Fishin Fanatics

2009 was a great year for Fishing!

Travis — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:20:23 +0000

According to this article, there was an increase in fisherman in 2009. Which begs the question, has the horrible Economy helped motivate people to Fish more?

Many Americans are out of jobs so why not spend that extra free time fishing? I know most days I sit in my cubicle wishing I was out next to a river or a lake casting my line. There is no better way to relieve stress than to go Fishing, and boy do we know that a lot of Americans need to relieve some stress right now.

No matter what your situation is make sure you make some time to get out this year and go Fishing!

Water Temp Tips

Garrett — Mon, 18 May 2009 05:40:33 +0000

I have loved fishing since I was little. I would often get confused as to why one day I would catch tons of fish and another time I would get skunked. Well here is a tip that I learned a while ago that will help you catch more fish. Knowing the water temperature is as important a part as any bait you could tie onto your line. I can assure you that any pro angler knows the water temperature and conditions before he/she sets his boat on the water to compete in a tournament. It may not seem like a big deal but water temperature can tell you a lot about how active or inactive the fish are, what type of bait to use and how to present that bait. Whenever I head to the lake I always make sure I have a small thermometer that I test the water with as soon as I get there, this helps me determine what type of presentation would be best to use and therefore increasing my productivity and catch. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you cannot catch fish unless you know the water temperature; all I am saying is that knowing the environment and temperature in which fish live can help you catch more fish, who doesn’t want that? So keep in mind that when fish are in their ideal water temperature this means they are most active and so your presentations and retrieves will be somewhat quicker whereas if the water is cooler than their ideal temperature the fish will be sluggish, forcing you to use slow retrieves in order to keep it in front of their faces longer until they strike.

Here are the gamefish species and their water preference to help out.

Gamefish Species	Temperature Preference ( F )
Lake trout	50
Brook Trout	54
Chinook Salmon	55
Coho Salmon	55
Cutthroat Trout	55
Rainbow Trout	55
Brown Trout	60
Muskellunge	67
Yellow Perch	68
Walleye	69
Northern Pike	70
Smallmouth Bass	70
Crappie	71
Striped Bass	72
Largemouth Bass	73
Bluegill	75
White Bass	76
Bullhead	78
Channel Catfish	78
Flathead Catfish	80

You Might Be Surprised!!

Garrett — Sun, 17 May 2009 01:14:54 +0000

Most Bass anglers that fish waters with lily pads and high aquatic vegetation are armed with an arsenal of weedless Frogs. Frogs such as the Manns, The Frog, are used in even the thickest of vegetation; because of its upturned hooks and floating plastic body the frog is able to skip across dense surface vegetation without constant snagging. Largemouth love to hang out in thick weeds, the frog enables anglers to draw these bass out from their hiding without losing countless jigs and baits to snags. The usefulness of a frog in a weed-choked pond is beyond obvious; however, can a weedless frog catch bass in waters with absolutely no aquatic vegetation? Yes, I have learned over the years that bass are suckers for presentations that they have never seen before. Even though a frog may not be in the normal diet for bass in a particular region, they will still inhale it due to curiosity and surface disturbance. The mere fact that bass in low vegetation water have rarely been presented with a frog increases your chances greatly. So the next time your out bass fishin in an area with little or no aquatic vegetation, tie on a frog and you might be surprised what you catch!!

Spring-Time Bassin’

Garrett — Tue, 12 May 2009 04:22:24 +0000

Spring is here and the water is warming up. This is my favorite time of year to head to my favorite bass lake and test my tackle out. May is the best month for explosive strikes from topwaters, most of the large post-spawn females are moving to deeper water while the aggressive males that are in the shallows protecting their fry hit anything that comes close to them, especially noisy topwater propbaits and stickbaits. A great way to catch the larger females that move into deeper water is by drop-shotting with a Gulp Minnow and using deep running crankbaits in Crawdad color. When the water gets into the 50′s is when bass are most active and a blast to catch.

