What is a Slot Limit?
A slot limit prevents mid-sized fish from being harvested, but allows anglers to keep smaller and larger fish. For example, walleye regulations on a lake may allow anglers to keep 5 walleye, but none may be kept from 14 to 18 inches and only1 fish may be kept over 18 inches.
This would be a slot limit and it is put in place to allow mid-sized fish to grow to bigger sizes, while taking away some of the competition for food by pushing anglers into keeping smaller walleye.
How To Fish A Bass Tournament
Bass Tournaments are very popular with some even having first place prizes of 1 million dollars nowadays. Most of the bass fishing tournaments throughout the country are smaller, local tournaments with smaller prizes, but they can be a lot of fun to fish and they can be a great way to learn about the sport of bass fishing before you try and move up to the bigger circuits.
To get involved in some of the bigger bass fishing tournament circuits, check out the FLW or B.A.S.S.
Fishing Resources:
- Shop Bass Fishing
- Largemouth Bass Fishing Library
- Smallmouth Bass Fishing Library
- Top Bass Fishing Trips
How To Fish A Spinning Reel
Spinning reels are great reels because they are easy to use - even for beginners - and you can catch a variety of fish from small panfish to big sharks on them. With the invention of braided line (braided line has a much thinner diameter than mono), anglers are now using spinning gear in situations that they would normally use a baitcaster.
To use a spinning reel, use an arbor knot to tie your fishing line directly to the reel. Tie on your hook or fishing lure and start fishing. To cast, hold the fishing line with your index finger of your dominant hand (your dominant holds the rod close to where the reel connects to the rod). Once you have a grip on the line, open the bail with your other hand. Swing your rod tip back, then forward. As your rod tip points towards your target, let go of the line with your dominant hand and your bait should go towards your target.
Some advantages of using a spinning reel:
- Easier to learn how to use
- Works well with 2 to 12 pound mono or flourocarbon line
- Works well with braided line - even very heavy braided line
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How To Fish A Baitcaster
Baitcaster reels have their advantages and disadvantages compared to spinning reels. Many anglers do not know how to use baitcaster reels and they may not want to spend the time to learn how to use baitcaster reels. There are some advantages that will make it worth your time to learn how to use them.
To spool a baitcaster reel, tie an arbor knot to the reel and start winding the line onto the reel. If you are using braided line, you will need to add about 10 yards of monofilament backing first, then tie the mono to the braided line using a uni-knot. (See our Fishing Knots section)
To cast a baitcaster, make sure to adjust the setting of the reel’s spool friction depending on the weight of the lure. With your thumb, hold the button on the reel down and let it fly. Make sure to keep some pressure on the spool and watch your lure flying through the air. You can stop the spool by pressing down with your thumb. This will help keep you out of snags such as overhanging trees, boat docks, etc.
Some of the advantages to using a baitcaster reel:
- Baitcaster reels do allow you to cast the lure more accurately, especially at greater distances.
- They can handle bigger lures and heavier line better than spinning reels, although, the thin diameter of braided line has allowed anglers to spool much more heavy line on spinning reels.
- With a baitcaster, the line will go out in a linear fashion and it returns the same way. The line does not twist when you crank on the drag.
- Good for trolling big baits for big fish.
Some of the disadvantages to using a baitcaster reel:
- You need to adjust the reel’s spool friction for the weight of each lure that you cast. Every time you change a lure, you need to check and change the friction setting on the side of the wheel.
- Anglers must have a good feel for the weight of the lure, the spool friction and the casting distance.
- They take some time to learn.
- Bird’s nests.
Fishing Resources:
How To Fish At The Beach
Fishing at the beach can be a lot of fun. Depending on what type of beach fishing you are doing will depend on your setups. Surf fishing for whiting and pompano will require lighter line and tackle compared to shark fishing or even salmon fishing along the shores of one of the Great Lakes.
For saltwater beach fishing, most of the fish tend to come in close to feed on the bait fish that get stirred up from the crashing waves. Many anglers end up casting too far, when in reality, a good portion of the fish are much closer to shore than you think. To catch some of the bigger fish, farther casts may be needed.
Contacting your local bait and tackle shop will give you an idea of what is currently biting and what they are feeding on. This can make the difference in loading a bucket full of fish or catching nothing at all.
Many of the local bait and tackle shops will have some surf fishing rigs already set up for you to buy and tie onto your fishing line. These rigs usually have 1 or 2 hooks with a pyramid sinker. Attach your bait, make a cast and you’re ready to start catching some fish at the beach.
Longer rods (7 to 10 feet) make it easier to fish the surf and 14 to 20 pound test is recommended for most of the surf fish, but you may have to go a lot heavier if you’re targeting some of the bigger fish such as redfish, tarpon, shark, etc.
