The Secret Improves Freshwater Fishing Results

Your Attitude Can Affect Your Fishing results!

With all this talk about “The Secret” and calling positive energy into your life, it reminded me of an article I read years ago on how to improve your catch while fishing. I believe it was an article in “Field and Stream” but I’m not 100 percent certain of that.

Anyway, what I remember from the article was that the writer was talking about his friend and how he approached fishing. His friend didn’t really act like he was going to catch anything when they went fishing together and most often, he wouldn’t. He didn’t expect to catch anything, though he had high hopes of doing so.

The author went on to explain that since his friend didn’t expect to catch anything, each time he would get a strike, he would miss setting the hook and would ultimately miss catching the fish. The author then extolled the virtues of expecting to catch a fish – how you would cast a certain way and how when you got a strike, you’d be ready to set the hook and this would improve your chances of catching a fish. He also said to envision that a fish was following your lure and was about to strike at any moment.

I was young at the time I read it but I thought about it and put that piece of advice into practice. It has proven itself time and time again! I would almost always out-fish anyone I happened to be with and usually caught the biggest fish when a group of us would go fishing! Was it this “secret’ that caused me to be more successful? I can’t say for sure, but I can certainly tell you that it didn’t hurt!

Think about it – seriously – and it should make sense to you. If you’re ready to catch a fish, you’re more likely to do just that!

I had occasion to share this article’s idea with my sons when we went fishing over this summer. It was a hot sunny day and my older son was saying “there’s no fish here – we won’t catch anything!” I explained to the two of them how your attitude can affect many things in your life … including fishing! I then told them about the article and it helped my older son turn around his thinking.

Did we catch any fish that day? Sure we did! And I’ll bet that our attitudes had something to do with that!

Here’s hoping your attitude helps you catch more fish as well!

Catch you later.

Connecticut Has A Bad Case Of Crabs!

Connecticut Has A Bad Case Of Crabs!

It’s true! I was reading a story about these new intrusive freshwater crabs that are showing up in Connecticut – the Chinese Mitten Crabs. Seems we’ve gotten another import that is ruining our natural resources – AGAIN!

In all fairness though it’s not just Connecticut that has these crabs. They’ve been showing up in the Hudson Bay area, The Delaware Bay area and the Chesapeake Bay area as well. The first sighting of one of these crabs in the Eastern US was approximately 2005.

You can read more about these little invaders at: The Advocate

A quick synopsis: Chinese mitten crabs may be found in both freshwater and salt water. They are walking crabs that can emerge from the water to move upstream of barriers and are capable of moving several hundred miles upstream from saltwater. They spend most of their lives in freshwater rivers, migrating to brackish or salt water to reproduce. The young move upstream, sometimes spending 2 to 5 years in freshwater.

These crabs are very aggressive and may compete with our popular native blue crab in the Sound. Their burrowing habits may also threaten stream banks and earthen dam stability. These losses will promote erosion and habitat loss.

Here’s a picture of the crab and how to identify it: Picture of the Chinese Mitten Crab **Credit goes to the Oregon Dept of Fish And Wildlife for the photo.**

So if you happen to see any of these little buggers while your out and about freshwater fishing, be sure to get rid of it. You also might want to let your local fish and game official know where you found it as well.

Preserve our natural resources!

Catch you later.

What To Wear When Freshwater Fishing?

Have you given much thought as to what you should wear when you go freshwater fishing?

OK – so I got an e-mail from Joseph at Ap3xpr3dator.com asking me to review his line of products for him. Joseph seems like a nice guy and has made a few comments at the blog so I agree to a review (plus I get to keep the “product” – good deal, huh?)

So what does Ap3xPr3dator have to offer – why fishing shirts and other fishing related clothing of course. Hence the topic for this post.

I don’t know about you, but when I go freshwater fishing I like to wear darker colored clothing so that when fishing from the shoreline, my clothing won’t scare any potential catches from taking my offering. Of course if you’re fishing in a very deep lake, the color won’t matter much, but instead you’ll want something to protect you from the sun.

I told Joseph that I preferred darker colors when fishing and he sent me 2 very nice shirts to try out. My favorite and my wife’s favorite also, was a black short sleeved shirt with a cool big mouth bass on the back. You can see the design here: Cool Bass Design

I also received a dark maroon shirt with a trout slayer design on the back – very unique! And since I like wearing shirts with unique designs, I even wore it to a band practice that night! Lots of nice comments on the shirt from the guys!

I waited until I washed the shirts before doing a review, because so many shirt’s designs crack and peel after going through the washer and dryer, but not these. These are nice high quality shirts – no problems with cracking, fading or peeling.

So I’m very impressed with the overall quality and wearability of the Ap3xPr3dator line of shirts. I also noticed as I browsing Joseph’s site that he has lighter weight long sleeve shirts available to help give maximum uv protection while we’re out having fun catching fish.

So if you’re looking for some nice quality shirts for fishing, go check out the shirts at Ap3xPr3dator.com – I’m sure you’ll find something that you’ll like as well.

PS – the prices are good too! $12 – $19 with free shipping if you buy 2 or more!

Catch you later!

What are your best fishing tips, lures, and gear?

