King.Of.Anglers.Jeremiah
Fishing ? Instructor!
Back with another round of fishing tips and tricks! Been awhile since I've done one of these. Going to start the everything crappie thread soon as well. Prepare to do a lot of reading on that one though, it'll be A LOT of information. Continuing on....
#1) Weedless Trolling
If trolling in a lake with a lot of floating vegetation, keep the rod tip just under the surface and the weeds will catch the rod tip where they're easily removed instead of grabbing on your line and sliding down, fouling your lure.
#2) Underseat Storage
If you like to sit and fish on your boat, or you have someone older with you, arrange several pieces of 2 inch pvc tubes around the base of your seat pedestal and rivet or duct tape them together. You can hang a lure, de-hooking tool, or pliers in each tube for easy access.
#3) Add A Stinger Hook
Attach a small treble hook to the bend of a larger jig head or bait hook using a piece of 15 pound mono or fly fishing leader butt section. Tie it to the bend of the hook using a double clinch knot. The stinger will hook short striking fish. Works well on live baitfish like shad.
#4) Bed Marker
If you spook a bedding fish, tie a piece of bright yarn around a stem of a weed on the bank where the bed is. In about 20 minutes, the fish likely will have come back and now you have a visual casting marker.
#5) Fish With Balloons
Striper fishermen looking for trophies with big live bait like gizzard shad and herring use balloons as floats. Make a loop in your line and tie the balloon around it. When a big fish grabs the bait and makes a run, the balloon pops off.
#6) Shaky Head Trick
If your fish get stubborn while shaky head fishing with a straight tail worm, cut the tail into strips so the worm has tentacles like a tube bait. These smaller strips of plastic move more easily and fluidly in the water and you can tempt finicky bass to bite without hardly moving the bait at all.
#7) Suped Up Spooks
Make your spook style topwater bait walk easier by unscrewing the the front line tie and drilling a hole halfway between the original hole and the small one at the tip of the nose. Reattach the screw to the middle hole and the bait walks much easier.
#8) Shave A Popper
File down the lower lip of a popping style bait to get more of a spitting action than a loud blooping or chugging action. Better for pressured fish and easily spooked fish.
#9) Fix Frustrating Floats
Long cigar shaped slip floats are popular for catfish but are a pain in the butt to rig many times. Take a piece of thin wire, bend it at the end, and run it through the bottom of the float out the top. Attach your line to the wire and pull it back through.
#10) Easy Palomar Knots
Pretty simple one that should probably go without saying, but if you can't get your doubled line though a hook or lure line tie, or you can't see it well, just run your line through it once, and then double back and run the line back through again so the loop to tie the knot is already formed.
BONUS : Longer Lived Minnows
Take a small plastic minnow bucket and drill it full of holes. Fill a 5 gallon bucket full of water, fill the small bucket full of bait and insert it in the 5 gallon. The increase in water volume keeps minnows alive longer and the insert lets you get to them easily.
#1) Weedless Trolling
If trolling in a lake with a lot of floating vegetation, keep the rod tip just under the surface and the weeds will catch the rod tip where they're easily removed instead of grabbing on your line and sliding down, fouling your lure.
#2) Underseat Storage
If you like to sit and fish on your boat, or you have someone older with you, arrange several pieces of 2 inch pvc tubes around the base of your seat pedestal and rivet or duct tape them together. You can hang a lure, de-hooking tool, or pliers in each tube for easy access.
#3) Add A Stinger Hook
Attach a small treble hook to the bend of a larger jig head or bait hook using a piece of 15 pound mono or fly fishing leader butt section. Tie it to the bend of the hook using a double clinch knot. The stinger will hook short striking fish. Works well on live baitfish like shad.
#4) Bed Marker
If you spook a bedding fish, tie a piece of bright yarn around a stem of a weed on the bank where the bed is. In about 20 minutes, the fish likely will have come back and now you have a visual casting marker.
#5) Fish With Balloons
Striper fishermen looking for trophies with big live bait like gizzard shad and herring use balloons as floats. Make a loop in your line and tie the balloon around it. When a big fish grabs the bait and makes a run, the balloon pops off.
#6) Shaky Head Trick
If your fish get stubborn while shaky head fishing with a straight tail worm, cut the tail into strips so the worm has tentacles like a tube bait. These smaller strips of plastic move more easily and fluidly in the water and you can tempt finicky bass to bite without hardly moving the bait at all.
#7) Suped Up Spooks
Make your spook style topwater bait walk easier by unscrewing the the front line tie and drilling a hole halfway between the original hole and the small one at the tip of the nose. Reattach the screw to the middle hole and the bait walks much easier.
#8) Shave A Popper
File down the lower lip of a popping style bait to get more of a spitting action than a loud blooping or chugging action. Better for pressured fish and easily spooked fish.
#9) Fix Frustrating Floats
Long cigar shaped slip floats are popular for catfish but are a pain in the butt to rig many times. Take a piece of thin wire, bend it at the end, and run it through the bottom of the float out the top. Attach your line to the wire and pull it back through.
#10) Easy Palomar Knots
Pretty simple one that should probably go without saying, but if you can't get your doubled line though a hook or lure line tie, or you can't see it well, just run your line through it once, and then double back and run the line back through again so the loop to tie the knot is already formed.
BONUS : Longer Lived Minnows
Take a small plastic minnow bucket and drill it full of holes. Fill a 5 gallon bucket full of water, fill the small bucket full of bait and insert it in the 5 gallon. The increase in water volume keeps minnows alive longer and the insert lets you get to them easily.
