Are You Good At Fishing?

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Considering the few times when I actually fished on my own without - unfortunately - getting very successful, I can't consider myself as a good fisherman. In fact, if I had to live on that I would have to improve my fishing skills urgently! Without exaggeration, it would be something of an emergency for me.

How about you?

 

No, I live in a lake community and I have fished, but the most successful I have been has been catching small fish after chumming the water. I have yet to catch a fish that is big enough to eat. I think I need to change my bait actually.

 

I try to be.

 

I have to say im a lousy Fisher. I just don't have the proper technique nor the patience to wait out on the fishes to bite the bait and I end up pulling the rod too soon. I guess I'd be more successful fishing with a spear than with a rod.

 

I love fishing! I am certainly not an expert by any means; but I know enough about fishing to usually be able to catch fish when I go fishing.
My favorite fish to catch is trout, and I like eating them either pan-fried or smoked. I used to have one of those little paddle-boats (pedal-boats ?) and I loved fishing for Kokanee with it. I was living in Western Washington and near a fairly large lake, and I was able to keep the boat docked and padlocked to a big tree trunk that was in the water just across the road from where I lived.
I had worms, and they worked fine for bait, and with the paddle boat, I could slowly troll along near the banks of the lake and catch my dinner of fresh Kokanee. If I caught a squawfish/sucker, then I brought that home and buried it for fertilizer in the garden or under one of the rose bushes, so that worked well, too.
When I lived in Missouri, we had three catfish ponds; so I would go catfish fishing when I had the time. Sometimes, I just tied some bait on a line and tied the line to a plastic milk jug, put a 50 clothesline rope on the jug, and left it to float around in the pond until I caught a fish.
I haven't been fishing for a while; but there is a nice pond not too far away, so one of these days, we will probably go down there and see what we can catch. I think that they keep the pond stocked, and we see people fishing when we drive by, so it should be a good place to fish.

 

Don't worry, dude... I can feel your "pain", haha! You're definitely not alone... Welcome to the club and let's have some fun (nothing that is based on fishing, obivously )!

 

I think you're being a little modest in saying "try", aren't you? I mean, I think you could already be teaching fishing lessons if you wanted to, dude!

P.S: The video is very cool.

 

I have never tried fishing although I have seen some people doing that in person. It's something that I want to learn one of these days.

 

For a girl, I would say I have pretty impressive fishing skills. Maybe it`s just the matter of luck or having good days, but I always managed to catch nice fishes. Besides fishing is very entertaining and can be a very nice competition and fun.

 

For a man i'm embarrased to say, i'm terrible at fishing. I used to do some fishing with my father and he always mocked my poor motor functions either from catching them without a rod, or buy pushing the fish with it. But if you are asking about catching crabs, just tell me a number, i catch them all eheh

 

Oh we can have fun with fishes! Crack open a beer and enjoy some fried fish sticks! hahaha. I love eating them but getting them is really not my thing haha.

 

Well... This is a pretty cool idea, haha! Enjoy the fish without having to properly fish them (because we would probably die of hunger, right? ).

 

Most likely aye haha. Well given a survival situation I might learn it in a pinch. Let's say I had only a rod to fish and no other means to find food whatsoever. In that case learning to fish seems like a better alternative. Still, should any other option be available I'd take it.

 

I've fished on and off for about 40 years. Everything from gill nets to gigging and cast nets. Shrimp nets and Trot lines. Bream busters, cane poles and rod n reels. Crab traps, etc

There's always a way to catch fish. I'm no expert but I can catch fish. Some methods are not legal but in a survival situation it's acceptable.

 

I am sorry to say that fishing needs luck. That means not anyone can be a good fisherman even only in leisure fishing. I have experienced using the rod and reel but to no avail. My first try was the hook and line when we were in a small boat (a motorized canoe) in a beach resort. I was being teased that my hook and line are props only. But I have on good experience of catching fish and that is in a fish pond. I am not trying to be funny. It is just to emphasize that fishing is not an easy endeavor.

