Daily Archives: July 27, 2010

Fishing Strategies

Fishing the Great Lakes

Fishing the Great Lakes:

Together the Great Lakes contain the biggest mass amount of freshwater in the world. These lakes lie between the United States and Canada. They are home to many different fish species. Some of the most common inhabitants of the Great Lakes are the various species of Trout, Salmon, Perch, and Bass. However, each lake is known for its own popular fish species.

For over 100 years these lakes have housed the world’s largest freshwater fisheries, containing both native and introduced species. Commercial fishing has declined in the past 100 years, but still relies heavily of the fish of the Great Lakes. On each lake there are fishing charters that go out of the many ports each day.

Lake Michigan:

The waters of Lake Michigan vary according to the area. The northern part of the lake is colder and less developed than the other lakes. Around Chicago and Milwaukee, the lake temperatures are warmer and the area is heavily developed. Lake Michigan offers nearly 100 different species of fish, the most popular being Salmon and Steelhead. Other fish located here are Alewife, Bowfin, Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Bloater, White Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Chinook Salmon, Lake Herring, Coho Salmon, Northern Pike, and White and Yellow Perch. Some of the ports and marinas of Lake Michigan are; Port Sheldon, Benton Harbor, Chicago, Winthrop Harbor, Frankfurt, Aradia, and Grand Haven.

Lake Huron:

The second largest of the Great Lakes, Lake Huron is located on the US-Canada border. A popular port on Lake Huron is Port Austin, where the Trout fishing is said to be the best in the world. There are also many other freshwater fish such as; Bass, Whitefish, Salmon, Steelhead, Walleye, Perch and Brown Trout. Lake Huron also has underwater ledges and deep water reefs that are bursting with fish. Ports and marinas located on Lake Huron are; Port Elgin, Port Huron, Port Austin, Port Franks, Grand Bend, and Saginaw Bay.

Lake Superior:

Lake Superior is the largest of all of the Great Lakes, and has the most surface area of any lake in the world. This lake holds enough water to submerge both North and South America under 1 foot of water. It is the coldest and deepest, reaching over 1,300 ft in depth. With most of the land surrounding still left as forest, it is not heavily populated. There are more than 60 different fish species located in Lake Superior. Some of these species include; Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Bloater, Carp, Chinook Salmon, Lake Herring, Coho Salmon, Lake Sturgeon, Lake Trout, Lake Whitefish, Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Rainbow Smelt, Ruffe, Round Whitefish, Smallmouth Bass, and White and Yellow Perch. Some of the marinas and ports located on Lake Superior are; Port Wing, Duluth Seaway Port, Twin Ports, St. Louis Bay, and Presque Isle Marina.

Lake Erie:

Lake Erie produces the most fish of all of the Great Lakes, and is the second smallest. The most prized game fish of this lake is the Chinook Salmon, also known as the “King Salmon”, recording up to 47” and 44lbs. Lake Erie also houses Yellow Perch, Coho Salmon, Brown Trout, Carp, Lake Herring, Lake Trout, Lake Whitefish, Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, White Bass, Walleye, and Yellow and White Perch. It is said that there are Jumbo Perch now in Lake Ontario. Some of the popular marinas and ports of Lake Erie are; Port Clinton, Port Stanley, Port of Monroe, and Port of Erie.

Lake Ontario:

Lake Ontario, best known for its salmon and trout fishing, is located between Upstate New York and Canada. There are several different species located in this lake; Atlantic Salmon, Carp, Brown Trout, Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, Lake Herring, Lake Trout, Lake Whitefish, Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass, White Bass, and White and Yellow Perch. This lake holds many species that are unique to the area and not found in the other Great Lakes. These species include; Atlantic Salmon, American Eel, Bullheads, and Sunfish. The actual fishing season starts as soon as the ice melts. Most of the fishing in the spring takes place near the shore where the waters are warmer. The best trout fishing is in April, May and June. Once July hits, it is time to fish for Chinook salmon, Coho salmon, and steelhead. These are located farther into the lake. There are numerous fishing charters at the local Lake Ontario ports. Kingston, Little Sodus Bay, Niagara River, Oswego, Sackets Harbor and Port Dalhousie and a few of the ports surrounding Lake Ontario.

For the competitive angler; there are many fishing tournaments scheduled year round on the Great Lakes. Most occur during the spring, summer and fall months because of the ice on the lakes and the frigid temperatures in the winter. Once you have reeled in your prize winning fish, SellUrBoat.com offers helpful tips to clean and preserve your catch.

Kristy Bateman is the writer for Earl’s Blog on SellUrBoat.com.. These articles are unique and helpful to anyone interested in learning about boating and or fishing. Please visit SellUrBoat.com to view a variety of unique articles from Kristy. SellUrBoat.com is The Simplest Solution to Buying and Selling ‘Ur’ Boat.

