Bass Fishing Techniques-Tips & Tricks

Since I was a young boy, I've always wanted to learn how to fish. However, I never really had the time to do it. My family lives in the middle of a major city so I didn't have a lot of opportunities to pick up a rod and reel. Anyway, I made up my mind to start doing the things I've always wanted to do, but never quite got around to, now that my kids are off at college and I've got more time to myself. I'm currently looking for some fun and easy ways to learn basic bass fishing techniques. This way I’ll have something to show to my buddies when we go on a camping trip next month.

To be honest, I never actually knew that there would be specific bass fishing techniques to learn. I figured that I just need to bait the hook, cast the line into the water, and sit around until something bit because I have never fished before in my life. I guess that's not the way to do things if you're serious about catching some fish. I realized that I will be able to achieve results by learning some tried and true fishing techniques developed by the pros. I am ready to devote myself to studying bass fishing techniques for the next few weeks because I want to impress my friends by catching a lot of big fish on my very first time out.

I was surprised by the amount of information available when I searched for information about bass fishing techniques on the Internet. I had plenty of material to read and I learned a great deal in a short space of time through the numerous websites dedicated to the study of bass fishing techniques. I was able to learn that using the right type of lure is important. I now know that the type of lure that I should use depends on the time of day that I’m out on the water.
Well, some of the things I learned might be elementary info for the seasoned professionals, but it's something I never would have guessed. I also discovered that choosing the right spot is one of the most critical fishing techniques a beginner can learn. These were just two of the techniques that I learned on my initial search for information on bass fishing techniques.

I purchased some lures and other products that recommended by professional anglers, after I read about some tips for bass fishing. I realized these products would help me, even if having the right products alone wouldn't guarantee that I'd land some big fish. I am now confident that I won’t embarrass myself when we go out on the water because I've learned enough bass fishing techniques. I'll be able to enjoy myself thanks to the tips and tricks I've picked up recently, even if I don't catch the biggest or the most fish.

Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning Bass Fishing Techniques. Visit our site for more helpful information about Bass Fishing Techniques and other similar topics.
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Should Salmon Fishermen Get Aid?

Salmon Fishermen May Soon Get Aid

Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez has agreed to take the first steps toward declaring an economic disaster for salmon fishermen in Oregon and California, whose season has been virtually shut down to protect dwindling returns to the Klamath River.

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Rainbow, brown trout available in ample supply in lakes

Fishing across Colorado has settled into an early summer mode. Conditions generally are good, or at least improving in much of the state.Large mountain reservoirs such as the South Park and North Park lakes and Blue Mesa and Taylor reservoirs on the Western Slope remain good bets for trout fishermen. Fish still are in relatively shallow water, within casting distance of shoreline anglers, and active throughout the day.

Rainbow and brown trout are the top attraction in most of the lakes, but some also have lake trout, also known as mackinaw, and kokanee salmon. Lake trout are the largest members of the trout/char family, and during much of the year they are found in deep water and difficult to catch without specialized deep-trolling equipment.

In spring and early summer they may be in shallower areas, where they can be taken on conventional fishing tackle. Likely waters for mackinaw this time of year include Taylor, Turquoise and Granby reservoirs, as well as Twin Lakes, the Mount Elbert Forebay, Jefferson Lake and the Catamount reservoirs on the north slope of Pikes Peak.Stream fishermen, meanwhile, are looking toward the end of the runoff.

Most rivers already have dropped. Many already are fishably clear, and most should be in prime condition in another week to 10 days. Warm-water fishing across much of the state is approaching its peak. Bass, wipers, walleyes and other fish have become increasingly active as water temperatures have warmed. With continued hot weather, however, good fishing increasingly is becoming and early morning and late-afternoon affair.

Watchdog facing big fine as angler sues over pollution

Britain's environment watchdog faces a large fine after a fly fisherman successfully prosecuted it for polluting a river.

The Environment Agency admitted responsibility for the pollution in the first such case against the watchdog in its 10-year history.

The prosecution followed the death last September of hundreds of young salmon and trout on a tributary of the river Exe in Devon.

The agency contracted May Gurney, from Norwich, to carry out work on a flow- monitoring station on the Barle, a tributary of the Exe, Cullompton magistrates heard.

Cement waste containing hazardous chemicals should have been pumped away from the river but was instead allowed to flow into it.

The private prosecution was brought by Ian Cook, who owns a mile of salmon fishing rights on the Exe, near Exeter. The agency and May Gurney both admitted causing cement waste to poison fish. The prosecution was brought under the 1975 Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act and to do so Mr Cook had to obtain written consent from Margaret Beckett, the Environment Secretary.

