts if you are on foot, stay a bit back from the shore. If you are in a boat, be careful and quiet.

After you get a strike, don’t act too quickly. Wait a second before lifting the rod – you will hook more this way.

Walleyes, Use Waders At Night

It is fairly well known that Walleyes favor low-light conditions. They can be found in water only 3-4 feet deep looking for perch. Using a pair of waders you can go for them.

Some recommendations are to use a light spinning rod equipped with 8-12 pound test line, and some minnow imitations.

You can find them at points where deep water is near. Scout for baitfish feeding on plankton – sooner or later the Walleyes will show up.

Trout, Midges

If your luck is not good with early season trout, try a few patterns of midges. Mosquito larva or pupa, in sizes 12-20 is good. If it is early in the season, fish it deep.

Catfish, Bait

Follow these steps to make a bait catfish just can’t resist:

1 pound of chicken livers (including blood)
1 cup of yellow cornmeal
While mixing with hands (squeeze hard), add more cornmeal until a sticky paste forms
Add cotton balls, pulling apart each one and add clumps to mixture (use 12, they keep everything together in the water)
Add more cornmeal until you can make individual balls without them sticking to your hand
Freeze until ready

To bait up, pinch some dough and set it on your hook – catfish will go crazy for this mixture!

Choosing A Fly Rod

2013-01-03T13:44:00.001-05:00

For many reasons, it is with some trepidation that I approach this subject. As I have stated in previous articles about fly fishing gear, you ask 15 people, and you get 15 different opinions. Choosing a fly rod is no different. In fact it might be the epitome of that statement. Fly anglers are picky about their fly rods, and they love their fly rods. To many it is like comparing spouses, and if you love your spouse then you have the best one. But having said that we can lay down some truths about the fly rod industry, and then go into more specifics about the fine art of finding you a partner with which to share the passion of fly fishing.

What is it to be used for:

The first thought when selecting a fly rod, is it’s most often intended use. Are you casting for Tarpon or small trout on a creek? Most likely somewhere in between, and maybe even several uses. You first need to think about the size of the water you are mostly going to be fishing, and then the size of the fly you intend to cast. After that you need to consider the size of the fish you intend to catch. The rod size effects both the casting and the playing of the fish. The nice thing is if you are both a smallmouth Bass and a Rainbow Trout fisher, you can probably get by with one rod. The same for Largemouth Bass and Steelhead and Salmon. You might not get the ultimate choice for either, but depending on your budget you can get a very nice choice for a variety of fishing conditions.

THE #’s:

Fly rod sizes are categorized by numbers. Unlike flies, where the smaller the number, the larger the fly. Rods go by the larger the number the larger the fly rod. A number 3 rod is a very light rod, used for small trout in small streams. A 12 wt. rod is used for Tarpon, Stripers and other fish that need long distance casting, big flies. The most popular all-around rods are in the 5-6 category, here you can cover the whole gamut of trout fishing and a good chunk of bass fishing as well. A number 6 rod can also tackle small steelhead and other sea-run fish, if the angler is skilled. Most steelhead angler’s will choose a bigger rod however, in the 7-9 range, and they can also fish salmon with that range as well.

The other number to consider is length. 9’ is by far the most popular length right now. You can cast a 9’ long distances without getting tired, and have good control of the drift. If fishing smaller streams and or bushy areas, 9’ will frustrate you, as there isn’t enough room to maneuver it. Rods commonly go down to 7’ and even shorter ones can be found. If doing a lot of fishing out of a float tube, longer rods are common place, as one can get more distance with a longer rod, and the extra length helps to keep the fly off the water on the backcast.

Action:

Here it gets even more complicated, as different manufacturers call the action of their rod different things. But basically action can be broken down into slow, moderate and fast. Many manufacturers have 4 classification, but they all are based on the same concept. And that is how much of the rod will bend, when casting.

A fast (or super fast) rod will have only the tip bend, they offer the longest casting distances, they also are great if you are fishing in the wind. Allowing for tighter casting loops, they are great for shooting head lines, double-hauling casting techniques and are a treat for the skilled caster. They are however, are harder to learn on and therefore not recommended for one’s first fly rod.

The next level down is medium and is the most popular action being sold today. They flex further down the rod than the fast action. Great for beginners, it is also the choice of most experienced angler’s who don’t own a bunch of rods. For beginners they are forgiving to learn on, providing more accuracy then the super fast. They don’t cast as far however, and you will battle the wind more in this type rod.

The last level is slow or full bend, often bending all the way to the grip. These rods are dying out, which is a shame, because for fishing small creeks they are the best. They don’t cast very far, but you don’t need that on tiny creeks, but what they do best is absorb the shock, so your tippet doesn’t get as stressed, there fore your chances of snapping off the fly are reduced.

Grips:

The choice of grip is often over looked when choosing a fly rod. This is a mistake, as the grip is important in the comfort of your fly rod in your hand. Most decent fly rods these days use standard cork as the material. full wells grips are the choice if you have large hands, and half wells grips are popular with lady anglers. They both many ways you can hold the rod, and your hand seems to naturally find it’s preferred method of holding the rod. It can also be altered once fatigue sets in, so you can fish longer without cramps.

Manufacturer’s:

There are many of them, and guess what, the most common names all make great fly rods. With the advent of graphite in the 70’s the fly rod industry was revolutionized, and now one must not spend a fortune for a bamboo rod, to enjoy great fly fishing.

I, personally have fished almost every name brand on the market today. Like every other angler I have my preferences but I must admit the differences are nil, and I could probably learn to like any of them, just as well as the ones I won. I currently own rods from Scott, LL Bean, Loomis and Cabela’s, and they all have characteristics I love and some I would like to see improved, and I am a very happy owner of them all.

I do look for the lifetime warranty, and it offered by virtually all major rod maker’s today. It is figured into the price of the rod, and you must register your rod upon purchase to qualify for it. But if you have your rod for any length of time you will undoubtedly be glad you have it. Whether you broke your rod tip off fighting a fish, trying to free a snag, or in the car door, most rod makers will send you a replacement.

