MISC. FISHING TIPS AND TRICKS
These tips all came from various magazines. If you have a good tip you would like to share, please Email it to me. Thanks alot
/apply "hard-as -nail s" fingernail treatment to the wrappings securing the guides on your bass rods. the coating eliminates fraying and keeps your expensive rods looking new year after year.
free up room in your Tacklebox by storing your spinnerbaits in a cd wallet. It costs far less than any Spinnerbait case. sizes are available to store up to a hundred baits.
If you need to replace the vinyl registration numbers on your boat,don't try to scrape them off with a razor blade..................it'll damage the finish. Use a hair dryer to heat up each number until the adhesive gets soft enough for you to pull it off.
To keep your jigs from hanging up in heavy cover. Try pinching off a piece of a power worm and impailing it on the hook point. You can easily penetrate the worm with a hard hook set and the scent may cause a bass to hold on a few seconds longer.
Remove the treble hooks from one of your chuggers or poppers and replace them with 2/0 weedless hooks when fishing heavy grass or lily pads. position the front hook point down and the rear point up. you can also add a grub to the rear hook to give the bait a different look.
If you lose the protective bra from your bearing buddy. Cut an aluminum can in half and press it over the wheel bearing hub for a snug fit.
Avoid leaving clear plastic bottles of drinking water out in the open in your boat for extended periods. They can act like a magnifying glass, causing sunlight to melt the carpet.
Make your electric trolling motor really quiet. remove the prop and fill the hole and keyway slot with blue RTV permatex form A gasket, available at most auto parts stores. Reassemble the prop and wipe off any excess gasket material. The goop dampens making it a lot harder for fish to ear. B the way, if you ever have to remove the prop again , the stuff peels right off.
Often one or two ice fishing holes will produce more day-in day-out action than all others put together , because of bottom weed growth, water depth, or another favorable factor. To make sure you can relocate the hot holes, mark them by leaving brush in the water to freeze.
Swivels have a habit of hiding in the corners of your tackle box, and it's hard to dig them out when you want one. Instead of carrying them loose, string them on either a paper clip or a safety pin.
Goldenrod grubs make excellent bait for winter bluegill fishing. After the first frost, look for stalks with balloon-like bulges and collect them in bundles for storage in the garage or cellar. Then you need bait, slice open a swelling and extract the grub.
If you bite into a poor-tasting fish fillet, chances are you didn't handle the fish properly and it's your own fault. Here's how to get a fresh caught fish from the water to the table without losing its flavor. If you're out on the water and have no ice, keep the fish alive on a stringer or in an aerated bait well. Until it's time to head home. Use a safety pin type stringer and run the wire up through the thin membrane just behind the fish's lower lip. This will allow the fish to swim freely. Never run a stringer under the gill cover and out the mouth. When you get to the dock, kill and dress the fish quickly and ice it down. One more tip. you can still ruin fish on the trip home unless you are careful. Don't pack fish in direct contact with ice. The ice is sure to melt and the fish, lying in the water, will become soft and mushy. Place the fish in a watertight plastic bag and bury the bags in crushed ice.
Fly rods with reels attached can be carried safely on your vehicles roof, by using a protective case made from an appropriate length of 6 or 8 inch diameter plastic drainpipe, available from plumbing supply stores. Seal one end with a plastic cap and mount a screw in cap on the other end for access. Using rope or Bungee cords, secure the case to the crosspiece of any standard roof rack.
It is often advantageous to use a fly line that is one weight heavier than your rod's recommended fly line weight. Increasing the line weight , overloads the rod, causing it to flex more fully. The deeper flex causes some loss of line speed, but it increases the distance most people can cast because the rod is being forced to work harder.
An effective way to locate holes in that leaky pair of waders is to take them in a dark room and shine a flashlight inside of each leg. This way even pin holes will show points of light. Mark the holes with a piece of chalk.
