Fishing Flooded Lakes For Bass In The Grass – The Wired Angler …

We’ve had a good amount of rainfall here in California this year and a lot of small lakes are full already. With each passing storm some are even flooding for short periods of time. This is a luxury we have…

Posted on February 28, 2010 Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Fishing with Bait or Lures?

BAIT OR LURE?    Which is more effective? If you ask me, bait of just about any kind is more effective than the artificial lure. It doesn’t matter whether I’m fishing with herring strip, the rotary salmon killer, anchovy, or cut plug herring. Fishing for Coho or Chinook, bait will get more strikes, 8 times out of 10. Many of the biggest fish I’ve brought aboard were hooked on bait. But here’s the thing. Even though I am a professional charter captain, I fish with bait less than 10% of the time. I am paid to produce the most amount of fish in the shortest period of time. Here’s why I choose the artificial lure: 1. Fishing with artificial lures allows me to fish faster and cover more water. 2. I don’t need to worry about not having the right action on my lure. As long as I’m fishing within the speed range for that particular lure, all I have to do is wait for a strike. 3. Because I can fish faster with lures, I can use a heavier leader and larger hooks. This cuts my loss ratio when I have an inexperienced client on the rod. 4. I can change the color, shape, and size of the lure to match the feed that’s in the area at a moment’s notice. I rarely take 3 or 4 sizes of bait with me if I plan to fish bait that day. On the other hand, I have dozens of different color lures in all shapes and sizes. 5. I can fish with large lures to attract only the larger salmon. If smaller salmon take a swipe an miss, the action of the lure stays the same and I’m still fishing. 6. Bait attracts all types of fish, and because you generally fish bait more slowly than lures, you can attract more attention from dogfish which if hooked will make you re-tie your leader. 7. Because of the delicate nature of bait, even a small strike can alter it’s action, making it ineffective. Especially when fishing bait from a downrigger, these small strikes can be imperceptible, especially when fishing in rough water. You could be dragging bare hooks or a badly mangled bait for as long as it takes for you to figure something is wrong because no fish are hitting. 8. Bait must generally be changed every half hour or so because of the water drag disintegration of the bait. 9. Fishing with bait usually requires fishing with a lighter leader and smaller hooks. Perfect for the true sportsman in search of his trophy. Not so perfect for a charter operator with a first time client on the rod. All these factors lead to less time actually fishing, and more time checking and resetting bait, shaking off undesirable fish, and retying those light leaders after each dogfish. But from time to time, bait can be the solution that will elicit a strike from that large chinook. When I’m fishing an areas such as bays, inlets, and estuaries that are holding places or stopping points for mature king salmon, bait is often the most effective. It’s also my favorite way of fishing when I have time to myself and I am fishing close to shore. There’s nothing like the feeling that at any moment the reel can be zinging and  you hooks in the stomach of another large Chinook! Bottom Line : Fishing with lures allows me more time with gear in the water, fishing effectively than fishing with bait where it needs to be checked or reset every few minutes. Day in and day out, this will produce more fish for my guests, which is what everybody wants. But if you are looking to catch the derby winning salmon at this years’ Ucluelet salmon fishing derby, you may want a good supply of bait in your cooler. And, if you prefer fishing exclusively for trophy Chinook, check our TROPHY PACKAGE . ‘Til next time Ray Vandervalk Related Posts: MATCHING THE BAIT FISHING WITH THE CURRENT HOW TO CATCH TWICE AS MANY SALMON

Posted on February 28, 2010 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Report | Leave a Comment

‘It Can Only Get Better’!