Recommendations:

Realize these are very basic recommendations and use them as a starting point. But for small streams and brook trout I like 3-4 weight slow action rod. They are still out there, but you may have to look. For other trout and Smallmouth Bass I like 5-6 wt. rods and medium action. And for Largemouth Bass, Salmon, and Steelhead, try a 7-9 weight fast action rod. Look for future recommendations on Saltwater Fly rods from The Big Y Fly fishing E-zine at fishingezine.html" target=new>http://www.bigyflyco.com/Bigyflyfishingezine.html

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Kingfish Fishing Bait

2012-12-20T20:18:00.001-05:00

Kingfish is a beautiful fish and on the list of many fishermen as their favorite. Kingfish are also known as whiting or sea mullet. These are fish that swim in surf making fishing a totally extraordinary experience. They live and move in schools of thousands and of course if you caught one, then you are in the middle of it.

Kingfish are small fish with even smaller mouths. They love clams, worms and crabs – mostly things that are found on shores. The angler can use any of these things as baits, but should always keep in mind that it should not be lowered too much so that other fish or crab steal the bait. Spinner hooks work very well for catching these fish. So are Styrofoam floats adapted on rigs with shank hooks, or Sea Striker gold hooks.

The best bait, the bait which the kingfish simply cannot resist are expensive and almost royal, i.e. the bloodworm. The angler can use one or two worms alone on the hook or in combination with some other bait like strip of pork, mullet or even squid. If you cannot have the bloodworm, you can use its closest substitute, the night-crawler. Though nothing can really give the results the bloodworm gives, a good combination with night-crawler and strips or squares of squid work pretty well. Do not let the night-crawler get washed out however; the kingfish will not touch it.

The baits should be smallish since the kingfish are small biters and do not really go for any big chunks, even if they look wounded and tasty. Use happily spot, mackerel, squid, mullet or any combination of these if you do not have bloodworms. Kingfish are also very attracted to fillets – so if you like to use mullet, use de-scaled finger type fillets. It is a little known fact that sand flies make just as good effective baits for these fish and with a little patience and free time, the angler can get them for free (catch them themselves).

Keep the bait on the move as the kingfish are attracted to on-the-move type of bait. However, move it slowly and tantalizing just as in cat-and-mouse game for best results. The mostly swim around the shore so the angler should best concentrate his efforts there. Kingfish cannot resist baby clams – though it is not easy to get them, these bait are sure-fire ways to catch kingfish.

In the sea the kingfish always tends to swim towards the shore – so that is the best way to position yourself to catch them. In lakes/ oceans the best time to fish for kingfish is early in the morning till about 10.00 am and late evening after 6.00 pm.

Sea Fishing Tips - Fishing TV

Boat Fishing Tips and Tricks by Steve Dolan

2012-12-16T10:54:00.001-05:00

Boat Fishing

If you're keen to find a fun family activity, then give boat fishing a try. There's nothing better than heading off on your boat with the wife and kids, talking about the fish you plan to catch that day.

It's important to realize, though, that there are lots of different types of boat fishing, and each one has specialized boat requirements. You can do everything from dangle some bait on a string over the side of a canoe, right through to high-tech rods and a powerful cabin cruiser. It just needs to be seaworthy - the rest is up to you! But if you're keen to buy a boat, you need to do some homework first. It can be very confusing walking into a boat show or dealership and seeing so many choices. You need to think about what you're planning to do with the boat before you can decide which one to buy. Here are some popular boat fishing choices.

Freshwater Boats

If you enjoy fishing in freshwater lakes, rivers or streams, then you don't need a massive boat. Instead, choose an aluminum or fiberglass boat. Make sure it's easy to transport and lightweight. Popular choices include bow riders, runabouts or walley boats, with either a small or dual console. These boats are fine for family freshwater boat fishing outings.

Offshore Saltwater Boats

Fishing out on the open sea is the most common thing people think of when you mention boat fishing. Most people enjoy fishing offshore because they get the chance to catch huge fish and use heavy tackle. It's important to have a dependable, heavy boat for this type of fishing. You'll encounter plenty of different weather and situations on the open sea, so you need to be able to rely on your boat. You can choose twin or single outboard motors, and you definitely need a cuddy cabin or a center console. If you want to spend a bit more, you can start to look at the more luxurious boats, including a bluewater or convertible with luxury quarters, and maybe even an elegant living area. Bigger boats generally have powerful inboard diesel engines as standard.

Inshore Saltwater Boats

If your tastes run to tarpin, snook, trout, bonefish or redfish, then you will want a boat suitable for inshore saltwater fishing. It's best to have a light boat that is smaller than a 25-footer. All you need is a single outboard motor. You're likely to be in shallow water at least some of the time, so something like a flat or baby boat works well. These have a spacious deck you can use for casting, and are still float well in shallow water.

Bass Boats

This type of boat is generally suitable for tournament and sport fishing. They're colorful, fast, and ride low in the water. It's preferable if the bass boat has a trolling motor mounted on the bow. Generally they have a platform at both the bow and stern ends, which makes casting much easier. You can choose from aluminum or fiberglass.

Float Tubes

These don't really qualify as boats, but fly anglers find them very handy for fishing in mountain streams, ponds and lakes. A float tube is simply a flotation device containing a seat. The angler is partially submerged when seated in the float tube, and uses fins on his feet to navigate around on the water. They're tricky to handle, and fly-casting requires lots of practice. You can choose between round float tubes, which are similar to an inner tube, and pontoon float tubes, which have an air chamber either side of the fisherman. The pontoons are slightly eiasier to maneuver, as their v-shaped design reduces the amount of water resistance.

It's always a good idea to speak to experienced anglers who either have their own boat or use one regularly. They can give you lots of help in deciding which type of boat is right for you. Read magazines, guides, and talk to your local boat charter service. fishermen generally love to talk about boats, and you can learn a lot to help you select the perfect fishing boat for your needs.

