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Fresh Water Fishing and the Climate Changes

I was reading a short little article about the effect of the climate changes (global warming) on different countries and it made me wonder – will we really see these predicted changes in our lifetime?

Here’s the article I read:
Climate change hits fishing economies

What do YOU think? Is there truly global warming going on as the scientists say? Or is this just a bunch of hype to get us all worrying about nothing? I haven’t made my mind up on this yet. True, there are limited resources on this planet and we’re using them up at an alarming pace. But will our greed for more cause this global warming and meltdown of our planet, as predicted.

I dislike the fact that we are using up so many of our planet’s resources and in the process, we are killing off certain animals and other vegetation which may never be seen again. But how do we change. Does Obama really have the answer?

And the greed of the oil companies and their owners have caused all of us to completely rely on their petrol based products through their corrupt governmental manipulations. We should have had alternative transportaion means years ago and yet we still rely on technology created at the end of the 1800s?!?!? What’s wrong with this picture? The oil companies ran the exploration of electric vehicles right out of business 40 – 50 years ago. And we’re just now starting the electric vehicle process all over again. Makes you wonder who really runs the world’s economies!

And what about the electric generating plants? With all of the nuclear (sorry George W – it’s not nucular!) waste they produce. The nuclear plants have been negatively affecting our fresh water fishing for years. Both with the warming of the water and the damming of rivers that used to allow the fish to migrate. What are we going to do with all of that nuclear waste that takes millions of years to dissipate? What are we leaving as a leagacy for our children and grandchildren?

I don’t have all the answers – obviously! But as a freshwater fisherman, I love nature and care about what happens to our natural resources. I try to do my part to help keep the water and land clean. I want these things to be here for my grandchildren to experience – don’t you? I want them to be able to fish and actually catch and release something other than someone’s old boot! 🙂

So here’s to tomorrow! May we all do a little something extra to help our world and conserve its resources. Lets try to leave this world a little better than the way we found it! What do you say?

Catch you later.

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Freshwater Fishing in NY – Licensing Changes

If you live in or near the state of New York and like to freshwater fish there, you should have a look at the new and proposed regulation changes that the state is considering.

Quick reference: http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/51001.html

These changes are not set in stone yet, the state is allowing you to give them some input prior to enacting the new regulations.

So while the weather is still cold and you’re looking for something to do, peruse through the proposals and send off a quick e-mail to them letting them know what you think of them.

Here’s that link again:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/51001.html

Get involved and make a difference – one person can change the world!

Catch you later.

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Freshwater Fishermen vs Saltwater Fishing License

Freshwater fishing is my favorite, but once in a while I may go saltwater fishing.

It’s not a common occurence, but when I do go, it’s usually in Townsend’s Inlet, NJ or Cape Cod for stripers. But it looks like there’ll soon be no more unlicensed saltwater fishing for me and anyone else living in the USA!

Tough times and all the mess that the economy is in are being used as the latest excuse to grab more of our money. What do you think about that? I’m not real happy about it.

I was reading a post about the subject in the Times of Trenton Sports News section. You can check it out here: http://www.nj.com/sports/times/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/1233464727155740.xml&coll=5

Unfortunately, it looks inevitable for a saltwater fishing license, but it’s still not too late to write your state representatives and let them know your thoughts!

Catch you later.

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Snow and Ice – Freshwater Fishing Spots

My 2 sons and I took a hike through our local trail system yesterday and visited some of our freshwater fishing spots. The creek was partially iced over and it was easy to get to places that are unpassable in the summer when the bushes and weeds are just too thick.

My younger son loves to talk and in spite of my efforts to try and quiet him, he kept on talking. I explained that they’d see more wildlife if they kept quiet … but he gets excited about almost everything he sees! Oh to be five years old again!

So we were blazing our own trail along the creek bank (hoping to keep it open once spring and summer comes) and finding good spots to go fishing once the ice and snow melt off. Much to my surprise, my older son spotted something and asked me what it was. Turns out it was a muskrat. We had apparently blocked off his return top the creek and he seemed a little lost. I happened to have my camera with me and snapped a photo:

 

I told the boys how I used to trap muskrats in my younger days and used the money for Christmas presents. We walked for another 20 minutes and actually saw another muskrat! This one was able to get to the water and swam away as we watched. So we followed his tracks in the snow to see where he came from. And of course as we walked my younger son and I both got our feet wet! So we decided it was a good time to head home and grab some lunch.

