Crappie Fishing Jigs #2 - Learn to Catch Crappies With These Simple Crappie Jig Tips!

To Improve as a crappie fisherman it is very important that you learn to fish with artificial crappie baits. When you are first starting out fishing for crappie many beginners start fishing with live bait for crappie, but I recommend the best way to start your involvement in the sport of crappie fishing is to make your own jigs. However if you want to take your fishing for crappie efforts to the next level you need to learn the art of fishing with artificial baits. The intention of my article is to provide you with some basic crappie jig information that you can use a starting point to train yourself on the art of catching crappie with artificial crappie jigs.

#1 How is a jig used for crappie constructed?

A jig is made up of three parts which include the following:

1a. The hook

The hook can be a variety of sizes ranging from #6 to a #2 light wire hook.

1b. The head

A jig head is made usually from a molded led or other metallic material and ranges in size from 1/64oz up to 1/4oz and may or may not include a spinner blade. My favorite size is the 1/32oz size.

1c. The body

A body is the plastic material that is slid over the hook shank up to the head and has dozens of different colors, and body styles.

#2 What are the different types of Jigs Used For Crappie Fishing?

2.a Bait fish or insect Imitation jigs:

The most common of these jigs is what is called the marabou crappie jig. It is made up of a head molded to a hook and wrapped with a feather, or real or artificial hair. These jigs can sometimes have spinner blades molded in the head and normally range in size from 1/32oz to ¼ oz. They are made to imitate either insects or minnows and other bait fish.

2.a-1 A tube with a jig head is another common jig combination used to imitate a wounded bait fish. The tube is manufactured to have multiple tentacles that dart through the water, and slides up the shank of the hook to the head. These jigs come in many different colors and range in size from 1/64oz to 1/4oz.

2.b Minnow or shad imitation jig:

These jigs are made up of a plastic material that slides up the shank of the hook up to the head and looks like common bait fish that crappie eat. They are manufactured in a variety of sizes from 1/32oz to 1/4oz, with 1/16oz being the most common size used.

2.c Grub or Maggot imitation jig:

This crappie fishing jig is designed to imitate a insect grub, or maggot. Their construction is of a variety of different color plastic molded together with different color real or artificial hair, or feathers. The molded combination is slid up the hook shank touching the head. These jigs come in a Variety of sizes the most common to be in the smaller sizes of 1/64 to 1/32oz.

#3 The knot you use to tie your crappie jig is very important.

I recommend you tie your crappie jigs with the trilene knot. Follow the steps below to tie the trilene knot.

3.a Run approximately 6 inches of line through the eyelet in the crappie jig hook. Loop it around and pass it through the eyelet again. Pull on the line until you reach a small ¼ inch to ½ inch diameter.

3.b Wrap the end of the line around the standing line 6 times.

3.c Pass the end of the line back through the loop, and then pull the line snug tight by pulling the standing line, and the hook in opposite directions.

3.d Trim the left over tag about ¼ inch from the hook.

I hope the information I have provided about crappie jigs. will help you on your next fishing trip! God bless and a good day to you.

Mark Fleagle has been fishing for over 30 years. Check out his website to get some amazing fishing information and fishing articles loaded with fishing tips about crappie jigs for crappie that really work! Also don't forget to get your free copy of "78 Fishing Discoveries Unleashed" at: http://www.oldfishinghole.com Get Your Free Fishing Tips About crappie jigs for crappie Here!

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Walleye Fishing and Weather Conditions - How Does the Weather Effect the Location of Walleye?

It is critical to watch and understand local weather reports for the area you plan to fish for walleyes. Weather conditions play a big part in how walleyes act, where they are located, and how they feed. For example if it is a warm and sunny day walleyes will head for deeper waters or underwater structure to stay cool, and shield their light sensitive eyes.When the sun is out with no overcast and very little breeze, the walleye will head to the thick weed beds and underwater structure and deep for cover because the surface water is way to warm, so you will have to do your walleye fishing in these areas.