Fishing Tackle 101 (Fishing 101)

Carp Fishing Bait And Tackle Secrets Of Success! by Tim Richardson

2012-12-10T19:40:00.001-05:00

Many anglers mistakenly think that all they need to succeed is a bag of readymade baits and a few thousand pounds worth of new gear. But did it ever strike them that actually the most well known anglers of the last 50 years certainly did not always use readymade baits or the latest most fashionable carp gear – because such things are only relatively new innovations! Read on now for genuinely new edges and tips you will not find in any magazines!

carp fishing arguably got more popular in the early eighties when many more individuals and companies saw that carp fishing could become a big business. In the nineties when carp magazines became more of a force of influence other than the voice of experienced anglers on the bank, the commercialisation of carp fishing really got moving. Unfortunately many of the carp magazines appear to be more interested in making money and selling products than offering readers open-minded opinions free of commercial bias but it appears that running magazines requires guaranteed regular advertising revenues in order to survive. I must admit I preferred the days when guys wrote books and articles that were not blatant promotional vehicles for company's products!

All this has gradually happened in a steadily growing rate of change that has seen once peaceful lakes today resemble bivvy cities. The enormous commercialisation of carp fishing has been going on for some years but I consider the real start of the cult of carp fishing explosion was around the early nineties when the magazines popularity really began to grow and influence anglers mindsets.

Cliff Fox founder of Fox International now one of the biggest tackle companies was running a different kind of engineering business before he really got a name for mainstream carp fishing tackle and if I remember correctly he was into providing things like custom-made shelving for businesses and so on. However it seems he always had an urge to design fishing-related items and I know he liked using gadgets such as 2 way radios such as when he fished certain lakes in Essex. Even in his much earlier days he was selling things like his old-fashioned style of metal bait dropper for instance.

I noticed a distinct change in his tackle preferences when he joined the Savay syndicate when long-range tactics were essential and his rods and reels suddenly resembled pretty much in the early nineties what have become the normal for most carp anglers today. In the eighties one of my fellow syndicate members designed a zero-friction style of bite indicator and this was field-tested on the water. I was one of the lucky few to use these brand new swinger indicators before they became a world-wide phenomenon and initially we really mainly used them to find fish by refining their setting to most easily indicate line bites which was something that monkey-climber-type bite indicators were less effective at doing.

I invented a rear rod butt clip by using the plasticized rubber of an old style heavy duty hose pipe and it is no coincidence that Fox brought out the foam rubber and metal adjustable rear rod rest ideal for clamping your rod solidly in position when fishing in snags and hit and holding and so on. In the early days on the syndicate I used to tie my rod butts to my rear rests using a simple thick string loop that when passed from one side of the rest to the other the rod formed an angle that meant the string stayed in place until manually lifted off by hand immediately when a run occurred. You might think that stretchy or elastic type rigs are new but we were using such rigs and indicators for that matter back in the early eighties or before that time

It amazes me how many anglers now use the plastic coated braids and other materials of hook links, where once very few anglers thought of including hinges and loops in their rigs. Of course stiffness in a rig is an advantage in hooking fish and loops can help prevent hooked fish slipping of hooks for instance. The old Amnesia type rigs are still in use and the memory of certain materials makes them ideal for producing curved springy type rigs perfectly angled for maximum penetration. I still really like using multi-stranded hook links and I remember having to buy my first batch by mail order in the very early days when Kryston was far from the multi-million pound turnover business it is today.

Believe it or not the original multi-strand product I used was 60 pound strength – and I initially trialled it as hook link material at that strength in the maximum thickness - and caught very good fish in the upper twenty pound bracket on this material right from the first cast! The fact is that multi-strand totally flattens and spreads out when compressed by carp lips when carp are testing for lines connected to baits and this is just on of the many unusual advantages of this material.

Inevitably I obviously split my 60-pound hook link material into 3 lengths to make the material go much further as it was quite expensive and using it at 20-pound strength and thickness was ideal. I found it best to make thumb knots in it about every 2 inches, leaving the last 3 inches able to spread out next to the hook. Use with PVA products this hook link material is I believe as good as invisible as is possible when presented correctly with practice – unlike so many hook links that will never disappear, flatten out or absorb light to a sufficient degree to be totally natural!

Many lines and plastic hook links even reflect light – like the vast majority of hooks; this is madness considering how acute the short-range eyesight of carp has been proven to be! Some of those so-called expert names in magazines have even written articles on rigs that included silver hooks – talk about misguiding the masses!

Of course in the eighties we used PVA tubes, PVA string and spodding and method type ground baits although the cult status of such products was yet to come about probably because those of us who used such edges then mainly kept quiet about them – but there are plenty of other secret edges yet to be exposed in the magazines or elsewhere!

I will finish with a tip about bait. Years ago we used to make liquid bait soaks by boiling down the whispered-about potent additive Belachan fermented shrimp block and adding all kinds of weird and wonderful substances, some of which are still under wraps today. One impact that Belachan in solid or in solution has is highly significant enhancement properties within baits of all kinds. Belachan has a significantly high mineral content that is highly attractive in its own right and this obviously enhances the amino acids, various acids and other compounds that Belachan offers that are so stimulatory to fish.

Today many bait companies offer Belachan in liquid form, often at inflated prices - so why not make your own homemade bait edges instead – in far more naturally concentrated forms? I do not recommend you use the enhancer MSG (monosodium glutamate) because it over-hydrates brain cells at the brain receptor site causing bleeding on the brain – please pass this on! Other very good enhancing liquids include L030 and liquid yeast – these examples and more are very rich in natural glutamate! These will certainly multiply your catch rate if you fully maximise them and impregnate your baits with them to a far greater degree than almost all readymade baits available today!

In fact I have found it easily possible to make homemade baits packed with liquid nutritional attraction that have proven to last functionally intact in water for at least 21 and more hours, that contain no egg binder and have no need of cooking whatsoever! The competitive advantages of these homemade baits are huge (all it takes is to keep an ever open mind and a willingness to think for yourself instead being hypnotised into becoming a mindless consumer!)