Carp Fishing Basics

Expert Big Carp Milk Protein Baits – Recipes and Special Methods

Top carp fishing baits are rarely made from ‘purely’ milk protein ingredients these days. But there are many very attractive reasons to make your own very unique and powerful homemade baits using them.

It is rare to find any of your ‘competing’ fishermen using these and so they really do offer a massive and ‘different edge.’ Carp really love them and these baits will often ‘select’ bigger fish too…

One of the most successful homemade baits of the 1970s and early 1980’s era, in the UK, was what was termed, ‘the four milks’. This consisted of equal amounts of casein, lactalbumin, sodium caseinate plus a product called ‘FinnStim,’ which contains purified crystalline betaine, and was best optimized with added amino acids.

Apparently, this was one of the kinds of bait that made carp angling guru, Kevin Maddox, famous and he comes from a great era of widespread milk protein usage bringing to mind the use for example of baby milk, ‘Vitamealo,’ ‘Lamlac,’ ‘Complan,’ ‘Casilan,’ etc etc…

With a slight change, Rod Hutchinson recommended this formula to me, in one of his very helpful letters. It really helped me to ‘compete’ against much more experienced bait making anglers, who were using very high quality milk protein and fish meal based baits at that time:

4 Ounces of 90 mesh acid casein. (Or a combination of rennet casein too.)

4 Ounces of sodium caseinate.

4 Ounces of lactalbumin.

4 Ounces of soya isolate.

15 Milliliters of ‘Regular sense appeal.’

3 To 5 milliliters of ‘Scopex’ flavour. (Or other flavours.)

1 Teaspoon of ‘Sweet appetite stimulator.’

5 Milliliters of ‘Intense sweetener.’

Four large eggs.

This bait was excellent! (And still is!) Other proprietary mixes and recipes followed, which recommended combining: a milk protein base: ‘The Milk Protein Mix,’ the amino acids based: ‘Black Juice,’ the spray-dried fruit juices based ‘Minglefruit,’ a ‘sugars’ based mix: ‘Sucre Blend,’ and a spicy yeast bait ‘Ultraspice,’ blended together.

For example, in simple 50 % combinations like ‘The protein mix’ with ‘Sucre Blend, or ‘Black Juice,’ with ‘Minglefruit’ and I’m sure some of his present proprietary mixes were born using this idea! (And they have caught me countless big fish over the years too while experimenting and ‘playing’ with baits and different versions and combinations!)

There was also bait mentioned, based on mixed spices and herbs, which was similar to:

4 Ounces of 90 mesh acid casein. (Or a combination of rennet casein too.)

4 Ounces of sodium caseinate.

4 Ounces of lactalbumin.

4 Ounces of soya isolate.

1 Tablespoon (or more,) of mixed spices and herbs.

15 Milliliters (or more,) of Regular Sense Appeal (or ‘Spice’ or ‘Fruit Sense Appeal.’)

3 To 5 milliliters of ‘Ultraspice’ flavour. (Or other flavours.)

1 Teaspoon of ‘sweet appetite stimulator.’

5 Milliliters of ‘Intense sweetener.’

Four large eggs.

With these as my ‘control’ boilie baits, I could experiment with other ingredients, like body-building powders, individual herbs, spices, animal feeds, other natural extracts, and so on, and continue catching carp with confidence!

A ‘control bait’ is essential, to measure results against your new bait creations when experimenting! As a special note, make sure you make these baits ‘damper’ than usual and store them in cool conditions between mixing into a dough and rolling in to baits, as they have a great tendency to go hard and dry out fast!

The author has many more fishing and bait ‘edges’ up his sleeve. Every single one can have a huge impact on catches.

By Tim Richardson.

For the unique and acclaimed new massive expert bait making / enhancing ‘bibles’ ebooks / books:

“BIG CATFISH AND CARP BAIT SECRETS!”

And: “BIG CARP BAIT SECRETS!” (AND “FLAVOUR, FEEDING TRIGGERS AND CHEMORECEPTION SECRETS”) SEE:


http://www.baitbigfish.com


Tim Richardson is a homemade carp and catfish bait-maker, and proven big fish angler. His bait making and bait enhancing books / ebooks are even used by members of the “British Carp Study Group” for reference. View this dedicated bait secrets website now…

Fishing Tips

Fishing Tackle ? the Basis of

Fishing is the most popular sport in the world and can be a very fun, relaxing venture. In order to gain the full experience, the correct fishing tackle must be used. Fishing tackle, is essentially all the accessories one uses, when fishing. Fishing tackle ranges from the fishing rod, the line, weights, bait and even to the little stool you sit on. Each of the different fishing tackles co-ordinately works alongside one other, in order for the fisherman to fish. This article will give a brief overview of the main types of fishing tackle that you will come across.

