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1285 Tips : Page 3, Tips 131 - 195
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| 131. |
Floating Tips Freshwater
"Long and slender is better than round and fat when considering floats for panfish. The long and slender profile of these type of floats makes them so much more sensitive. The slightest pressure will pull them under the surface, if you have them balanced correctly with your sinker.
"When you've got a float that's round and flat, it takes a lot of pressure. For little fish, you want long and slender. Adjust your float up and down your line, try different depths, give it time, move it and jiggle it, but remember fishing with a float rig brings out the magic."
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 132. |
Horsehead Jigs for Panfish Freshwater
Use a little leadhead jig with a very small spinner attached beneath the head. Crappie, bluegill, and even bass love it. It's perfect for spinning tackle. How do you fish it?
You just throw it out, let it sink close to the bottom and start a very slow retrieve. The little spinner head vibrates to attract fish. Where do you fish it?
You fish it around riprap banks, gravel points, anywhere panfish like to live. Keep the bait coming, and the horsehead design will make it through it. A horsehead jig is a great bait.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 133. |
Early Ice Bluegill Ice Fishing
Think about adding a GPS receiver to your ice fishing arsenal, if you venture out just after early-ice season for bluegills.
To make the most of this process, all you need to get started is a hand auger, ice chisel, small portable shelter, and a sonar GPS combo ice machine. Begin by loading the lake map on your GPS and look for the deepest water off the main-lake structure in the area. Keep in mind that panfish congregate in deep basins during early ice.
You can also use your GPS to avoid current areas that could make early ice unsafe. Slowly, work your way out to the spot, checking the ice as you go. Once you've located your spot, auger a hole and set the sonar, set the shelter and bring out your ultralight rods and small jigs to catch early season bluegill.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 134. |
Easy Access Boating
Think small when considering small waters for fishing in fall.
Fall is a great time of year to go fishing. But sometimes anglers have a problem with access. There's a simple answer to this challenge. Think small!
A smaller, lighter weight boat and a roller trailer can open up new fishing access and success. Getting in is simple, as you simply back your boat trailer in as far as you can, unhook the wind strap and push the boat off the rollers.
If there's enough water to float the boat, there's enough water to launch it. Then you just reverse the process to load it back up. Line up the boat with the trailer, attach the strap and crank it up. The roller allows you to winch a lighter boat up smoothly even when it's totally out of the water.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 135. |
Finesse Bluegill Freshwater
Fall marks a time of transition for bluegill and other gamefish species.
Fall brings a big change in where to find bluegill. When the summer thermocline dissipates, bluegill will move into deep holes along the lake bottom. To catch them, you have to position a boat over them and fish vertically. Find these fish with electronics.
This is a finesse presentation, so use small jigs tipped with grubs. The key is to keep the bait in front of the fish. If the bite slows up, search around to relocate the fish, remembering to be slow and precise, keeping your bait under the boat.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 136. |
Fish Attractors for Bluegill Freshwater
Want to improve your bluegill fishing? Then consider putting out fish attractors to draw the fish to known locations. By going from one attractor to another, you’re always fishing in high-potential spots, and your catch goes way up. Larry Harper of Kentucky developed the Porcupine Fish Attractor. The Porcupine is a plastic sphere with PVC arms sticking out around it. It looks like the Sputnik satellite from a few decades back.
The Porcupine is great for hanging in boat slips or around docks. Harper says you can also anchor them on structure that’s already good, but that you want to make better.
“One guy I know would always catch one bass from a spot,” he relates. “Then, he put three Porcupine attractors on the same point, went back the next weekend and caught 10 bass. The main feature of all of it is not getting hung up. They’re going to catch fish.”
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 137. |
Largemouth Bass Bits Bass Fishing
To find deep-water bass, cover water efficiently with a rod and reel. When fishing down to about 18 feet or less, fish a crankbait.
Here are some tips that I recommend for presenting and retrieving these lures:
Always cast well past the object you feel might be holding a bass.
Use your thumb to stop the spool just before the lure hits the water, then start reeling immediately with rod held between 10 and 11 o'clock. This will get the lure up and running quickly.
Try to fish very close to the cover, bumping into it if possible.
Start out with a steady medium-speed retrieve, then let the fish tell you what they want. If bass aren't reacting to the lure, slow down or speed up the retrieve until you contact fish.
When the lure bumps against cover, try instantly speeding up your retrieve. This simulates a fleeing baitfish or frog and often triggers a strike.
Twitch the rod tip every now and then. This gives a more erratic presentation and causes the bait to spit water.
If you feel bass are in the cover but can't get them to hit the buzzbait, try "killing" or stopping the lure just as it bumps off a stump, log, etc. Often they will hit it as it's sinking.
If you see a bass roll or boil on the lure without taking it, reel in quickly and immediately cast a soft plastic jerkbait or unweighted plastic worm into the same spot. Very often the bass will eat this lure.
Always keep a rod rigged with one of these two lures when fishing with a buzzbait.
If a bass explodes on the buzzbait but doesn't hook up, it may be telling you something. Usually it doesn't quite like the presentation you're making. Immediately slow down or speed up your retrieve, depending on water temperature.
Do not use the same retrieve speed you were using.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 138. |
Colors For Cranks Bass Fishing
Crankbaits come in a variety of colors, so many in fact that matching the right lure to the prevailing conditions can be a challenge for anyone, novice or pro angler. Matching the available food source to the bass (or walleye) to the depth range and water color are the three simple steps in choosing the right crankbait color for the job.
First, shad are found in abundance in most impoundments nationwide. Shad are actively pursued by fish, especially in clear water, where they can be tracked down by sight. Some experts recommend Tennessee Shad, although the patterns come in many names while the basic gray hue remains consistent to the category.
In many reservoirs, crawfish are prevalent in shallow water and are a favorite forage for bass. Crawfish emerge in early spring and are abundant into early fall. Crawfish undergo a color metamorphosis and it’s important to follow the progression of their bodies as the season progresses. In other words, match the color of your crawfish crankbait to that of the crawfish in the water.
A firetiger pattern is like a utility batter in your crankbait arsenal. Firetiger patterns will produce in murky water and under dark skies.
When considering depth ranges, remember that shad are free roaming baitfish, making this pattern an excellent choice for mid- and deep-range angling situations. Choose a long-billed crankbait to reach depths up to 20 feet. For crawfish, a short, wide bill will keep this lure in the 2- 8-foot range where the bait is found along rocky bottoms. With firetiger, a medium- or deep-running lure will fill in the gaps, allowing you to cover the entire water column between the three crankbait colors.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 139. |
Deep-Water Bass Bass Fishing
To find deep-water bass, cover water efficiently with a rod and reel. When fishing down to about 18 feet or less, fish a crankbait. Use a watermelon-shad color, a pearl-colored lure with a light green-lime back. Because of its back, this lure shows up in stained water, and its white pearl belly shows up in clear water.
The further you can cast a crankbait, the lighter line you use and the deeper you hold your rod in the water, the deeper the crankbait will dive. A crankbait works most effectively when fished on some type of breakline, such as an underwater creek channel, an underwater grass line, an underwater stump row or some other kind of breakline.