Such unusual baits contain far higher levels of liquid foods and natural enhancers, and natural feeding stimulators and attractors and as such are far more potent to fish than any readymade boiled, steamed or heated boilies or pellets. If you fish maggot-dominated lakes such as the Sandhurst Lake why follow the herd? Sure when so many maggots are entering the water carp receptors can get adapted to becoming very much more sensitised to their excretions but guess what – it does not mean you have to stop using boilies at all unlike anglers such as Ian Chillcott and Gareth Fareham might imply! No disrespect intended to them but to be frank I do not regard them as scientific experts on bait or fish - so why swallow every word they say? They are good anglers because they are willing to be adaptable - but you too can be equally if not even more adaptable and successful!

Think about it; exploiting liquidised maggots as the liquid protein and ammonia source in your boilies, pellets and ground baits is going to really make a difference if you use very soluble bait designs. With the right information these are totally unique baits you can easily make at home for yourself - to keep ahead of your fish and competing anglers! (For further information on making, adapting, designing and boosting your baits see my bait secrets ebooks website Baitbigfish right now - and improve your catches for life!)

By Tim Richardson.

Best Carp Fishing Guide

MAKING CATFISH AND CARP GROUND BAITS – Fishing Secrets Of Nuts ...

2012-12-09T21:52:00.001-05:00

If you are looking for something different to boost your catches, you can never be stuck for choice and there are some very effective ones too. Nuts are one very special ingredient and bait that has caught fish reliably for ever. There are many reasons why such an often ‘foreign’ food item produces fish. But fish just love them!

One important mention is nut preparation. Unless nuts are used as finely crushed or flour form, they need correctly soaking for at least 12 to 24 hours to ensure they have fully absorbed water. Many fish have died as a result of the fish eating nuts thrown in as ground bait or chum, and then had nuts swell up as they absorbed water, but inside the fishes’ own digestive tract! In the States nuts dumped directly into rivers do not seem to decimate carp however. Why I do not know especially as much of this waste is not ‘human grade’ and likely to have toxins as a result of fungi or bacterial activity. Perhaps resistance has been developed as a result of this seasonal activity of dumping?

Let’s focus on ground baits. Frequently anglers use loose nuts or seeds like sweetcorn, or maize, tiger nuts or peanuts, pellets or boilies for ground bait. Some use live baits like maggots or bloodworm. Nut oils like tiger nut oil and peanut oil and pellet type oils like marine halibut oil are being used with great effect to enhance baits. But one often overlooked method is using homemade ground baits and these can be so successful! They can incorporate the ingredients used in your pellets or boilie mix. They can contain the flavours and oils used in your hook baits among many other components.

You can even add live elements like bloodworm, maggots or worms to stimulate your fish and get them digging in the silt for far longer, giving your more time and chances of successful bait pick-ups. Besides this point, many fish love to feed on tiny particles of food and this is often more natural for them. Often this type of baiting will produce fish successfully whereas ground baiting with ‘whole baits’ like boilies, big pellets or cut meat or fish baits will not. Even the addition of cracked corn, soaked corn flakes or maize flakes can bring your swim alive, adding corn steep liquor is an obvious edge here.

Ground bait traditionally in the UK was made from bread crumbs. Bread crumb ground bait is very effective for carp and many other species even catfish, because it is a great carrier of liquids, for example liquid liver, blood, corn steep liquor, all manner of flavours, liquid fish protein, liquid amino acid and vitamin / mineral additives. I’ve caught many big carp and catfish using ground bait. How you use it and what you combine with it regarding your hook bait, and near hook proximity attraction all play a part in your individual success on a particular water and the way you need to fish there.

Making a boilie from various nut meals is not uncommon. Even a simple recipe like the following can be the basis of your ground bait and be ‘tweaked’ to attract all kinds of species if not carp or catfish:

Peanut meal (roasted is often higher in protein.)

Crushed tiger nuts.

Crushed almonds. (Especially high in vitamin E and very good on waters hard hit by high fish oil baits like pellets and fish meal boilies with bulk oils.

Crushed brazil nuts.

Tiger nut flour.

Brazil flour.

Eggs or gelling agent.

Sweetener. E.g. Molasses, fruit sugar, brown sugar, icing sugar, Talin, Betalin, Thaumatin B etc.

Ground nut or tiger nut oil.

Amino acid containing additive.

‘Super sweet’ taste enhancer or similar.

A teaspoon of nutmeg or cinnamon per pound of dry powders is optional. So many taste and smell options are available. Fenugreek is another good additive, especially if you use natural and synthetic maple syrup as the flavour.

Some may prefer using an essential oil component like geranium terpenes. If you add crushed hemp, then hemp oil with fennel essential oil is a good combination. (Including fennel seeds and black pepper add another dimension for example.) Aniseed is well proven for holding fish in a swim, but is used so much it can lose its edge, but with so many other choices who needs it?

A flavour is desired by many anglers. Well very many are good, but I’d go for Rod Hutchinson’s “Chocolate malt.” Dynamite bait’s “Fish Gutz” is another good one. This is the much whispered about coffee flavour of recent times, although Rod Hutchinson’s Coffee flavour from the past was brilliant.

Adding a small amount of chocolate powder or coffee powder adds a different dimension to this bait in certain stimulating ways. Fish detect certain compounds like caffeine, and stimulatory phenols in the case of peanuts and almonds especially, which create a ‘I want just one more’ effect. Carp have proven to possess dopamine neuronal systems. These can be very much linked to preferential behaviours and ‘the feel good factor’ in the brain. This doe not mean that this response is always good for you or for carp either!

Too much chocolate or crisps, biscuits, candies or cookies are not nutritionally good for you, but give you a temporary ‘lift.’ Sugar, fats, opiates in milk and wheat, salts etc are addictive to humans and carp love them too. But too much of these and it either means disrupted physical health and mood and even diet or behaviour-induced diseases like fatty liver, fatty heart, heart trouble, obesity etc. Activated dopamine neurons are powerful aids to learning and repeated behaviour. The ‘just one more’ syndrome is a great thing to exploit in your bait any way you ‘ethically’ can without harming fish health. You can see the links between our love of curry and the use of chilli powder in baits. Hemp and the abuse of cocaine and similar substances. Even tobacco and alcohol are fish stimulators at the correct level and in the right dose.