Magistrates adjourned the case to Exeter Crown Court for sentencing next month because they felt that their maximum fine of £5,000 would be insufficient.

Sarah Fry, the bench chairman, said: "This incident was rated by the Environment Agency as a level-one incident, the worst type. Given that the Environment Agency is the watchdog, it is extremely serious when they themselves fail to comply."

Richard Banwell, for the agency, said: "This is a day of considerable sadness for the agency to find itself prosecuted for a pollution incident for the first time."
Mr Cook said that compensation claims were being compiled by the Anglers'

Conservation Association. "The agency should have owned up immediately and prosecuted the contractors. But instead they did nothing," he said.

www.secrets-of-trout-fishing.com

Some time in late May, swarms of the tiny mayfly mate and lay eggs in their thousands on the surface of chalk rivers. To the delight of the duffer, the brief emergence of the mayfly on warm, muggy days brings fish to the surface to gorge themselves, which makes them easy pickings. All you need to do is cast a dry fly.

Harry Jackson is more novice than duffer. The four-year-old stunned his brother, Jake, six, and their mother, Emma, when, last May, he caught a 5lb trout on the Avon at their home, Woodford Mill at Middle Woodford, four miles from Salisbury. A Grade II-listed converted mill, it is set in three acres of grounds with 252 yards of double-bank - and 320 yards of single-bank - fishing. To the chagrin of the boys, it is for sale.

"In fact, he wasn't using a fly, it was a piece of bread but I guess he's ruined for life now - it was a huge fish," says Emma, who, having divorced, wants somewhere smaller. "The boys spend all their days in and out of the river and I adore fishing with them. I've lived in the house for 18 years and was brought up half a mile away, so I don't want to go far. It's magic here and, with any luck, we'll be heaving with mayfly in the next few weeks."

The sight of mayfly jiggling above a stream at this time of year proves irresistibly attractive to anyone after good fishing. It also brings out the latent entomologist in estate agents who, from now until the end of June, will assume the air of experts in the mayfly's day-long life cycle - especially those dreaming of selling houses with beats on A-list trout-rivers such as the Avon, or the Itchen and Test in neighbouring Hampshire.

The insect brings in summer: gardens are blooming, the sun is shining and the chance to buy such a place with a major double-bank beat in these parts is rare. So rare, in fact, that this is the only property with fishing currently for sale on this trout stream. Sweaty-browed cash buyers are falling over themselves to view.

"I haven't fished at Middle Woodford but all I can say is that everybody and anybody must, if they get the chance, see the mayfly landing," says Savills director Ian Stewart, who has a rod (that is, the right to fish) on the Test. "When you see them in the late afternoon, the whole river boils with fish and is genuinely one of the most exciting natural events you'll ever witness."

Many argue that the Test is head and shoulders above the rest. It is where the Victorians invented dry-fly fishing and is always well stocked. Even when a good house is offered, the impetus for purchase is the fishing. Rising near Overton, the river winds through Laverstoke, Whitchurch, Longparish, Chilbolton, then on to Stockbridge and Romsey. The Itchen, a smaller river, rises in Cheriton and runs through Itchinstoke and Winchester to Southampton.

Graham Waterton, a fishing valuation expert with Strutt & Parker in Salisbury, says: "Seeing the mayfly emerge during a viewing, although spectacular, can be most frustrating for fishing-loving buyers, because by the time most have moved in, it's well into the summer and they have to wait until next year."

Mr Waterton is selling the Old Rectory at Idmiston, near Salisbury, with 100 yards on the upper Bourne. To value a fishing property on a chalk stream, he needs his waders and a tape measure. Working on either a double- or single-bank basis - which means ownership of both or just one side of the river - he comes up with a per yard figure. This reflects the river itself, which bit of the flow it is on, the access, privacy, fishing huts, whether it has been well managed, catch records and how well it is stocked. And if it is offered with a decent house, it can add between 20 and 30 per cent to the price tag.

"For the very best stretches on the upper Test and middle Itchen, you are looking at £400-£450 per double-bank yard as a pretty good guide," he says.

"I know that the likes of Marco Pierre White and Eric Clapton have been looking. Now, if someone offers them a 2,000-yard, upmarket beat on the Test, with a nice house, a fishing hut and a keeper's cottage, the vendors can almost name their price."