When fishing for deep-water bass, attempt to discover a school of the fish. Then you may want to catch your limit of bass out of one spot.
During the summer months, use a faster retrieve to get a reaction strike. Some days you need a slow retrieve for the bass to bite, even in hot weather. But during the winter months, always use a slow retrieve. You even may want to add a little weight to your crankbait to make it suspend. Then when you stop the bait, the lure will sit there for a long time, so the bass can see it and decide to eat it. Work it really slowly through cover.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 140. |
Egg-Frying Bass Fishing Bass Fishing
In highland reservoirs, the bass move deeper in the lakes as the weather heats-up. To fish highland reservoirs at this time of year, use soft plastics. To catch big bass, fish a 10- a 12-inch plastic worm with a 3/8- to 1/2-ounce slip sinker on 15-pound-test line. If the bass won’t take a big worm, fish a 4- or a 5-inch worm with a 3/16-ounce slip sinker on 8-pound-test line to get a bite. Rig both of these worms Texas style.
Also, another hot-weather technique extremely deadly in clear, deep water is dropshotting. In a lowland reservoir after the spawn, bass will move out of the shallows and often school-up in 8 to 15 feet of water. Fish watermelon-shad crankbaits with pearl-colored bodies and green backs in extremely-shallow water. When summer temperatures climb past 90 degrees, and most other anglers fish deep water for bass, fish shallow water. In most reservoirs, a year-round population of bass exists in shallow water.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 141. |
Back Edge Largemouth Bass Fishing
Flip a 3/4-ounce jig-and-pig through thick grass, so the bait actually punches through the grass and falls to the bottom. Then, hop it about twice up off the bottom before you retrieve the lure, and make another cast.
Target the heaviest vegetation you can find. When you fish the back side of the grass where most anglers won’t take their boats, you often will fish water where no one has fished in more than a week. Fish the back edge of the grass by maneuvering your boat through the water between the grass edge and the bank Fish top-water lures such as buzzbaits, spinner baits and even crankbaits in the water between the bank and the back side of the grass.
If you can't find a separation, look for holes and cuts to flip to, just as you do when you fish the front side of the grass. Use the grass barrier to catch the bass other fishermen won’t pursue.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 142. |
Hidden Largemouth Fisheries Bass Fishing
Fish ponds on golf courses to find non-harassed bass, because most golf courses initially stock their ponds with bass and bluegill. Go golf-course bassing on the day when the course is closed to golfers, early in the morning before the members start playing golf or late in the afternoon when most golfers have gone home.
To keep this phenomenal bass fishing close to home private, never leave a trace of your fishing behind. Pick up all line, discarded plastic baits and trash. Always take a garbage sack with you as an essential piece of equipment when you fish a golf course. Take no one with you.
Fish ponds in subdivisions – another top-producing hidden hole bass hot spot that’s usually well-stocked with bass and bluegills. To catch big bass from a neighborhood lake, know the best time to fish it – generally at night and in the morning before first light.
During the late spring, early summer and fall, fish noisy baits or big-bass baits in small ponds or lakes.
Fish gravel pits off to the side of major highways. Locate places less than 5 to 10 miles from your home where you can fish for an hour or two in the morning before work, in the afternoon after work or at night.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 143. |
Marching into Largemouth Bass Fishing
If the water temperature is 55 degrees or above, and the moon is full, fish for bass on the spawning flats. If the water temperature is in the mid-50s and continuing to cool down, look for bass to be pulling out of the spawning flats and moving out toward the deeper channels.
Search in staging areas where the bass will hold before they move in to spawn. In clear water, sight fish for bedding bass. In stained water, look in some of the prespawn regions to catch bass that haven't moved up to the spawning flats. And, search for postspawn bass, guarding their fry.
Techniques:
Fish a green pumpkin with red and green metal flake tube jig. Pitch the jig using a jighead, if there’s not a lot of cover. Rig the tube jig Texas style with a 1/8-ounce sinker. If fishing in grass, peg the head of the sinker to keep the weight on the front of the jighead. Pitch the tube out, and let it land in or near the nose of the bass. Then, shake the jig and keep it in front of the bass' nose for as long as you possibly can.
Use a short drop-shot rig, which enables you to give more action to the jig and yet keep the jig right in front of the bass' face and in the bed. As soon as the jig goes in the fish's mouth, set the hook as hard and as fast as you can.
Fish other lures, including jerkbaits and big-bladed spinner baits that you can swim slowly. If the water is clear, use a watermelon or a shad soft-plastic jerkbait.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 144. |
Falling for Largemouth Bass Fishing
September is a transition time for bass. They’re moving out of their summer pattern and into their fall pattern, and they’re becoming more scattered.One of the places you can find bass in the fall is in the backs of pockets and coves, because the shad will be moving into these areas and schooling. Here are some fall largemouth bass strategies.
Cast a bait like a jig or a lipless crankbait that imitates shad to the bass, and reel the bait really quickly in stained water.
Skip a jig as far back under boat docks as you can and work it from the back of the dock as slowly as possible to the front of the dock, trying to feel the cover as the jig comes out. Bump the jig against poles, cables or any other structure on the bottom.
Twitch or drag a jig, a Carolina-rigged plastic lizard or worm or a shaky-head jig with a 4-inch finesse worm slowly across the bottom of clear lakes. Concentrate your fishing on points, creek-channel bends and drop-offs. The slower you fish the bait in clear water, the more strikes you’ll get. If fishing a clear-water lake, or a lake with current coming through it, during this month, try the Carolina-rigged lizard or worm. As the weather begins to cool down, fish the Carolina rig further up the point and further away from the lip of the break on those deep-water ledges.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 145. |
Hot Weather Largemouth Bass Fishing
In soaring temperatures, fish shallow, shady cover in the middle of the day with a slow-moving jig and pork trailer. Also, fish either 4- or 6-inch plastic worms on a Carolina rig on main river points, which provide ambush spots for the bass to attack baitfish and anything that comes out to feed in the current.
Too, jigs and grubs will produce summertime bass on main river points, when the current’s running. During the hot summer months, you also can throw a spinner bait on top of water vegetation, swim it to a hole in the grass, let it pause and then allow it to continue to swim on through the grass.
If that doesn’t work, flip the jig and pork trailer along the edges of the weeds or into the holes in the weeds. Or, slow-roll a spinner bait on the edges of the weeds. You can fish for hot-weather bass in tidal areas when the tide has fallen and forced the minnows and tiny critters in the grass out to deeper water.
Under these conditions, fish a swimming worm. In tidal areas fish white, yellow or pink floating worms in a falling tide. Cast the worm into the water, and then slowly twitch it out to deep water. When the bass attacks the worm, drop your rod tip for a two-count before you set the hook to let the bass inhale the bait. That way, you’ll land more of the largemouth bass that strike your lure.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 146. |
Prespawn Largemouth Bass Fishing
When fishing for prespawn bass, pinpoint areas that have water warm enough for the bass to move into the shallow water. Look for bass in places where prespawn bass hold like little rocky points, riprap, dock pilings and weedline edges in 3-5 feet of water. Try these tips:
Use a small- to a medium-diving crankbait on rocky points, generally in a crawfish pattern or a chartreuse crankbait with a red belly, depending on the color of the water in that section of the lake. Fish the crankbait on 10- to 12-pound-test line.