It’s a funny old game this fishing lark, I spend hours getting ready for matches turning casters and making rigs and at the moment seem to be continually drawing the wrong end of the section! I for one will be really pleased when this winter is over and the fish start to spread out a bit, hopefully the draw bag will then not play such an important part of the proceedings. Mind you I did get a little closer to a hot peg on one of my midweek matches so perhaps my luck is about to change? I was keen to get back to Gwinear on Tuesday as I wanted to put the last match there out of my mind. I was thinking I had no chance of drawing phase one as it is normally not in midweek especially out of the tourist season. You can imagine my horror when I found out after I paid that it was in! I really didn’t want to draw there, at least it was only one bank that was in so the half way rule didn’t apply. I had everything crossed as I put my hand into the bag and was overjoyed when I saw peg 51 on phase two staring back at me. My joy didn’t last that long when Harry Billing drew peg 36 on the same lake it really is proving a difficult peg to compete against, especially when someone of his calibre is on it. What’s more he was practically opposite me which would make my favoured waggler approach very difficult. Too tight for the waggler To cut a long story short I struggled on the waggler only catching a couple of small carp in the first couple of hours. I was really going nowhere; Harry had caught steadily but again not as much as expected. I had set up a pole to fish towards the bank at 14.5m which I had initially started on and caught quite a few 2oz F1’s which I had put straight back. I decided to fish for them just to see what could be caught but I was now just going use my top two straight in front of me. I had 90 minutes fishing for them with an adapted rig and caught really well probably catching around 70 in that time! It was good fun trying to keep them coming, it would have been better with a rig that was designed for the job but they kept coming. As Jason to my right started catching proper carp I gave up, I did think at one stage I might nick the section!  I actually weighed around 15lb having caught a couple of late carp on the waggler fished to my left towards the bank, so I guestimate my F1’s went around 9lb which is really good news for the future! As predicted Harry won the match with around 42lb but he was pushed close by Jason Eccles who was second with 35lb he had a late run on the straight lead. Golden Oldie On Thursday it was back to the Barns and this week there was a better turn out, we were on Joan’s lake which is the carp pool. The golden peg had reached just over a £100 and this week it had a good chance of going into somebody’s pocket as flyer peg 14 was drawn as the GP. I was near the front of the queue, keen to get in front of some of the draw bags that were in attendance!  I had my dip and thought for a moment that I had drawn ‘the peg’ but alas it as peg 16 that was to be my home for the day. I let out a cheer just as a wind up but before I had finished making some noise, Eric who drew behind me had a smug grin on his face as he had peg 14 stuck firmly in his hand! Well at least I am getting closer, and peg 16 is not a bad one so I was feeling confident. Same people, same places! Once again it was going to be hard work to get amongst the coin as Manchester Mick plonked himself down on peg 11 he opened his winder draw and selected ‘peg 11 rigs’ and put them on his pole, he was ready within minutes of sitting down. No need for him to plumb the peg anymore the swim is as familiar as his front room! Only joking mate, jealous of your drawing ability? Bet your life I am! My plan My main line of attack was the bottom of the far shelf and I was fishing this as far to my left as I possibly could. With peg 15 empty I obviously wanted to get as close to that flyer 14 as possible. I found that it was much shallower the nearer I got to it. This is as a result of the mains water way pipe that runs under the lake from around peg 9 which obviously causes a hump in the bottom of both swims albeit it is much more pronounced on peg 9. I was unsure whether or not this would be a problem for me as it no doubt gets deeper on the peg 14 side of the huge pipe. Mental note to self that peg 15 could be a very good when the water warms! My rigs were 4 x 12 J15 floats with a 18s Milo t213 hook to a.10 Xedion hook length which I was going to use for the corn and maggot. I also had another similar rig with a hair rig with an 18s PR36 hook.  A 4 x 10 J1 float completed my set up which was set at 2’ for fishing around the far bank on the steep shelf. Unfortunately for me it was not to be, a very slow start resulted in a nice run of carp that I caught at 11m at the bottom of the far shelf, they went 44lb but it was 25lb behind Eric who won the match at a canter with around 70lb followed by the consistent Mick with 60lb and Roger Naylor with 49lb. Congratulations to Eric for making the most of a favourable draw, he had a fantastic days fishing. I did notice that he walked back to his van with a noticeable limp, no doubt all those £1 nuggets in his trouser pocket making it difficult for him to walk! The time for change I actually quite enjoyed the match there was some friendly banter going on, the weather was not too bad a little rain but no wind so it was a brolly day. We all caught fish with most recording over 25lb but what was important for me was seeing the changes at the Barns, which are no doubt happening slowly all around the country. It was good to see the birds carrying bits and pieces away to build nests, there was even a wood pecker having a go at a tree somewhere behind me in the woods. All signs that this dreadful winter is on its way out; spring is around the corner hopefully we will get some settled weather soon! Individual league I was looking forward to the Sunday Individual league match at White Acres it was another float only silvers match. I spent some more time making rigs and tying hooks and by Sunday morning I was well up for the challenge. There are only four matches left in this league and I could do with some section wins to claw myself up the table a bit! There was a reasonable turnout although numbers were dropping as is normal when leagues come towards the end, people think they can no longer make the individual money so don’t bother coming, it’s a shame really as the fishing is brilliant. Three lakes were in use today and I really did not mind whether it was the Match Lake, Jennies or Trelawney where I made my home for the day. But when my hand came out of the bag of dreams clutching peg 16 on Trelawney my mind raced back to the corresponding fixture last year. Then I drew peg 15 and spent the whole day playing carp in a silvers only match. That day I finished last in section whilst Mike O’Gorman absolutely paralysed the match with F1’s from the other end peg! How do we fish this? I was a little unsure how to approach the peg, I was confident as it was colder than last year and it may put the carp off. However, next peg neighbour Andy Dare thought I would be carp fishing and he told me at every available moment!  There has been a load more fish go into this lake so I just hoped that they wanted to live in front of me but deep down I knew I was in trouble! The swim is reasonably shallow at around 5’, I set up some 4 x12 J5 floats for fishing at or near he deck for roach and F1’s The bottom here is really good and I plumbed around and found lines that I could fish at 5m up to around 14.5 using the same rig which was great, less to setup! I also set up a J13 float for up in the water just in case the F1’s were here and wanted to come out to play. I decided to feed ground bait and casters on two lines at 6m and dampened micro pellets at 14m going along with my philosophy that Cornish F1’s are best caught long. On the whistle I fed my three swims and started over the ground bait to my left looking for roach. Around 30 minutes later I was still looking, Andy had missed a couple of bites and had a couple of small fish in his net but the bad news as far as we were concerned was the rest of the section to Andy’s right were all bagging especially Andy Partridge on the far end peg, sound familiar? Here we go. Eventually the roach appeared and I played at pretending to catch up but it just wasn’t going to happen. Within 30 minutes of catching the float dipped and a steady flow of number six elastic came out of the pole tip, as carp number 1 made a bid for freedom! I slipped the net under him and it was a great big mirror of around 10lb, one of those where the tail is half out of the landing net! Oh man here we go again! The roach come back after awhile and all of a sudden no bites! Time to try the other swim as carp are obviously in attendance again. A few roach on the new line before carp number 2 is trying in vain to get to Andy Partridge and it’s another hump backed mirror! Well to cut this story short I gave up on the roach lines and concentrated fishing long, figuring I needed some of those big F1’s to be in with any chance of competing and gaining some valuable points. I did manage two nice fish along with a fantastic golden one plus the odd skimmer and roach and of course the obligatory carp or two! I ended up with 12lb odd for plumb last again! My only consolation was that Andy Partridge walked the section and match with a lovely bag of fish for 55lb but every body to his left got progressively lower weights in chronological order, leaving Andy and I last pair which really proved to me we had drawn well out of it! Born lucky It’s got to the stage at the moment where Clint Elliot is calling me ‘lucky’ with his tongue firmly in his cheek and the wife telling me I have lost it when I get home with tales of woe. Even my six year old is joining in the fun, I know it is just one of those runs that I tend to go through, around the corner the luck will gradually make an appearance in the Lister pegs and I will suddenly need to remember what to do with all them brown envelopes! The main point is that I am enjoying my fishing at the moment, I have had some fantastic nets of fish and next week I will be back out doing what I enjoy once again.

