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Getting A Line On Bass Fishing

Bass fishing offers a wide range of ability and challenge for the beginner and the professional. There are several fish in the species line including bluegills, spotted bass, largemouth and rock bass. These are warm water bass. Others such as striped bass, white bass and white perch are a temperate bass. If you are heading out to catch some bass, your first and most important goal is to know where to find them.

Where You Have To Look For Bass

There are several locations that they like to call home. For one, look in your lakes. You can find a wide range of them in shallow lakes in the south. This is where you are likely to find your largemouth bass. Here, look in the weeds and in the reeds. But, you are likely not to find too many here. They enjoy eating algae and plankton which is not readily available in many lakes. Instead, look to the rivers. The water temperatures and the oxygen levels are just right in many rivers for the bass. You’ll need to look just outside the current’s direct flow. Look on the downstream side of rocks and fallen trees as this is where they enjoy hiding. To catch them, do some bottom and surface fishing.

A great place to find your bass is to look in streams. Here, you will find smallmouth bass in the cooler water of the streams especially just below the rapids. Look in the hiding places such as where erosion has made holes. Look where there are rocks or fallen limbs as well. Look below a dam especially on a hot day. You’ll find that they are never in direct current flow. Also, take a look at ponds. These are a source for smaller bass especially near the shore near fallen logs. Of course, look in the reeds. You can fish any of these locations at night for good results too.

Remember that bass are looking for prime conditions and will search them out. They are looking for just the right water temperature and water level. They will seek out locations with good food supply and the right sunlight.

As for bait, you’ll want to use a wide range of choices. In still fishing, go with night crawlers, insects and minnows. For bait casting and spinning, use artificial products, trolling with live bait or you can even fly fish for them. For lures, make sure to get at least a five and a half to seven foot rod and your line should be about six to ten pound test. For fly fishing, go with seven to nine feet in rod with a fast taper. You will also need a single action reel that has floating #7 to #9 line with a six to eight pound leader.

If you can, take someone skilled at bass fishing with you your first time out. You are likely to learn a lot. Talk to your local bait shop dealer to learn what bait will work well for your bass. Pick a variety of locations to fish and you’ll find success.

The Art Of Fly Fishing

What is fly fishing? For most people, fishing is just fishing. Throw some bait on a line, toss it in the water and wait for a nibble, but for fly fishing enthusiasts, it’s so much more. An ancient angling method, fly fishing is a method that was initially developed primarily for catching trout and salmon. Currently, however, it is also used to catch pike, carp, bass and other species.

Fly fishing uses an artificial fly as bait, which is tied to a hook with the use of thread, feathers, fur and other similar materials. The idea is to create an illusion that will match a natural vision of food to attract the fish. Fly rods, which are used for fly fishing, are light in weight, but long in their design. The lines, themselves, are somewhat heavy in order to provide the casting weight. The lines may be made to either float or sink and are typically matched to the fly rod according to the weight. The fly itself will be very lightweight and is attached to the line.

So, what is the difference between fly fishing and regular fishing? Realistically, it is more than just the bait, right? Right. The main difference in fly fishing and regular casting is that with casting, you use the weight of the bait to throw out the line, while fly fishing uses a weightless bait and a weighted line that directs the actual placement.

Fly fishing is commonly done in two different forms, which consists of either dry or wet. Dry flies are coated to sit atop the water’s surface, while wet flies are placed beneath the water’s surface in an attempt to lure fish.

Fly fishing rods and accessories can be commonly found at any bait shop, retail store’s fishing department or online specialty store. There are a number of online fly fishing experts that are happy to sell their recommended products. The internet may, in fact, hold the greatest selection of fly fishing gear as customers are granted access to a world of businesses and a haven of products to feed their fly fishing appetite.

The art of fly fishing is best enjoyed in the company of friends. A quiet afternoon on the water, enjoying nature and competing for the greatest catch is all apart of the fun related to fly fishing. There are many areas that are accommodating to fly fishing, including the western United States and parts of Canada.

How To Catch Largemouth Bass

Six strategies for a good day’s fishing

(1) Largemouth Bass like plastic worms. Purchase a variety of colours from clear to bright and in varying shades. If fish don’t seem to be biting on one colour then switch for something lighter, and if they’re still not biting, go for a worm darker than your original. Generally, it depends on the water colour, time of day and temperature.

(2) Largemouth Bass like man-made or natural structure so look for them around jetty pylons, treefall and rock formations. They also like lots of weed so keep your eye out for a variety of spots.
(3) Largemouth Bass like baitfish. Herons like baitfish too. Look out for flocks of birds diving. Quite often where you find one you’ll find the other.

(4) Largemouth Bass like it quiet. Fish in areas away from frenzied activity or at dawn before activities begin. Be aware though that some activity can be a bonus as the wake from passing boats can wash out the baitfish from their hiding places in the rocks and, therefore, attract the bass.

(5) Largemouth Bass like deep water and shallow. Keep a variety of deep-diving lures and surface lures in the tacklebox depending on time of day, currents and water temperature.

(6) Largemouth Bass like it cool. Fish early in the day if possible. If the sun is high, aim for shaded areas.

To catch a Largemouth Bass Light tackle with fast-retrieving lures is usually the best, and remember, once the fish is landed, the best method of preparation for cooking is to ice immediately.

