“Remember, a dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream.”
“I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it.”
W. C. Fields
***
“If fishing is a religion, fly fishing is high church.”
Tom Brokaw
***
“When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain.”
“Don't tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don't tell them where they know the fish.”
Mark Twain
***
“Sell a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man how to fish, you ruin a wonderful business opportunity.”
Karl Marx
***
“It has always been my private conviction that any man who puts his intelligence up against a fish and loses had it coming.”
John Steinbeck
***
“If you want to catch more fish, use more hooks.”
George Allen
***
“Fish, I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends.”
Ernest Hemingway
***
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Excerpt from Doug Hannon interview. The full article is on http://www.fieldandstream.com/fishing
These are the parts I found most interesting.
How I Fish: Doug Hannon
Pursuing big bass became a passion of mine. The first thing I did was hire a guide who guaranteed a 10-pound bass, because I knew I could learn from him. I also called an outdoors columnist and asked him about every bass over 15 pounds that he ever reported on and about the guys who caught them. Then I spoke with those anglers and found out every circumstance around their catches. The biggest thing those fish had in common was that they were all caught in 6 feet or less of water. Now I knew where to fish, and where not to fish.
So many of us think fishing is about the angler being the one who beats up on the fish. Fishing is about a role reversal. You have to be able to be the submissive, vulnerable thing that gets caught and make the lure pretend it’s scared. Leave the aggression to the fish, and you’ll catch more bass.
I like fishing after the spawn best—in the late spring and early summer. The fish will attack anything, and all of your different lures and presentations work because the fish are so aggressive.
The secret to catching big bass in cover is to fish in and around the heaviest stuff with a large lure, and work the lure so it causes a commotion in the weedbeds and is easy for the fish to find.
I’m a small-lure guy. I’ve caught 90 percent of my 10-pound bass on a 7-inch straight-tail worm.
I don't like to just crank a lure back to the boat. I bounce it, stop-and-go jerk it, or slow down my retrieve. Predation is an optimistic instinct. A fish looks for that one reaction from the lure that tells him it’s real. When you can repeatedly change the action in a short span of time if he follows your lure, it’s likely that the fish will interpret one of those changes as a reaction to his presence and strike.
A lure doesn't have to look like a fish. It has to move like one. When a spinnerbait moves in water, it’s a very natural lure, and that’s one reason it’s lasted so long.
The most important thing I've ever learned is to have enough patience and confidence to believe that where you are fishing is where the fish are—and to rely on the fact that when you do get it right, it’ll work.
Niney percent of fish don't bite 90 percent of the time.
You can't have your best day of fishing without having one of your deepest disappointments, in terms of a lost fish, and somehow turn that into something positive.
These are the parts I found most interesting.
How I Fish: Doug Hannon
Pursuing big bass became a passion of mine. The first thing I did was hire a guide who guaranteed a 10-pound bass, because I knew I could learn from him. I also called an outdoors columnist and asked him about every bass over 15 pounds that he ever reported on and about the guys who caught them. Then I spoke with those anglers and found out every circumstance around their catches. The biggest thing those fish had in common was that they were all caught in 6 feet or less of water. Now I knew where to fish, and where not to fish.
So many of us think fishing is about the angler being the one who beats up on the fish. Fishing is about a role reversal. You have to be able to be the submissive, vulnerable thing that gets caught and make the lure pretend it’s scared. Leave the aggression to the fish, and you’ll catch more bass.
I like fishing after the spawn best—in the late spring and early summer. The fish will attack anything, and all of your different lures and presentations work because the fish are so aggressive.
The secret to catching big bass in cover is to fish in and around the heaviest stuff with a large lure, and work the lure so it causes a commotion in the weedbeds and is easy for the fish to find.
I’m a small-lure guy. I’ve caught 90 percent of my 10-pound bass on a 7-inch straight-tail worm.
I don't like to just crank a lure back to the boat. I bounce it, stop-and-go jerk it, or slow down my retrieve. Predation is an optimistic instinct. A fish looks for that one reaction from the lure that tells him it’s real. When you can repeatedly change the action in a short span of time if he follows your lure, it’s likely that the fish will interpret one of those changes as a reaction to his presence and strike.
A lure doesn't have to look like a fish. It has to move like one. When a spinnerbait moves in water, it’s a very natural lure, and that’s one reason it’s lasted so long.
