Top 10 Fishing tips
Think About Handling Fish
So what happens when you finally catch that largemouth bass? Fish have a lot of parts that can seriously hurt you such as the fins and gill plates. Different types of fish have different sharp parts. Understand what you have in your hands and how to hold it. Ensure that you bring equipment for that purpose too. Don’t forget your net, gloves, pliers, line cutter, etc.
Use wire leaders
The very best choice for pike leaders are, without a doubt, wire traces. If you are using wire, the risk of a bite off is extremely low, always! I recommend using modern titanium leader material, as it is ultra-strong and very soft and smooth. This type of wire can be used both for lures and baitfish. In fact, it is so soft that you can literally knot it, which erases the need for loops and crimps all together! Personally, I find this very convenient and time-saving! For pike, you should use a wire leader of at least 25-30lb test that have a minimum length of 10 inches for spin fishing and 15 inches for live and dead baiting.
RELATED ARTICLE: Make sure to also read this in-depth article on the best wire leaders for northern pike
Make sure your camera has a self-timer
If you are fishing by yourself, you will want to take a picture of that big old pike when you get it. But trying to take a good photo while holding up a long and heavy fish is anything but easy. Luckily, many modern cameras and mobiles have a self-timer in them. Make sure you have one of those!
Document Everything
Your spouse won’t believe all your awesome stories, neither will your Instagram followers. Take amazing photos and show them. Make use of your camera mount. Other than proving to people that you had fun, photos capture moments beautifully. If you love to fish from a kayak with your family or friends, one day those pictures will mean so much.
Catch your live bait in advance
When you are planning to fish with live bait, make it a priority to catch your baitfish before you start your session. Either head out and catch a bunch of shiners, roaches, or shads a day or so in advance or plan a few extra hours before you start fishing for pike just to catch those baits. In either case, you can keep them alive in a big bucket or container filled with fresh, cold water and a small oxygen pump. During your session, you can store your live bait in a keepnet as well. Do not make the mistake and try to catch your baits while you’re pike fishing. While this approach can work at times, more often than not, you will end up with no baitfish at all! It’s really not worth the risk if you are not 100% certain that you will manage to catch enough baits during your session.
Try To Crush Your Bait
If you’re using pellets, try to break them up into smaller parts to distribute them into all the water layers evenly. Fish that have gotten scared of a specifically-sized bait will happily approach these different sizes of bait, allowing you to catch quite a few carp.
Use very thick fluorocarbon leaders
Many anglers prefer to use fluorocarbon leaders instead. Wire is of course the best and safest choice, but the right fluorocarbon leader can do a decent job as well! There are however two very important things to remember when using fluoro:
- use an extremely thick line diameter (0.80-1.00mm)
- frequently check your FC leader for weak points If you keep that in mind, you can reduce the risk for bite offs significantly.
Fish Density
Simply put, fish where the fish are! Your best odds of landing a fish is to make sure that you’re fishing in the right body of water. So research ahead of time which ponds, lakes, and rivers are stocked with fish. If you’re fishing for wild fish then research when and where these fish travel during the different seasons. The same fishing hole may not be a good spot year round. If you are fishing for stocked rainbow trout then be sure to research in advance how to find trout near you. The best tip for increasing your chances of catching rainbow trout is to check the stocking schedules. They usually stock thousands of trout so your odds increase drastically when you fish at those spots.
Use braid over monofilament mainline
Braided line actually offers a lot of advantages to beginners. The most prominent of them include:
- braided line stretches less, which gives you more control over your lures and lets you feel a bite much better
- it is more abrasion-resistant than monofilament
- it can cut better through vegetation
- braid is stronger, as it is thinner than monofilament of the same test pound. This also means that you can fit more line on your reel
Trout Fishing Depth
Weather plays a crucial role in how deep fish are in the water column. Trout might be near the surface on a cloudy day, but once it turns sunny the trout will be deeper. There are a couple reasons for this. Remember trout are cold water fish so they tend to like cooler water. Sunny days mean warmer water near the surface so they go deeper. So when its overcast or raining you can fish for trout at the bottom, middle, or top of the water column. Sunny days mean you’re limited to the bottom or middle column. That means on sunny days you need to let you bait go lower in the water. I have also noticed that before a storm the trout seem to go into a feeding frenzy. Something about cold weather changes get the trout all riled up.