It was snowing lightly through most of our walk through the creek and as we headed home we talked about fishing during the cold weather… and decided that it was more fun when it was warmer.  Hopefully we’ll have some more snowy walks before the spring returns and we’re back fishing in our favorite spots!

Catch you later.

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Pennsylvania Smallmouth Bass

Calling all freshwater smallmouth bass fishermen.

I found this article posted on the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s website. If you live in or near Pennsylvania and fish on the Susquehanna river, you’ll probably be interested in reading this. Here’s an excerpt:

Harrisburg, PA - The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is inviting anglers
and others with an interest in the management and protection of smallmouth bass in the
Susquehanna River to a free public meeting on Saturday, January 31, at the River Rescue
Building in Harrisburg. The meeting will touch upon subjects such as fish disease, fish
population monitoring results, trends in consumptive water use and water quality
trends. A question and answer session will follow...

If you’d like to read the rest of the article, you’ll find it here:


http://www.fish.state.pa.us/newsreleases/2009/smb_symposium.htm

Hey – almost forgot ….. here’s wishing you all a very happy and prosperous New Year!
May your lines be tight and your creels be full!

Catch you later.

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The Twelfth Day Of Christmas – Fresh Water Fishing Style

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me twelve tackle boxes, eleven snap swivels, ten spinners spinning, nine jigs a jigging, eight bobbers bobbing, seven sinkers sinking, six kits for rigging, … five purple worms … four rebel lures, three weedless hooks, two spools of line and a fishing pole complete with a reel.

Merry Christmas to you all! While twelve tackle boxes may seem like a lot of tackleboxes – it’s not really! I like to keep my things organized and this includes my fishing gear. So I have 2 huge tackle boxes – one for salt water fishing and the other for fresh water fishing!

I further divide my tackle by the type of fish I’m going to be fishing for. I have small compartmented plastic tackle boxes which I place in or next to the big tackle boxes. The rubber worms in one box, the spinners in another, the spoons in another … you get the idea! Then in the individual tackle boxes, I have separate compartments for the different colored lures. I hate it when the red colored worms are sitting with the green worms and their color bleeds into each other! Makes for some real weird colored worms! 😉

So keeping things organized can get to be quite a chore. But if you have a box like this one shown below, it’s not very hard at all.

Notice that you can pull out one of the trays and just take that for the day’s fishing trip. Very cool idea! Of course, if you’re not sure what you’ll find when you go to a new lake or stream, then you can take the whole box. What do you think? Cool eh?

Well this concludes my twelve days of Christmas for freshwater fishing. Hope you enjoyed it and that you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. If you don’t happen to celebrate Christmas, then I hope you have a happy holiday – whichever one you celebrate!

Catch you later.

-Mark

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The Eleventh Day Of Christmas – Freshwater Fishing Style

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me eleven snap swivels, ten spinners spinning, nine jigs a jigging, eight bobbers bobbing, seven sinkers sinking, six kits for rigging, … five purple worms … four rebel lures, three weedless hooks, two spools of line and a fishing pole complete with a reel.

In this day and age, when everything is green, snap swivels are a perfect fit! You know that monofilament fishing line stays around forever and creates quite a bad litter problem. So rather than constantly cutting the line and re-tying a knot every time you change your lure/hook – use a snap swivel instead!

I’m your typical fisherman. I enjoy taking it easy and spending as much time fishing as possible. And having to cut the line and re-tie a knot just takes up too much time and keeps my lures out of the water too long! 🙂 So I almost always use snap swivels when fishing. Just push the latch open, pull off your old lure and put on a new one, push the snap closed and away you go. Very easy!

