[Jeb]

Some tips I learned over the years while fishing.

- Always wet your hands before taking the fish out of the water. Someone told me this will not kill the fish as fast, but the main reason is so that you will not have that sticky stuff on your hands when you do.

- When you tie some fish to your fish stringer, make sure you check on them once and a while because snapping turtles can start eating on them.

- When you catch a fish, bleed it out by cutting the vein to their gills. Although I have always took the fish right home and never tried this, I heard your supposed to do this.

- If you run out of bait, you can use fish eyes, I know this sounds gross, but it does work. If you catch one fish and have no more bait, you have double the amount from the last fish!

- Check your line before you start fishing because a lot of times if it has been sitting around for awhile it will become brittle.

- Always clean up after yourself, especially if you lose a hook on the bank. You wouldn't want someone to step on it in a post teotwawki situation and get gangreen from the rusty hook!

 

[Leon]

I like storm brand live action baits, I have caught more bass with those recently than just about anything else.

 

[BudsGras]

I like storm brand live action baits, I have caught more bass with those recently than just about anything else.

I've never tried these. Is there a certain one that you favor best? I'm going to pick one up and try it. I mainly use zoom brands and of course rapelas, but I've lost more baits than caught fish!

I cannot wait until I cast my first line this year.

 

[acidlittle]

Be wary of catching a fish that doesn't have the slim coat on the outside, this coating on them is what helps them fight off diseases and parasites. If the fish doesn't have a slim coat chances are it isn't healthy.

Oh my grandma always taught me, if you get a tangle in your fishing line, always pull from the end that has the hook/lure/bobber on it. That is if you can't untangle it normally.

Look for shaded areas on hot days, fish like to stay cooler rather then hot.

If there is a SHTF situation you can throw corn in the water to lure fish to that area, over a span of a week you can have a lot of luck, family friend did this on his private lake when they would prepare for a large fish fry.

 

[bobbyvelston]

One of the most effective ways to fish for smallmouth bass in a river is by wading in the water that you are fishing, in much the same way that a fly fisherman wades and fishes for trout.

 

[Leon]

I like storm brand live action baits, I have caught more bass with those recently than just about anything else.

I've never tried these. Is there a certain one that you favor best? I'm going to pick one up and try it. I mainly use zoom brands and of course rapelas, but I've lost more baits than caught fish!

I cannot wait until I cast my first line this year.

Sorry for the delay.

Yeah man, I like the storm brand "Live crappie" for bigger bass and the storm brand "Live shiner" both look so damn real you can't even tell the difference when they are in the water. They are cheap too, compared to some rappala lures that don't catch chit. I did a video on them let me dig it up.

[youtube:2spzl0pq]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sgo77hc4D8[/youtube:2spzl0pq]

 

[brielle]

I love fishing...!!!!!

almar

 

[WVprepper]

Some great advice.. Rub your hands with Balson fir needles to get the fish smell off.. It is also a natural antseptic thats found in the pine oils. I seen this on a bushcraftbartons video on youtube.. He is very knowledgeable on the outdoors.

 

[AvengersAssembled]

- I would cut up small bluegill I'd catch for bait, or any type of carp or drum if I needed more of it. The one time I caught a carp accidentally (I was fishing for bass lol), was on someones advice of using fresh frog.

- I was always told to "sneak up" on a fishing area, my dad would say that fish near the surface could see me (don't know if it's true or if he was messing with me).

- Shady spots were always best on a sunny day, and look for brush piles or anything that a fish could use for cover in the water and fish around that.

- Crappie swim in schools, so if you get one, get your line back in the water ASAP just in case a school's coming.

- To track schools, we'd string an empty, airtight bottle to the fish (on a long length of string), and throw it back. It would return to the school, and we could then know where they were.

- Bigger fish prefer to be active when the water's kinda choppy, so the smaller fish don't always see them coming.

- It was always good to fish along the shore when it was raining, because the fish wait by waters edge for bugs and insects getting washed in.

- Fish are more active around spawning times, and around sun up and sun down.

- If ever poked by a fish's spine, rub some of their slime on it, that's what stops the stinging.


Again, all this stuff was told to me as a kid by my dad and other adult's who fished frequently, don't know how true most of it is lol

 

[LunaticFringeInc]

Something I have done that has upped my catch ratios a lot is dropping down to ultra-light gear or a rig thats very near ultra-light in weight class. Dont know whether its the lighter line being more difficult for fish to see or if its the demenutive baits that hardly make a splash when you cast or a combination of both. My hooks ups on Sandbass increased dramatically and I often times get even bigger fish than I would on my typical Baitcasting rigs I use for LMB.