When a fish that you are fighting draws close to a snag in the river or the top of the rapids down stream, don't attempt to horse it clear of the danger zone. Doing so will only make the fish frantic. Instead, hold the rod parallel to the water's surface and slowly walk back upstream, exerting a steady pressure and leading the fish as though it were a dog on a leash. It is surprising how cooperative even strong fish such as salmon and steelhead become when they aren't threatened by a pulsing rod, and once clear of the danger zone, you can resume the fight in the conventional manner.
Crickets make excellent bait for bass and panfish, and bread and sugar make excellent bait for crickets. Sprinkle the bread with sugar, moisten slightly, and leave on the ground overnight beneath cloth or newspaper. You should collect a day's supply of bait.
If you accidentally drop an exposed roll of photographic film in water, do not dismay. Place the wet roll in a film canister filled with water. Keep the film submerged and send it to the processor with a "wet film" note attached. No special processing is required. Chances are good that no damage will have occurred.
If you carry pipe cleaners in your fishing jacket you will never be without a trout lure, even if you lose your fly box. A cleaner twisted around the shank of a hook looks much like a nymph. You can enhance the illusion by coloring it with coffee, a ballpoint pen, or the juices of mashed bugs and flies.
The best place to gather live bait for stream or river fishing is right along the bank close to where you will be fishing. Rolling over logs and stones will uncover exactly the kinds of worms, grubs, and nymphs that fish in that locality are accustomed to seeing and feeding on.
A fish that repeatedly turns away from your lure at the last second either sees you or sees something unnatural in the lure. Since the fish seems willing to strike, make a small adjustment. FIRST, lower your profile by crouching. SECOND,quicken your retrieve. THIRD, change to a much brighter or a much duller lure color. FOURTH, use a smaller lure since the fish may see yours too clearly. At the very least, these adjustments will improve your chances.
When trolling a lure, bits and strands of weeds occasionally get caught on the line and slide down on top of the lure, crippling it's action. Tying a barrel swivel onto the line about two or three feet ahead of the lure solves the problem by catching most of this debris before it can reach the lure.
When faced with a virtually unbroken expanse of matted and thick weeds that shield bass from your offerings, try this trick. With a long handled rake, clear out a four foot diameter hole in the weeds. The raking dislodges minute organisms and insects that attract minnows and small panfish, which in turn attract bass. Move a short distance and rake out another hole..Make as many holes as you want. By the time you finish the last hole the first one will be ready to be fished. Keep the boat a reasonable distance away, cast a plastic worm or weedless spoon several feet beyond the hole, then slither it slowly over the opening.
Full or new moon phases are best for finding bluegills or sunfish on spawning beds. Fish a few days before and during these times for the best panfish action in spring and early summer.Worms ,sponge rubber spiders and grubs are all effective.
When fishing spinnerbaits, don't always begin your retrieve immediately. Fish will often strike this safety pin lure as it flutters down through the water after the cast, so let it sink freely, without letting excessive slack form in the line. Set the hook the instant you feel a twitch or pause in the lures descent.
For reel repairs and cleaning, use an egg carton to hold parts and screws in the order in which they're removed. Reassemble in the reverse order and you won't end up wondering where that twisty-looking thing is supposed to go or not being able to reattach a spring without popping the entire works onto the floor.
Trailer-hook kits never have enough "keepers," so make your own with heat-shrink tubing. Just cut a piece. slip it over the hook eye and heat. Store it in your spinnerbait box.
Use 14 pound monofilament for leader line when using a carolina rig;an empty dental-floss container is ideal for storing this line. Use the 200-yard size, 3 inches by 11\2 inches. It has a cardboard tube about 1/4 inch in diameter around which the floss is wrapped. Slipping this tube over the bit of a cordless screwdriver allows you to wind the leader line onto it smoothly and effortlessly. Spraying the leader with a line conditioner before putting it in the container makes it more pliable. The cutting blade incorporated in the floss dispenser no only cuts the line, but holds it ready for the next section.
Use small key rings with color-coded plastic tabs for labeling tackle logic wraps. These are available at hardware stores and have a split ring and a plastic tab with a label covered by clear plastic film. label the tabs and attach them to your tackle wraps.
Rod guides become corroded and affect casting distance. Take some fine rubbing compound and polish the guides, then clean them out thoroughly. This will greatly improve casting distance.
