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Buddy's Freshwater Fishing Tips
Hi! I'm Buddy. I'm not a professional bass or walleye fisherman, just a regular guy that likes to talk fishing! In particular, freshwater fishing in Ohio and the Eastern and Midwestern US.
First, let's take a minute to take a look at freshwater fishing baits!
Fishing baits consist of artificial baits or lures, natural baits and prepared baits. Although I don't use them a lot, artificial baits are among my personal favorite baits to use! Using lures can be almost addictive. Every cast another chance for a fish, species and size unknown! I prefer to use light tackle and small lures. When I use a small lure, I know I'm not intimidating smaller fish, which in most waters is the majority of fish! Small lures catch fish big, small and everything in between. You can retrieve a small lure more slowly without it dragging bottom, making it all the more enticing to fish.
If I had to pick a favorite lure, I'd have to go with a simple 2"curly tailed grub, color white, on a 1/16 oz jighead. Hybrid striped bass in particular love this offering. The great thing about jigs is they're inexpensive and since the hook is turned up, they're resistant to getting hung up on bottom. This is my number one lure for the Ohio river and I always fish from the bank. If there is just enough current, I can work my jig around the shoreline, especially any irregularities in the shoreline or anyplace there is a current break. Often, the fish will be holding just inches from the bank!
Live baits are a natural bait. I use live baits a lot. Live nightcrawlers are a great live bait that's hard to beat for more than one species, and you never know what you'll catch on them. Live minnows are number one for crappie and you'll always catch some black bass and big bluegill along with them. Fresh chicken livers are my all time favorite natural bait for both hybrid striped bass and channel catfish. I always fish it on bottom. The chicken blood in the liver often triggers a suprising "instant bite". Fresh and not frozen liver works best. Cut it into small pieces with a sharp pair of scissors.
Prepared baits are omnipresent, seemingly everywhere we look. There are stink baits for catfish. Dough baits for carp. Even dough baits for predatory species like trout. Using dough baits makes sense for bottom feeding species like carp and channel catfish, but I'd rather use live bait or lures for predatory species like trout.
One company in particular has come out with a synthetic bait, something like a nightcrawler, fished in the same manner as live bait, which they claim outfishes the real thing! I think this type of thinking started with ancient alchemists trying to turn lead into gold!
Stink baits?- Too stinky! Dough baits?- I've tried them all. My determination is that homemade is best but there is one I've tried that's a lot like homemade and works really well- Aaron's Carp 'n' Catfish Dough Bait
You can choose to fish a private pond, public waterway or a pay-to-fish place. Let's take a look at each!
Private ponds are great places to fish! There are many stocked farm ponds suitable for fishing. Just be sure to approach the property owner first and politely request permission to fish his or her pond. The property owner may have special rules for you to abide by, always obey them.
When I was a kid, I only fished "pay lakes". Now that I'm all grown up, I rarely fish them. Pay lakes have their good and bad points. On the good side, they offer everyone from young to elderly a safe, easily accessible place to wet a line along with food, drink and bathroom facilities as well as optional chances for cash prizes. On the down side, many are not stocked regularly and/or well enough leaving fishermen and women often disappointed. Fish that are stocked are caught out quickly. Your best chance to catch fish in these lakes is often the same day fish are dropped in.
Some pay lakes are better than others. Many pay lakes are seemingly nothing more than a big hole dug into the owner's backyard, then allowed to fill with rain water, sometimes looking a lot like a big mud puddle. Some pay lakes promoting their big catfish make it a rule for their patrons to return these fish to the lake. This creates a stressful and unhealthy environment for these fish which sadly are frequently and repeatedly caught and released back into these small bodies of water.
Pay lake fishing is, in essence, artificial fishing in the sense that pay lakes are stocked with farm raised fish, provide a limited variety of available species, provide insufficient natural forage and little or no natural cover or structure that fish need to thrive. Large public waterways such as rivers and resevoirs in contrast, offer people a chance to catch a wide variety of wild fish and in a much more natural setting. Many of these large public waterways are annually stocked with fry by governmental agencies and their immense size makes them resistant to getting "fished down". I do most of my fishing in Public waters and generally do very well. At the price of an annual state fishing license it can't be beat!
Until next time, see ya at the lake!
Cyberangler-Online fshing magazine
Send E-Mail to: yourfishinbuddy@webtv.net
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