Fish a suspended minnow bait – a jerkbait that you can get down in a certain zone by varying the angle of the lip – in riprap. Throw it on light line, like clear 10-pound-test line, so you can watch the line for the strike.
Use a Carolina rig, a 1/2-ounce sinker, a 3-foot leader and a soft-plastic bait when fishing weedlines. Rig on a 2/0 hook and use a 7-foot rod. Keep your boat in the grass or very close to the edge of the grass, and parallel the edge of the grass with your casts. Look for weed points, weed indentions or maybe a rock pile on the edge of the weeds to locate a spot where bass tend to school-up.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 147. |
Parking Lot Largemouth Bass Fishing
Sit in the parking lot, and study a map of the lake. Consider where the bass should be on their migration pattern at that time of year. Look at the weather and the water conditions you can see from the parking lot. With this information, pick eight or 10 places on the map where you think bass may be holding.
Then get into your boat, and plan to run to and fish as many of those spots as you can. If you’re fishing offshore cover, run over the site you’ve marked on the map, and look at your depth finder to locate any bass holding on that deep-water cover or structure. If you see bass, don’t fish slowly enough to catch every fish there. Do fish quickly, and plan not to spend more than 5 to 10 minutes at any one place. Use whatever lure you must to catch the most bass the quickest on each site.
Develop a game plan as to how and where to fish, and determine how much time you’ll need to fish each spot and what lures to use to catch the most fish in the shortest time. With a well-worked-out game plan, you can fish faster and find and catch more bass quicker.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 148. |
Largemouth Trophy Hunt Bass Fishing
Study a lake, the fishermen and the baits they most often use to pinpoint the high-pressure regions. Then you’ll know the target sites where many sportsmen are fishing, and the depths of water most of their baits are covering. For instance, visible targets like points that look as though they will hold bass, trees, and bushes close to shore are places any bass fisherman will point out and say, 'I bet bass are there.'
Search an isolated stump well off the bank that you only can find by crashing a crankbait into it. Also, look for a segment of water through which baits aren’t being run. If most anglers are fishing deep-diving crankbaits or plastic worms, which cover the bottom, and buzzbaits and top-water lures, which run along the surface, fish a medium-diving crankbait to pass through the middle story of water that’s not receiving any pressure – which should be where the big bass are holding.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 149. |
Going Big for Largemouth Bass Fishing
On almost any lake you fish, you'll find the biggest bass holding in either thick cover, hard-to-fish cover or deep water. To catch the big bass, flip a jig-and-pig into that heavy cover. The thickness of the cover will determine the size jig you use. For extremely-heavy cover, fish a big jig that will punch through the cover. In thinner cover, use a lighter jig.
When the bass don't hold in heavy cover, you’ll usually find them in deep water. Slow-roll a big spinnerbait with a willowleaf blade, for catching big bass in deep water. Spinnerbaits catch the bigger bass. If you can't catch the bass by slow-rolling the spinnerbait, jerk the spinnerbait up off the bottom, and let it fall back. As it hits or nears the bottom, jerk it up, and allow it to fall back again. Oftentimes, this yo-yo-type retrieve will trigger a bite from a big bass, when slow-rolling the bait won’t.
If you can’t catch bass with a spinnerbait in deep water using these types of retrieves, fish a deep-diving crankbait on the same deep cover or those same deep ledges. If you search for big bass in the areas they hold with baits they’ll eat, you’ll catch them.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 150. |
Confronting Fronts for Largemouth Bass Fishing
Use the slowest-moving baits in your tacklebox, like a jig and pork trailer, for making it through a fast-moving cold front. In clear water, back off from your target area, cast to it, and use a slow retrieve. In stained water, move in closer and flip the jig and trailer combination. In warming conditions, use a plastic worm. In a cool-down, fish the jig and frog. On a fast-moving front, move up to a bush or a treetop, and fish the heart of a tree.
If fishing the day a fast-moving cold front hits, bounce the bait off the fish’s nose, and get it to react instinctively. Or, irritate the bass into biting by thoroughly fishing a particular area. Work the cover to make a fish bite.
If you’re fishing ahead of a slow-moving cold front, and you see the bass feeding on shad, use baits that most imitate the shad, like a swimming, minnow-type plug, a medium-to shallow-running crankbait or spinnerbaits. If bass are chasing shad on shallow flats, fish the buzzbait. When fishing any type of front, spend more time with your bait in the water to catch more bass.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 151. |
Using a ‘Jiggerpole’ for Largemouth Bass Fishing
To jiggerpole fish and catch numbers of hot-weather bass, use a durable, 20-foot, fiberglass, telescoping pole strong enough to handle heavy bass, yet that has a flexible-enough tip to flip lures to the shoreline.
Tie 85-pound-test line behind the last joint of the pole at the butt end, and wrap the line around the pole to within 2 inches of the tip, leaving 6 inches of line at the end of the pole. Using electrician's tape, attach the line to the pole in several places. Then tie a No. 5 stainless-steel snap swivel to the end of the line. To the snap swivel, fasten a jointed wooden lure.
Use a foot-controlled trolling motor to slowly move your craft down the shoreline. Hold the jiggerpole in your left hand, and balance the pole across your right knee. By very gently shaking the pole with your right hand, you can cause the tip of the pole to flip water. Shake the jiggerpole down the edges of weedlines, in and out of little pockets, along visible stump rows, in and out of trees and brush tops as well as beside any other type of cover where a bass may be holding. Fish the jiggerpole all the way down to the bank.
With the jiggerpole, you can cover the entire shoreline, pick your bait up and place it in pockets in the weeds, fish it behind weeds, stumps and bushes and put it in the centers of logjams or run it under boatdocks low to the water.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 152. |
Nighttime Noise for Largemouth Bass Fishing
Use chuggers, choppers, splashers, squeakers, buzzers, chunkers, jitterbugs and any baits that make noise after dark. Fish small bodies of water like farm ponds, city impoundments, small lakes, golf-course lakes, ponds in subdivisions and tidal pools. Fish the noise-making lures along the edges of weedlines, along the eel grass and close to the bank.
On a low tide in a tidal pond, swim the lure along the edges of the eel grass, and catch the bass waiting for the baitfish and other terrestrial animals to come out of the marsh. On a high tide, swim an Arbogast Jitterbug above the grass and catch the bass moving into the marsh.
Fish a black buzzbait, especially on dark nights, in much the same way as you do the Jitterbug. A buzzbait gives off a steady, squeaking and plopping sound that calls a bass and allows it to hone in on the lure to dance with it. Fish chuggers along weedbeds and around logs, trees and other debris in the water at first light.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 153. |
Cold Weather Largemouth Bass Fishing
Fish dead-ends of bluffs, pea gravel, chunk rock, rock slides on bluffs and channel swings in major creeks in the coldest winter months. Slowly fish a 1/2-ounce jig with a strike-tempting trailer on 12- to 14-pound-test line by crawling it on the bottom and dragging it over the rocks to catch some of the biggest bass of the year.