If when you get out on the water the sun is bright overhead but there is a good wave chop, you will find walleye anywhere. The waves cool and turn the water and they redirect the suns rays. One of the very best times to catch your walleye limit is right before a storm when the sky is dark and overcast and the waves are active. Walleyes tend to become very aggressive at these times. The walleye fish is a very unpredictable species of species to fish for sometimes. Using the weather conditions of any particular day is a good way to decide on your walleye fishing starting point for the day.

The weather is just one indicator when you are trying to locate walleye. It is by no means always 100%. You should still use your GPS fishing finder also. But if you use these two methods to put you on fish you can save time and increase your chances of getting your walleye catch limit. Just remember that the walleye species of fish is sometimes very unpredictable. Many times you need to think out of the box, you can't put all your eggs in one basket and think that weather conditions and a GPS fish finder will put you on fish 100% percent of the time. Be prepared to fish in other areas if these two indicators fail. Like I have said walleye can be very finicky and unpredictable fish at times. I think this one of the reasons they are one of the most sought after game fish.

Normally, walleye will move closer to shore when the water temperature drops in the cooler months. The fish then start to move to deeper water and structured areas as the water temperature starts to rise. But this not always true, I have done my walleye fishing close to shore and caught fish in the dead heat of mid summer. Use the weather conditions and the changing seasons as indicators to put you on fish but be prepared to experiment if you don't want to go home empty handed.

I hope the information I have provided about weather and walleye will help you on your next fishing trip! God bless and a good day to you.

Mark Fleagle has been fishing for over 30 years. Check out his website to get some amazing fishing information and fishing articles loaded with fishing tips about weather and walleye that really work! Also don't forget to copy "Our Make It Yourself Planer Board Design Plans" At: http://www.oldfishinghole.com/planer-board-design.html Get Your Free Fishing Tips About walleye fishing and weather Here!

Striped Bass Fishing in Cape Cod Bay

Striped Bass fishing in Cape Cod Bay can be fantastic. There are many good areas to fish right off the beach, from jetties, from piers and of course from a boat. The Cape is well known for striped bass and is definitely one of the best locations to fish to striped bass. Race Point off of Provincetown is world famous for sport fishing. And there are many great charter boat captains on the Cape. We filmed a great striped bass and bluefish show called Fishguts, with Ed McDonough, Al Howard and Capt Rich Schelle onboard The Schelfish out of Plymouth. Many of the shows were from Race Point as well as Plymouth.

Another fantastic location to fish for stripers is Billingsgate Shoals off of Wellfleet. It seems on most days when you go for striped bass you will catch fish as long as you pay attention to the feed. This year looks to be a great year.

Stripers must be at least 28 inches to keep, and you can only keep two stripers of that size or larger per angler.

Another great spot for striped bass fishing in Cape Cod Bay is known as The Fingers. The Fingers can be a very lucrative spot in mid summer during the midnight tides. I prefer the black Fishguts Chum Tube Eel trolled at a slow speed of 2kts using lead core line. We have caught several fish over 40lbs in the area.

There are a number of ways to fish for Bass. You can cast bucktails, rubber eels, kastmasters or hopkins lures. The retrieve should be very slow. Of course the speed should be varied if you do not get any hits. An angler can also bottom fish for stripers. By that I mean he/she can use mackerel chunks and cast a weighted line out off the beach, pier or boat and let it sit on the bottom. Some fisherman prefer a float to keep your bait off the bottom and away from the crabs that will otherwise eat it.

Chumming also works very well with striped bass fishing in Cape Cod Bay. Chumming is done by setting out a chum slick of clams, pogie oil, mackerel chunks etc.. This can be expensive but it works. Remember not to over chum. Entice to fish to that boat but do not over feed them. After the chum slick is started, throw a live eel or float a fresh piece of bait similar to what your slick is and let it drift out with you chum. It shouldn't take that long before you're hooked up.
Some anglers swear by live eels and they do work well. There have been many books written on this quarry. I could go on and on about striped bass fishing but I can only give some of the pointers in this article.

