Live Bait Fishing - Proper Tackle And Bait Presentation Is Critical To Triggering A Fish To Bite

By: Henry Yoo

Having fished the sport fishing boats based in Southern California for many years, I have learned that bait selection and presentation are probably the two most critical, yet often overlooked, steps in fishing with live bait that can ultimately lead to a successful fishing trip. Anglers who have the good fortune of fishing live bait such as anchovies, sardines, mackerel and squid, can easily better their chances of landing more fish with these simple measures that begin at the bait well or bait tank.

When selecting a bait from the well, spend some time choosing the hottest, or liveliest bait in the well. The bait should not be missing any scales and check to see if the nose of the bait is red. The nose should always be a natural color and not red. Baits with red noses and missing scales are normally stressed from improper handling, overcrowded tank conditions or disease and do not look or swim in a natural behavior, the key to enticing fish to feed.

After selecting the best bait, bait scoops should be used to remove it from the others. If a baits coop is not available, the angler should carefully slide his hand under the bait and slowly grab the bait with light pressure by the head, so as to not remove the slime or any of the scales on the body. Quickly bait the hook and fluidly cast it as far from the boat as possible, landing the bait softly in the bite zone. Make sure that your tackle, rods and reels, match the appropriate bait and creates as little excess drag on the bait as possible.

Anglers should always be aware of the fishing conditions that surround them. This includes tides, moon phases, currents, patterns and more. Knowing what the fish and the fishing conditions are doing should determine how the angler should bait their hook. Baits can be hooked in the nose, collar, shoulder and butt, depending on how the angler wants the bait to react. I like to nose hook my baits because I move them around as much as possible, including when I retrieve them. Nose hooking is the only way to retrieve the bait with a natural swimming motion, head pointed towards the angler. When you collar, shoulder or butt hook a bait, they usually get ripped off, fall off or come back in an awkward spinning motion. I only hook my bait in the collar or shoulder when the surface fishing is good and when I know the bait will be inhaled before I need to wind it in. On the other hand, butt hooking is used when the bite zone is deeper and not on the surface. Normally, butt hooking a bait will force it to swim down and away, the ideal scenario for many fishing applications. The price you pay is that you sacrifice the ability to wind the bait back through the bite zone if it did not get bit in the first pass. When butt hooked, the bait will usually spin and come in backwards, not a very appealing appetizer for a finicky fish.

Also, make sure your tackle matches in size and weight to your bait. Sometimes, fishing conditions demand heavy tackle for small baits and on other occasions, light gear for big baits. Other than these times, your rods, reels, bait hooks, fishing line, weight and sinkers should not create any excess drag on the bait. Spinning and conventional casting combos come in a wide range of actions and line classes in both freshwater and saltwater versions and carefully selecting the proper live bait rod and reel is essential.

With these bait selection and presentation tips, I hope you will someday be able to enjoy the thrill of being picked up by a trophy size fish. There is nothing more exciting than fishing with live bait, the heart stopping sensation when you feel that familiar thump on the end of the line, followed by a thumb burning grab of your line from the now, rapidly spinning spool waiting to be engaged with a flip of a button, turn of a handle or a slide of a lever with the familiar call of "hook up".

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Putting All Your Fishing Gears Together

You have a rod, reel, line and leader; the tippet is optional, now you need to put them all together. Don’t rush and put it together just yet. First things first. You will need some paraffin. You can use some from a small white candle or you can buy a block in the canning section of a grocery store. Now rub some of the paraffin on the male parts of the rod. This will keep the sections from coming loose and will also keep it from getting stuck together. The sections can break if they come loose, and when they stick together, it seems like they have been glued. Any excess paraffin can be wiped off, so don’t worry about using too much.

Next, we are going to put on the reel. No, we are going to put the rod together yet. Below the handle on most rods there is a reel seat. The reel fits into the reel seat. One piece of the reel that looks like a foot slides into a slot on the reel seat. The reel is fastened to the rod with the sliding or screw rings.

Before you attach the reel, you may want to decide which hand you want to turn the reel handles with. If you set the reel with the handles on the right or the left side of the reel and find it does work well for you, you can always change it. Most right-handed people will cast with their right hand and reel with their left.

Now we are gong to put the rod together. First you start with the eyes misaligned and twist the sections together. After you have done that make sure they are all aligned. This will seat them properly. Check your rod section often to make sure they have enough paraffin. The paraffin will wear off during the course of a season.

Okay, your rod is together; your reel is filled and attached. Now place the butt of the rod on the ground, fold a small loop in the fly line and poke it up through the guides. The tiny little loop by the cork is a hook keeper, do not run line through it. When you get to the ring guides closer to the top of the rod, you will want to angle the rod enabling you to finish stringing the rod.

Now you will need to hold the tip of the rod with your right hand and carefully pull out the leader and the fly line. Rods can be broken during this time. So take extra care when pulling the fly line beyond the tip. After picking up the rod, pull line straight off the reel toward the stripping guide, not against the edge of the reel. The fly line will be damaged if you pull the line against the edge of the reel. Now, you are ready to cast.