A little cheaper - at about £300 a yard - there is also excellent fishing on smaller rivers, such as the Wylie and Nadder, both tributaries of the Avon, and on the Dever, a tributary of the Test. On lesser flows, the figure falls to £50-£100 for a double-bank yard. You might expect to pay something similar on the Meon, where Fontley Farm, near Fareham, is being sold, with 1,200 yards of unmanaged double bank. Clearly, its potential has yet to be realised. Furthermore, it has a Grade II-listed farmhouse and 117 acres of pasture, which, providing you are not fussy about living quite so close to a town, does make it sound better value.

'It hasn't been fished for some time," says agent Charlie Seligman, of Savills. "It is an opportunity for someone to improve the banks, the flow of the water and the stocking, and to get some good fishing out of it. Sure, it's not the Test, so the beat is secondary but, for this sort of money you get a nice house, a bit of a farm and the possibility of not just fishing but a little shoot as well."

What must gall would-be buyers is a house for sale on the Test without fishing rights. Hermit Lodge, smack in the centre of Stockbridge, has a lovely, 170-yard beat which is fished by its owners, the 25 members of the exclusive Houghton Club. Andrew Rome, of Knight Frank, the selling agents, says: "Were the fishing included in this sale, it could add £150,000 to the price of £1.4million. Whether you want to fish or to let the rights to others, buying them lets you decide who, if anyone, can walk into your garden and fish from your banks."

Demand for leases is high. After all, chalk streams need to be slavishly tinkered with; you must keep the reeds cut, unclog the chalk riverbed, look after the banks and stock them with fish - so perhaps you would prefer a return for all your efforts?

"If you bought a house with half-a-mile of banks, it is a resource that could let very easily and provide a good source of income," says Mr Waterton. "It depends on where we're talking, but £2-£5 a yard per year for a double-bank beat is a safe bet. For a smaller chunk of bank at the bottom of a garden, the owners can almost name their price."

If only. In Winchester, Matthew Hallett, of Strutt & Parker, is itching for a piscatorial instruction. "The mayfly expires at about the same time as city bonuses are spent and some who enjoy fishing spend them down here," he says. "When they do, I get terrifically excited. Fishermen are never happier than when on the water - everyone dreams of having a trout stream at the bottom of their garden.

www.secrets-of-trout-fishing.com

Catch it while you can

It is that precious time of year when the best of British chalk streams offer the fly fisherman fleeting, unparalleled delight. Jonny Beardsall goes in search of a stretch to call home

Any trout fisherman - and especially inexpert ones - thinking about selling their home on a chalk stream in Wiltshire or Hampshire should wait a few weeks. Conversely, if you are looking for some easy fishing, you will be itching to find somewhere before the mayfly arrives in swarms above the water, in what is known as Duffers' Fortnight, when a house on a chalk stream could not seem more appealing.

www.secrets-of-trout-fishing.com

Females encouraged to join the big fish

Four million people go fishing every year, but only 2% are women. Is it rubbish, or are men onto something?

The Environment Agency has launched a campaign to get women fishing. It is, according to the agency, a wonderful countryside pursuit, but of the four million people who pursue it each year, only 2% are women. The agency is hoping to encourage us to charge into what is — along with tossing the caber and a couple of stuffy clubs on Pall Mall — one of this country’s last woman-free bastions.

I suspect many women reading this are thinking that, as male bastions go, this is one they can keep — that there are better ways of spending a weekend than sitting by a river. But four million men and a government agency can’t be wrong, can they?

I decided to find out, and began by googling “Learn to fish”. A rather inviting operation in the Scottish Highlands popped up, so I e-mailed them, explaining that I was a beginner, that I was a woman, that I had a couple of days free and that I’d like to get to grips with fishing.

The response came with a cyberspace snort of derision: “It would take a good deal more than one or two days to bring you anything like up to speed. Change tack. Try stamp-collecting.”

You’re not going to put me off that easily, buster. Next on the list was Sporting Choice, in Stockbridge, Hampshire, and it seemed far more amenable. No snorts of derision. No stamp-collecting. “We welcome beginners, and especially women,” said a friendly chap on the phone. There and then, I booked myself and a cajoled female friend for a day’s tuition the following week.

By a beautiful lake, one crisp February morning, Nat and I met our instructors, Andy and Tom, over a whisky-laced cup of coffee. So far, so terribly civilised — there was even a toilet. The other surprise was how little preamble there was. I’d expected hours of preparation and piles of nerdy paraphernalia — maggots, worms, umbrellas, plastic sheeting, brown boxes — but, with a minimum of faff, I was given a rod and a net.

