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Fish the one you’re with: Finding fishing water close to home
Familiarity breeds success when it comes to fishing. Show me a person with a shack on the river, or a bay house with a boat tied to the dock out back, and I’ll show you someone who can catch fish when others cannot. The more time you spend on a body of water, the more you get to know it, and the better you understand its personality as seasons pass. Living along a stream will acquaint you with the length of time it takes to return to normal flow after a flood. Visit a lake every weekend for a year, and you begin to understand when baby shad congregate in the shallows, and when bluegills spawn. Guides know their home water because it’s their job: They fish it five or six days a week.
But you can get to know a piece of water, too, even without quitting your day job. Just give the water time; even if you can only fish for an hour after work, every hour adds to your understanding. Now, I know some anglers only fish a particular place for a particular species, even if this place is far away: say, fishing for pike in remote fly-in camps in Canada. These anglers save up and go once a year, and that’s the sum of their fishing. Fine, but that’s not the way I do it, and I don’t think it’s the way to really understand and love fishing.
INVESTIGATING FISHING WATERS ON GOOGLE EARTH
By now, you’ve probably seen your house from space. That’s certainly cool, but what about putting that technology to better use by using satellites to plan your next fishing trip? A program like Google Earth makes it possible to follow streams and rivers, seeking public access landings. You can also find hidden coves on big lakes, or small ponds hidden from the public eye. You’ll still need permission or a license to fish these finds, of course, but finding the water is the first step. Visit www.google.com/earth to download the application.
Finding fish when you’re on the road
A big part of the fun of angling is fishing in new places, for new and different fish. If you travel with a packable fishing rod, a handful of lures or flies, and a small collection of terminal tackle, you can be ready to fish anytime, anyplace. (Just make sure you’re fishing legally! See the section on licenses in Chapter 2.) Perhaps you could steal away during the next family vacation for a visit to the beach. Maybe you could skip the evening cocktail hour at the next conference. If your travels bring you closer to new and exciting fishing, even a short foray could make a great angling memory!
You won’t know this water well, and you won’t have time to study it. But bodies of water share characteristics. Also, techniques that work in one stream will work in another. (See Chapter 17 for more on techniques.) And local bait shops can provide the best baits or lures for that area, as well as helpful advice.
Getting the Scoop
Okay, so you find some fishable water. You fish it a few times, and try to pay attention to what the water (and the frog and minnow) tells you. But you still can’t catch fish, or catch enough of them. There’s no shame in asking for a little advice. Every good angler has done this many times.
Pretty much everyone has advice when it comes to fishing. Everyone! Some old guy at the gas station who hasn’t fished since before color television will tell you to dangle a marshmallow under the bridge out on Tailbone Road to catch trout. Then he might tell you about alien transmissions you can pick up in your fillings or what the President is doing wrong. You need advice you can use, and you don’t have all day. There’s fish to be caught! This section takes you on a tour of reliable places to gather information.
From bait shops
Local bait shops are a tried-and-true source of fishing insight. Good ones carry an established reputation along with hooks and sinkers. Bait shop owners (and your fellow customers) often know the water nearby. They can refer to the handy map taped to the wall, or even mark the copy they sell you. They stock lures and livebait that works in local waters, as well as advice on how to use them.
From online forums
People say all fishermen are liars, and I suppose there might be some truth to that. But I’ve found that anglers are surprisingly forthcoming in online forums. Often dedicated to a particular species or region, forums and websites can save you a lot of time on the water. And unlike bait shops, they’re open all night long, allowing you to do your research at night and your fishing during the day. Use a search engine to find and bookmark the best ones for your area or your kind of fish. The free forum I’m a member of allows me to search every state, and then I can select “local talk,” “streams/rivers,” or “lakes/ponds.” Within each section are countless threads about what’s being caught and through what methods. Often members will offer to take strangers fishing. Like all things online, it’s good to be cautious, but it’s a pretty amazing resource when you think about it.
From guides
Guides are anglers who get paid to take you fishing, and the best guides are equal parts anglers and teachers. A good guide will know the water and a great deal about the fish within it. You can find guides online, in the yellow pages, or through word of mouth at the bait shop or marina. Most can be hired for either half- or full-day trips.
What do you do as a client? Pack sunscreen, rain gear, a camera, and a good attitude. (Ask if lunch and drinks are included; if they aren’t, pack those too.) Pay attention and ask questions. Guides fish their home waters five or six days a week, and that kind of experience is invaluable. Most guides will offer advice on technique, lure selection, and habitat. Costs vary from location to location, but plan on tipping if your guide works hard for you. (Don’t punish a guide for the morning’s cold front that shut the fish down. Even the best get skunked sometimes.)
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