3 Best Fishing Tips and One Common Fishing Myth
10-06-2015
Author: Blog Editor in Outdoor Adventures 101
3 Fishing Tips and A Myth
By Brigham Madden-Cox
Outdoor Adventures 101 and MobileRVing are about to hit the water! You may have read my posts about what you need to know about wild camping with your motorhome and exclaimed “Hey! What if I want to go fishing?” Or maybe you already knew all about surviving encounters with dangerous wild animals but aren’t confident that you can make it through a fishing trip with your dad, your boss, or your new friends without looking like a rube. Well, this article will help you learn all of the basics of fishing techniques and will also provide a fun fact to share with your buddies the next time you’re out on the lake.
Outdoor Adventures 101 and MobileRVing are about to hit the water! You may have read my posts about what you need to know about wild camping with your motorhome and exclaimed “Hey! What if I want to go fishing?” Or maybe you already knew all about surviving encounters with dangerous wild animals but aren’t confident that you can make it through a fishing trip with your dad, your boss, or your new friends without looking like a rube. Well, this article will help you learn all of the basics of fishing techniques and will also provide a fun fact to share with your buddies the next time you’re out on the lake.
Live Bait Fishing and Enticing the Bite
Though the first tip should be to practice your casting fishing technique, writing a “How To” would probably only serve to confuse you. Instead, I’d suggest that you hit YouTube so you can see casting in action, or take a look at the suggestions of the experts.
The official first tip is to use natural, live fish bait, especially if you’re a beginner, as lures are not only more complicated but also, at times, less effective. Shovel into some good dirt and you’ll get a handful of earthworms, which are one of the best and most popular options for live bait. Other common alternatives are grasshoppers, leeches, or small minnows.
Once you have some good bait and have mastered the casting technique for your style of reel, you need to know what to do when you get a bite! Well, the problem is that it varies by species of fish. The first tip for “setting the hook” in your fishes’ mouth is knowing what kind of fish it is. If it is a fish that bites hard then all you need to do is immediately reel in the slack and flick up your wrist. However, this setting motion could cause lighter biting fish to bug off, so it can be (not always) better to wait until you feel a solid twang on your line, the line starts moving, or your bobber is suddenly pulled under, all signals that it’s time to set.
Simple Steps for Reeling in a Fish
How to reel in a fish will differ depending on what size beast you aim to tackle. If you are angling in a pond or a smaller lake and you get a fish on the line, simply holding your rod at a 45 degree angle from the water and reeling should suffice. However, reeling in the big fish is a bit more difficult and requires a few steps:
The official first tip is to use natural, live fish bait, especially if you’re a beginner, as lures are not only more complicated but also, at times, less effective. Shovel into some good dirt and you’ll get a handful of earthworms, which are one of the best and most popular options for live bait. Other common alternatives are grasshoppers, leeches, or small minnows.
Once you have some good bait and have mastered the casting technique for your style of reel, you need to know what to do when you get a bite! Well, the problem is that it varies by species of fish. The first tip for “setting the hook” in your fishes’ mouth is knowing what kind of fish it is. If it is a fish that bites hard then all you need to do is immediately reel in the slack and flick up your wrist. However, this setting motion could cause lighter biting fish to bug off, so it can be (not always) better to wait until you feel a solid twang on your line, the line starts moving, or your bobber is suddenly pulled under, all signals that it’s time to set.
Simple Steps for Reeling in a Fish
How to reel in a fish will differ depending on what size beast you aim to tackle. If you are angling in a pond or a smaller lake and you get a fish on the line, simply holding your rod at a 45 degree angle from the water and reeling should suffice. However, reeling in the big fish is a bit more difficult and requires a few steps:
- Know that it’s a big fish—How? If your reel starts to lose line causing a buzzing sound, then you’ve probably hooked a big one.
- Next, ONLY reel when the rod stops moving/buzzing.
- Similar to smaller fish, hold the rod at a 45 degree angle and point it toward the fish while reeling.
- Do not allow the fish to rest. If the line is moving, the fish is swimming and if you’re reeling it is struggling. Keep it doing one of these two things.
- Try the pump and reel method—When the line stops moving calmly pull the rod up, pointing skyward, and then reel as you lower it back to a 45 degree angle at an even speed and pressure. Repeat as long as the line is not moving.
So long as you use these methods, you should have some luck catching fish. However, remember that you must set the hook before you start reeling as you’ll lose fish far more often if you don’t purposefully attempt to hook it.
Cleaning a Fish in Minutes
Once you’ve landed a fish you’ll want to clean it as soon as you can, within an hour or two of it dying (keep it alive or on ice for as long as you can). When you clean it you’ll want to do so outside and a mat of newspaper:
Cleaning a Fish in Minutes
Once you’ve landed a fish you’ll want to clean it as soon as you can, within an hour or two of it dying (keep it alive or on ice for as long as you can). When you clean it you’ll want to do so outside and a mat of newspaper:
- Keep the scales wet to make scaling easier.
- Use a butter knife and stroke from the tail to the gills to remove scales (don’t press too hard, and be careful of the fins).
- Rinse, but don’t put high pressured water too close to the meat, as it can ruin it.
- To gut the fish insert a sharp knife in the anus near the tail and cut toward the head.
- Spread the fish open at the cut and remove entrails into a bucket.
- Rinse again.
- Chop off the head (for smaller fish) and keep the fish on ice until you cook it.
If your fish doesn’t have scales you’ll need a pair of pliers. Make a cut along the spine from dorsal fin to dorsal fin (on top) and then use the pliers to pull the skin off from the top of the fish to the tail.
Once you’ve scaled/skinned the fish and have gutted it, you may want to filet it to remove the bones. This process is relatively easy with good guidance, which is readily available on WikiHow.
Keep Quiet!—The Most Common of Fishing Myths
Now that you know a little bit more about fishing and are less likely to seem like the new guy on the pond/lake/ocean, you should know about one of the myths of fishing: the fish can hear you!
Though fish have hearing that is much more sensitive than humans, that only applies to noise that travels through water. Anything above the surface, from voices to loud music, won’t bother them at all. This is good to know because it means that you can have a great conversation with your fishing buddy, make fun of the boredom with some favorite tunes, or whistle to your heart’s content.
As a parting note, make sure you have a fishing license and that you don’t catch fish that you’re not supposed to! You should be provided with the state fishing regulations for your area when you get you license, but they are also quite easy to look up online.
Photo Credit
Once you’ve scaled/skinned the fish and have gutted it, you may want to filet it to remove the bones. This process is relatively easy with good guidance, which is readily available on WikiHow.
Keep Quiet!—The Most Common of Fishing Myths
Now that you know a little bit more about fishing and are less likely to seem like the new guy on the pond/lake/ocean, you should know about one of the myths of fishing: the fish can hear you!
Though fish have hearing that is much more sensitive than humans, that only applies to noise that travels through water. Anything above the surface, from voices to loud music, won’t bother them at all. This is good to know because it means that you can have a great conversation with your fishing buddy, make fun of the boredom with some favorite tunes, or whistle to your heart’s content.
As a parting note, make sure you have a fishing license and that you don’t catch fish that you’re not supposed to! You should be provided with the state fishing regulations for your area when you get you license, but they are also quite easy to look up online.
Photo Credit
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