(Please note nicotine is fatally poisonous even more toxic than cyanide... Smoking this stuff is insane. We used to use it as a kill-all insecticide in glass house plant production using nicotine shreds. Even this has caused human fatalities. Funny that nicotine is a naturally produced insecticide and we should choose to smoke it. Incidentally Indigenous American Peoples use pure willow leaf tobacco in sacred ceremonies, but knew all about its power and how not to abuse it! Anyway, virtually all drugs of abuse use activation of dopamine neuronal systems.)

In the case of carp, in some fishing situations where anglers fish predominately with certain nuts introducing huge amounts, carp get hooked on these baits like peanuts and tiger nuts. They can eat them at the exclusion of anything else, resulting malnutrition and weight loss. Although nuts contain healthy omega oils, protein and vitamins, iron, they are not particularly digestible and not especially high in protein. (Some roasted peanut products excepted.)

Nuts are very attractive baits in their own right, but their attraction can be enhanced.

Now if you cannot get any of these ingredients you can replace them with many others. Even ground rice, corn flour, semolina or ordinary wheat flour can be used. Desiccated cocoanut is very good too. Many commercial ground baits contain this. The trick is to ensure your finished bait has added soluble attraction and feeding stimulation. For example, you could add a teaspoon of sea salt per pound of dry powders. Peanut butter is a great additive.

I read an amazing story as a kid once about a young boy who landed a stupendous uncaught giant carp from a nearby lake by using a homemade peanut butter sandwich. The irony was that it was laced with cocaine and the carp had a ‘fatal attraction!’ Fortunately the story was made-up, but it really got me thinking about making baits ‘addictive!’

Various seeds can be added to your nut baits too and roast sesame and pumpkin seeds are higher in protein being 30% protein or above. Hemp seed and crushed hemp seed or powder have always been good as is hemp oil. However, how many anglers have used hemp protein?

Nut milks instead of ‘conventional flavours’ are well proven, coconut milk combined with condensed milk is a tasty combination for example.... Milk powders can be very useful in ground baits improving solubility, nutritional attraction and even binding as with Vitamealo for example. ‘Tahini’ or creamed sesame seeds when sweetened make a brilliant base for an alternative paste or dough bait.

Malt extract is very useful proven additive too. Another water attracting or hygroscopic ingredient to attract catfish in particular, is LO30 fish protein. The spray-dried form can be incorporated into ground baits, pellets, boilies or dough or paste bait mixtures and is highly effective. The popular liver powder, green lip mussel extract and blood powders and green corn steep liquor and even Vegemite, Miso soup, are all proven nutritional ground bait additives to add. Betaine HCL is another and many betaine products are now available, and combined with added amino acid type products are excellent.

Making hook baits with crushed nuts and seeds impregnated into the surface provides a different texture and leak-off rate of attractors to your baits which can be more productive than ordinary round skinned boilies. I like to use a mix of crushed nuts and seeds in high levels in my paste baits and air-dried pastes and ‘just skinned’ boilies in a PVA bag along with fresh paste. The irresistible effect of this lot ‘melting’ around the hook bait is fantastic. I have often used a slower melting paste actually on the hook alongside pellet or boilie or nut bait or baits on a hair (or hairs) to trip-up those warier fish.

You can make a sweet nut bait with an added proportion of ‘creamy’ squid liver extract, and fully expect big catfish and carp with this unusual combination. Nut baits go far beyond a chopped or skinned or glugged tiger nut or flavoured humble peanut. Creative bait making, even simply mixing proprietary base mixes and ground baits together works wonders. The added bonus is you can make those more expensive products go much further by additional nut meals and bird seeds. So why not make some homemade baits, go nuts and land more crackers!

The author has many more fishing and bait ‘edges’ any of which can have a huge impact on your catches.

By Tim Richardson.

Catfish Fishing - Part 1 - How to Catch Catfish - Secrets and Tricks

Night Fishing For Catfish -Enticing Trophy Catfish Into A Feeding ...

2012-12-09T20:17:00.001-05:00

Night fishing For Catifsh Article

Equipment you will need :
Boat
Boat Anchors
Separate 12v Battery To run lights
Night Lights
Submerged Lighting
Live Bait Keeper
Chum bag
Rod Holders
Heavy Bait Casting Or Spinning Rig
Insect Repellent

Night fishing for catfish can be a very rewarding fishing trip .Trust me If you do it Correctly you will catch fish, not only will you catch fish but some will be lunkers! catfish feed at night and are very active, and when they get into a feeding frenzy fishing action can be incredible! catfish are attracted to submerged lighting And have a very keen sense of smell. So If you can locate their nightly haunts you can entice them on to your hook with some simple methods I will explain here. But first you must be setup and prepared for night fishing it is totally different at night then in the day. Things you take for granted during the day, don't apply at night.

Boat Setup for night fishing

Before you even think about going night fishing for catfish you need to have the following items:, lights for inside the boat ,either battery or Coleman fuel type lanterns with two mantles. Set up your lights so they distribute light evenly inside the boat. I personally fish from a 20 foot pontoon and I have 3 halogen battery powered lights hung 2in the front, left and right and one hanging from my canopy in the rear. (I have used my Coleman Lanterns but they attract a huge amount of insects)

You also will need a secondary light on your person. This light is used for re-rigging your fishing poles. Trust me , no matter how prepared you are before your trip you will loose some tackle, from line crossovers, or snags, or fish snapping your line. (you can limit this by using heavy tackle and making sure your line is fresh) I personally use a led light that clips to the visor on my ball cap.

You also will need a light to illuminate the water surface I recommend 12v halogen light that can be directed outside the boat. Mount it on the side of your boat, in the center. I personally use and adjustable halogen that I can clip to the railing on my pontoon. Direct the light at a 60 degree angle from boat to water. This will illuminate the surface.

You will need a submerged light source. You are probably asking your self right now why do I need submerged lighting? The submerged lights will generate plankton swirls that will attract bait fish. Once the bait fish start schooling The big cats will come. attract schools Submerged lighting rigs come in a variety of sizes and shapes, the one I use is 36" long about 4" in diameter. Center the submerged light in the illumination pattern of the surface water lighting you just set up. Anchor your submerged lighting about 12 " off the bottom, (without an anchor they will float on top of the water).. make sure the light completely submerged under the water. I recommend you use a 5lb weight as an anchor. If possible, anchor the submerged light about 2 to 3 ft from the boat.