Make sure your vehicle's lug wrench and jack are compatible with your boat trailer. If not get a quality broad based hydraulic or screw jack and a lug wrench that fits your trailer wheels. (the 4-way lug wrenches are best) keep this equipment in your tow vehicle, along with some flares and several foot-long wood 2 by 4's for jacking on soft or uneven surfaces.
You can screw your trolling motor's foot pedal to the deck of your boat to keep it from flopping around, but a more versatile solution is to secure it to the deck with self-adhesive hook and loop fastening material. Attach three 2 inch strips of the material to the bottom of the pedal. Then attach two 2 inch strips the same length as the foot pedal to the carpeting on the deck. Now you can angle the foot pedal to the left,right or center as needed.
Here's a trick for fixing a backlashed baitcasting reel: Before picking at the snarls. Tighten the drag. Then place your thumb tightly on the birdnest and turn the handle slowly, causing the wraps to turn under your thumb's pressure. This will straighten most of the line, making it easier to pick out the remaining tangles.
Choose a hook based on the fish you're after. For crappies and other soft-mouthed fish, use one of the new chemically sharpened hooks: they penetrate fast and create a small hole, so fish have a difficult time shaking them. For fish with tough mouths, like most saltwater species and large freshwater gamefish, use hooks with a cutting edge, because the chemically sharpened hooks don't penetrate well through bone.
When buying a popping bug, look carefully at the hook. For peak performance, it should have a straight eye, since a turned down eye will pull the bug's body off the water and a turned up eye will cause the bug to dig. The shank should also extend well behind the body for better hookups.
To remove memory from mono-filament on spinning reels, let out most of your line with nothing tied to its end and troll it behind the boat awhile.. the water's resistance, however small, will relax the coils.
To keep knots tied in superlines from slipping, double or triple the number of wraps you would normally make. This increases the surface area of the knot, thus ensuring a better grip.
for example: On a Palomar knot, pass the doubled line two or three times through the eye; on a uni-knot, take five turns around the loop and standing line.
Anglers often make a major mistake when they pinch down their barbs---especially on brittle, highly tempered hooks. They grasp the barb with pliers at a right angle, which puts pressure on the point and can break it off. Instead, pinch with the plier jaws extending over the point and past the barb. Needle-nosed pliers with wide, duckbill jaws facilitate the process.
A simple hosing won't prevent corrosion and rust on a reel used in salt water. Instead, give it the once-over with a soft brush and a solution of liquid detergent. Then tighten the drag and spray the reel with a fine hose setting. Next release the drag, and after the reel dries go over it with a cloth sprayed with a good desiccant like WD-40.
With ultralight jigs and tube baits, it's easy to miss hits because the lures weigh next to nothing and the takes are usually quite subtle. To fish these lures properly, acquaint yourself to how your line feels as you slowly lift your rod tip. The moment you detect a difference--an increase or decrease in weight--- set the hook. It's probably a fish.
More fresh water anglers should take a tip from their saltwater brethren and wear sheathed pliers with hook/wire cutters built in. Although they're good for everything from tightening loose fittings to popping bottle caps, You'll appreciate them most when you're faced with a fish wielding a mouth full of trebles.
Here's a creative way to get bait out to the middle of a lake , when wind is at your back and your stuck on shore: Rig a float stop on your line and set it to hold bait at any desired depth. Next thread the line through a bead, followed by one eye of a barrel swivel. Below the swivel, add split shot to sink the bait and to keep the hook from riding up against the swivel during the cast. Now slip a large paper clip through the empty swivel eye. Blow up a balloon.(yes a balloon!) and secure it to the paper clip. The wind will push the balloon out as far as you like and , because of the line stop, the bait will sink to the fish.
When a prime structure goes bad, blame it on the wind. A 15-knot breeze can set up a current that often moves gamefish off humps, shoals and rock piles. When the wind first kicks up, fish the windward side of the structure because bait will be washed into it. After a while, though , get off the structure entirely---- forage have been swept down-current and gamefish will often be feeding 100 or even 200 yards away in the natural chumline.