 

I'm resurrecting this old discussion because it seems to be filled with a lot of misunderstandings. First off fishing is not primarily about luck. Luck does play a part but mostly success is determined by skill and knowledge. Most people that are not having any luck fishing are a lot like someone that grabs a rifle and a couple of friends and goes walking in the woods looking for something to shoot. Sorry but that just isn't going to happen very often.

Fishing requires you to gain some knowledge and understanding of your prey. The thing is there are a lot of different fish out there and they all have somewhat different lifestyles. Your success rate goes up a lot when you start targeting a specific species of fish. You learn about that fish and then your plan to catch them is fine tuned to that particular fish.

I used to teach a class at the local state park for kids and their parents about fishing and this was one of the things I tried to get over to them. Just going fishing and throwing out a bait in random water is not going to be a very likely plan for success. That is placing your entire hopes on that a fish that is feeding will swim by and decide that what you have on your hook is something that it wants to eat.

There are several ways to get a fish on your hook. Luck in the case mentioned above is one where you are feeding hungry fish. Finding the fish and triggering a reflexive strike is another way, annoying them enough that they just want to kill what you are using to annoy them, or snagging them with a hook by foul hooking them (This is illegal in some places). The one other method is different and doesn't work on all species but curiosity will get you a bite sometimes. Fish use their mouth just as you use your hands. It is what they manipulate their environment with. I have caught fish that seemed to mostly just want to see what the heck that thing is that keeps moving around them. This is a little like the annoyance strike but usually more tentative and gentle.

Much of the time the fish are just not feeding activity. During those times you have to go at it where you are triggering the bite. This has little to do with hunger. To do this you need to understand the difference in the fish where you are fishing and target them specifically.

What you need to know about the fish you want to catch is what they normally eat, how do they obtain this meal, where do they go to find it, what time of day do they prefer to feed, how does this change for each species as they get older and bigger.

Some fish are like wolves and they run down their prey in fairly open waters. Other predatory fish are ambush predators and like to sort of hide and then pounce on their prey. Some feed on bugs and smaller things and just buzz around looking for most anything that might fit in their mouth.Some are scavengers and some are vegetarians.

I fish a lot and almost never fail to bring home several meals if I want them. I do a lot of catch and release too. Learning about my prey and then targeting them specifically has made all the difference.

 

Around this shipyard in the warmer months..you see a lot of Striped Bass hiding in the shadows under the piers.

It is fascinating to watch them quickly dart out of the shadows into the pier lights to grab quickly a minnow swimming by in a school. The action happens so fast and the water splashed when they make the strike. The minnows scatter when this happens.
These Striped Bass line up like torpedoes under the pier waiting for something edible to come by and strike. Dark shadows just waiting and facing the tide ....waiting to strike.

Many years ago...when we were not busy we would sometimes catch them on hand lines with a plastic minnow ..a shad lure. Just pass the shad lure in front of them and they will dart out and take it.

But the most interesting conduct of a Striped Bass I'd ever seen was the calm determined Striper. This Striper will calmly follow a school of minnows out in the lights....match them turn for turn....and slowly close the gap between them slowly and calmly...matching and turning...closing the gap the whole time....right behind them. They never seem to know this big Striper is there. Then this Striper will eat the tail end Charlie....without spooking the rest of the minnows...they keep on swimming like nothing happened. The Striper will fade back quietly to digest his minnow and then repeat the process without spooking the school of minnows.
Now this was fascinating to watch...such intelligent finesse...such technique...such style.


But one thing becomes abundantly clear when you get to watch this night after night...week after week.

You begin to get a sense of how many minnows have to be breeding to feed all these other fish and also survive as a species.
I mean here gazillions.!!!


I'm not a big fresh water fisherman per se...but love trout....catching them and also for a great meal.

When fishing one day with night crawlers...and having no luck...I decided to catch some of these small frogs which live in the grasses in the shallows of this lake. I quickly caught several catfish.

I also suddenly realized why these frogs live in the weeds at the shallows...they would never survive out in the deep.

It's a rough neighborhood out there folks.

Thanks,
Watcherchris

 

Another fascinating event for which I got to watch....without having any fishing gear on me....

A lady friend and her children and Myself were taking a trip up into the country side and stopped at a rest area by which ran a river.

