Live Fishing Bait -Part -5
June 19, 2009 by Daniel Ambrose · Leave a Comment
Today we will continue our live fishing bait series where we left off discussing some live flying fish bait. We last discussed, in cryptic detail, the life cycle of the mayfly. Here we begin with some detail of the cycled appearance of these wondrous creatures.
Mayfly Nymphs usually have three tails and are best used for live fishing bait when they have exceeded one inch in length and are found in muddy stream bottoms.
The more mature Mayfly Duns are still sexually immature, dull in color with gray wings and are found near streams on some green leafage.
The Adult Mayflies, often called spinners, have triangular wings with an upturned tail that may be three times the length of the body and they are sexually mature.
This next one is commonly mistaken to be a large mosquito, when in fact it is an Adult Crane fly. About an inch in length with long spindly legs and see through wings that appear to have veins running through them. Mostly they are found in damp woodlands or near streams with trees all around it.
Usually seen darting and hovering over streams, lakes, marshes and ponds the Damselflies rest with their wings held lined tightly to their body, while the adult version, known as a Dragonfly, rest with their wings fully extended.
All our trout fishermen will be paying close attention here as trout love flies of all sorts and they are often spotted picking flies off the waters surface. Some trout, such as the cutthroat trout, even eat flies almost exclusively.
This is where fly fishing comes in. These experienced fishermen know that to catch these fly eaters, they must immitate them as best they can. Just as the normal fly will just touch onto the water for a very brief moment and jump from spot to spot, so shall the fly fishermen by casting their flies.
We will end our live fishing bait series here for now and we hope you will check back often for more great fishing articles, or better still, take a moment to click the RSS link in the upper right of this page and get signed up to receive instant notification of all the new posts I make.
Live Fishing Bait -Part-4
June 18, 2009 by Daniel Ambrose · Leave a Comment
We continue our live fishing bait series with our discussion on some of our favorite bugs. So if your interested in crickets, flies, and some other goodies like that, you are going to want to pay attention to this post.
The way I see the insects is there are the swimmers, the crawlers, jumpers, and of course, the fliers. All of which are like candy to different fish. They cannot help themselves when they come in contact with their favorite one, because they see it so rarely it becomes a treat.
Crickets and grasshoppers are a fishing favorite, because like nightcrawlers, some fishermen can catch them as they need them, and for others they are commonly available at your local live fishing bait store.
Crickets are usually found in wooded areas or fields, especially the dark-colored cricket, commonly known as a field cricket. There is a gray cricket that is commercially raised and sold in bait shops and pet stores.
Grasshoppers like grassy or weedy fields. Most are 1-2 inches in length. The dark colored grasshoppers are some shade of gray or brown and live on the ground. The green shaded crickets live on plants.
Mayflies are a fish favorite and they are a very interesting choice as they go through many changes in their short life cycle. Of course this is one of those which came first things, the egg, or the mayfly because their short life is so ever changing.
The mayfly life cycle is something to be aware of as they can be used as live fishing bait in several different stages of their metamorphosing life. So lets look at their short life and see something amazing.
1) A mayfly mates with the opposite sex while in flight.
2) After mating the female drops her eggs in the water.
3) The eggs sink, adhering to plants, rocks or other things at the bottom.
4) The larvae hatches in about six months. They eat and grow for about five months going through several molts -changes.
5) When full grown they swim to the surface.
6) Now it splits and sheds its skin -molts, and in seconds it has wings that harden.
7) The mayfly then flies off to nearby vegetation where it stays for a day, or two
It molts into an adult where it lives just long enough to mate and drop its eggs, except a few live for weeks.
Its the many changes and short life of this live fishing bait that gets it so much attention in this post, but we are going to pause here, we will say its in memorial for such a short lived fishing bait and we hope you will return to view the next post in this Live Fishing Bait series.
Live Fishing Bait -Part – 3
June 16, 2009 by Daniel Ambrose · Leave a Comment
As we continue in our live fishing bait series we find ourselves touching upon some other wonderful live fishing bait that all true fishermen are sure to find useful.
This first one I remember using alot as a boy because they were so easy to hook. In fact, I have even had them hook themselves on a baitless hook. I kid you not.
Bluegills, they have a blueish gill flap with a black lobe. The bluegills and other sunfish, often called bream, are well distributed in North America.
Mottled Sculpins, known to some as mudlers or bullheads, have large pectoral fins and they live in mountain streams of the West and many eastern states and Canada.
Yellow Perch are most commonly found in the northern United States and Canada. They are identified by their yellowish tint and have 6-8 dark bars running top to bottom on their sides.
