Fishing Articles

I used to believe, like a lot of folks that you had to have a skin mount of any fish to really capture the moment of the catch and the spirit of the fish. After my first Trophy Striped Bass was totally ruined by an amature, I still had my Trophy Largemouth Bass an 8 pound 1 ounce monster from a small Kentucky Lake skin mounted. I was happy with that mount, but over the years it faded, and I became less happy with the mount. I now believe totally in Catch It, Photograph It, and Release It... (CPR Fishing) I really came of age on a trip to Canada. Our resources are so stretched today that EVERY SINGLE FISH is a treasure especially Trophy fish. A trophy Lake Trout in Canada can be 20 years old to get to a size of 8 pounds. A trophy Pike can live for 40 years to get to record weight, and I know of at least one Muskie in Canada that is over 30 years old. These fish should be around for the enjoyment and excitement of MORE than one person. I recently came across several products that I personally feel are of great worth to the CPR philosophy. The first is my Fuji Throwaway Cameras. A friend, Wes Thomas who fishes the FLW Tour gave me a couple of these great cameras and I love them. They take great pictures and the colors are very true. They are very easy to get developed too. I hope to get the new Fuji Digital Camera S5000 with 10X zoom. For a professional writer who needs to take his own pictures this Fuji Digital will fit the bill in getting good close ups of the fish with the proper colors and still allow me to take pics of fishermen in other boats or at a distance. Next is my favorite Replica Mount Company. American Fish Taxidermy which specializes in Fish Replica and Fish Skin Mounts. I recently ordered a 20.75 inch smallmouth from them from a trip / tournament I fished in 2002. I caught my first Trophy Smallmouth a 5 pounder on a new technique.. at least for me..the Float and Fly. The Apporximately 5 lb smallie was caught on a 1/16th oz. jig, and a 9.5 Noodle Rod. What a fight. I will now be able to recall the entire trip thanks to my Replica from American Fish Taxidermy Catch and Release can also mean on occasion Catch, Photograph, Hold and Release. Fish that are over stressed need to be put into a well oxygenated live well. Several products on the market will assist the fish in recuperating from the fight and reduce the shock to the fishes system. The one problem with this is when you catch a huge fish that is not legal. My 20.75 inch smallmouth from Dale Hollow was not a legal fish. The lake is on a 16 inch to 21 inch slot limit. SO be careful what you do when you hold a fish for resuscitation purposes. I highly recommend releasing any and all Game fish you intend to mount. Take at least 3 pictures of the fish. One close up, one at a moderate distance of about 5 feet, and one next to an object that you can measure, or on a ruler. If you have one of the new Boca Grip weighing handles take a picture with the grip, weight and fish visible. Color photos from different angles will help the Taxidermist to duplicate the look and the feel of your trophy. PUT E'M Back ALIVE ... Save a fish for your children and grandchildren. http://www.1fghp.com/article9.html