We cooked up some hot dogs on our portable grill...and the fixings to go with it.

After we ate the children played and I sat back to digest my meal and watched the river. It was a beautiful day.

There were numerous trees branching out over the river..and in these trees were silk work nests.

On occasion a silk worm would drop out of the nest and into the river. The water would quickly pop and splash as the fish found this easy and tasty treat.

As I watched this natural event for a few minutes the gears started ticking over and I realized this was the perfect place for a fly rod....just cast upstream and let it float down river through that spot and one would soon have a stringer full of pan fish.
It was great just watching it happen...right there in front of me. For some reason that has remained fondly in my memory to this day. It just seemed like a natural event..nature at it's finest so to speak.

All one needed is the right tool at the right time and the knowledge/skills to make this tool work within nature's limits..in imitation of nature herself...and one would have a fine meal.


Thanks,
Watcherchris.

 

When it comes to fishing for food you want to fish for the smaller fish and species. Simply put, there are a lot more of them and being young they are not very smart. They are very predictable in part because of their youth and inexperience and in part because they will live in certain very specific places. Little fish in freshwater tend to hang close to shore and around things in the water that they can hide in and use to avoid predators. This makes them easier to access than larger fish that may spend a lot of their time out in deeper water.

Keep your eyes open and then remember the things that you have seen. Chris's story about the silkworms falling is a common way to load up on fish. Fish like an easy meal and when they find one they will return to it over and over year after year. I once found a mulberry tree growing on the banks of a creek. The berries were falling in the water and I noticed movement. I tossed a little bait over there and caught a fat catfish. Over the net hour I probably caught 30 or so nice eating size cats and called it a day. Since then I watch for anything that might fall in the water that anything might eat.

Here in East Texas a lot of people do what is called splat fishing. Basically you go out in a boat early in the morning and spot the trees in the water that have a lot of cormorants roosting in the limbs. A cormorant is a large black water bird that feeds on fish. Some people call them water turkeys. Well like all large birds they crap a lot and evidently the poop that is digested fish rings the dinner bell for a lot of catfish. You use a soft past type bait and basically imitate bird poop. You cast under the tree and let it slowly sink. If the cats are there it never goes far.

After a heavy rain the places where ditches drain into a creek or river can be hotspots. Earthworms get flooded from the grounds and then washed into the ditches. Fish line upo where these ditches drain for a free and easy meal.

The little bits of knowledge add up over the years. Largemouth bass grow for as long as they live. Their basic proportions don't change a whole lot as they grow. One of the things you can use is the knowledge that their eyes grow as they grow. Their pupils are mostly fixed and they don't have eyelids. As they get bigger the bright light becomes very uncomfortable for them. On the other side their bigger eyes allow them to see a lot better than small fish in low light conditions. This is another reason that the bigger fish hang out in deeper water during the day and why the little fish stay in the bright shallows. The bigger fish do a lot of things to avoid the direct light. They love to hide under logs and I've caught several big bass that were in fairly open water and shallow but were sitting with their eye shaded by a limb hanging over the water or a post in the water. During the day the shade can be treated almost like cover.

Every species has their own traits and preferences. As you learn and begin to understand you will find yourself catching when others aren't. I have sat in a boat fishing the back seat and caught more fish than the man in front even though I was fishing the same places he had just fished. I just knew which side of every tree or shadow to throw to so the fish could see it without having the sun shine in their eyes. It also helped that I am left handed. We were fishing the right side bank and he was dropping his lure on the right hand side of the cover as it came to us. I waited until we were past it and cast to the left hand SHADY side of the same places and caught fish. He was furious! LOL...

 

I've noticed that too about large fish. Large striped bass....have a lot of meat on them but it is not as good tasting to me as the smaller to medium ones.

A lot of times with artificial baits and even some live ones...you are just imitating nature....luring them in to strike.

I have always admired an individual who knows how to make nature herself work for them.

Not just in fishing...but in hunting too. Around here there are lots of people skilled in calling turkeys.

I think out west there are people who can call in Coyotes...and other game animals.

The fellow who can rub antlers and call a deer within striking range....imitating another male invading the territory.


