Fishing For Dummies. Greg Schwipps

can be retrieved in different ways. Some lures are meant to be reeled in quickly, whereas others work better when jigged (hopped up and down by lifting and lowering the rod tip). Still other presentations include drifting or trolling baits or lures from a boat.

      Fishing saltwater means understanding tides, and how the flow of the rising or falling tides affect gamefish. Because tides tend to congregate baitfish, locating gamefish becomes a matter of finding ambush points where these gatherings of bait become easy prey.

Fish On! Now What?

      When a fish strikes your bait, fly or lure, the first thing you have to do is set the hook. This refers to the act of imbedding the hook into the mouth of the fish. Many hooksets involve lifting the rod sharply overhead, using the flex of the rod to drive the hook or hooks into the fish’s mouth. When using circle hooks, the fish simply swims away until the rod bends deeply toward the fish — then the circle hook rotates around the corner of the fish’s mouth and the bend of the rod drives the hook home. In fly fishing, with many stripers, tarpon, big trout, and redfish, lifting the rod will pull the fly out of the fish’s mouth. So you sometimes need to swipe sideways rather than lifting.

After a fish is hooked, you have to fight the fish to the shore or boat, and this means controlling the ensuing struggle enough that the fish cannot wrap the line around a snag or do a number of other things to free itself. This is covered completely in Chapter 18, but you should always strive to keep the rod tip up, using the flex of the rod to maintain a tight line and keep the hook firmly planted in the fish’s mouth.

      It’s not hunting: You can release fish

      When a fish is in your net or hand, assuming the fish is legal, you have a choice to make: Do you release the fish, or keep it? (Fish that aren’t legal — due to size restrictions, say, or species-specific rules on that body of water — must be unhooked and released immediately.) With practice, you can easily unhook a fish, and most fish, when fought to the bank properly, will zip off unharmed when released back into the water.

      If the fight has been particularly long or grueling, the fish might be fully exhausted, in which case you might need to revive the fish before you release it. Chapter 18 describes how to revive and release an exhausted fish.

      Releasing fish ensures that other anglers will have the chance to catch fish, and releasing a trophy is a way to keep the right genes (the kind that make big, healthy fish!) in the pool. Of course, as mentioned in Chapter 19, be sure to get a picture of that award-winning fish before turning it loose.

      But fish taste great, and you can keep a few, too

      Because a fish’s body is made up primarily of muscle, they are a great source of protein. With practice, it’s possible to clean fish efficiently and with a minimal amount of gore. When properly cleaned, fish can be cooked in many different ways, pleasing even the most discerning palate.

      Chapter 21 includes recipes for preparing different kinds of fish in a variety of ways. Most of the recipes come from noted chefs Lucia Watson, award-winning chef and founder of Lucia’s in Minneapolis, and Peter Kaminsky, a cooking writer and one of the authors of this book. You’re sure to find a new favorite dish.

Chapter 2

      Gathering What You Need to Fish

      IN THIS CHAPTER

      

Dressing smarter for fishing

      

Packing a foul-weather bag

      

Making waders work for you

      

Picking the right tackle carrier

      

Staying legal while fishing

      Be prepared. That’s good advice that the Boy Scouts of America have followed for over 100 years now. Some people want their trips to be spontaneous, fun, and unpredictable. Others don’t get to go fishing as often as they would like (who does?) and so want every minute they get on the water to be as enjoyable and stress-free as possible. And that means being prepared for the unplanned things that inevitably happen while fishing.

      And being ready doesn’t mean your fishing expeditions will somehow lack spontaneity or fun. On the contrary — the more prepared you are for a trip, the more energy and time you can dedicate to the important stuff: the fishing. That’s the enjoyable part, after all. No one has fun fishing in the rain while cold and hungry, knowing your rain suit and lunch are back at the house.

      This chapter gives you an overview of the basic things you might need before you hit the water. Don’t worry — you won’t need everything for every trip; the less you have to carry, the better. But I offer advice here for what to wear and what to carry that prepares you for most of your fishing excursions, most of the time. (If you still want to go fishing on every single trip looking like a total rookie, absolutely clueless to what’s happening in the world around you, go ahead: My brothers have been doing it for decades, seemingly with no ill effects.)

Dressing for Fishing Success

      If you want to take up fishing because you like the idea of impressing other anglers with your latest outfit, you, my friend, are going into the wrong hobby. Or you’re going into the right hobby for all the wrong reasons! What you wear while fishing isn’t about impressing other anglers. But it should be about comfort and success.

      You desire clothes that are comfortable, and you also want them to work for you in all weathers. Hemingway writes in The Old Man and the Sea: “Anyone can be a fisherman in May.” And May fishing can be quite pleasant. It can also be cold, rainy, stormy, and downright nasty. And you’re not only going to fish in May, are you? You want the right clothes for all seasons and all conditions.

      As strange as it sounds, you also need clothes that help you catch fish. You want to wear clothes that don’t scare fish by giving away your position, and you need gear that lets you get as close to the fish as you can while being as quiet as possible. But have no fear: I'm not talking about getting ready for the prom here. The clothes you wear while fishing can be inexpensive, old, and ratty. They probably should be. But you should think a little bit about what you’re wearing, beyond that lucky feeling you get from your Bon Jovi t-shirt.

      Wear layers and always be happy

      You don’t need to dress better, you need to dress smarter. Wearing layers is the key to adapting to changing weather conditions while fishing. Even on a calm, sunny day, you face big temperature swings on a typical fishing trip. When you start out, possibly before dawn, the day begins dark, chilly, and damp. Four hours later, you find yourself under a blazing sun cooking you with 95 degrees of oven-blast heat.

      Of course, the weather can change beyond the normal progression of the sun, as well. Storms blow in, rain starts and stops. Winds pick up and die down. One outfit won’t match all of these ever-changing conditions. Even with the latest clothing technology, which really is quite amazing, you need to