Posted on February 26, 2010 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

Of Dragons & Damsels

Last Tuesday Murray tied 2 flies , the Razor Foam Damsel and a awesome Dragon fly pattern , the Pappa Roach. If you would like some more info on these 2 beauties give us a ring in the shop or send us a mail. Razor Foam Damsel fly Nymph Below it the Pappa Roach ( named after a Rock Band) . Murray and i have landed our Biggest Trout on this fly. You hardly retrieve this guy. Pappa Roach The Rainbow ( 5.3kg ) below was caught at Highland Lodge in November 2007. The bullet of choice – Pappa Roach , Gun – Thomas & Thomas HS 905 , with a floating line on a Ross Evolution Reel. If all go according to plan we will be starting our trips to Highland Lodge in May this year. We will keep you updated. One last thing, remember we have our OPEN day on Saturday 27th February. This will start at 09:00.

Posted on February 26, 2010 Filed Under Fish, Lake Fishing, SaltWater Fishing | Leave a Comment

Youth create fish habitat and contribute to better angling

Youth involved in FFA and agricultural classes at Valiant Schools recently teamed up with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and the Pushmataha County Sportsmen s Club to give a southeast Oklahoma fishery a boost.

Posted on February 26, 2010 Filed Under Fish | Leave a Comment

How2 make Awesome Barbeque Fish Sandwiches

Bert fixin up the grub at Chicora Alley

Posted on February 25, 2010 Filed Under Fish, Fishing | Leave a Comment

Tippets: Hatcheries in High Gear, Cleaner Aquaculture

Raising trout: Michigan’s Pendills Creek and Idaho’s Henry’s Lake hatcheries jump into high gear. Christian Science Monitor : Will ” recirculating aquaculture systems cut the pollution and disease that occur in current fish farming operations”?

Posted on February 25, 2010 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Trips | Leave a Comment

Fishing Trip – Mozambique

Fishing Trip to Ponta. Place for 8 people on boat. Food, Drinks and Accommodation not included. Must arrange own passport and other documents. The Trip includes Charter Boat & Skipper for Fishing or Relaxing. 27 feet Boat with Experience Skipper/Diver. Fishing Trips at R5000.00 per day for Boat, skipper and Petrol. Weather Permitting. Call Petrus: 083 584 7473 petrus@forafrica.co.za Place available for next two weeks. … (28 February to 14 March 2010) | For Africa | StLuciaOrgZa | ElephantCoastCoZa | iSimangaliso | Accommodation |

Posted on February 25, 2010 Filed Under Fish, Fishing, Fishing Trips | Leave a Comment

Huge New Dinosaur Found via "Mind-boggling" Skulls

Four 105-million-year-old dinosaur skulls with surprisingly tiny teeth may give scientists a head start on understanding the biggest animals ever to walk the Earth, a new study says.

Posted on February 24, 2010 Filed Under Fishing, Fishing Diary, Sea Holidays | Leave a Comment

Surf Casting Bait – Blood Worms

It is important to know what surf casting bait catches which fish. Also you’ll want to know which is better – live or fake, and which catches more fish. Here we’ll look at blood worms as a bait.

Posted on February 24, 2010 Filed Under Fish, Fishing Report, Sea Holidays | Leave a Comment

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