When warming fronts come through, the ends of bluffs, main channel points and even the secondary points in coves will produce big bass, particularly when you fish a suspended jerkbait in the shad pattern on 10-pound-test line. Use a chrome jerkbait with blue-black on a bright, sunny day and a brighter colored lure after rain in run-off water. If neither a warm front or a cold front moves through, fish soft and hard jerkbaits over deep water close to shallow water.
Jerkbaits sink slowly down to the lethargic bass suspended in a water column and entice them to bite. In open water, fish a hard jerkbait with treble hooks. However, if the bait’s falling all the way down into the cover, fish a Texas-rigged, soft jerkbait.
Fish shad-colored jerkbaits, or in stained water either a black- or purple-black-colored jerkbait on 10-pound-test line. Use a twitch-twitch-pause rhythm, and sometimes give a three-count before moving the bait.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 154. |
Adapt to the Weather for Largemouth Bass Fishing
Bass fishing is an analytical process. You analyze all the conditions for that given day, and then you make your best guess as to where fish are located and what it’ll take to catch them.
Then about the time you’ve got them figured out, along comes a weather change and the deck is shuffled. Sound familiar?
Denny Brauer is one of the superstars on the professional bass circuit. He’s won many tournaments and much acclaim for his fish-catching ability. And, one of Brauer’s strengths is being able to figure out how bass react when the weather changes.
Let’s say you’re on a good pattern, and then a cold front blows through. The fish are going to respond to this change, and Brauer says anglers must do likewise if they’re going to keep getting bites.
“Obviously, I’m going to be monitoring the weather and some types of fish. If I see that the weather forecast is going to turn a certain a way and its going to devastate that pattern, it’s probably not going to be something I seek out to start with.”
If the weather changes, Brauer says solving the weather puzzle is about self examination.
“Ask yourself what the conditions are forcing the bass to do. Your past history and your past experience should tell if you need to back off a little bit. Maybe they suspended off the points and you need to crankbait, maybe they moved in tight to the bushes and you need to move in there because it’s bright and sunny out all of a sudden. So it’s usually a common sense deal, just ask yourself what’s changed, what would you do under those conditions, and a lot of times what you do, the bass would are doing the exact same thing.”
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 155. |
Couch-potato Fishing Pays Off Bass Fishing
Okay, how many times has someone told you it’s good to watch TV?
Think of your recliner as the cockpit of a bass boat, and all of a sudden you’re not a couch potato, but a studious angler. Nights, bad weather, closed seasons are all good times to whip out the remote, tune in and...
Focus on expert guests if the show has them. Note where they place a boat in relation to docks or other structure. Note where they position the boat after the hookup, not just when they’re setting up a shot for the camera.
Note how and where they cast and retrieve. Look closely at what they pull out of that lunker’s mouth. Size, style and color of the bait are often different than what the TV host endorses and holds up for the close-up.
Notice what the show's personalities are doing when they get hookups - rod action, boat speed, what they said just before the camera captured that strike.
Watch the fringes of the TV screen for structure and shore features that are mainly off-camera but instrumental in holding fish.
Look beyond the corny lines, silly hats and southern accents, and you’ll be a better angler when you do get that hall pass and head for the lake.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 156. |
Backlash Bass Bass Fishing
"There's one thing I've done since I was a kid." "I put too much line on my spools. We have a tendency to do that and when we're fishing lighter baits, it's much more difficult to cast a lighter bait with that much more line on your spool.
You end up fighting a loop or a backlash by reducing that spool just a little bit. That will take a lot of your problems away from casting."
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 157. |
Cold Front Largemouth Bass Fishing
It's cold out there! So how do you catch bass when the fishing's chilled out by plunging temperatures?
First, understand that bass move into the thickest cover available in cold weather. It provides them with security, food sources, and the darker vegetation attracts and retains what little heat there is from winter's sun. Once you've found the salad, bundle up and go in after them.
Cast your down-sized bait right into the densest vegetation you can find and work it slowly. Plastics like Texas or Carolina rigs excel in thick stuff. So do skirted jigs. They're almost semi-weedless. Who needs wet, numb hands from pulling aquatic plants off their lure?
Remember that cold-front bass won't actively pursue a bait. Your cast must be precisely on target - in their face. Just remember that cold water means slow metabolism, so retrieve very slowly and don't expect the slashing strikes of July.
Make your bait crawl and drop enticingly over the vegetation. Give it time to drop, flutter and sink seductively. Make several casts to the same spot, so a lazy largemouth has plenty of opportunity to mosey over at its own pace.
No, it won't be the blazing hot action of mid-summer. But if you keep at it, sooner or later Mr. Big will come calling.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 158. |
Highway Largemouth Bass Fishing
If you fish impoundments for bass, consider hitting the road, literally.
Nope, this advice has nothing to do with driving. It's where you'll often find fish when no place else pays off.
In many reservoirs, old roads were flooded along with the timber, even whole towns in some cases. And while we cast to other types of "structure," we forget roadbeds are often ideal habitat, too. They're higher in the middle, dropping off on the shoulders, and are often made of rock or gravel that's ideal habitat for prey species, and for spawning by bass.
Invest in a topographical map of the area, or pay close attention to your fish finder. Talk to old timers from the area. Spend time looking at the shore for old road beds that lead into the water. If they're not obvious, look for bands of smaller trees or brush that lead to water's edge. Search the opposite shore for a more visible road and trace it back to your side.
Once you've found an underwater road, cast your bait along the route it likely follows. Fan your casts from one shoulder of the road to the other.
And don't forget to fasten your seatbelt.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 159. |
Fish that Senko the Right Way Bass Fishing
Unless you've just crawled out from under a rock, you know that a Senko is one of the hottest baits on the bass tournament circuit. Professional anglers developed the lure, and pioneered the techniques that are now dominating many tournament podiums.
And sad to say, most of us are wasting fishing time and effort because we are not doing what they do. Here's the definitive way to fish that increasingly popular bait:
Fish it slow, and then slow down even more.
Stay in contact with the lure as it sinks as this is when most strikes take place. Keep a finger on the line, and while it should drift down without undue tension from the line, don't give too much slack.
Be patient; let the lure sink all the way to the bottom. This takes a while. For reference, drop it off the side of the boat and watch.
Be ready for subtle hits. A slowing of the lure's descent, line movement right at the water's surface, that "funny feeling," are all possible takes.
Because Senkos often twist line as they sink, you should consider rigging a small swivel about 12 inches above the lure.
Then, hold on (lightly) and be ready for some of the biggest bass of the season.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 160. |
Tips For Catching Crappie Freshwater
Crappie take small plastic jigs, jig-and-spinner combos and live minnows. But the one you chose to try often makes the difference between a good day and a great one. Lures are often better for quickly covering shallow spawning areas, and they can enable you to find fish fast. If water temperatures are warm, they may also be the best choice for filling the fish box.