The most important thing I've ever learned is to have enough patience and confidence to believe that where you are fishing is where the fish are—and to rely on the fact that when you do get it right, it’ll work.
Niney percent of fish don't bite 90 percent of the time.
You can't have your best day of fishing without having one of your deepest disappointments, in terms of a lost fish, and somehow turn that into something positive.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
After work
Went to a creek last night after work around 7. Had two hours until dark.
I decided to wade the creek with my fly rod. I could see bass cruising and bluegill were slamming surface bugs.
I started out with a small bass bug. And immediately started catching the bluegill. But the bass weren't having any of it. I then changed to a nymph pattern that I had concocted (similar to a zebra nymph but red). On the 3rd cast it was sucked up by a nice 1 1/2 pound bass.
From then on it was steady fishing. That is until my one and only nymph decided to check out a tree. I tried other flies (sculpin, hopper, woolly bugger, copper john) but nothing seemed to attract their attention.
Note to self....check fly box before racing off to the creek.
All in all, it was a good night. Cooled off to the mid 90's by 8:30 or so and the mosquitoes were on strike....or at least not working.
I decided to wade the creek with my fly rod. I could see bass cruising and bluegill were slamming surface bugs.
I started out with a small bass bug. And immediately started catching the bluegill. But the bass weren't having any of it. I then changed to a nymph pattern that I had concocted (similar to a zebra nymph but red). On the 3rd cast it was sucked up by a nice 1 1/2 pound bass.
From then on it was steady fishing. That is until my one and only nymph decided to check out a tree. I tried other flies (sculpin, hopper, woolly bugger, copper john) but nothing seemed to attract their attention.
Note to self....check fly box before racing off to the creek.
All in all, it was a good night. Cooled off to the mid 90's by 8:30 or so and the mosquitoes were on strike....or at least not working.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Just rambling
Hello,
My name is Ben, I live in Oklahoma and I love fishing. I didn't say I was good at it. But I do love it.
I have spent many days without a bite. And several with the fish jumping on the fly/lure. I have been fishing for 4 + years now and still consider myself a novice. So some of the posts you see here will be really basic stuff, but if it is interesting or new to me, it will probably end up here.
I don't limit myself to one type of fishing (although maybe I should.) I enjoy fly fishing, bass fishing and even cat fishing. It depends on the body of water that I am near. I live within 10 minutes of a lake, 3 rivers, and many ponds and creeks. For the smaller water, I usually take my fly rod. For the lake and rivers I use the bass rods.
But if I had to state a preference, it would be for the fly rod. It doesn't look 'pretty' when I cast it, but I am fairly acurate and it catches everything that swims. I have caught pan fish, bass, carp, trout, and cat fish on it. And the fight factor from the limber rod is great.
A two pound bass on my bass rod (mh 6 1/2' falcon rod/shamano curado reel) doesn't put up much fight. It is pretty much a short reel to the boat. But that same fish on my 6 wt fly rod is a huge fight. Even large pan fish and crappie are great fights. So maybe I'm not a fisherman, but a fish fighter...
Anyway. That is the first post....just me rambling. Maybe the next ones will make more sense.
My name is Ben, I live in Oklahoma and I love fishing. I didn't say I was good at it. But I do love it.
I have spent many days without a bite. And several with the fish jumping on the fly/lure. I have been fishing for 4 + years now and still consider myself a novice. So some of the posts you see here will be really basic stuff, but if it is interesting or new to me, it will probably end up here.
I don't limit myself to one type of fishing (although maybe I should.) I enjoy fly fishing, bass fishing and even cat fishing. It depends on the body of water that I am near. I live within 10 minutes of a lake, 3 rivers, and many ponds and creeks. For the smaller water, I usually take my fly rod. For the lake and rivers I use the bass rods.
But if I had to state a preference, it would be for the fly rod. It doesn't look 'pretty' when I cast it, but I am fairly acurate and it catches everything that swims. I have caught pan fish, bass, carp, trout, and cat fish on it. And the fight factor from the limber rod is great.
A two pound bass on my bass rod (mh 6 1/2' falcon rod/shamano curado reel) doesn't put up much fight. It is pretty much a short reel to the boat. But that same fish on my 6 wt fly rod is a huge fight. Even large pan fish and crappie are great fights. So maybe I'm not a fisherman, but a fish fighter...
Anyway. That is the first post....just me rambling. Maybe the next ones will make more sense.
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