You will need a secondary power source for the submerged light, the water illumination light and to operate your aerator pump for your live bait or live well."do not use your boats power source" This will drain your battery."you don't want to get stuck on the lake at night right? If you take a well charged 12v marine battery as your second source it will last through the night.

You will need all Your poles pre-rigged If you have the rigs I would set up 3 poles , per person in advance of getting on the water. The reason I suggest this is because it's real pain the "blank" To re-rig at night. You will end up doing it anyway , but if you have spare poles already set up, use them first before you have waist valuable time with poles out of the water.

Locating the cat's nightly haunts

It has been my experience the bigger cat's roam the shore lines or back waters in search of food at night. Every body of water will be different. I highly recommend you do some research on the body of water you intend to night fish for catfish on. At Minimum Get a topographical map of the area before you attempt your trip. These can be attained at any of the local bait and tackle shops in the area. (I recommend you visit one of these shops to get the local scoop anyway, if you dig deep enough these guys can pin point on the map Where to start fishing. This will save you lots of time.)

Enticing the Cats to your boat.

Once you have your water surface lights and your submerged lights set up and ready to go you don't even need to do the next step, you are ready to start fishing. The submerged lighting will get the schools of bait fish coming , but I take it step one step further because if you play on the catfish's extra sensitive sense of smell you can drive the Big cats into a feeding frenzy! Ok You say how?

Well the answer is by introducing "chumming".Chumming releases a slick of dead fish smells and fish guts that the small bait fish and catfish feed on. There are many commercial chumming systems you can purchase and they work very well, but I use a simple very inexpensive method that anyone can set up. First you will need a nylon netted bag that you can close tight. (a good example would the netted bags that you put golf balls in that have a string closure adjustment) This is what I use, works perfect , very inexpensive. Next , get some good size freezer bags, 3 should do for one nights trip. Next , Purchase about 2 dozen good size chubs and cut them in 1" to 2" slices, make sure you do this in a pan that will not drain all the juices. Fill the freezer bags pieces and juice all together, and let them sit outside in the sun all day long. Yes it will stink to high heaven by the end of the day, but that is what you want! Now stick the freezer bag in side the meshed bag that can close. Close the bag tight and tie a line at the bottom of the bag about 2 feet long. Attach about a 2lb anchor to get the bag to the bottom . Now tie a line at the top of the bag with enough lead line to get the bag on the bottom. Now before you lower the chum bag to the bottom take an ice pick, or something sharp that will puncture the bag , but not tear the plastic. Punch the freezer bag numerous times, then lower to the bottom an tie it off on the side of the boat.

Now its time to fish! But before we go there lets re-visit Your catfish rigs. There are many catfish rigs you can use, and they all work in situations they are designed for. When you are fishing at night and you have submerged a lighting setup ,you want get your line about 2 ft away from the light source, approximated on the outer edges of the source's beam. You will be fishing only a short distance from the boat, so your rigs need to be set up to fish in close proximity to the boat. You could fish tight line with a basic catfish hook and a small sinker. Or use a slip bobber system. I prefer to use the slip bobber system. I use the single hook rig. But both single and multiple hook rigs work fine. I just have preference for the single hook rig. I do use the double hook rig when fishing for other types of fish. I use all heavy duty, open face , and spin cast rod and reels with 30lb test. When you do get a lunker on your line you want the tackle set up to handle the fight. You miss some smaller cats, but it's well worth it when you catch your first 10lb plus catfish.

Baits To Use

Both Channel and Blue catfish will eat just about any small fish like Suckers, small shad, or bluegills both live or dead. I use both live bait and dead "cut bait" I will normally set one pole up with a small live gill no more that 3 inches in length. My other poles will be baited with cut bait , normally LARGE suckers 6" or longer cut in 1" to 2" chunks.

Now Bait your rigs,Get Your Boat Setup and get ready for an exciting Night fishing for catfish Trip! Once you catch a lunker 10 pounder You will be Hooked for life! So have fun and good luck! Get Your free copy of "78 fishing Discoveries Unleashed" Here--oldfishinghole.com

Angling Technics Technicat Bait Boat | Carp Fishing Tackle Review

Fly Fishing for Largemouth Bass

2012-11-07T11:12:00.001-05:00

Like all bass fishing, bass fly fishing has exploded in popularity. The Largemouth Bass is considered by many the greatest of all gamefish. Once limited to just the Eastern United States, the Largemouth Bass has been introduced all over the continent. When most people think of bass fishing they think of, stiff fiberglass rods, heavy lines and large lures. But more and more fisherman are finding the advantage of fly fishing for this game fish.

Advantages of fly fishing:

Fly fishing allows the angler a wider variety of food imitations. While large lures only imitate a small number of food sources, flies can imitate virtually all the sources of bass food, including small organisms like nymphs and even dry flies. Fly fisherman can also cast out mice, frog, and a variety of other food sources for these opportunistic feeders. Many times bass are found in shallow water, hiding under or near logs or snags or in weeds. Fly casters have the advantage of more accurate placement, and being able to place their offering quietly without spooking skittish fish.

Bassy Water:

Largemouth Bass usually emerge in early spring albeit a bit sluggish, but nevertheless with a speeding up metabolism, they are seeking food. Most largemouth’s will seek food in the shallows, being territorial the best hiding places will go to the biggest fish. Recognizing a good bass hiding spot is the first step in successful bass fishing. Fallen logs or weedy areas will provide cover for the wary lunker. Often times bass can be spotted by the careful observer, in clear water bass will appear green to pale olive across the back and white to pale yellow in the belly. In some areas a partner system will be beneficial with one angler standing above the water to provide a bird’s eye view. Float tubes can also be helpful allowing an angler to cover a lot of water in shorter amount of time, although you give up some of the advantages of sight angling.

When to fish:

Largemouth bass emerge in the early spring from deeper water. The exact timing depends on the region and the severity of the winter. But when ice begins to thaw and the water warms up, the largemouths metabolism begins to quicken albeit slowly at first. The strikes won’t be as hard, as the reticent fish, slurp in minnow patterns. Much like a trout slurps up an emerger pattern.