The “fishing rod” is the fundamental attribute to fishing tackle and is used to catch fish. The fishing pole attaches the fishing reel and wire, which ultimately reels in the fish; if you’re lucky enough to catch one, that is. Fishing rods vary by size and are made from many different materials such as fibreglass and carbon fibre. This type of fishing tackle is influenced a great deal by the environment of the fishing carried out. For deep sea fishing, where on average larger, stronger fish swim; one must use a longer, thicker rod with a very thick, weighted line. The hook must also be very large and sharp enough to penetrate the fish’s mouth.

The “hook” and the “fishing line” are major elements found in fishing tackle. They are greatly influenced by the type of fishing carried out. Bigger hooks and thicker, weighted lines are used in saltwater, sea fishing, where swordfish and sharks are caught for example. Whereas, on the other hand, smaller hooks with thinner, lighter lines are used in freshwaters to catch fish such as carp and bass. However, this is merely an overview; obviously there are circumstances where you would need thick and weighted lines and bigger hooks to catch large freshwater fish. This therefore shows that fishing is a very unpredictable and exciting sport where the right fishing tackle is constantly needed in order to catch the right type of fish you are fishing.

Significantly different fishing tackle is used when fishing in freshwater or saltwater, in regards to the bait used. Fishing tackle can either be live, dead of artificial. For freshwater fishing, grubs and the garden worms usually work best. Whilst for saltwater fishing, sea worms, crabs and mullets are used. In my experience of fishing live bait always works best. The vibrations of a squirming tackle at the end of your hook will attract a lot more fish than a dead, or artificial bait would. In my personal view adding live bait to your fishing tackle adds a whole new element in fishing. In nature the small get eaten by the big. In our case the small will get eaten by the bigger fish, but ultimately we would catch the bigger fish, metaphorically making us the bigger fish to the once, big fish.

From this overview of fishing tackle it is possible to understand what fishing tackle is and the importants of having different tackle when it comes to carrying out different types of fishing, whether it is freshwater of saltwater.

Find out more about Fishing Tackle

Carp Fishing Equipment

A Guide to Fishing Rods

Rods are basically made from carbon. Plastic, composite carbon combined with Kevlar, which is a kind of material that is bullet proof, or just high carbon. Since the carbon’s force and strength in connection to its mass is light, making it strong material that can allow thinner fabrication but still is able to keep the span and length. A rod that is lighter evidently handling will be easier, controlling it would be less tiring on ones arms and reduces resistance to air giving one an easier time accurately casting it, particularly on windy ways.

Rods come in silicon carbide, hard chrome or ceramic rings having a function of letting the line pass through. These are precisely used because of their smoothness having the function to minimize friction when passing through the line and keep the maximum strength. Silicon materials are a fact costly, so an alternative is bring into play ceramic rings like Zircon which when taken in to account, it is not as tough or as light, but is much cost effective. Rings made of chrome are better, although every season they require replacement, they do deliver excellent job of line running. At least thirteen rings are needed from the handle all through the tip, lesser near the handle, needing more close to the tip. The line can fasten itself to the rod, if you don’t have enough rings.

When determining length of the rod, you want to take into account exactly what kind of fishing you want. If you want far out fishing, in that case choose a larger rod as this will offer you better control when you are playing the fish. If you are planning to go fishing in an area that is enclosed, you will need a shorter rod. Normally, the safe rod size to choose is13ft (3.9m). This is lengthy enough for a waggler but does not cast out too far.

Handles

Handles are made from either cork or foam. Whichever you choose, this is a matter of preference. Just try handling both materials so you can have a good “feel” before buying it.

Action

Action is the term used in describing how the rod will bend when it is placed under the lot of strain and effort of a fighting fish.

There are two types of tip on a rod, the hollow and spliced tips. Hollow tips are good in catching carp, tench and chub which have a progressive or developing action making it sharp for quick bites, yet proficient enough to manage long distance strikes. Spliced tips normally are normally spliced to the end with two feet solid carbon. This rod is sharper so it is a good pick for fast acting fish.

When choosing a rod, these questions will help you pick the right one:

1. How frequent and where do you fish? Are you a beginner, a weekend warrior, or a tournament pro? If you are just starting out, you may need to budget and spend less money on your first rod. Once you learn the techniques and once you have decided that fishing is for you, that is the time to spend on more specific rods.

2. Freshwater or Saltwater fish? While there are a few rods that can be used for both fresh and saltwater fish, most rods are made for a specific purpose and application.

3. Spinning or Casting? The species you that you choose to chase will determine it.

4. Power, sensitivity, and your technique. The rod should match the way you enjoy fishing. If you like to fish with lures, then you should look for a rod that is comfortable enough to cast frequently all day long.

To read about bowhunting turkey and bowhunting whitetails, visit the Bowhunting Tips site.

Carp Fishing Basics

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