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Filling a Reel with Line and Backing

On the loose end of the fly line you will find a tag reading “this end to reel”. You can tie it directly to your reel if you prefer or you can add backing to the fly line. Most reels are design to have backing wound onto the reel before the line is. Since the fly line can not fill a reel, backing helps to fill it up. With the backing on the reel first, the fly line will not reel out in small circles making casting more difficult. Plus you might need the backing if you ever hook a large fish.

750732_fishing_gear.jpg Tie the end of your backing to the center of the arbor of your reel with an arbor knot. Wind the backing around the arbor at least two times to ensure it doesn’t slip. Tighten it well and carefully reel the backing to about ¼ inch from the top edge of your reel and attach the fly line at the “this end to reel” tag. Tie the backing to the fly line using an Albright knot. Then carefully wind it on the reel. The reel should be full and the loose end ready to be attached to the leader. Tie the fly line to the thick end of the leader with a nail knot. A blood knot is often used to tie on a section tippet material.

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Tips For Fishing Halibut

These tips are just my opinions from what I have seen working on boats. If you have other methods that have worked for you feel free to comment.

1) Sinkers-
I have found that using a stationary torpedo sinker works best. It keeps you bait close to the bottom where you want it.
Lots of people like the sliding sinker method either using the plastic clips that you can buy or using swivels to let you line run freely threw the sinker. The down side of this is that you do not know where you bait is. It could be swimming up on the surface and you would never know. On a crowded party boat this means only one thing TANGLES!

2) Trap rigs-
Using a trap rig will increase the numbers of halibut you catch. Any one who has fished halibut before has almost certainly had the bait shredded from just above the tail. The trap rig will help you hook those short bitters.
When making your trap rigs make sure it fits the size bait you are using. You want the front hook to be in the nose like normal. The second hook (a treble hook) you want it to be placed just behind the anal fin with not to much slack in-between. Don’t make it to short either or your bait will curl up and not be able to swim.

3) Setting the hook-
When you get bit do not be in to big of a hurry to set the hook. Many times halibut will bite it and just sit there, if you are to quick on the hook set you will rip the bait out of there mouth. One method I have found to work well is to slowly lift you rod and pull the bait from the fish. It will think it is trying to get away and when it hits again it will usually get the whole bait in its mouth. Then set the hook. (They may come back three or four times before actually eating the bait.)
This takes a little bit of practice to get the feel for when they really have a good hold of the bait. (It will feel like dead weight on the end of you line) Once you get the hang of it I think you will find it works very well.

4) Big bait-
Halibut can eat very large bait. Do not be afraid to throw out the biggest sardine you can find. You may not catch as many fish doing this but the ones you do get will be big. I have caught a 32lb halibut on a 13 inch mackerel.

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Casting the Fly: A Beginner Fly Fishing Techniques

I was put off of fly fishing for years simply because I thought it would be too hard to learn. There is so much hype about casting a fly with a fly rod, different actions and movements that it all sounds too complicated for the poor beginner. Well the art of casting a fly is in truth really quite simple, and with a few beginner fly fishing techniques just about anyone can do it.

With fly fishing your aim is to cast your fly and have it land naturally on the water so that it attracts fish. The main problem with this is that you have no weight on the end of your line to propel it to where you want it to go. Instead you are using a heavy main line with a short piece of very light line attached, onto which you tie your fly.

This means that you use the weight of the line itself to make the cast, and this involves letting out line a little at a time, then casting it behind you, casting it forwards, letting out more line, casting behind, bringing it forwards and so on. This is called false casting and allows you to build up the cast until enough line is let out to land the fly where you want it.

With a small amount of practise this will get easier and easier. Start off small by trying out your casting on an area of clear grass, in a field or a large garden, there is no need to use a fly or hook at this point as it could become snagged or injure someone.

1. Let out about twenty feet of line in front of you, stand nice and loose and point the rod in front of you so that the rod and line form a continuous straight line.
2. Hold the rod with your thumb resting on the top of the handle. During the cast you will only be moving your wrist and forearm and not your shoulder.
3. Trap the line coming from the reel under a finger and raise the rod to about ten o’clock, then flick the rod backwards to pick the line up off the grass, and propel it behind you until it is at one o’clock
4. Stop the movement sharply, and your wrist should be pointing straight up with the tip of the rod behind you still at one o’clock.
5. Now you have to pause slightly to let the line straighten out behind you until you feel a gentle tug (this is when the line is fully extended).
6. Sweep the rod forward and down, lowering your elbow at the same time. As the line unfurls release the line trapped under your finger.
7. To increase the length of cast flick the rod back again and while trapping the line under your finger pull a few yards of line off with your other hand, cast the rod forward as before and release the trapped line.

You are now fly fishing. You may be a bit awkward at first, but with a little practice you will look and feel like a professional. These are just your first basic steps to fly fishing, by picking up a few more beginner fly fishing techniques you will soon learn all the secrets and tips of the fly fisherman.

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