But once the water begins to warm to 60 degrees. The largemouth’s thoughts turn to spawning. In many areas this is around April. And the bass feed furiously, and seemingly without much thought to selection. It is during this time, that the bass fly fisher can found in their true natural environs. bass cruising the shoreline in 1-3 feet of water, needing to bulk up for the upcoming spawn. It is then that the bass are the easiest to catch. Being fiercely territorial and in a feeding frenzy, they will attack anything in their path with a ferocity that makes this fish legendary.

After the spawn the bass seeks out deeper water, however , early morning and evening in particular can give one great action all summer long. And with the cooler waters of fall, bass return to activity that makes a trip to your favorite bass hole a worthy endeavor.

Techniques:

Early in the morning, I usually fish the banks with steamers. Casting out Woolly Buggers, Woolly Worms, Muddler Minnows, and even a leech pattern or two. One to three feet of water is where I concentrate, while the bass cruise actively looking for fish to eat.

In the spring time by afternoon I have switched to floating bass bugs. The very thing that makes bass fly fishing so fun. Casting one toward a nice looking bass hiding spot, I allow it to sit there for a few seconds. If you allowed the fly to ‘pop’ upon landing and have a nice bass picked out, often times this all that is needed for the bucketmouth to inhale your offering. Make sure your rod tip is at the proper angle to absorb the hit, or the game will be over before it begins.

If after a few seconds the ‘hit’ doesn’t occur, begin retrieving your fly at intermittent intervals like would occur in nature. This ‘popping’ action is what attracts the bass to your offering. Watch for the wake as the great hunter is not at all shy, and remember especially trout anglers, the bass’s mouth is huge and these animals were built for eating.

Flies:

Well, The Big Y Fly Co. (http://www.bigyflyco.com) is about selling flies, so you didn’t think we would forget that did you. If it is still unclear bass are opportunistic carnivores with huge mouths, that will eat anything. There are the usual bass bugs that float like the Frog, and the Mouse Rat. Then there are the divers, that float and then sink when you retrieve them, like the Dahlberg divers. And then there are the streamers, like the Woolly Buggers, Clouser minnows. Furthermore for those hot days or big reservoirs, there are sculpins and leeches that, like bass, will seek deep water.

The great Largemouth Bass has soared in popularity like few other game fish. If you haven’t ever experienced fighting one of these, you are missing out on something special. Now introduced virtually everywhere throughout the continent of North America, there is bound to be some great bass fishing not far from your door.

Fly Tying with David Strawhorn - Cats Whisker(lure)

Fishing Bait

2012-09-05T16:41:00.001-04:00

Fishing Bait

click here for more information

Do I Know How to Catch Fish?

2012-08-19T12:03:00.000-04:00

Since I am a woman I thought I should probably let you all know that when it comes to fishing...I DO know what I'm talking about.

I first learned to fresh-water fish at about the same time that I learned to walk, as I grew up with a well-known trout stream running through my backyard. My dad taught me and my four brothers how to fish. I have also been baiting my own hooks since about the age of five or six since my dad made it very clear from the beginning that if we didn't bait our own hooks, we didn't get to fish. Of course from my infancy to age five he bent that rule, but after that I was on my own. Now, at an age over 50, I consider myself very knowledgeable about fish and fishing both freshwater and saltwater.

Even through my teenage years I fished. As I also like to hike and camp, I taught myself how to catch the elusive native brook trout that inhabit the small springs and streams in the mountains. I learned that to catch these fish you must use their natural food as bait, so first I would round up crickets and small grasshoppers. Then I would crawl to edge of the stream on my belly (native trout spook easily - they can feel your footsteps vibrations and will scatter if you try to approach the stream walking), then I would carefully lower my bait into the water. Since these native trout rarely got any bigger than 7 to 8 inches I would catch several before putting them in a pan and frying up my breakfast. Mmmmm, nothing better than fresh native trout for breakfast when you're toughing it up in the mountains :)

My brothers and I also spent many days and weekends fishing the lakes of North America. We battled monster Pike, Pickeral, and Muskellunge as well as the smaller game-fish like Large-mouth and Small-mouth Bass, Perch, Catfish, and Carp. I learned that you need to fish for each and every game fish in a different way, with different tackle, and different bait if you want to be successful. Yes you can catch many different fish using just one type of tackle but if you really want to catch more of a specific type of fish you need to be more specific with your tackle, bait, and presentation.

I moved to Florida many years later and for a time lived in a house on a Gulf-access canal. The neighbors told me right off the bat that they never saw anybody catch anything in there. Not knowing anyone who knew how to saltwater fish, I took it upon myself to teach myself how to saltwater fish. I lay on the dock and watched...I saw many fish. I saw how the little Pinfish scattered and hid when bigger fish came into the canal. I watched them jump out of the water (it looked like the water was boiling) when they were cornered. I saw how the Sheepshead would constantly pick at the mollusks attached to the dock. I watched the Snook lay under the dock during the day and become voracious predators come dusk and dawn. I watched and learned. I also bought several salt-water fishing magazines and read every article I could find on what kind of fish were in this body of water, what they ate, and how to catch them.

I went out and bought bigger tackle and started fishing off the dock hoping that the little knowledge that I had gained would be enough to catch a saltwater fish...and to my, and my neighbors surprise I immediately began hauling in every kind of salt-water fish imaginable. I couldn't believe the fight that the Crevalle Jacks gave me! These fish are not good eating but they are one the strongest, most aggressive fish that I have ever tried to reel in. The first one I caught on a shrimp but soon found out that they actually preferred the Pinfish as bait. This is when I first started free-lining Pinfish and Shrimp, just because I had a hunch that it would work better than a sinker and or a bobber.

The month of October was one of the best months for catching Redfish (Red Drum) off the dock. During this month I was pulling in 35 to 48 lb. fish over and over again. I always released them but had to spend about 20 minutes reviving them before I let them go as my line was only 18 lb test and I really had to play them to get them to the dock.