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How To Fish At Night
Fishing at night can be a real pain in the butt if you don’t know what you’re doing. Everything is harder to do without light. A line tangle takes longer to get out or gets bad enough that you have to cut your line and re-tie. If you’re fishing topwater baits, a bass may come up and hit your lure and there is a chance that you miss the fish with your hook set. Now, there is a torpedo-shaped lure with treble hooks flying right at you. Unhooking a fish can be dangerous. Many anglers have ended up in the emergency room at their local hospital because a fish moved a certain way and the hook ended up in their hand.
If you bring enough lights and you know the area that you are fishing, it can be very rewarding. When topwater fishing, wait an extra second after you hear the splash. This will ensure a better hook set into the fish, not into your own body. Have a few different rods set up with the same presentations so you can just grab another rod if you get your line tangled up.
Have a partner flash a flashlight on the fish when you are trying to unhook the fish. Bring a portable gps so you can keep track of where the boat launch is as well as your favorite fishing spots.
These are all good tips to help you experience better fishing at night safely.
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How To Fish After A Cold Front
Cold fronts do play a role in how the fish behave and it’s their behavior is usually unfavorable to anglers that are trying to get them to bite. Most of the time, cold fronts will make fishing very tough for a day or two, although, it is possible to catch fish still.
Before a cold front, there will usually be some type of storm to come through. Fish will go on a major feeding spree right before this front arrives. This makes fishing even tougher during a cold front because a good percentage of the fish have full bellies before you even hit the water the next day.
To catch fish after a cold front, there are a few things you can do. Downsize your baits, fish slower, fish closer to cover and fish deeper. Cold fronts will cause fish to move tighter into cover and/or into deeper water. This is tough because tighter into cover might mean shallower water. There will be some fish there. They may be holding underneath the boat docks more or submerged into the middle of the weed beds. These fish are tough to catch. Then, there’s the deeper fish. You may have caught bass in 8 to 10 feet of water the day before, but now they are in 18 to 20 feet of water and they are not aggressive. These fish are tough to catch. If you can find some fish, a slower, downsized presentation usually will work to put some fish in the boat.
There are some situations that you can actually do really well after a cold front. Most rivers don’t seem to be affected as much after a cold front, especially, in the fall when fish are feeding up for the winter. Northern pike don’t seem to be affected that much after a cold front. If you can find a spillway, fishing may actually improve if there was enough rain to get the spillway pushing enough water out into the lake, river or pond.
Spillways wash a lot of food such as worms into the water and this will bring all types of fish in for an easy meal. Temperatures can drop 10 to 15 degrees aftera big rain, but if there’s food coming out of that spillway, expect some fish to be feeding heavily.
How To Fish A Wacky Worm
Wacky worms work well for largemouth and smallmouth bass. To rig this bait, hook the worm in the center. It is now a wacky worm. Most anglers prefer to use pencil-shaped (straight) worms when fishing wacky, but you can be creative and try other worms as well.
The pencil-shaped worms do imitate a live worm well by forming a U-shape as the bait gets pulled through the water and then dropped back down with a pause. This realistic movement drives bass wild.
You can fish a wacky worm with no weight to try a free-falling presentation. You can also fish with a split shot above your hook, a carolina rig or a drop shot.
Drop-shotting wacky worms can put tons of bass in the boat if done correctly. Once you find bass, get your wacky worm in the area, let it drop to the bottom, then just shake the worm. With a heavy enough weight, you can keep the worm in the same spot, but you can shake it enough to give it a realistic movement, which will draw many strikes from mr. bass.
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How To Fish A Sabiki Rig
Sabiki rigs are one of the top fishing rigs for catching live saltwater bait fish. This rig is made up of 5 small flies and a weight that is big enough to cast long distances.
If there is any type of waves or current where you are fishing, just throw the sabiki rig out where you think the bait are and let the weight sit on the bottom. The flies will be dancing back and forth with the waves and/or current. This usually is all you need to entice a bait fish. Just some sort of movement. If you aren’t getting any bites, then try adding some small pieces of bait to your flies. Shrimp and cut bait works really well.
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How To Fish A Banjo Minnow
Tons of anglers bought the banjo minnow because of its excellent tv advertisements when they first came out on the market years ago. There are still plenty of fishermen that think it is some sort of gimmick.
It’s not a gimmick. It’s a great fishing lure if you know how to use it. The twitch and pause technique works excellent, but many anglers use it as a search bait. It is not a search bait.
Make sure to find some type of shallow water cover. That’s where you’re going to have most of your success with this bait. Water in the 2 to 10 foot range with some type of weeds, rock or wood should produce some fish.
Cast your minnow out and once the lure hits the water, just wait a few seconds. Let the bait fall. A lot of strikes will come on the initial fall if you’re in a good fishing spot. Once you start moving the bait, give it a couple of twitches and then let it fall. This pause will trigger the strike from the majority of the bass that you will catch.
If you use it as a search bait or if you move the bait along too fast, you will not consistently catch fish on the banjoy minnow.
This lure will also catch plenty of pike and an occasional walleye if the walleye are feeding shallow.