In sparse cover, a 1/32- or 1/16-ounce Beetle Spin is an outstanding, although often overlooked, lure. Relatively weedless, it can cover a lot of water quickly, and few veterans start their search without one rigged on an ultra-light rod.
If fish are located over a relatively clean bottom, shifting to a bare jig can often be a better bet, especially in clearer water. Crawled slowly over spawning beds, it's an offering few bedding crappie can resist.
In heavier cover, slipping a bare jig onto a cane pole under a float is a surprisingly quick way to probe small openings. Crappie normally strike the jig as it drops after it hits the water. Let it sink and twitch it twice, and if nothing happens hit another opening.
If the water is cooler, however, a live minnow is normally a better bet. These can be fished on a small gold hook or tipped onto a jighead.
In open water situations, savvy anglers fare better by mixing the bait selection - bare jigs, minnow-tipped jigs or just minnows. Crappie can be surprisingly finicky, and you often have to let the fish tell you what they want. It is best to have both bait and lures on hand.
Few fish are as color-selective as crappie, and their preference can change during the day. While every lake may have its "favorite" jig color combo, it is best to have a number of hues on hand.
In turbid waters, high visibility colors like pink, yellow, fluorescent chartreuse and pearl white are often the most effective, while clearer water calls for black, brown, green or pumpkinseed.
Regardless of which is working, however, when the action slows it is wise to start experimenting with different colors. That can often re-trigger the bite after the school has had a long look at the previous color.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 161. |
Build Your Own Crappie Hot Spots Freshwater
Fish attractors can help any angler build productive honey holes for crappie. By creating habitat where the crappie can hold, you can have crappie available and easily accessible year-round. Tree tops, stake beds and discarded Christmas trees all make productive fish attractors, especially in older lakes and reservoirs, where the original cover may have decomposed.
Fish attractors actually may help improve the lake's overall crappie fishing. The more cover you sink for crappie, the more crappie the cover will attract. Sink cover at different depths, and record these spots on your GPS. Try each of these spots at different times of year and under various water and weather conditions.
You also can sink cover at different depths in the same general region to give the crappie in that area cover at their preferred depth on any specific day. Eventually, you will learn which of your spots the crappie prefer when. Then you can spend less time looking for crappie and more time catching them
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 162. |
The Secret To Big Pike! Ice Fishing
Interested in catching a Moster Pike? Then take to the ice with a very big bait. A yearlong study, in which researchers from the University of Alberta examined the stomach contents of Pike netted from South Dakota's Lake Thompson, has determined that Northerns feed most aggressively during the winter, and that larger-forage fish, such as Crappie and juvenile Carp , replace smaller forage-fish such as Minnows and baby-Carp. During October, migrating Leopard Frogs seem to work well. Winter, apparently, plays a major role in the pike's choice of dinner becausethe increased water clarity created by ice allows Pike to zero in on the more difficult larger prey. As you go ice-fishing this winter, keep in mind the old saw "Bigger Bait, bigger fish." After setting tip-up's rigged with large bait, drill a few pan-fish holes and jig with tear-drop jigs tipped with juvenile perch, minnows or grubs. If you draw in a few Panfish, they may well draw in a big Pike. And don't worry if the Panfish scatter when danger approaches; your bait will still be there waiting.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 163. |
Go For A Crappie Troll Freshwater
If your kids go crazy over Crappies, consider spider-rigging your boat. This involves mounting multiple long Crappie poles into rod-holders around the bow, and trolling very slowly over fishy structure. Lines are set at varying depths, and with different baits to maximize strikes. When the strikes come, they can come crazy-fast as the rods go off one-after-another. It's the closest thing there is to video-game action on the water.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 164. |
Stage a Crappie-Off Freshwater
Dial up the action with a light-weight spinning rod and Crappie jigs. Put together a kit of 1/32 and 1/16 ounce jigheads and a smorgasboard of curly-tailed and tube jigs. Color often drives the Crappie bit so don't scimp on the selection. Toss in a few in-line spinners and tiny crank-baits in minnow shapes too. Now kick off a Father-Child mini tournament. First fish gets control of the TV remote for an entire Saturday night. Most fish means the loser has to take the trash out for a week. And whoever catches the last fish gets to decide whether it's ice-cream or a king-sized candy bar on the way home.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 165. |
Keep it Simple for Crappie! Freshwater
The beauty of a bobber tugged out of sight makes bank fishing with minnows the perfect Crappie tactic for little kids. Forgo the spinning rod for an old-fashioned cane-pole, push-button rod or lightweight Crappie rod, which reduces tangles-and tears. Rig it with a long-shank Aberdeen hook(so smaller hands can handle the hook), a split shot and a bobber. Don't try to fish yourself, instead give all of your attention to your protege. You may not fill up a cooler this way, but there's no better way to fire up a young angler!
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 166. |
Temps to use for Crappie Fishing Freshwater
Crappies start slowly moving out of deeper waters once water temps inch into the 45-50 degree range, and the fish storm into spawning grounds as the water temps reach the 60 degree range.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 167. |
Be Calico Competent Freshwater
There are 2 types of Crappie species: There is the Black Crappie and the White Crappie. They can look very similar, but you can sort them out by their colors. The Black Crappie is a totally dark scaled fish almost totally of Black and Green colors. The White Crappie is a more lighter scaled fish that has a lot of Black and Green as well as a lot of White colors. Although, the best way to distinguish the 2 species is by counting their spines. A Black Crappie typically has 7-8 dorsal fin spines, whereas a White Crappie has 5-6.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 168. |
Give Them the Slip! Freshwater
Slip bobbers are such an elegant solution to problems in fishing small baits that I'm always amazed not to see more people using them. Bass, Walleye, Trout, Sunfish, Perch, Crappie and more are all easily caught with a variety of slip-bobber techniques. These are substantially more effective than simply clipping a standard red-and-white plastic ball to your line. And they're also cheap. You can set yourself up with a season's worth of slip-bobbers and related gear for less than $10.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 169. |
Catch More Walleye Under the Ice #4 Ice Fishing
Tools of the Trade: Rod and line selections can get specialized, but most ice-fisherman probably have the gear on hand. My recommendation is a medium-action 28 to 30 inch rod and 10/4 Fireline (for improved feel; Walleye can be light takers) to which I tie on a 2 to 4 feet long 8 pound test monofilament shock leader. The inherent stretch of mono line helps set the hook without pulling the lure from the Walleye's mouth.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 170. |
Catch More Walleyes Under the Ice #3 Ice Fishing
Shimmy and Swim: Walleye can be stingy biters. When that happens, I respond with the "shimmy-and-swim." I reduce the range to 6 inches and soften the stroke. On a taut string, the lure continues to make deliciously unpredictable moves, but without the octane. The shimmy-essentially an in-place quiver, gets implemented every half-dozen lifts. It's that kind of nervous behavior that can propel a wary Walleye to bite.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 171. |
Catch More Walleyes Under the Ice #2 Ice Fishing
Lift and Drop: The basic action is the classic lift-and-drop, but framed within the first 2 feet off the bottom. Use some finesse here-a light, smooth snap fares better than a sudden jerk. Add a circular motion as well. That helps give the lure an erratic movement, which the Walleye interprets as a baitfish in distress-in other words, dinner! Keep in mind that Walleye typically hit the lure on the drop. Subsequently, the next lift develops into a hookset.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 172. |
Catch More Walleye's Under the Ice #1 Ice Fishing
Swimming Jigs: Swimming Jigs are to Walleyes what jelly donuts are to bears, but surprisingly few ice-fisherman use them. That's a big blunder. I've seen these jigs cause an enormous amount of Walleye bites when minnows were completely ignored. The lure itself is nothing new. The Rapala Jigging Rap, for example, dates back decades to it's finnish roots. Puppet mastery is required to bring the jig to life, however. And there are certain motions that do the trick most effectively.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 173. |
setting the fly hook in running water General Fishing
When you're fishing across and downstream, your line will be tight and you will recognize how the current feels against your fly. Set the hook as soon as you feel anything different on the line. But don't go crazy. Just a quick wrist movement should do it., moving both the line and the rod back and up. Straight, quick casting makes this technique work
LBF Member: rdale
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| 174. |
cranking Bass Fishing
Crankbaits are especially effective in the following bass situations:
- Gravel, clay or mud points and flats.