My final tip is that the only way to catch a bass is to get out there and give it a try. You can catch striped bass from the beach, fishing piers, jetties and boats. And don't forget to get children involved in sporfishing. It gives them lasting memories and is an excellent alternative to drug abuse. And remember that if you are not going to eat the fish, practice catch and release.
See ya on the water.
Tight Lines
The Captain

http://www.fishguts.tv Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rich_Schelle

Fishing Tips For Rivers - Especially Small Rivers Where Wading is Necessary

For more than 25 years I've been fishing in rivers from coast to coast and in that time I've learned some tips that will make anyone a better and more effective angler. This article contains some of the best fishing tips that I've learned for rivers. These tips came from a combination of factors.

Some of these fishing tips were taught to me by my fishing mentor and some have been learned through my own experiences. The point is that these tips will help anyone catch more fish, especially in small rivers where wading is necessary. There is no question that fishing in this manner (wading in small rivers and/or streams) has always been my personal favorite form of fishing. There is something about standing in a flowing river that speaks to my soul. For some reason river fishing while wading has always just felt right to me.

In any case, shall we get down to the tips so that you can add them to your river fishing repertoire? Sounds good.

1. Learn To Read The Water - Reading the river that you're fishing is integral to your success. You need to know where certain species if fish like to spend time in and when. Knowing the difference between a run and a riffle is integral to river fishing success. Unfortunately there isn't enough room to explain "reading the water" here, so a little research will be necessary. As a generals rule runs and pools hold the most fish, but there are area within theses areas that are more productive than other. Learn to read the water and you will be a much more successful river angler.
2. Have A "Go To" Technique - This rule is true with all types of fishing and is a great fishing tip for rivers. Although you should have two or three techniques available (such as throwing a small spinner, plug, or fly below an invisible bubble) you should also have a "go to" technique that you are very familiar with. My "go to" technique has always been drift fishing a live worm. When it comes to fishing in rivers, especially small rivers while wading, make sure that you are proficient with at least one "go to" technique.
3. Have An Efficient Way To Carry Bait - When wading in a river, most anglers don't have an efficient and effective way to carry their bait. This wastes a ton of time baiting up, re-baiting, and trying to remember where you bait is. This is where a bait bag comes into play. A bait bag is a small bag that hands from your fishing vest or shirt and holds your bait while you fish. This way your bait is always at your fingertips for baiting up and re-baiting, and you know right where your bait is at all times. This saves a ton of valuable fishing time. The bait bag works great for carrying live worms while river fishing.

These simple fishing tips for rivers will hake you a much more efficient and effective river angler. As I said add one or all of these tips to your river fishing repertoire and find out for yourself how effective they are.

Trevor Kugler is co-founder of JRWfishing.com and an avid angler. He has more than 20 years experience fishing for all types of fish, and 15 years of business and internet experience. He currently raises his three year old daughter in the heart of trout fishing country.....Montana! Get Fishing Tips & Techniques Twice A Month For FREE - http://www.jrwfishing.com/signup.html Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Trevor_Kugler

Fly Fishing For Beginners

Anglers interested in learning the art of fly fishing and practicing their skills on a half-mile section of Cold Creek at the Castalia State Fish Hatchery are encouraged to enter a lottery for beginning fly-fishing clinics.

There are 135 slots available for the popular program, which includes morning and afternoon sessions each Friday from April 24 to June 5. Anglers vertical jigging are doing OK also. Shore fishing can be decent if you get to a place where there are drop-offs, such as Block House, the Cattleguards or Spider Point. Anglers hook maybe one striped bass for every dozen sturgeon.

Anglers generally find the best fishing two hours before and after a high tide, but fish and other animals also become active around the time of low tide.

Beginners should remember they are banned from fishing for black rockfish, lingcod, greenling and cabezon, leaving surfperch and a few other species open. Chinook angling remains open and catches have been fair to good out of Brookings.

Fly Fishermen should take two or three steps and repeat this swing process after every other cast. Use this swing-step combination all the way upstream until all the water in the run is covered.

Bass Pro isn't dedicated to fly fishing, and their poor quality/selection of fly tackle is evidence of this. I would never recommend anyone go the White River route, especially for a first purchase.