“That it?”

“That’s it.” And we were off.

For the benefit of the girlies, I’ll explain the basics of fishing. There are two main types. There’s your coarse fishing — where you dangle a worm in the water and hope that a fish will swim past and take a bite. Yawn. Or there’s your more exciting fly-fishing — where you drag the fly across the water, luring the fish the way you lure a cat with a piece of string. Except you don’t bash the cat on the head at the end. As Tom explained, a fly-fisherman’s (or fisherwoman’s) brain is constantly at work and normally in a state of controlled impatience. It is not the “sit in a puddle all day looking morose” school of angling.

And that’s all you need to know. Except that rivers are not for beginners, and lakes are. Which explains why we were by this pretty lake with lovely hilly views, rather than having a go on the River Test itself.

YOU DON’T expect to get excited about flies, but when Andy got his out, Nat and I were transfixed. The colourful, shiny, feathered works of art had names like Daddy Long Legs, Black Gnat, Pheasant Tail and Sherry Spinner, and they were beautiful. I would bite one if I were a fish.

We started off with a Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear, and I practised casting. It’s all about the flick. Back and forth, back and forth, like a lasso, letting a little more out each time. The key is moving gracefully, with as little force as possible, and you can’t help thinking that this sport was really better suited to women all along.

Then we began fishing proper. And it was immediately far more exciting than I’d ever imagined it could be. The competition to see who would catch the first fish was fierce, although neither of us realistically expected to catch anything at all. Then, after a mere 26 minutes, Nat had a nibble. Then more than a nibble: a bite.

Before I knew it, she was whooping and squealing, as out popped a beautiful silver rainbow trout. All I could do was smile weakly as Andy suggested a change of tack. We ditched the GRHE and got out our special weapon, an Orange Woolly Bugger. Sure enough, this garish punk rocker of the fly world did the trick. I got my first bite.

“What do I do now?” I cried. I could see its flicking tail and its fanning gills — it was a big one. Maybe a foot long. Maybe two. But just as Andy was explaining how to reel it in, my line snapped and the lucky so-and-so got away, taking our only Orange Woolly Bugger with it. For the rest of the morning, no other fly caught the glance of a fish. Nat and Tom, however, had stacks of lures and stacks of success.

There’s nothing like a bit of fresh air and frustration to work up an appetite. After a boozy pub lunch and a chat with the landlady, who’d been fishing since she was a toddler, I cast my line again, armed with top tips. I tried a different part of the lake; I tried pulling the fly faster; I spotted a fish feeding and cast in its direction. But nothing worked. In the spirit of good sportswomanship, Nat let me reel in a couple of her catches.

You’d have to cut off my right arm before I’d inflict unnecessary cruelty on another living thing. But to be squeamish about catching and killing a fish doesn’t make sense unless you’re a committed vegetarian, which I am not. So I knelt on the grassy bank and bashed my Nemo over the head with the “priest”. In an instant, dinner was sorted. So much more satisfying than buying a farmed fish from Sainsbury’s.

So, have women been missing out on the whole fishing thing? Certainly. I loved my day on the lake so much that I’m going back this summer with a group of friends (strictly female; boys would spoil it), some wine and a barbecue. And I’ll be damned if I don’t catch something.

www.secrets-of-trout-fishing.com

Trout's preferred food

Why is it that some trout would seem to prefer to almost starve rather than eat some insects, yet will gorge on others? As an example are: caddis fly, the grannom, and the mayfly as an instance of the second.

The grannom is unique. On some rivers, hatches of this little brown fly can be so dense that they cloud the air. For hours there will scarcely be a square inch of water that does not have an adult grannom.

Often the grannom provides the year’s first chance of food in abundance for the trout.

But the trout often ignore the grannom hatch until it is almost over. It will only be very late in the flies’ three or four-week emergence that the fish start to eat them.

Trout are opportunistic feeders. If there is food available, they will take it and if there is lots of food available, they will go on taking it until they are full.

Common sense would suggest that after a long winter that the half-starved trout would eat everything in sight. But yet they avoid the grannom for weeks, though there are no obvious differences between it and similar caddis flies that, later in the season, the trout will eat lots off.

Why is it that the trout refuse to eat them could it be that they taste horrible? I do not know this as I have never eating one!

On the other hand trout will gorge themselves on the mayfly.

If trout love the Mayfly and disregard the grannom – even though they must be very hungry – is that the mayfly tastes yummy and the grannom tastes grubby.

www.secrets-of-trout-fishing.com