- Drop-offs and ledges of varying depths.
- Stumps and logs.
- Large rocks.
Notice that crankbaits tend to work best around "solid edges" or places where wood or rocks occur. They are not well-suited to grass, moss or weeds, although many fishermen do well by cranking them along weed edges or over the tops of submerged weedbeds. Crankbaits work best as a contact lure: bump them against the bottom, knock them off stumps, etc. This will cause the bait to stop and then dart erratically, causing a reaction strike. To help eliminate hang-ups in heavy cover areas, use a crankbait with a wide lip. Also, your line will touch the structure before your bait so you will feel a slight pressure. This tells you to slow down. If they slap the bait, change something (color, size, retrieve, etc.). Smallmouth will slap baits a lot.
Try these retrieves:
Kneel & Reel: With a long rod, use a deep-runner and stick the rod tip in the water to attain extra depth.
Stop & go: Reel rapidly, then stop. Floating crankbaits will slowly rise; suspending lures will stay at that depth. Then start reeling again. Repeat.
Bottom bumping: This technique is effective in both deep and shallow water. Root the crankbait along the bottom so it kicks up silt and runs erratically. To achieve this action, the bait must dive deeper than the water depth. With practice, you can actually make determinations about bottom content from the feel of the lure. A tapping on the bottom indicates rocks or gravel, a very slight drag indicates sand, and a longer tug (or a snag) indicates muck and weeds.
Ripping: Crank the lure a few times to get it at the required depth and then pull back sharply with the rod, causing the lure to dart quickly through the water. Gather slack and repeat.
LBF Member: rdale
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| 175. |
Pinpointing Crappie Hotspots Freshwater
Generally, crappie will hold at the same depth on the same day in similar areas. For example, if the water depth is at 20 feet and you find crappie 18 feet deep in a brush pile, then you're likely to locate crappie holding 2-feet off the bottom in other brush piles.
For instance, try fishing at 13 feet in brush piles in 15 feet of water. Though fishing in 18-foot or 13-foot water is a dramatic change, continue to look for crappie at the same depth from the bottom. However, you'll probably catch more crappie if you look for sites with similar water depths.
When you locate crappie, identify how they're positioned, and how they're holding in relation to cover. If you locate crappie holding above a brushpile, you'll usually find them concentrating above other brushpiles elsewhere in a lake. If you pinpoint a group of crappie on the side of a brush pile, check the sides of other brush piles to find more crappie.
However, keep in mind that crappie will hold in different positions at various times of the day. Don't expect to find them concentrating in the same spots at noon as they are at 6 a.m. In summer, look for crappie close to the surface in the early morning and late evening. Once you've located crappie, you reasonably can expect to find them in a similar position for the next four hours or so. If the day is overcast, crappie usually will concentrate in one place throughout the day.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 176. |
Dragnet Crappie Freshwater
During the spawn, put your minnow in the deepest part of the cover. When you locate crappie, mark that spot on your GPS. When that place stops producing, come back to it later in the day or on another day.
Small creeks, streams and sloughs are also productive areas to fish for spawning crappie, because they warm up more quickly. Crappie generally will be spawning in these regions before they spawn in other places. Because these areas are somewhat protected, there's a good chance that these crappie haven't been pressured by other anglers and will be more eager to bite.
You don't need a boat to fish on a big reservoir to catch crappie during the spawn. Plenty of big slabs are caught fishing from the bank on little creeks.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 177. |
More and Bigger Crappie Freshwater
Often, the most and biggest crappie in any lake will be found in the creeks in the middle of the lake. The water temperature in that section of a lake is usually the most stable. Generally, the water in the middle may be somewhat stained. Because the middle of the lake is more stable, the crappie in that area may grow more quickly and to larger sizes. This is because they are somewhat protected from adverse water and weather conditions.
When looking at these mid-lake creeks, choose an area with a entrance about 30-feet deep. Try to locate creek channels that drop off from 10 to 18 feet, since these channels serve as natural highways for the crappie.
During the spawn and in warm weather, the crappie will use these channels to move to shallow water and then return to that 10- to 18-foot-deep water when the spawn ends, or the cold weather returns. Too, baitfish like to travel these channels.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 178. |
Making Crappie Cover Work Freshwater
Working cover effectively is critical to taking crappie. Crappie often will hold tightly to cover, especially in the spring and the summer. You have to know how to present the bait to those fish if you want to take them. If you use heavy lines, heavy sinkers and big corks, you'll often get hung-up in cover and either break-off your line or disturb the crappie concentrating there by shaking the brush as you try to retrieve your line.
Instead, fish with light line and a sensitive 11-foot graphite pole to enable you to feel the brush and work your bait properly. With some practice using a light-tipped pole, you'll often be able to determine which way an underwater limb is running and bounce a jig along the top of the limb to resemble a feeding baitfish. Tapping the cover with a jig may tantalize the crappie into biting. When your pole and your line are sensitive, you can work your bait carefully and avoid being hung-up.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 179. |
Prespawn Spots for Crappie Freshwater
Crappie are often at their largest just before the spawn. Females are full of roe then, and crappie of both sexes still may be carrying their winter weights.
Three or four weeks before the spawn, crappie are usually hunting for warmer and more-shallow water in preparation for the spawn. If you know of a source of warm water, it can be a very productive place to fish in the late winter. Anywhere you can find warm water discharging into small streams or creeks that run into major reservoirs, there's a good chance you'll find a honey hole for big, wintertime crappie.
On major reservoirs, crappie that are preparing for the spawn will run up the warmer creek and river channels and wait for warm weather and the correct water temperature to move out on the flats to spawn.