While its common sense to fish structure that fish will often times be found around it, a technique I like to use is to find the not so obvious structure close by and fish it instead of the obvious. For example...a Bass Fisherman in a 40k battle wagon is quick to speed up and come in on a obvious two or three stumps and toss a lure once or twice and move on. I on the other hand will slowly creep up on such structure and look to see if there are any more stumps that are below the surface and not readily noticable out to the perimeter. I will cast to these and often pick up some nice fish. These fish havent seen every lure carried in stock by Bass Pro and havent been pressured into oblivia and will often be quiet co-operative when they are cast to.

To steal a line from the Trout Fishermen out there, I like to "match the hatch" so to speak. Yeah I know there are times when Crappie will only hit on a hot pink 1/16th ounce marabou jig and nothing else and it just defies all logic, but I often use lures that resemble the bait or forage in the area that fish would normally target vs some trick of the week color pattern or shape. For example...Shad are the typical forage for prey fish on my lake, so I try to use baits in sizes simular to the size of Shad and in color patterns that closely resemble Shad and do pretty good on a consistent basis. If its just been raining or really windy I will often ply the shallows on over grown banks with a small grasshopper shaped surface bait. That can prove to be a real killer for me on such days. If I am fishing along a rocky shore line I will immeadiately start thinking a crawfish or soft plastic creature bait in shades of rust, brown and green on a Shakey Head rigged Jig. Crawfish are common in these areas and thats what brings the fish in to feed, so thats what the fish are looking for!

I do most of my fishing from a kayak insteasd of a power boat. I cantblast around zipping from one likely spot to the next everty five minutes. I have had to learn to fish smarter to compensate for the lack of mobility. It doesnt mean I have to catch less fish though! Just some tips I have found that are brutally effective for me when it comes to loading up a stringer for a fish fry.

 

[hayden]

My 2 brothers and I and some cousins and friends have a spring fishing trip and most of us are very good fishermen. I got put on a boat with my cousin Bill a couple years ago and I can tell you why I caught so many more fish than him. When I'm using a bobber for crappie or bluegill I watch my bobber closely. At the first movement of the bobber I set the hook. My cousin must have been taught to wait for the bobber to go under before setting the hook. Sometimes I would miss but most of the time I would catch my fish by the lip and easily remove it and on to the fish basket, meanwhile my cousin would spend the next 10 or 20 minutes trying to remove the hook from the gut of his fish. Less time unhooking fish means more time for your bait to be in the water. No matter about the fish, the trip is more about drinking beer and playing music till 3 in the morning anyway.

 

[MikeyPrepper]

Fishing at night works for me

 

[lynxcarl]

Thanks for the tips, but i wanted suggestion to catch specific fish which i like the most

 

[Notsoyoung]

Make sure that the fuze is long enough that if you should drop the dynamite once the fuze is lit you will have enough time to pick it up and throw it out of the boat.

 

[sparkyprep]

Too many tips to list. I've been fishing my whole life. I mostly fish salt water now. The biggest advice I can give is something I started doing a few years ago. Keep a log book. Every time you go fishing, write down what you caught, if anything. Record time of day, water temp, weather, moon phase, bait used, and location. Study your records, and you will notice patterns. Use this info to better your catches.

I used this method to learn that snook like to feed at night, near the full moon, at the high, outgoing tide. I can now go out on the boat, and know that I will catch at least 3 snook a given night.

 

[sparkyprep]

Thanks for the tips, but i wanted suggestion to catch specific fish which i like the most

What are you fishing for?

 

[Inor]

This time of year it is critically important to know your lake well. Do not go anywhere near natural springs or where creeks or rivers come into or leave the lake or you will be spending BIG money getting your truck towed out when it breaks through the ice.

 

[LunaticFringeInc]

Too many tips to list. I've been fishing my whole life. I mostly fish salt water now. The biggest advice I can give is something I started doing a few years ago. Keep a log book. Every time you go fishing, write down what you caught, if anything. Record time of day, water temp, weather, moon phase, bait used, and location. Study your records, and you will notice patterns. Use this info to better your catches.

I used this method to learn that snook like to feed at night, near the full moon, at the high, outgoing tide. I can now go out on the boat, and know that I will catch at least 3 snook a given night.

I like the way you think and I too keep a detailed spread sheet on Microsoft Excell, that allows me to go back and look at what the fish were doing or not doing at a given time under specific circumstances. It gives me a chance to connect the dots and come up with a solid game plan and starting point before I even walk out the door to go on a outing and it increases my chance of success. And here all this time I thought I was the only anal retentive fisherman that did stuff like that! Good to know I have some compition out there...with me.

 

[inceptor]

I haven't been fishing since I was a kid. I probably need to start back.

 

[sparkyprep]

I haven't been fishing since I was a kid. I probably need to start back.

Come on Inceptor, fishing is both great fun, and an important survival skill. Pick it back up, you won't be sorry.