Muskoka Outdoors

An opportunity to take a group of kids fishing every day for a week came through my email this summer. Excitedly, I accepted the offer and suddenly found myself wondering where to start. Fortunately, with some time spent in some pre-fishing planning and following these suggestions, you could easily be the ‘first-time’ fishing ambassador to your own group of students.

The initial debate going through my mind was should I teach technical aspects like knots, fish biology and lure selection or allow the kids to fish with minimal discussion right from the docks? I chose to skip the technical and get the students fishing right away. It was the right choice because most of the students had never fished before.

Keep The Gear Simple
The camp provided closed-faced reels, bobbers, and several dozen worms. I added barbless hooks to the mix to ensure quick release of any fish caught and for safety when hooks are being pushed around by newcomers. To maximize fishing time with these students (I had a new group every hour until noon), I pre-tied swivels and hooks and checked drag setting on the fishing rods before the kids arrived.

Closed-faced reels may not look ‘very-cool’ to anybody who watches the pro’s, but new anglers do not usually know that there are different kinds of options available. The simplicity of the push button to release the bail will allow students to drop their bait over the dock or experiment with casting.

Teach Respect (for others, the fish, and the hook)
Space is going to be required to spread excited new anglers out. For safety and courtesy reasons, remind the anglers to stay in the space they are given. This will be tested when someone starts hooking into a school of panfish. When this happens, remind those encroaching in on the ‘lucky spot’ to wait patiently until the angler moves on or gives permission. As well, take a moment to tell the lucky angler that it is OK to move on and allow someone else to experience the joy of catching a fish. They might find they get more satisfaction from watching – at least, I do.

Show the students the difference between a barbless hook and a barbed one. Stress the importance of the presence of a barb and how it relates to increased difficulty when removing from a person’s body or a fish’s. Remind new anglers to check behind them when they cast and I asked our students to shout, “Casting”, to warn anglers walking by them. For a graphic short video on the importance of hook safety – Watch This

Enforce to the rookie anglers the importance of a quick release and to handle this fish as little as possible. Show anglers, as fish are caught, where to hold fish to reduce injuries from teeth and or fins. Initially, most of the students wanted me to release their fish, this was a perfect opportunity to point identifying marks for fish identification.

-End of Part 1-

Hall of Famer, George Douglas announced the launching of a new fly fishing book, online fishing show, and a contest with the opportunity to win a fishing trip, guided by Douglas.

It is easy to spot a rookie, and sometimes the saying, “If you want to be – ACT as if…” can speak volumes.  Fly fishing Author, George Douglas, announced the release of his new fly fishing book, Fish Like a Guide.

According to Douglas this book is,

“The first of a series that teaches anglers how to think, plan and adjust at the level of a professional fishing guide. The introduction of the book states that you can spot a professional fisherman a mile away. You can tell by the way they move, the decisions they make, their preparation and strategy–and it is all geared for one thing, catching fish consistently… if you do things in a certain way on and off the river, you will become a better angler.”

In addition to the book launching, Kype magazine (Douglas is a publisher) has announced a drawing scheduled to take place on September 1, 2010 for members of the social community at www.SteelheadSalmonTroutFishing.com. Membership is free for anyone to join. The Grand Prize is a guided trip with George Douglas in Steelhead Alley, Ohio, including two complimentary nights at The Lodge at Geneva on the Lake.

For more information on pre-orders of his new book, the drawing, guide service, and to join the Kype Nation Social Community, visit www.SteelheadSalmonTroutFishing.com

Douglas’ Blog: http://steelheadsalmontroutfishing.blogspot.com/

Painting by Salomon van Ruysdael/ Wikipedia

1. It has a PETA label

2. Dora, Mickey and Barbie market it.

3. Seconds into a muskie fight you notice the “light action” designation above the handle

4. Birch bark is peeled back to attach your reel

5. It emits a bright neon beam of light, has no visible line guides and sounds like a Star Wars movie on your back cast

6. It won’t launch the mailbox lure you mistakenly bought at the novelty store

7. It hisses and has a forked tongue

8. An Orca takes your bait

9. Your fishing partner has 10 fish and you don’t

10. It’s not made by FethaStyx

It can be a hard to choice to make when you open up your tackle box to pick out the first lure for a fishing excursion. Colour can be a key trigger for fishing success, but do not let a topside, internal debate keep you from getting a lure down into the water quickly.

First, choose something that mimics the colour, size and shape of the natural prey your target species feasts on in the body of water you are on. When was the last time you saw chartreuse baitfish while you were freshwater fishing?

A shiner coloured minnow crank - a good start.

If fishing is slow on your first ‘natural’ pick, be sure to experiment with other colours. Let light conditions and/or water clarity dictate your next pick. If the water is murky or they sky is overcast move to a brighter colour like chartreuse or bright orange. When water conditions are clear and the sky is bright – try shades of blue, browns, or green.

These are just guidelines. It has been this blogger’s experience that the way fish react to your lures is far from predictable. When in doubt about what colour to use – experiment. Take time to try everything you got and forget the rules and systems often read about or seen on TV. My tackle box has cranks of various colours. The colour of your lure is just one of triggering mechanisms built into its construction. Vibration, flash and silhouette also play significant roles.

On day 1 of a recent sunny fishing trip on a local Muskoka lake, I started with a natural looking black-topped and silver-white bottomed minnow crank bait. My partner chose to start with a chartreuse coloured bait. Within four casts, he had landed a nice pike. Upon switching to a second bay, he pulled in another nice pike on his first cast. My natural looking lure had no hits. This all changed when I switched to a lure with similar colours (not shape) as my fishing partner’s. Colour in this case ‘trumped’ shape.

The second day of our fishing trip, I started again with a more natural coloured silver minnow crank bait. My partner, again, started with his chartreuse coloured lure. After a few minutes of fishing, I had landed two nice walleye. Things did not start to happen for the other angler UNTIL he switched to a silver coloured crank.

If you are deep water fishing, keep in mind that at greater depths, lack of light penetration makes a colour debate a mute point. Colours can not be differentiated if there is no light to reflect or absorb.

Colour can impact your fishing success, but not to the extent that it will benefit the angler to change a lure every second or third cast. Fish will not be caught if a lure is not in the water.