Look for numbers of big crappie to be holding in a hole or a deep spot near the very end of a ditch or small creek channel. These crappie are likely to be very aggressive because they're feeding for the spawn.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 180. |
Postspawn Crappie Freshwater
During postspawn, fish for crappie on the first dropoff away from the bank, between the spawning area and the creek channels. Though the bottom may drop two or three more times before it reaches the creek channel, postspawn crappie generally will concentrate in cover on the very-first drop-off near the bank.
Try pitching jigs to dropoffs and vertical jigging down through the structure. In clear water, back away from the structure and pitch to it. In stained water, vertical jig right on top of the structure. Another proven spot to find postspawn crappie is in the brushpiles in the fronts of docks and piers. These brush piles provide cover at the depths where crappie suspend and are near shoreline cover. Bridge pilings, railroad trestles and other kinds of vertical structure are also good bets.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 181. |
Weather Watch for Crappie Freshwater
Be aware of the weather. Weather and barometric pressure can have great impact on where the crappie will be, and how they'll bite. Crappie often will bite better just ahead of a cold front. However, if a high front moves through the area after a cold front, the crappie tend to not bite well. They'll generally head for deeper water and hold tight against the brush.
If a cold front moves through during the spawn, look for crappie in 8- to 10- feet of water. Minnows are the best bait to use in this situation, since the minnows will naturally work themselves into the cover where the crappie are holding, rather than you trying to get them there.
Also, try casting a 1/32-ounce jig, and retrieve it slowly with your spinning reel. As the line on the reel comes back in, gently touch the line with your index finger to cause the jig to twitch just a little. That small, erratic motion makes the jig look more lifelike and often will make tight-lipped crappie bite.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 182. |
Cold Weather Crappie Freshwater
To pattern wintertime crappie, look for cover along the thermocline where crappie will be holding. Many lakes "turnover" during the winter months, meaning the coldest water will be on top, and the warmest water will be on the bottom. Crappie will seek warmer, deeper water, preferably with cover. Check the edges of creek and river channels and along stump rows where the warmer water is close to the bottom in the winter.
When fishing during the winter, keep in mind that the metabolism of the crappie has slowed considerably. They won't be willing to chase bait far. So, fish your bait slowly and deep to get bites.
Try trolling very slowly (also called bumping) for crappie in the winter. When bumping, hit your motor just enough to move the boat forward a foot or two at a time. When you troll very slowly, you're dragging your bait right in front of the crappie. That slow-moving treat eventually will provoke the lethargic crappie into biting. If you find crappie, then troll very slowly back and forth over that area to catch more fish.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 183. |
Crappie in Wintertime Freshwater
For many anglers, the tasty crappie is only a springtime target. However, with some planning, you can catch crappie year-round. Locate beaver ponds, sloughs, cut-offs and bays in your favorite lake or river. That water will warm-up more quickly in the wintertime during a warm spell. Crappie often will move into these shallow pockets and hold on submerged trees, stumps and the roots of live trees.
Fishing for crappie will be productive in these pockets during a warm spell in the cold months. Then, as a cold front heads into the area, the fishing can be phenomenal. Both animals and fish tend to feed more aggressively ahead of a front. You may find that crappie go on a feeding spree when the cold front comes in, and you may catch some of the biggest crappie of the year. However, as soon as the temperature drops even a little, the crappie will stop feeding.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 184. |
Chasing Catfish Freshwater
The easiest way to understand catfish location in rivers is to look at small streams. Small streams are easier to get to know because the catfish's world is compressed into a small area. In a large river, major holes may be half a mile apart. On a small stream, however, half a mile might contain 10 holes.
You can move and see lots of water. More importantly, the continuing combination of riffles, holes, and runs, and the cover elements that may exist in them are obvious. Small rivers offer the quickest education in river anatomy and how catfish relate to it.
Riffles form when a river washes over a hard bottom. A pool of water builds at the head of a riffle, eventually ovrflowing and pushing over the constricted area like water forced through the nozzle of a hose. The force of current flowing against the softer substrate at the end of a riffle scours a hole. Holes are the home of catfish.
The depth of a hole varies according to current velocity and the size of the river, but all holes are deeper and wider than riffle and run areas in the same section of stream. Holes gradually become shallower at their downstream end as current slows and suspended materials settle to the river bottom. The tail end of a hole becomes a run-a river flat. Catfish often move upstream to smaller water during spring and early summer, then back downstream into bigger water during late summer and early fall.
During winter, catfish must gather in holes with sufficient depth, current, and oxygen to sustain them throughout the cold-water period. Such holes are most likely in downriver sections. Flatheads rarely move more than one tributary away from a major river, while channel cats may move into tiny creeks several tributaries removed from a major river. Blue cats, even more than flatheads, are fish of big rivers. Smaller blues may push upriver into the beginning stretches of tributary streams, but the biggest blues usually stay in big water.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 185. |
Show Me The Catfish Freshwater
If you want to catch numbers of catfish (and who would not), these proven strategies will put them into your boat. Thousands of miles of small streams, creeks and small rivers across the country are loaded with catfish. Such secluded spots rarely see fishing pressure. To discover numbers of catfish in small waters, float them in either a flat-bottom jonboat or a canoe. Use a portable depth finder to locate sharp bottom breaks and underwater boulders that break the current. Then anchor your boat upstream and let your bait wash into the holes and areas where catfish generally will hold.
Small ponds and lakes, both public and private, are productive places to catch numbers of catfish. You can jig fish or fish from the bank. Try throwing cheap dog food from the bank. Bluegill will swarm the dog food at first, but after 15 or 20 minutes, you'll reel in a catfish on every cast.
Tailraces below major dams make the best places to catch the most catfish in the shortest time. When a dam generates current, cool, highly-oxygenated water comes out of the base of the dam and becomes a magnet for the baitfish on which the catfish feed. To fish the grooves, position your boat in the area where the currents collide. Use either your trolling motor or your outboard, and head your boat upstream. Then control your drift as you slowly fish down the groove. Always wear a personal flotation device while fishing below a dam, from a boat!
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 186. |
Trout On The Fly Fly Fishing
Favorite fish, favorite places, favorite lures. Sportfishing is a game of favorites, and all anglers have them.
This includes Myself, I'm an avid flycaster for trout living in New Hampshire.
Of all the flies in my box, I have two favorites, consisting of a nymph and a dryfly.
Trout eat 80-90 percent of their diet sub surface. You’re going to most reliably catch fish on a nymph and the new bead-headed nymphs or Copper John, which is another bead-head nymph.
When it comes to dry flies, the Parachute Adams (the Adams which imitates a general class of May flies) is probably day in and day out the most deadly fly that I’m aware of. And now they’ve taken that up a couple notches over the past few years with a little bit of white on top of that Adams so you can see it better. The Parachute Adams is certainly, in New Hampshire, something you want to have in your box.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 187. |
Fly Fishing Made Easier Fly Fishing
Fly fishing isn't just for tweed-wearing, pipe-smoking yuppies. It's for anyone who wants to learn more about streams and what lives in them.
Simply put, fly fishing is fun: like a three-dimensional chess game, you can go as far as you want intellectually with the sport. Or, you can enjoy it for what it is, a great excuse to be on the water, testing your skills and besting a fish once in a while.
