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.
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.
Many thanks to Tom who sent me this photo of a muskie his father caught in the west arm of Lake Nippissing, Ontario. The 50-inch monster was caught on a 4-inch plastic swim bait. Wow!
Catch some fishing excitement during Ontario’s family fishing week through the days of July 3 to 11, 2010. Ontario’s 1.3 million anglers have a chance to introduce someone new to fishing.
During these special fishing dates, Ontario residents can fish license free in Ontario provided the new anglers stick to the conservation license quota that is dictated by fishing regulations in the area they are fishing in. To check Ontario fish seasons and quota limits visit the Ontario MNR website.
Ontario’s family fishing week is part of a Canada wide initiative started by the Canadian National Sportfishing Foundation and the National Recreational Fishing Task Group.
The purpose of the event is to bring awareness to the excitement of fishing in the Outdoors and the many benefits of fishing in Canada. Fishing and other related activities bring in $6.7 billion dollars to the Canadian economy. The amount is $2.5 billion in Ontario.
Cottage docks will attract fish. Docks can be a high noon refuge for sun shy bass. Just ask, Jeff, about the 2.5-lb smallmouth bass he caught this past weekend.
I watched Jeff, and a friend, fishing with some crank baits off their dock. The hot sun was high in the sky and the only source of shade, in the shallow bay, are several cottage docks of various configurations and shapes.
Jeff tempted this sweet bass to strike from his shaded roost between his dock and boat. After a quick release and photo-op with me, he moved to a second dock further down the bay and hooked a second, large bass!
The lesson:
Narrow the search for mid-day bass for shore structure that provide shaded areas for bass to hide in. Things like docks, boathouses, boats, and rocks or stumps are ideal candidates.
Now here is the rub everyone. Your casting better be better than average when you are fishing around hook-prone boats and docks. How would you like the idea of someone casting a trebled lure at your parked car and bouncing it off your investment? I ignore docks with swimmers, sunbathers or readers. Give them privacy please.
If you get snagged on bottom structure around docks (that also tend to be swimming areas), go above and beyond to retrieveyour lure and fishing line.
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.