My friend out in Tennessee has purchased an electronic game call. It looks like a boom box and has numerous animal sounds programmed into it.

He brought it over to my house one day and played it in the driveway. The sound of an Owl or...such predatory bird. I was astonished at the results. Immediately all manner of black birds came around ...like...hundreds of them out of no where.
I had some difficulty digesting how fast they came to the call box.

He also told me that at his place out in Tennessee...he can tell where the Coyotes are ...as he also knows which neighbor has dogs. But he plays the sound of a fire engine siren....and the Coyotes start howling....and he knows in what direction they are to be found.


One of the most fascinating archeological stories I've ever read...was the excavation down into the depths of a cave wherein they knew that various tribes going way back into history....camped out on their migration routes.

Digging down into certain areas of the cave...was basically a junk pile...of discards as they went down into the layers.

Down deep these archeologists....found some unusual remnants of rattan type woven items..and could not quite understand what they were by the strange manner in which the remnants of them were woven.
Another archeologist came along who was also a hunter and said..."Those look like crude duck decoys!!"

And sure enough ..that is what they turned out to be .

This discovery also caused these archeologists to call in topographers or whatever science that is...to study the landscape to see if at one time there was a lake in that arid region..and sure enough it turned out to be so....many many many years back.

I found that story to be fascinating that primitive man would figure out how to make duck decoys...artificial lures to aid in hunting...food gathering.


Thanks,
Watcherchris

 

Lol. Crows just loathe owls. Crow hunters put plastic owls in trees and the crows will come and attack it. At night the owls get payback and hunt the crows in their roost. Crows are smart! They can count. If two hunters go into a stand and one leaves they know there is one still there. If there go in and then two come out they will think it is empty. I've seen this many times.

 

I have been fishing for the part 60 years, i love it and could do it every where, I have fished in the canadian arctic, off nova scotia, off of maine , and florida. My favorite fishing is for speckled trout or walleye ,my lake up north has so many pike and bass that i am fished out with these fish. I like trolling around a wilderness lake and stopping for a canadian shore lunch .

 

Artic Bill,

Walleye and Pike...

Ive not fished for these fish but would like to know if these are fish that people eat up there?? If so ...how good are they to eat?

Caught my share of trout....and striped bass..but not so much other fresh water varieties of bass.



There is some kind of silver fish runnig amok out west and north in the USA and I have seen them on video but cannot remember what they are called. The unusual thing about this fish is that they are good sized and seem to like jumping out of the water in these rivers and often into the boats!!
Not sure how they got here but they are not native to this country. They sure seem to be taking over.


Thanks,
Watcherchris

 

Chris, walleye are the best eating fish one can ever eat. absolutely the best. Pike on the other hand is survival food . so many bones , and fishy taste. The fish that you are talking about are call asian carp. they were being raised commercial in ponds and escaped into the mississippi . asian carp are an invasive species that destroys all other fisheries . When these fish are spooked they jump into the air. Some can weight 40 lbs. just imagen driving fast in a boat and a 40 lbs fish jumps into the air and hits your head . in would knock you out.

Bill

 

Fishing and the knowledge you need is so very localized. I live in East Teas in an area that is considered a sportsman paradise for fishing with many huge lakes and rivers fairly close by along with several rivers and thousands of small lakes and ponds. The thing is that the fish that I fish for are not the same species that people fish for in other parts of the country. We have no trout, pike, muskellunge, walleye, salmon or several other species that are common in the northern parts of the country much less the species that are common in Europe.

One thing that I have learned over the years is that if you wish to be consistently successful you need to study and understand the specific life styles and habits of your target species. When I am catfishing I don't catch much other then catfish and maybe a few drum. Black bass fishing is very specific and when I'm fishing for them I mostly only catch black bass and not a lot else. The same is true of the White bass, Stripped bass, crappie, carp and bluegills. They each eat different things and each go about it differently.

I am a very experienced and generally successful fisherman but would be totally lost in other areas. Where ever you live or more specifically where you plan on being if you have to bug out, you need to study the fish that are specific to that place. Some techniques and patterns are applicable almost everywhere but to be truly and consistently successful you need information that is for and about the fish that you will have available.