I’ll start by dispelling some of the misconceptions about the sport’s complexity, expense, technicality, and the people who love it. If you’re up for it, here are the first of many tips I’ll offer to get you started, most of which aren’t found in any book:
1. Start with a book. I know, it’s bad form to suggest you go elsewhere for more help, but a good idea. The book I recommend is a comic book: “Curtis Creek Manifesto,” by Sheridan Anderson, published by Frank Amato Publications. The basics are laid out in graphic form. I hand them out like business cards.
2. Take a lesson. Don’t do what I did; reading tons of esoteric instruction material purporting to explain the physics of casting, entomology, and hydrology, then spend your first year fishless. Find a local expert or class and suck up the expertise like a dry sponge.
3. Keep it simple, part one: All you really need is a rod, line, leader, reel and a few flies. And you can get most of that in a decent package for under $200. I still use my “entry-level” gear quite often, and it should last a lifetime.
4. Keep it simple, part two: Learn the roll cast first, and well. Then learn to cast a short, tight-looped line by watching it unfurl behind you. Wear out the first twenty feet of line, and you’ll catch more fish than those who want to look like Brad Pitt in “A River Runs Through It.”
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 188. |
Tracking The Trout Freshwater
While some designated trout streams mandate the use of artificial lures or flies only, many stocked streams permit the use of various forms of natural bait. Obviously, before fishing any body of water, it is a good idea to carefully scrutinize the regulations pertaining to that location. If it is permissible to use live bait, then the selection is almost endless. After feeding on fish pellets for nearly a year, newly stocked trout have two options: switch to natural foods or starve to death. A week or two after stocking, most trout will eat just about anything that comes along, especially if it looks perfectly natural.
Nothing is more appealing to a hungry trout than a fat, pink, juicy garden worm floating with the currents. Even when the weather has been too cold for the worms to occur naturally, trout will instinctively pounce on a properly presented worm. The key to success is proper presentation. As with all forms of bait, the hook should be well hidden. Additionally, if a piece of split-shot is required in order to reach bottom, use just enough weight to maintain the correct depth, while still allowing the bait to drift naturally with the currents.
The worm should be cast upstream at a 45-degree angle, preferably well above the head of the pool. Just as soon as the bait hits the water, close the reel's bail and begin a slow, deliberate retrieve. Keep sufficient tension on the line to detect the slightest strike and also to gently lift the bait over the snags.
A few weeks into the season, trout will actively feed on minnows. While many states do not permit the use of native minnows, tiny fathead minnows are a good substitute, particularly when they measure no longer than 2 inches. The minnows can be either lip-hooked or impaled just beneath the dorsal fin, thereby keeping them alive and active as they drift through deep pools. Some anglers find that attaching a small, clear plastic float aids them in casting the minnow to the most productive locations, such as close to submerged boulders or close to an undercut segment of shoreline.Small crayfish, those measuring just 1 to 2 inches in length, are great trout baits, especially as the season progresses and water temperatures begin to rise. They can be hooked through the tail and scooted across the bottom, or hooked carefully through the nose and walked over the bottom. Both techniques seem to be equally effective. Keep in mind, however, that crayfish reside and often hide beneath flat rocks; therefore, unless you keep constant tension on the line, they will quickly scurry under any suitable rock.
Hellgrammites, the larvae of dobson flies, are likely among the ugliest creatures that nature could have ever dreamed of. They have a prehensile tail, a soft black body with lots of legs and head that resembles that of a gigantic ant. Unlike a butterfly that becomes a beautiful, winged creature after metamorphosis, the dobson fly just grows wings and remains ugly. You can find them residing on the back side of partly submerged, flat rocks in most free-flowing streams. They're not pretty, but they're irresistible to any trout.Hellgrammites have a hard-shell collar that is located directly behind the nasty-looking head and powerful pincers. The collar is a good place not only to hold them, but additionally, it's a great place to insert your hook. In this particular instance, the hook will be exposed, therefore, a small No. 10, short-shanked, bronze hook will be your best bet. The hook's color closely resembles that of the hellgrammite. The only problem trout anglers complain about when using hellgrammites is that everything in the stream seems to enjoy eating them.
As the season progresses, other forms of natural baits will become highly productive. Don't overlook such crickets, grasshoppers, moths and various forms of insect larvae. As each of these becomes available naturally, they also become an integral part of a trout's diet.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 189. |
Trout: Lower your drift, raise your catch rate! Freshwater
I’ll probably make a few enemies among the so-called experts for this one … but just think about it for a minute:
Look at most fish and you start to wonder why magazine articles tell you to drift your bait on the very bottom of a stream or lake. Go ahead, open your freezer and unwrap that salmon, walleye or rainbow … if you were so lucky this season as to actually have caught one.
Because of where their eyes are located, most fish simply can't look down. Their eyes are above their “cheeks.” There is a bulge below their eyeballs. So a fly, bait or lure drifted below the fish may as well be drifted through your bathtub.
My cousin John and I snorkeled a few streams and watched rainbow and brown trout as a friend presented fly after fly to them. They wouldn’t move more than an inch or two for a drifted nymph. My theory: it’s because they didn’t see it.
Now go back to that fish again. Hold it at eye level and it’s clear that a fish’s field of view is generally above, to the sides, and to a limited degree straight ahead. So it makes sense that a lure drifting through their lines of sight a little bit off the bottom - would get their attention.
Maybe you use less weight, maybe you retrieve your spinner faster. A bobber setup might be right for your situation. However you do it, put your lure in line with the fish's sightline and you might "see" more hookups.
Oh, and now that your fish is thawed, I recommend a nice dill sauce and red potatoes.
LBF Member: jaycarl3583
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| 190. |
night fishing with spinners General Fishing
if you like to throw spinerbaits at night the very key is find the limberest rod you canfind.also if you can find spinnerbaits with the thinest wire size. i have to make my own because there is none out there i like.but the only drawback is you can only get two maybe three fish out of them. slow role slow role.......
LBF Member: rdale
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| 191. |
Where fish hang out Freshwater
When you are fishing in freshwater you should cast your line down by a shady place or were moss is. The reason is the fish fell more safe near the shaded when they are by sunlight it blinds them but the moss makes shade for them.
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| 192. |
Shark Fishing Saltwater
When fishing for large sharks. A good bait is tuna. Cut the tuna so it fits to cover the whole lure.
LBF Member: arneshsr
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| 193. |
Bottom Fishing Baits Saltwater
A good bottom fishing bait for many types of fish like snapper, goliath grouper and many more is squid. Cut the squid so it fits your hook and your ready to fish!
LBF Member: arneshsr
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| 194. |
Shark Fishing Saltwater
A good bait for catching sharks in bottom fishing is tuna meat. Cut meat into pieces so the whole lure is covered. Putting only one lure on your line is the best way to prevent tangling of lures.
LBF Member: Arneshsr
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| 195. |
smallmouth magnet Bass Fishing
use a beetle spin for river/stream smallmouth for more productive fishing without all the snags and with the ability to stop at holes and let it helicopter in
LBF Member: FishFanatic
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