For the Love of Fishing!

There are pros out there who will tell you that to catch a fish; you must do it their way. And yet, I have broken all the "rules" and still manage to catch fish. When you love fishing the way I do, it's not about doing everything the right way and having all the right stuff.

As a child, I used a bamboo pole, a hook and worm. I caught many a crappie out of the creek in the backyard. Nowadays, I just use a nice, inexpensive Shakespeare rod and open reel (Amazon is selling the same one for under $25) . My tackle box has a variety of all the essentials- spoons, poppers, crank bait, hooks, spinners, bobbers, and weights. Night crawlers are almost always a sure bet.

The first time I fished for Northern Pike, I followed the suggestions of people who catch them often. Using a Daredevil spoon, I proceeded to cast and reel, cast and reel. After awhile with no hits, I took a little break to watch the action of the spoon and how it interacted with the water. That little spoon was dangling right next to the boat and WHAM! A northern hit my line and started taking off with it. Oh, such excitement!

After the thrill of bringing my first Northern in, I set out to try again. My friends reminded me that I must continue to cast and reel if I wanted another one. When I started dangling my lure next to the boat again, I reassured my friends that I was just taking a break. Once again, I got another hit! On my third catch, we decided to head to shore to clean my fish for dinner. I was beaming with pride and trying not to gloat (my friends did not catch anything that day).

Unorthodox or not, sometimes you need to follow your own instincts. Once you understand the basics on where the fish are, the water conditions and what the fish are biting that day, the rest of it is instinctual and luck. Of course, having a depth-finder is really nice too (such as the Garmin Fishfinder 140 for a super reasonable price of $99).