Fishing with a new spinning reel is a treat. Even the cheapest reel works well when it’s new, but unfortunately they don’t hold up very well for very
long — this is especially true if it’s used in saltwater. However, even the
most expensive equipment requires maintenance, or it won’t last either. Here are some saltwater fishing tackle maintenance tips.
To stalk fish in less than 2 feet of water there are really only two ways to go about it — get off the boat and wade, or fish from a canoe or kayak. I prefer to fish standing up, and that means getting out of the boat and wading. The advantages of wading are many!
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It was opening day of the snook season and I thought about taking my skiff fishing, but the tide was so low I couldn’t get it off the lift. However, I have another shallow water weapon — a canoe with a rowing platform and a pair of aluminum oars.
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Fishing with children requires some patience, and I practice the “KIS rule”
(Keep It Simple) when fishing with young kids. I get plenty of bait and fish
for willing species. A child’s attention span is pretty short, so I try to keep
things moving!
Anyone who wades knows there is no such thing as the perfect all around rod. A 7-1/2-foot, medium-action spinning rod might cover a lot of bases, but certainly not perfectly. That got me thinking that it would be nice to have a back up rod with a stiffer tip for bigger fish such as cobia, trophy snook, bull reds, outsized jack crevalles, and even small tarpon.
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For the outdoor crowd, winter is the season for staying connected to fishing, often through a little craftsmanship. One way to while away a
little winter (even rainy days in the summer) is to enjoy projects, and making your own fishing rod is a great
one. Read how it’s easier than you think!
We are headed out into the powerful waters of the Columbia River for coho salmon, and to experience the fabled Buoy 10 fishery. We exchange quizzical looks when we see the tiny spinners we will be trolling. Any skepticism we may have had about small spinners quickly vanishes as a
double hook-up gets the action off to a fast start!
There are two things to consider when you buy a cast net for catching bait
— the net’s diameter, and the size of the mesh. Despite anything you may have heard about the amount of lead on the net, it
is the size of the mesh that determines how fast the net sinks, not the weight
of the lead line. Here are more tips on choosing a net to catch bait.
I have had the great misfortune of encountering a couple of saltwater creatures equipped with very potent defense mechanisms — namely, stingrays and hardhead catfish. I stepped on a big stingray, and it put me in a world of pain. Another time, I was stuck by the dorsal fin of a hardhead catfish — the half-inch gash in my big toe resulted in a lot of pain. I discovered a couple of things to ease the pain.
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