You can get snap swivels in all sizes to suit your fishing needs too! I use the heavy ones for salt water fishing (on the rare occasion that I do that!) and the smaller ones for freshwater fishing. I like ultra-lite fishing, so I usually use the smallest ones I can find. That way, they don’t weigh down the lure I’m using and the additional flash or reflection that they provide helps attract more fish. It’s a win – win situation!

Never tried sanp swivels? They’re cheap and available just about every fishing store you go to. Look at this – even amazon has some available!

So do yourself and the environment a favor and get some snap swivels today!

Catch you later.

-Mark

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Garden State Outdoors Sportsmen’s Show

Winter getting you down? Miss fishing in the nice warm sun? I’ve got just the cure for you! Go to the Garden State Outdoors Sportsmen’s Show!

They have lots of fishing as well as other outdoor activities for you to check out. You can also browse through the vendor’s exhibits and get yourself some new freshwater fishing gear!

It’s held in the NJ Convention Center in Edison, NJ. And guys, you’ll like this – women get in for 1/2 price and children under 15 are free! So grab everyone and head on over. When is it? Glad you asked! It will be open on January 8th through the 11th.

For more details including directions and phone numbers, visit their website at:

Garden State Outdoors Sportsmen’s Show.

Catch you later.

-Mark

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The Tenth Day Of Christmas

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, ten spinners spinning, nine jigs a jigging, eight bobbers bobbing, seven sinkers sinking, six kits for rigging, … five purple worms … four rebel lures, three weedless hooks, two spools of line and a fishing pole complete with a reel.

Are you a fan of spinning lures? I am! When I was younger, my family and I travelled all over the USA as well as Canada. Every place we went, I looked at the fishing lures and usually bought a couple. So I have many spinning lures that don’t really produce for me in my current area in which I live (Southern NJ, USA), but I still like to look at them and dream about going back to where I bought them and catching a huge lunker with them!

Fishing in the shallower waters of New Jersey means that you’ll need a lighter spinner – one that doesn’t sink too much or run too deep. I have two favorite spinners that I like to use. When I’m looking to catch bass, I’ll pull out one of my panther-martin spinners. They’re small but boy do they attract the bass! Never heard of a panther-martin? Well check them out here:

I caught a very nice 5 pound bass on my favorite panther-martin in our local creek. It has a feather tied to the treble hook at the back of it. I’m always amazed that such a large fish would be attracted to such a small lure!

So what do you use if you want a trout or some other game fish besides bass? Well I like to use rooster tail spinners. Here’s what a rooster tail spinner looks like:

When we were in Banff National Park in Canada, we rented a boat and went fishing for trout in one of the local lakes. My brother and I both were using a rooster tail. Mine was black and his was red. Other than the colors, the lures were identical. The result? I outfished my brother 3 to 1! And I caught the largest fish that day – a beautiful 3-4 pound Kamloop trout. So do yourself a favor and get a black rooster tail spinner! 😉

Any other spinners that you may know of that deserve mentioning here? Please write and let me know.

Catch you later.

-Mark

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The Ninth Day of Christmas

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me nine jigs a jigging, eight bobbers bobbing, seven sinkers sinking, six kits for rigging, … five purple worms … four rebel lures, three weedless hooks, two spools of line and a fishing pole complete with a reel.

I’ve always read about how effective jigs are. But most of the water near my home is too shallow for those lead headed jigs. The ones that look like this:

Lead Head Jig

Though I will admit that once when I fished at the Tuckahoe-Corbin City Fish and Game Preserve in Cape May County, New Jersey, I did actually use lead headed jigs with moderate success. It was also the first time I ever caught a yellow perch. It seemed that the jig I used was exactly what they were looking for! It was a lead head jig with an inch and a half of deer hair tied to it.

That was back in the 1970’s and time has marched on. Now there are smaller jigs that are weedless and have rattles built right into them. Very nice! Berkley makes some real nice jigs with great color variations. If you’re interested, you can read about them here:

My older son was using a jig this past summer and caught some bass in our local creek. So jigs are effective if used properly. (Even here in our shallow East Coast freshwater creeks and lakes.)

What about your area? Have any of you ever fished with jigs and had success?

Here’s to a succeful day of freshwater fishing for each one of us!

Catch you later.