Here are some deadly Spring-Time Bassin’ baits

1 Topwater Baits (for the aggressive males still in the shallows protecting their fry)

2 Crankbaits

3 Tube Jigs

4 Spinnerbaits

5 Float N’ Fly

6 Jig N Pig or Jig N’ Craw

7 Drop Shotting

Trout Smokin’ Rapala

Garrett — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 06:20:58 +0000

A few weeks ago I took half of a day and went up to Deer Creek Reservoir to see what I could catch. I had asked around a few weeks prior and was assured that the lake had thawed from its ice-over, so I began making my game-plan on which spot I would go to and what I would use. Originally, I had intended to see how the smallies‘ were hittin but didn’t want to get my hopes up because I knew that the water was still too cold for bass to be active. I wasn’t able to do any ice fishin during the winter so I felt like a lil boy on christmas morning when I started up Provo Canyon toward Deer Creek. As I reached the top I was devastated to see that the lake was still froze over, completely shattering my hopes of catching anything, all I could do was curse the ‘Old Farts’ that had told me the lake had opened up weeks before. I had no idea what to do, all I wanted was to do a little bit of fishin. I continued driving around the lake to see if there was even a small 5 gallon bucket sized hole that I could toss my bait into. To my surprise i found a small narrow strip that had thawed next to the shore. I parked my car and began making my way to some point that I had never before fished. It definately wasn’t the place I had in mind according to my original game-plan. Oh well,plans change I guess and I was just happy to be out fishin. I took out my water temp guage and it read 25 degrees, I wasnt surprised. I started out, my first rod setting up a slip sinker rig with a worm and half of a crawdad tail to see if they were on the bottom and my other rod I started tossing out every piece of fish ammunition I had to see what depth they were at and what color they were hittin. I tried propbaits, stickbaits, chuggers, plastics, spoons and cranks of every kind with no luck. I was getting desperate, I saw a brown/orange Rapala Shad Rap (SR05 CW) Deep Runner that I had picked up a while ago but had never used, I tied it on and cast it out there. Letting it sit for a few seconds, I started a stop and go retrieve, still no luck. Getting frustrated, and about to throw in my ‘Man Card’ because I couldnt catch a snag if my life depended on it; I tossed it out again, this time with a moderately fast steady retrieve and BBAAAAMMMMMM…. got a strike. I set the hook and reeled him in, it was a beautiful 14 inch Rainbow Trout. Suddenly my confidence had regained and I was back in the game, I carefully let the trout go so he could fight another day and tossed this Rapala out again and BBAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMM… got another strike. I continued to fish this same Rapala for the rest of the day and strike after strike I reeled em in to the bank. At the end of the day and after letting them all go I had caught 15 beautiful trout, 1 measuring 18 inches, out of that 1 narrow opening next to the shore. Well i didn’t end up catching anything off of my slip sinker rig and didn’t get any bass but that was probably one of the funnest fishin trips iv’e ever had. That just goes to show that when 1 thing isn’t working then switch to something else and don’t get discouraged, because the fish are right under your nose, you just need to give them what they want.

Cletus Take the Reel

Garrett — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:44:50 +0000

This is a great fishing song that I thought you all would enjoy. It brought a tear to my eye the first time I saw it.

What a great video and song. I love the “10 pound bass” that is actually a 2 pound bass.

The Art of Angling

Garrett — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 06:33:45 +0000

There is an art to angling that most cannot comprehend, an art as if it were a completely different language, a form of poetry that only poets understand. People often wonder why I love fishing so much, but what they dont understand is that there is a difference between just going fishing and being a True Angler. AJ McClane, author of The Song of the Angler, describes my thoughts perfectly when he states ” What are the rewards of angling? A dead fish? A trophy? At some point perhaps, but then it takes years to become an angler. In the beginning, when one is very young and inexperienced, fish are measured in quantity. Then, only quality becomes important. Eventually even record fish lose their significance unless they are of a particular species, and ultimately the size doesn’t matter provided they are difficult to catch.” A true Angler doesn’t fish to brag about quantity, size or species; but for the love of the sport. When hooking into a 3lb brown with light tackle on a quiet mountain stream gives you just as much excitement as fighting a blue marlin for an hour atop thousands of feet of ocean, you are well on your way to becoming a True Angler. This site is dedicated to the tips, tricks and how to’s of angling for the beginners on up to experts, whatever species of fish for whatever season.