The Joy Of Bass Fishing In Spring

There is nothing quite like bass fishing in spring. The calm air, the warmth, the light breezes, and being one with nature is a feeling like no other and if you enjoy bass fishing like I do, then you’ll enjoy bass fishing in spring. I can remember many a day spent with my family bass fishing throughout the year, but the freshness of spring always stood out for me as some of our best experiences. I highly recommend trying bass fishing, especially in the spring season, with your family.

The thing to remember about bass fishing in spring is that the water temperatures are beginning to rise from the winter cold. The fish are starting to become more active as their metabolic rate rises with the rising heat, and this means that the bass move out of the deeper water in search of food after a long winter. Normally, bass can be found in fairly shallow areas searching for food in the bounty of the waters and finding them can be a treat for the fisherman.

Spawning in Spring

Spring is known as the “prespawn season”. There isn’t a specific time that the prespawning activities of bass will take place, though and they will basically occur at all sorts of different times and in different temperatures throughout the season. The prespawn season is categorized by the changes in the bass as they tend to be a lot less cautious in their ravenous search for food, companionship, and a spawning partner.

The bass move back and forth from the shallower waters a few times a day to feed, so finding them in the shallow portions can be generally easy. Bass eat high energy foods in the spring like crawdads and other smaller fish that help give them the protein they need to accomplish all the goals they have in the spawning season. Making yourself familiar with the location of the shallower portions of the body of water in which you are fishing is always a good strategy for catching that giant haul of bass.

Also, become familiar with the foods in the lake and hide out there. Staking out the good crawdad areas is a surefire way to locate large pools of bass. Look for trees, stumps, rock piles or other debris that run from shallow to deep and troll that area. A good angler also becomes familiar with the size of the bass food of choice and lures his or her rod accordingly to try and slip one past the fish.

Bass fishing in spring requires you to do a little research, but in the end it is one of the most rewarding seasons for fishing and a great way to spend time with the family, learn about nature, and explore lakes and other bodies of water.

Sport Fishing

If you like sport fishing, you surely will like to fish for redfish. Redfish is a common name for a range of species of fish throughout the English-speaking world. It is commonly applied to members of the deep-sea genus Sebastes, or the reef dwelling snappers, Lutjanus. It is also applied to the slimeheads or roughies (family Trachichthyidae), and the alfonsinos (Berycidae). This feisty species is one of the best fighters in the inshore spectrum and, if cooked correctly, a great addition to the barbeque menu. Even some restaurants have adopted the fish as a specialty. For example, at the famous Redfish Seafood Grill and Bar on Bourbon Street, New Orleans, they headline, “At Redfish, we serve up a parade of award-winning French Quarter specialties, including classics like Blackened Redfish, Crawfish Etouffee and Jambalaya.”

Young redfish, or red drum as they are often called, feed in the shallows on clams, crabs, mussels and shrimp. Red drum are an inshore species until they attain roughly 30 inches (4 years), then they migrate to join the near-shore population; spawning occurs from August to November in near-shore waters; sudden cold snaps may kill red drum in shallow, inshore waters; feeds on crustaceans, fish and mollusks; longevity to 20 years or more.

The fish gets its common name from the copper bronze large scales on their bodies, which are darker in cloudy water and lighter in clear waters, but the most distinguishing feature is a dark spot at the top of the base of the tail. For the fisherman, however, the most recognizable feature is the tail disturbing the water in the calm shallows and frequently breaking the surface. The sight of a dozen or more redfish “tailing” as this foraging behavior is called is enough to set the adrenaline coursing through the veins of the most hardened sportsman.

Catching redfish is like all fishing. You just have to be in the right place at the right time with the right bait and tackle.

A fishing rods strength or lifting power is determined by its action. A light action rod has a low strength, making it ideal for casting light lures and fighting smaller fish, whereas a heavy action rod is much stronger, and therefore suitable for fighting big brutes like Giant Mekong Catfish. Most rod manufactures offer rods varying from Light to Heavy, but the extreme classes Ultra Light and Extra Heavy do also exist. Use a light medium action rod because you could end up doing a lot of casting before you finally lure your trophy specimen onto the hook, and use the lightest line you feel comfortable with. Just remember to set the drag accurately (the pro’s will actually use a scale and set it to sixty percent of nominal breaking strain).

The right time is easy, fish the feeding grounds on the flats and oyster bars on the rising tide and till just after the tide turns and fish the hiding places in the troughs and sloughs on the ebb. The most reliable spots are on the edge of the mangroves close to deep water. This gives the combination of a great feeding spot with an easy escape route when threatened.

As far as bait is concerned, if you are fishing for the pan, use live bait. Live animals such as mealworms, red worms, night crawlers, leeches, maggots, crayfish, reptiles, amphibians and insects may be used as bait on all waters not restricted to artificial flies and lures. Toss your bait or lure as close to the mangroves as you dare, let it sink for a few seconds, then retrieve slowly. Redfish tend to wave their tails slowly when feeding. When the strike comes, you will know all about it, and the fish will do all the work of setting the hook. Your job will be to get the fish away from the mangroves and then to enjoy the fight of your life. This is when the challenge of light tackle fishing will tax your skill and fill your psyche with pride.

Happy fishing, and look out for the recipe coming soon! Just remember, if you are not going to eat the fish, release it unharmed. Always respect your local fishing regulations.