New Fishing Hooks

All I can say is … Wow! I met Ron Baskett on Twitter and he told me he had some new hooks to try out.

So I gave him my e-mail and home address and Ron, being the generous guy he is, sent me some free hook samples as well as a free T-shirt and some free bait holder straps! What a nice guy! (Thank you Ron!)

What is so special about Ron’s new hook? Well it’s not really the hook so much as it’s how you “tie” your line to the hook. You actually don’t tie the hook onto your line – you kind of wrap the hook on. It’s fast and easy and the best part … you retain 98% of your line’s strength by “tying” it this way. Very nice!

The hooks are well made and have very sharp points, but the ease and simplicity of getting the hook on your line are almost unbelievable! He has a video on his site that shows you the hook and how easy it is to use. OK – So do yourself a favor and go check these out now!

http://www.outdoorspecialtyinnovations.com/index.php/hooks.html/

Tell him Mark at the FreshwaterFishingBlog.com sent you!

Catch you later!

-Mark

Freshwater Fishing For Carp

Freshwater Fishing For Carp

I live close to the Mantua Creek in southern NJ and each year in early summer the carp would migrate up the creek from the Delaware river to spawn.

As a child and teenager, I lived right next to the creek. In fact, the creek ran through our property. I remember going out at night and hearing the carp splashing about having fun in their spawning rituals. This would last for a few weeks and then they’d go back down the creek and back to the river. A local reporter lived a few blocks away from us. His name was Ralph Knissel and he wrote a fishing column for the Gloucester County Times. Ralph had reported carp being caught a few hundred yards downstream from where we fished that went over thirty pounds!

We used to bottom fish as teenagers and would catch eels, catfish and occasionally a carp.

One particular instance stands out in my carp fishing times. We were using some homemade cornbread (and other sweet smelling additives) doughballs. I was using a medium action rod with 25 lb test on it. (I knew the carp were big!) As my friends and I were talking, my bait was taken and after waiting a few seconds, I set the hook.
The fish was big and my rod bent. After fighting to get him up to the surface and onto the creek bank, the fish broke my line and fell back into the creek. Talk about disappointed! We never saw the whole fish before the line broke, but boy was it large! Of course the stories and arguments began between the 4 of us fishing about just how large the fish was. Bottom line … the fish broke my 25 lb test line!

So why am I posting about large carp? Funny you should ask! 🙂 I was just reading an article from the UK about how they lost a local favorite carp. They even have names for their carp! You can check out the article here:

Benson the giant carp.

Hope you enjoy it!

I’ll catch you later.

The Bass Krusher Rig

Watch This video to learn my secret rig for catching largemouth bass when I go freshwater fishing.

I previously posted about my favorite way to rig a rubber worm when I go bass fishing. You can read it here:

Bass Krusher Rig

The video below will show you exactly how I rig my worms!

Try rigging a few of your worms this way and just watch the bass come running!

Hope that helps you.

Catch you later.

-Mark

So What’s The NJ Freshwater Fishing Record

So What’s The NJ Freshwater Fishing Record

I was reading through some fishing posts today and became curious as to what the state records were for freshwater fish in NJ. So I did some quick research and found a website which lists all of the NJ state records for fresh water fish.

Want to see it? Then go here:

http://www.funnj.com/water/ffish/frecord.htm

It’s interesting to see that the New Jersey largemouth bass state record is only 10lbs, 14 oz. That sounds breakable to me – how about you?

I enjoy fishing – it’s relaxing, fun, thrilling and exciting … all rolled into one!

What about you? What is it that makes you like fishing? Post some thoughts here for me?

‘Til next time – catch you later.

Let Them Eat Fish … errr Cake!

Let Them Eat Fish … errr Cake!

In light of the global warming and the depletion of our mother earth’s resources, it’s sometimes hard to keep a smile on your face.

Turns out that Marie Antoinette or Marie-Thérèse or whoever it was that made that statement so long ago, was right! What’s this all about, you ask me?

I was just reading an article about how many freshwater fish you should eat that are caught in New Jersey and how many seafood items you should eat. It was very discouraging to read. We really are messing up this great big beautiful world that we live in and it almost seems that no one cares. But I care! Don’t you?

