1. Koppers Live Target Frog – $10 to $15

Koppers Frog

This newly released soft-bodied, top-water lure should be shattering a glassy, calm lake near you this summer. This frog bait made some headlines at this year’s 2010 iCast Event and won their soft-bodied award. Koppers try very had to create ‘the world’s most anatomically accurate line of fishing lures‘ and this frog SHOULD catch some bass for you. Feel free to put one under my tree Santa! Visit your local tackle store to purchase or buy online from Bass Pro Shops.

2. A new tackle bag - $30 to $80

Plano Soft Sider Guide Bag

This year I ‘purged’ the junk from my old tackle box and exported them to smaller, fabric-shelled guide bag. It has 4 plastic trays that pull-out with multiple slot size configurations.  I was able to find a place for everything my older tackle box contained.  My gear stays better organized in a more streamlined container.  The molded-hard bottom lining is a must have feature. You can place it in the bottom of a wet boat or dock without water being ‘sponged’ into your tackle.

You don’t need to get the exact one I as I did. I bought a Plano Soft-Sider Guide Bag.  The point is, any new tackle box will cause any angler to re-organize their old one and feel better about themselves…

3. A new handcrafted fishing rod – $150 to $300

This my take a creative note in a stocking (or gift wrap), but consider getting your special fishing jedi a custom rod from from Fetha Styx. They fish the rods they build and the production versions of their rods all come from the DNA of a custom, hand-crafted version. I have been able to interact with some of the crew behind the ‘Styx’ and they are the real deal.

Afraid to get the wrong fishing rod? It may be obvious, but visit the Fetha Styx website with your favorite angler and get some guidance from them. You could also note the printed details, of an old rod, located close to where the reel is attached to the rod handle. Still not sure? Send me an email and I would be happy to help you determine a good fit.

Fetha Styx Fishing Rods

Fishing Float Tube

Experience your favourite fishing lake from the view of float fishing tube. They are stealthy and easy on fuel. You will be able to access areas that boats can not spook less fish. So far, I have not hooked into a fish my flippers could handle. Prove me wrong.

Higher priced tubes are more stable, easier to enter and support the angler higher out of the water. Cabela’s has some nice examples here.

5. An Ultimate Fishing Trip to Queen Charlotte Lodge – $3800 to $5900

Every time I watched an episode from WFN’s reality fishing show called, The Lodge, I am reminded why this fishing resort is at the top of my own ‘bucket’ list. Catch big fish and relax in style. Meet the stars of the show. Book early through the QCL website – they fill up fast!

Catch The Fish of a Lifetime at QCL!

I was sitting with my friend, Darrell, in my dad’s living room when he shared this personal story of one of his fishing trips from years ago…

The story goes that, Darrell, and a friend had been fishing Tim Lake in Algonquin Park. They had been fishing hard without any success and were constantly weighing anchor, from spot to spot, around the lake. Finally, they decided to quit and return to the river mouth that would lead them to their vehicle.

As fate would have it, the winds picked up and they began to struggle against the wind and waves. They quickly became frustrated from the amount of work they were doing while fighting the wind. An hour and half into their epic and blustery battle, Darrell, noticed that they had canoed past the river mouth they were attempting to find.

He told the man in the bow who was paddling ferociously against the wind. Darrell did not get a reply.

Fatigue and desperation began to ‘set-in’ for the two paddlers. Despite the wind, they should have reached the river mouth sooner than they had.

At that moment, Darrell noticed something.

He debated whether or not to tell his friend in the bow. He yelled one more time over the wind,

“We forgot to bring the anchor up!”

“What?!”, his friend yelled.

“WE FORGOT TO BRING THE ANCHOR UP!”, Darrell repeated.

The story ends there. I guess the look that, Darrell, received from his friend was priceless.

The lesson is simple

When fishing in high winds, don’t forget to bring the anchor up.

On a practical note – Is life, away from the fishing boat, sometimes like that? We all paddle furiously, at times, to get ahead and reach our goals. It can be so frustrating when the ‘over-worked’ ground we make is so minuscule.

Check for anchors.

Perhaps there is something that is holding you back. An anchor long forgotten. Something like a broken relationship, or a mis-management of priorities, or a wrong you need to make right.

Your hardest and best work may all be for nothing if you have not dealt with a forgotten anchor. It can also keep you from seeing what is important – like the river mouth that leads you to your car.

End of sermon.

*My reloaded blog posts are some of my favorite previous posts made current again.

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-

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

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.

First catch of the night - walleye

We are not exactly sure what initiated the fish’s return to the lake. It has been said that a dam upstream broke or water levels peaked causing the pickerel to escape from lakes further upstream the watershed. Whatever happened, I dare say the walleye are making a welcome return comeback into my favorite lake.

I should have felt the winds of change into our favour when dad asked to stop and buy some worms before we hit the water. Any event that rarely happens unless we are taking the kids fishing.

As the sun began to set, we trolled around to the dark side of a Vernon island and hit a 12 foot stretch of water. That was when dad’s walleye rig, with a golden spinner and worm, began to shine. Within a few minutes he had hooked, netted and released two 16″ – 18″ walleye. The walleye would have made excellent meals, but we wanted to ensure that these spawning sized fish would help their species’ make a comeback.

Dad's second fish

We trolled back and forth in the 12-foot trough and had numerous near ‘catches’ and several worms slurped off the hook. I tried using a white Gulp twister tail in place of worm, but the pickerel did not seem to bite at it with the same intensity as the worms.

This night, at least, the pickerel enjoyed staying at 12-feet. Anytime we ventured out of this zone, the fury stopped or slowed. The surface temp was 66F and troll speed was set at 5 on the Minn Kota dial.

I hope to see you all out there this summer. We’ll be hovering off an island point to the left – legend hunting!