Do you have any ways of catching fish that never fail? Ways that you use when all else fail? I’ll give you mine. My best way to catch trout which almost never fails is to use yellow Powerbait. My best bass lure is a five inch plastic worm with curly tail a size 1/0 offset wide gap hook. I also heard a spinner called the "Midnight Special" is an amazing lure to fish at night for bass. A live worm and a hook will catch just about any freshwater fish.

Those are my surefire ways to catch fish. I do just about every type of fishing, so any kind of lures or tips will work. I am very experienced, and don’t need any beginner tips. I gave you my tricks, now what are yours?

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what is the best book for bass fishing tips?

i want a book that gives you some tips to fish freshwater bass written by a pro

expecting everything in one book is thinking one person knows it all and if one person did know it all wouldn’t they be the best in the world? I have read all these, every issue of B A S S , In -Fisherman, Western Outdoor News and I’m sure many more. These are the books I have at home. I tell many people wanting to take up fishing here on answers to go to the library and check out books written by tournament winning anglers they all know things others don’t and in their books they share it all.
Rick Clunn’s World Championship Bass Fishing
Think Like a Fish: The Lure and Lore of America’s Legendary Bass Fisherman
The Field & Stream Bass Fishing Handbook
Jimmy Houston’s Bass Fishing Tips ‘N’ Tales
Roland Martin’s 101 Bass-Catching Secrets
Hannon’s Field Guide for Bass Fishing
Catching Bass Like a Pro
Bill Dance on Largemouth Bass
Kevin Vandam’s Bass Strategies: A Handbook for All Anglers
Mike Gardner’s Fish Have No Hands

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Can Texas Produce A New World Record Largemouth Bass?

With the recent entry of a possible tie for the world record largemouth bass from Japan, there has been specualtion form many fishermen that the new world record largemouth bass will probably come from Japan or California.

Lots of opinions have been put forth, but still the old record holds!

With that in mind, I read with interest something that the Texans have been doing the past 23 years. They have a “ShareLunker” program where largemouth bass that are caught weighing 13 pounds or more are kept alive and given to the state for breeding purposes. Very nice idea!

Toyota is the main sponsor of the program this year and the revenue the program generates from advertising helps to ofset the operating costs.

With all those big fish being kept for breeding, Texas will surely have close to a world record sometime in the future – don’t you think so?

I found this article in the “Tyler Paper”. If you’d like to read more about this whole program, just go to:

Texas Sharelunker Program

There’s even a contest for catcing the largest fish where the winners can get some special clothing and the grand prize is a lifetime fishing license.

Wouldn’t it be nice if all the states had something like this?

Until next time … I’ll catch you later.

Freshwater Fishing and Conservation

If you’ve read some of my posts here, you’ll know that I am a conservationist at heart! I love the outdoors and try to help keep it preserved whenever I can. So as I was reading through some online news headlines, one caught my eye that warranted further attention:

“Fishing line recyclers located in Marshall”

So I decided to click and read what this was all about. It seems that down in Alabama, the group PALS (People Against a Littered State) has placed recycling containers in appropriate places so that fishermen can deposit their “bird’s nests” and other un-usable monofilament line. Very cool idea! Especially when you consider the fact that the monofilament line can last for hundreds of years and isn’t biodegradable.

Check out the article here:

Monofilament Recycling

Have a great day and I’ll catch you later!

-Mark

2 Questions in 1 for Fresh water fishing in NJ?

Here’s a question posed by a fellow New Jersian!

I made a last minute decision to take my two boys (9 and 7) fresh water fishing tomorrow morning. I live in Union County and was wondering if anyone knew of a lake or pond near by. (Seely’s pond and surprise lake? This is a last minute Idea and I don’t want to travel to far, any ideas?
Second question- I do not plan on fishing with them I just plan on helping with tangles, Knots and baiting the hook. It is extremely rare that I go fresh water fishing, do I need to purchase a license if I do not intend to fish? I am an avid saltwater fisherman because I have never had any real luck fishing the lakes. Any tips would be helpful.

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Cry-Babies and the “Me Generation” Or Freshwater Conservation Today

I was reading an article and the associated comments on that article about the zebra mussel infestation and how they’re dealing with it in Massachusetts.

Seems they’re requiring boaters to power wash their boats before being allowed to launch them into a large reservoir in order to help prevent the spread of the zebra mussels.

You can read the article here:
Rules on zebra mussel defenses protested

Having watched the devastation that we have brought to our native environment, I can hardly believe that fellow fishermen are crying like babies about having to take some precautions! As fishermen, we should be the first to take a pro-active stance when it comes to safe-guarding our natural resources.

Yes, there have been some acts of stupidity like the killer bees being brought over to South America and then letting them escape into the wild; the introduction of the snakehead fish into the Potomac river; or the many other foreign species now here and listed at InvasiveSpeciesInfo.gov but as a fisherman, I take pride in the natural resources available to me here in this great country of ours. Any opportunity to help make things better I’ll be happy to take. So my answer to those of you who are too lazy to do your part to keep our resources natural and native – go saltwater fishing instead! 😉

You won’t have to worry about spraying down your boat every time you want to launch it and you won’t have to worry too much about spreading invasive species. (Though if you read through the site I mentioned above, you’ll find that we’re even having problems with invasive species in our salt water resources now!)

So if you’re truly a freshwater fishing enthusiast, please take whatever action is necessary to help keep our natural resources as pristeen as possible – and please, whatever you do, don’t whine and complain about it!

Catch you later.