The article gives links to some safe and ecologically sound eating guides for these times we live in. I highly recommend you check it out. (It’s a quick read.)

You can read the article here:

Seafood lover’s dilemma: eat healthy, be eco-friendly

Well try to eat healthy and do something good for our environment and I’ll catch you later!

-Mark

New World Record Largemouth Bass?

I was reading through some fishing news and this topic caught my eye!

The current IGFA world record largemouth bass weighed 22lbs and 4 oz. The 77-year-old world record bass was caught in June 1932 by George Perry at Montgomery Lake in Georgia. Now apparently someone in Japan caught a fish and had it weighed on certified scales and it was 1 oz more than the current world record. But guess what? It isn’t a new world record!

Bass Masters has the story on this and explains why it’s not a new world record. You can read their article, listen to a discussion and watch a video on the fish and the lucky fellow who caught it by clicking on the “New World Record Largemouth Bass” link below:

New World Record Largemouth Bass

(Editor’s Note: Steve VonBrandt of Delaware Bass Fishing just informed me that he has much more information, photos and videos on the new world record largemouth bass at his website. You can check out his information at:
http://delawaretrophybass.com)

Enjoy! (Wouldn’t it be nice to catch a world record largemouth?!?)

I’ll catch you later!

FRESHWATER FISHING TIPS & TECHNIQUES – Paperback

FRESHWATER FISHING TIPS & TECHNIQUES - Paperback

FRESHWATER FISHING TIPS & TECHNIQUES is a 222 page book designed to teach everything from Ice fishing to fly fishing. There is an excellent knot tying section along with facts about various game fish species. Expert angler Gene Kugach offers hundreds of tips and techniques for catching all types of freshwater fish based on his years of onstream experience. Filled with easy-to-understand illustrations, and geared for both the novice and the more experienced angler, Freshwater Fishing Tips and Techniques covers every aspect of freshwater fishing! 300 drawings throughout the book.

For fresh water fishing, what are the best times to go at?

Is their even a certian time fish tend to feed, or just any time during the day?

If you are fishing a lake, it really depends on A: the type of fish (catfish, nighttime; trout; morning or evening; etc.) B: is it raining or sunny? (if it is raining, any time is a good time for trout) and C: how long ago were they planted, if applicable (you usually want to wait anywhere from an hour to a day to let them get acquainted with their new homes).

If you are fishing a river, you will want to monitor your tides. High, outgoing tide is the best time for fishing on the river in my opinion, however, there are a lot of swing moments where the water is not moving at all, this may be a good time for certain types of fish.

Good luck out there.

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Father’s Day Freshwater Fishing

Wow – it seems its been a long time since I was able to go fishing. Too many things going on lately and just too much rain! I can’t remember the last time 24 hours passed without some type of precipitation!

So on my time at home yesterday, and since it was Father’s Day, the boys and I decided to go fishing! With all the rain, it was very easy to find worms. Two minutes and the worm box was full of large squiggling worms …. let’s go!

We went to the local creek since the last time we went to one of the lakes nearby. It was lightly drizzling and the tide was high and starting to go out. The water was murky from all the rain. So I advised my sons that lure selection should be on the bright side. My younger son kept getting snagged and tangled and I spent more time helping him than fishing. So we switched him back to bait and using the worms. My older son changed to worms as well.

Soon after, they started catching sun fish or sunnies as we call them. A couple of pumpkinseed sunnies and a few bluegills. We didn’t catch any bass, pickerel or other game fish. But we had a nice time getting out and finally casting the lines again! Since it was raining, I didn’t take any pictures of the boy’s conquests, much to my younger son’s chagrin! (He likes to brag to Mom!)

Hopefully the rain will stop at some point in the future and we’ll get out again – it’s summer after all! So enough with the April showers already!

On another note, I just read that the In-Fisherman has created a new website – they have lots of good information and I thought you all might like to check it out. So here’s a link for you. Let me know what you think of their new site?

http://www.In-Fisherman.com

Catch you later.

-Mark