Bally Chohan - Fishing Tips and Methods

As you clock more and more bass-fishing hours you will acquire a knack for choosing the right lure and technique for the right situation. The best advice is to examine the fishing conditions, ask for guidance from anglers familiar with the waters you are fishing, and, finally, to try many different lures and bass-fishing techniques until you discover what works most effectively.

Fishing Quotes

1. Fishing is the sport of drowning worms.

2. Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. 

3. If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles. 

4. Give a man a fish and he has food for a day; teach him how to fish and you can get rid of him for the entire weekend.

5. There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.  ~Steven Wright

6. Fishing is a... discipline in the equality of men - for all men are equal before fish.  ~Herbert Hoover

7. Calling fishing a hobby is like calling brain surgery a job.  ~Paul Schullery

There probably are as many fishing techniques and fish-catching tricks as there are anglers on the water, but the how-to aspect of sport fishing boils down to a few basic, tried-and-true fishing methods that have worked for as long as man has been trying to catch fish on a hook and line. If you master these basic methods, you’ll become a successful angler.

Still-fishing: The simplest of fishing methods can also be the most effective. As its name implies, still-fishing is a matter of putting your bait in the water and waiting for a fish to find it. This method will catch most kinds of fish and can be used from a boat, a dock, a jetty or from shore. Depending on water depth and what you’re trying to catch, you may want to still-fish near the surface, at a mid-water depth, or right down on the bottom. Using a float, or bobber, makes it easy to fish near the surface, or you can add sinkers to your line to fish deeper.

Casting: The term “casting” actually has two meanings in fishing. It describes the act of using a rod, reel and line to carry your bait or lure out into the water. It also is a specific fishing method, as opposed to still-fishing and other methods we’ll describe here.There are times when a moving lure works best, especially for some fish species. At other times you may want to place a lure in a particular spot, such as right next to a submerged stump 30 feet from shore or under a tree that’s leaning out over the water. These situations are when casting is the fishing method that offers the best chance of catching fish. It’s the kind of fishing where you cast and retrieve, usually with an artificial lure, to fish waters where fish might be lurking and to coax them into striking. Spinners, wobbling spoons, plugs and spinnerbaits are lures commonly used for casting.

Trolling: Many of the lures used in casting also work for trolling, because it’s another fishing method that requires movement to be effective. Trolling is simply dragging a lure, bait or a bait-and-lure combination through the water, using a boat rather than casting and retrieving to provide movement.

Jigging: Some artificial lures function best if they’re worked through the water in an up-and-down motion, commonly referred to as jigging. Lifting and dropping the rod tip is what provides the jigging motion. Leadheads are the most common kind of jig, but for some fish species, especially saltwater salmon and bottomfish, the jigging lure might be a long, thin, slab of lead or other metal in the shape of a herring or other baitfish.

Fly Fishing: Artificial flies are nothing more than fur, feathers, thread, tinsel and other materials tied around a hook to resemble an insect, a grub, a minnow or some other small morsel that a fish might eat. Because they are often very small and always very light, they can’t be cast like a heavy lure. For that reason, they are usually fished with special lines, rods and reels designed just for this kind of fishing.

Playing the Fish

Once you've coaxed that bass into striking your lure, it's time to get it into the boat. Here's how to do it.

Setting the Hook

Treble-hook lures often cause the bass to hook itself upon striking - often, but not always. The jaws of a bass are tough. It takes a solid impact and a sharp hook point to penetrate.
On crank baits, when the strike occurs, snap back the rod tip quickly and reel until the line is tight. The impact of the strike often sets the hooks, but by maintaining pressure on the fish you can usually bury them deeper.

With topwaters, it's important to wait a second before setting the hook. An overreaction often results in your pulling the lure from the mouth of the bass.

Single-hook lures (jigs, plastic worms, spinnerbaits) require a strong, deliberate hookset on your part. Often the bass inhales the lure completely. You must drive the hook point home with a solid strike.

Setting the Drag

Your reel's drag allows line slippage. It's a precaution against a big fish or obstacle breaking your line.

Backreeling

Backreeling is a method of playing a fish on a spinning reel that bypass the reel's drag system. The drag is tightened down and the fisherman uses the reel handle to either take-in or pay-out as the fish demands. With practice, the technique becomes easier, but beginners will find this method difficult to master. The advantage of backreeling is that line twist is often greatly reduced because you aren't reeling while the bass is pulling line against the drag. On light line, you must try to second-guess the bass when backreeling-anticipate its next move - never an easy tack.

Landing a Fish

Bass have no teeth, as do many other game fish; therefore they can be easily landed without the use of a net, with practice. Landing nets may damage fish you wish to release.

Lip-Landing Method

Net Method

Many bass are lost at the landing net. Net your fish carefully but remember that landing nets will damage the scales, fins and slime coating of a bass.

Preventing Problems

• Remember, the harder you fight, the harder the fish fights. Once you pull him from the cover, let up and let the bass tire out before bringing him to the boat.
  
• If a bass swims under the boat, extend your arms as far as they will go with rod in hand, thereby giving you extra leverage. Maintain pressure and you can usually draw the fish out into the open again. Avoid hitting the trolling motor start button while the bass is under the boat, you can cut your line.
  
• Don't fight or pull the fish in the opposite direction it's heading. Turn him by guiding his head.
  
• Don't panic. Use the tools at hand: your rod, reel, line and brain. Horsing a big fish to the boat usually means losing it.
  
• Don't try to pull a bass out that's buried in weeds or other heavy cover. You'll usually tear out or straighten the hook. It's wiser to move toward the bass with the boat.
  
• Long rods are an asset when playing a big fish. They provide more shock-absorbing power, move more line when setting the hook and give you more control over the bass.
  
• Even a professional fisherman loses some fish. Learn from your mistakes, but don't let them ruin your fishing trip.
  
• Whatever you do when landing the bass, DO NOT grab the line, especially on a big fish. I have lost a 6 pound largemouth and a 4 pound smallmouth in the last year, because I did not have the patience to wait until the time was right to lip the bass. It is a hard habit to break, but it is worth the effort. -- Joe
  
• When fishing early in the morning, try using a Yellow Sally on the weed beds and work it fast. I have found this produces a lot of strikes and usually bigger fish. -- Colbie