A Guides Work is Never DONE Its the job of many a man and woman’s dreams. Fishing and getting paid to do it. Its a tough job, some joke, but somebody’s got to do it right? Well folks for those of you who think guiding is a cushie job, let me fill you in on all the work this job requires. Fish - Most guides keep detailed diaries of where and when they catch fish. This helps the guide to keep track of fishing patterns and where fish prefer to be at any given time. Think about this, from year to year water levels, weather, water temps and other factors change. Baitfish concentrations, change from year to year based on the amount of water that any body of water gets and on the amount of cover that is available for the bait fry to hide in. When you consider all of the possibilities that guides have to deal with it is amazing that from day to day they can keep track of where to fish and what to fish for. Even more amazing is knowing HOW to catch the fish since there are so many possibilities for any species of fish. Equipment - Boats, Rods, Reels, Electronics, Motors, Lures, & Batteries, Oh my. The boat is probably one of the costliest choices guides have to make, and the toughest to keep properly maintained. After each trip it must be cleaned, gasoline must be reloaded and in some cases reformulated with oil. Depending on where you fish the bottom of the boat may have to be cleaned of water scum, barnacles or other debris that can be picked up from the water. Tires for the trailer, daily checks of tire pressure are necessary to make sure of the safety of one of the guides biggest investments. Rods - Most guides have at least 10 of these if not more. Some guides have over 100 rods that they have to keep available depending on the type of fishing that they do. Most buy moderate cost rods, since quite a few of their customers have actually never fished before or only a few times in their lives. Rods get stepped on, nicked, and damaged. After almost every trip the guide has to check the rods for damage to prevent the loss of a fish in the middle of a fight. Reels - These run the gammit, from bait casters, to spinning gear to spincast to Ocean Reels. Each type of fishing requires a different type of reel. If you are bait fishing, many guides will have Bait Casters with bait clicker features to allow the fish to run with the bait before the hook is set. Others will use spinning reels for light fishing and casting since the normal non fisherman can operate and cast these much easier than a bait caster which requires some talent to operate. Spin Casters are almost only used for light fishing like crappie and bluegill. The extreme ease of operation is the benefit, and all of these reels plus the Ocean Reels require a daily check of the fishing line. Good fishing line is a must if the guide does not want to change line daily which is time consuming and expensive even using inexpensive line. Nicks on the line will require the guide to strip line and make a judgement on whether or not there is enough left to fish properly. Electronics - That depth finder is not the only piece of equipment any more. Many guides will carry GPS, Mapping systems and other types of computers to keep track of their successes and failures.These also require time and effort to maintain and to keep the batteries charged that operate the electronics. Motors - Not only the main motor which has to have regular maintenance and care, but the trolling motor. The new "Plastic" foot control motors do not hold up really well fishing 300 days a year. Most guides I know have to get new Foot Controls on a regular basis because the darn "Plastic" controllers that companies use now wear out after about 200 trips. This means keeping track of that wear and tear. Also each motor has a propeller and these must be checked regularly for wear, nicks, more importantly for anything that could foul the prop and make it burn up the motor. (Like fishing line that gets in the motor if someone is not paying attention and turns on the motor.. or if a fish runs up around the motor.) Lures - Lost lures have to be replaced and inventoried. It is sort of embarrassing for anyone to get out on the lake and not have the "Lure" that is working. The trick is knowing which lures to use, and which to have. There are many millions of lures - "Old and Knew" that have produced fish for many people. Knowing the right lure, and how many to keep on hand is tougher than you might think. Losing them due to bad casts, big fish, misplayed fish, is a hazard guides have to deal with on a daily basis. Time must be spent acquiring new lures, requiring travel to and from the store, and wear and tear on the guides car. Batteries - Everything in a boat that runs has to have a battery. The live bait well, the boat motor, the trolling motor, the depth finder and all other electronics. This means taking daily care of the batteries, most of the newer batteries do not require much care other than making sure that they stay charged. Still the amount of charge that the batteries is taking must be monitored to make sure the batteries are running at their peak performance and not losing their (for lack of a better word) potency.

Bait - If your guide uses Live Bait, most likely he is catching it, or buying it in bulk. This means that with some baits he has to have expensive equipment to keep the bait alive. This equipment is going to have to be maintained as well. IF he does not buy his bait, he is catching it. Cast Nets and the time to go and get the bait can be short if he is busy. This means his personal time is being used to get you the bait needed for that trophy fish. Cast nets take time to learn to use, and catching bait may require a guide to work several hours the day before a trip with you to get enough bait to do the job correctly.

Weather - Every guide has his clients best interests in his mind. Guides must keep up with the weather. Not only because of hazardous weather, but because weather changes can make a serious change in the way fish are hitting and where. Safety Equipment - All safety equipment must be checked on a daily basis. Fire extinguishers, life jackets, throwing rings. All has to be checked and kept up. So the next time you think its a cushie job.. remember, for every 8 hour trip you take you are most likely going to spend another 4 to 6 hours keeping track of the equipment that keeps you and your clients fishing..Not to mention the time spent getting bait. OH and we have not gotten into the book keeping and other duties that the guide or his wife, or book keeper has to take care of., requiring a computer and other accessories.. Information for this article was obtained from Guppy Guide Service Many thanks to Ronnie Rowland for putting up with me on a recent fishing trip while I compiled much of the information for this article. Thanks also to Jesse Duncan of Barren River Lake and to Bob Coan of Dale Hollow for their contributions to this article. Jim Dicken Fishing Guides Home Page http://www.FGHP.com