Rainbow Smelt are iridescent with silvery sides and adipose fin, a pointed snout and long narrow body. They have large teeth. An ocean species, although they have been stocked in many inland lakes in the northern United States and Canada.
Whenever you are buying live fishing bait avoid buying baitfish with damaged fins, reddish snouts or fungus growing on the body. Fungus grows as white cottony patches wherever scales and slime have been rubbed off. This indicates the have been handled too much.
You should also watch out for any with bulging eyes and blackened heads, as this too are signs of disease in most kinds of baitfish. But moving along…
Lets take a few minutes to discuss some other live fishing bait. For instance, did you know there were eight different kinds of common fishing worms?
Probably the most commonly used is the Nightcrawler, big and juicy, how can the fish resist them. But there are some others that may not be so well known to you by name.
We use many of them perhaps without realizing their different names like the Leaf Worm, Garden Worm, Red Wiggler, Gray Nightcrawler, Grunt Worm, and even the African Nightcrawler.
So you see there are numerous worms that we use for our live fishing bait. So with that said I will pause until the next post where I will continue with Live Fishing Bait -Part – 4. Be sure and check it out as I am sure you will enjoy it.
Lake Trout Fishing Tips
June 5, 2009 by Daniel Ambrose · Leave a Comment
Please note that this article includes excerpts from the very well known fisherman Dick Sternberg, from his great book: Fishing With Live Bait. So you know the lake trout fishing tips are sound.
A favorite technique of springtime lake trout anglers is to throw out a dead baitfish,prop the rod on a forked stick, then sit back and wait for a bite. When a laker picks up the bait, it often runs 20 to 30 yards before it stops. A fisherman that forgets to open the bail may suddenly see his rod fly from the stand and disappear into the depths.
Just after ice-out, lakers seek shallower, warmer water. Shore fishermen cast with dead smelt or sucker meat on slip-sinker rigs. Because lake trout are scavengers, the bait should be fished on the bottom.
Like most other trout species, lakers shy away from heavy line. Use monofilamint no heavier than 10-pound test. Some fishermen switch to 4-pound line when fishing is slow.
Dead baitfish are not used as often in the summer because trout are usually scattered and may be suspended off bottom. However, fishermen frequently use sucker miat or miat from other baitfish to tip 1-to-2 ounce bucktail jigs.
If you run short of bait, open the stomach of a freshly caught lake trout. Remove any ciscoes or other baitfish. These soft, partly-digested fish are just as effective as fresh bait.
How to Rig a Smelt:
Step #1 of 3
Thread a 1/2 ounce egg sinker onto 8-pound mono.
Step #2 of 3
Add a barrel swivel and 3 feet of 6-pound leader.
Step #3 of 3
Insert a #2 hook through the lips of a 6-to-8 inch smelt.
Tips For Fishing Crappies and Other Pan Fish
June 4, 2009 by Daniel Ambrose · Leave a Comment
This article has excerpts from a wonderful book written by that great fisherman Dick Sternberg, titled: Fishing With Live Bait. You will love the fishing for Crappies information in this article.
More Crappies are caught on small baitfish than on all other baits and lures combined. Yellow Perch, White Perch, Rock Bass, Warmouth, White and Yellow Bass, and some species of Sunfish will take minnows.
A variety of baitfish are routinely sold as Crappie Minnows. Fatheads and shiners are the most popular, followed by small dace and chubs. Large Crappies, Yellow Perch and White Bass will take a minnow up to 3-inches in length, but in most cases a 1 1/2 – 2-inch minnow works best. Sunfish usually ignore a minnow longer than 1-inch.
When the shallows warm in the spring, minnows move into quiet bays and sunny shorelines. The Crappies are not far behind. Most shore fishermen use bobbers and minnows, or jig-minnow combinations.
Later in summer, large Crappies move out to deeper cover. They frequently hang around mid-lake rock piles, sunken islands or submerged brush. During the day, they may suspend in deep water away from cover. Most fishermen catch them on slip-bobber rigs or tandem hook rigs fished vertically.
When fishing with minnows for other panfish, anglers often use bobber rigs, split-shot rigs or jig-minnow combinations. Some Crappie fishermen in the South use welding rod rigs in heavy brush to avoid constant snagging.
How to Make a Welding Rod Rig:
#1
Cut an 8-inch piece of welding rod.
#2
Flatten the ends and drill a hole in each end.
#3
Insert a snap at one end and a snap-swivel at the other.
#4
Use a #4 light-wire hook and 20-pound mono.
#5
Hook a small minnow through the back.
#6
Fish with a shorter rod in dense brush.