We got a boat and soon I was taking what little knowledge I had out into the flats and up to 50 miles out into the Gulf of Mexico. I read everything I could get my hands on about how to catch Grouper and other reef-inhabitants and again went out and bought bigger tackle. My Grouper rod is a heavy duty Penn rod and Penn bait-caster. I lined it with 50 lb. test and an 80 lb. leader. You do need to use a drop or slide sinker when fishing the reefs for grouper so you can get your bait down there fast enough that the smaller surface-dwelling fish don't eat your bait before it reaches the bottom. When grouper fishing you MUST set the hook as soon as you feel them bite! Then you must immediately haul them up out of the water because if you don't they WILL take your bait, hook, and line down in their den and you WON'T be able to pull them out.

While bottom fishing the reefs, I always have at least one other rod ready for surface fishing - usually my Fish-Bonz rod lined with 18 lb. test and a steel leader. Reefs are good places to catch Mackeral, Kingfish, Snapper, and of course Sharks. There is never any lack of action at a good reef.

A friend of mine and her husband came to visit me down in Florida. He happened to be a Pro-Bass fisherman from North Carolina but he had very little experience in saltwater fishing. I tried to give him some pointers on how to catch some of the saltwater denizens. I explained to him that the tackle and techniques were very different and that just because he was a Pro-Bass fisherman didn't mean he would do well fishing in saltwater. He shrugged it off and made it a contest...well I've never met a man I couldn't out-fish (except for maybe one of my brothers) so I took his challenge, since he was being stubborn and wouldn't listen to me. When the day was done, he admitted defeat and let me tell him how he should be fishing this type of body of water. They came to visit several times since and he's now a much better salt-water fisherman.

I moved up north to New England a few years back. I had only ever fished the Atlantic a handful of times but I used my experience from fishing the Gulf to land me several Striped Bass, Halibut, Sharks, and Pollock.

I am now back where it all started with the trout stream running through the backyard. I felt that it was time that I shared some of my fishing knowledge with other people. I hope that this patience-building pastime gives you just as much enjoyment as it does me, my children, and all of my family. Lets take care of our streams, lakes, rivers, and oceans so that the new generations can enjoy them the way we have.

Thank you for the opportunity to tell my story. Good luck and happy fishing - JD

Fishing With Live Shrimp Bait

2012-08-18T23:41:00.000-04:00

There are several ways of fishing with live shrimp as bait; however, most of the time you are better off fishing the live shrimp "free-lined".

Free-lining is exactly what it sounds like - the only thing on your line is a light leader and a hook baited with live bait. This allows the bait to move naturally in the water, thus attracting more fish. When fishing with live shrimp you can hook the shrimp right between it's head and back plates. This hook placement works well if you are fishing from a dock or other shore location. If you are fishing from a boat you are better off hooking the shrimp near the tail and drifting your boat with the tidal flow.

Saltwater game fish are especially fond of this type of bait presentation. I've used this type of bait presentation to catch Sharks, Cobia, Snook, Red Drum (better known as Redfish), Black Drum, Sea Trout, Grouper, Sting Rays, Mackeral, and Striped Bass, to name a few.

Other types of live bait can also be presented by free-lining. Pinfish and Grunt work well in this bait presentation method because your bait will naturally cover more territory as it's desperately looking for cover to hide from the predatory game-fish called by it's panicking action. Additionally, the Grunt is appropriately named because it "grunts" when stressed and effectively "calls" the predator to it's location.

So the next time you do some flats fishing, canal fishing, dock fishing, shore fishing, or boat fishing try free-lining your live bait, you won't be disappointed.

Good luck and happy fishing - JD

Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico

2012-08-17T22:21:00.001-04:00

A freshwater fisherman once said to me that fishing in the Gulf of Mexico is like fishing in a barrel...wrong! You have to know what you are fishing for, where you will find those fish, what kind of rod and line to use, what kind of bait to use, and how to fish that bait. Because of the size alone of the Gulf of Mexico, without knowing all of these things (unless your lucky enough to have an experienced guide) you probably won't catch a thing!

There are several different kinds of places to fish the Gulf of Mexico. You can fish it by boat, you can shore cast, you can fish in the canals or you can fish in the mouths of the rivers that feed into the Gulf. The one great thing about fishing the Gulf of Mexico is that in EACH of these places, if you know where and when to go, you can catch almost all of the areas game fish.

Some of the game fish that you can catch in any of these places include the Red Drum, Black Drum, Cobia, Sheepshead, Snook, Sea Trout (not the freshwater kind, not even a cousin, but instead is a member of the drum family though they look nearly identical to their freshwater namesake), Grouper (several types), Black-tipped Sharks, Lemon Sharks, and the list goes on and on.

Here's a little extra information on some of the above mentioned fish:

The Cobia's fins are very sharp and can cut you up badly if you handle them incorrectly.
The Sea Trout's mouth is very soft and tender and must be hooked and landed gently as their mouths tear easily. Use a light line for this fish. 6 to 8 lb. test is more than sufficient.
You can hear the Drums (both Red and Black) before you'll ever see them. Listen for the sound of drums early morning, and late afternoon...dum da-dum da-dum. This will help you pinpoint their location especially of you are fishing around docks. If you are out in a boat listen as well because this fish will sometimes hang out under your boat. In that case not only will you hear the Drum (dum da-dum da-dum) but if your boat is small enough you will feel the vibrations of the Drum's call.
Yes Grouper do come inland on occasion. Mostly during breeding or when the water temperatures cool. They like live shrimp, pinfish, and grunts. The pinfish and the grunt are to the Gulf of Mexico as the minnow is to rivers and streams. To find locations to boat fish for Grouper you only have to get a good marine map that shows you where the reefs are. Where there are reefs, there are Grouper.
The Sharks are opportunistic feeders, they're pretty much everywhere and chances are if you're fishing the Gulf of Mexico you're going to catch one at some time or another.

These are only some of the amazing fish that make fishing the Gulf of Mexico a worthwhile experience but in no way is it like fishing in a barrel. Take the time to learn about the fish and saltwater fishing techniques before you go fishing in the Gulf and you won't be disappointed.

Good luck and happy fishing...JD