Fishing Tips Digest

The color of crappie is not always going to tell you which variety you have. Here’s an easy way to tell a white crappie from a black crappie.

Count the stiff spines in the dorsal fin. If it’s 6, it’s a white crappie. 7 or 8 makes it a black crappie.

The white crappie also tend to have a banded body while the black crappie is speckled.

Try out these bass fishing tips and see if they help you catch more fish.

•    When you are bass fishing in the spring, fish uphill (either move your boat to shallow water or fish from shore) and cast into the deep waters using a 1/8 ounce weight.

•    In the fall you want to fish downhill, the reverse of above.

•    Using a Texas rigged worm can help prevent hang-ups.

•    Keep the worm suspended about 90% of the time.

•    Make sure your hooks are sharp. Many fishermen ignore this and lose potential catches.

•    If you are doodling (place a glass bead between the hook and the sinker so you can shake it and make noise), it’s critical to make  your presentation look natural by downsizing your hooks to 1/0 or lower, and trying to keep your bait straight so it looks natural.

•    Crystal clear waters can be tough to fish in. The secret to fishing weenie worms is to maintain slack on your fishing line and “shake” the bait instead of dragging it. This shaking of the rod and your light line gives your worm, grub or similar some serious action if done properly.

Bass bait colors are not always easy to predict and you just have to toss the line out and see what happens. Change colors until you find something that works.

Having said that, if you have a basic idea as to what works when, it can save you a lot of trouble.

On cloudy days or in dark and choppy waters, try a dark color surface lure first. When visibility is poor, bass seem to see dark objects better than light ones. Go figure. The opposite of what you would expect?

When night fishing for bass, dark finish lures are almost always going to catch you more bass.

On bright days and in clear water, give your red and white, yellow, or frog finish surface lures a try.

I was reading this article this weekend about a fishing area in downtown Anchorage.

Alaska is one place I would love to fish at someday. The scenery looks beautiful and you always hear about the good fishing in the area. But I have always heard it was expensive as you had to rent charter boats and get your equipment and head out to sea.

This sounds like a good way to visit Alaska and get some fishing in at the same time without going broke. The first thing you would most likely want to do is find out what kinds of fish are in this fishing spot and then pick up some fishing tips on catching the buggers.

If I get a chance to make it there; and if I do my grandson will be with me; I’ll let you know how it went. If anyone has fished this downtown hole, it would be nice if you could take time to comment about your experience.

I got irked the other evening when Cody and I were fishing. A kid around Cody’s age hooked a fish and was excited. He was trying to reel it in when his mother told him to let his dad bring it in. The kid said no, he wanted to.

His dad took the fishing pole from him and started to reel it in while the kid started crying. Fishermen were watching in disgust. Guess what? The fish got away.

When all was said and done, they told their boy to toss in the line again and he said he did not want to fish anymore.

What should be a great experience all around turned into a family disaster and possibly a kid who will not be eager to do any more fishing. What a shame. How important was it that the parents put catching a fish over watching the joy of their child as he tried to reel it in. Had he lost it, they should have let him know even the best fishermen lose a fish they hooked and, had he brought it in, how thrilled would he have been?

Cody caught his first fish at age 5. He hooked it and was excited as could be and the look on his face when he landed it was priceless. He was hooked on fishing.

This year he hooked a carp (turned out to be 23″) and was working like heck to bring it in so I could get it in the net. He wanted to know if I wanted to take over and I told him there was no way. It was his fish, not mine.

He was shaking when he reeled it in. The day before I had caught a 21″ carp and he now tells everyone he caught a bigger fish than me. And I prefer it that way. I would much rather see him catch fish than even catching them myself; and I love to catch fish.

Don’t forget the real reason you should be fishing. Bring the fun back to it and, if you have kids or grandkids, enjoy the experience and bonding. The kids will remember you for it when you are long gone.