Bass fishing is improving. Use swimbaits in the creek arms. Bass fly fishing has become an increasingly popular sport, and most anglers will agree that it's not just about catching fish.

Some anglers would even regard fly fishing as a kind of religion, and most consider it a relaxing pastime that can be enjoyed by people from all walks of life.

Bass fishing has picked up again, although the slow approach with jigs, dart-headed and Carolina-rigged plastic worms still is the best bet.

Bass fishing has been slow, but as temperatures climb, look for fish to go into their prespawn mode. That makes them vulnerable to sight fishing on the beds.

Wesley Beck is an author of fishing content and many other areas.

Fly Fishing is a great way to relax, enjoy the outdoors out and learn about nature. Fly fishing is a real art that is different in technique than any other form of fishing. To Learn how to master the art of fly Fishing you should visit Fly Fishing Guide

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wesley_Beck

Big Carp Fishing Secrets You Cannot Afford To Miss!

How often do we hook big fish and never ever realise it? This happens all the time and is especially a problem where big wary fish are concerned and is a problem every angler needs to become aware of and focus on solving. Yesterday I visited a small water with a large stock of small fish and only a few big carp; within hours I hooked and landed one of the biggest; an upper-thirty pound mirror carp. But how did I do it? Read on to find out!

In so many big carp waters today you have fish cleaning up on free baits and avoiding the vast majority of hook baits, very frequently by actually ridding themselves of your hook without running or often without giving you even a single bleep on your alarm. In fact if we truly appreciated how frequently this happens we would be more than alarmed – very shocked is more like it! Just because you hook fish and you see lots of big carp caught in the angling weeklies and monthlies does not mean you cannot improve drastically upon your own catch results compared to your fellow anglers and some edges will treble or quadruple your catches if only you truly appreciated their true power!

Over the years I’ve tried all kinds of ways of converting more bleeps on the alarm to landed carp and it really does come down to refining every aspect of your fishing in many ways so you are able to maximise every opportunity at a take you can create. I can categorically state that non of the hooks I have used straight from the packet have converted as many carp bait bites into fish for me as my own extreme-sharpened hooks. Of course you might think this sounds like I have not used the sharpest chemically sharpened hooks in all their patterns, but in my case I have used probably all the leading brands and patterns over the years and deliberately tested them.

(Please note I have not tested the new circle style carp hooks recently introduced by a British carp tackle company; the reports of bite conversions on these sound fantastic.)

For a number of decades I lived in Essex time and often combined sea fishing from the beach alongside my carp fishing and catfish fishing activities. Fresh eels from the sea are very good eating and a great saving on supermarket bills! (I happen to have a great taste for eels especially when fried; they are like chicken to me, but I detest jelled eels!) Between 20 and 30 years ago I used to catch a number of eels from the shore during the warmer months often while carp fishing ponds and lakes near the sea side. Often eels really seemed to be a pest – that is until I tried frying and barbequing them!

Since then I have determined to eat every legal size fish within the limit (and within acceptable reason) that I catch from the sea, and this has included bass, sole, dabs, eels, mullet, codling, whiting, (and even a lobster) among others. I have also been lucky enough to sample fresh sea trout and also wild brown trout and rainbow trout that I caught from Scottish rivers during a period I lived in Scotland. (I even hook a twenty-plus pound salmon in a spate river (the river Girvan.)

The idea for purposely testing hooks abilities to avoid hook shedding and converting bites into landed fish came from an unusual experiment in itself. So I gradually increased the number of hooks on more paternoster booms of various lengths in theory to improve the number of fish hooked on a single cast when left out for longer. Please note that in more recent years eel numbers in our rivers have been very significantly declining and these days conservation is vitally important; the illegal poaching of elvers has been a big reason for this as well as over-exploitative commercial fishing and barriers to spawning stretches of rivers and pollution of the sea and rivers.

I the tests what happened was the eels simply shed the hooks. I recall waiting while a series of bites indicated another eel taking the worm baits on a 10 hook rig casts. Guess what happened? Just 1 or 2 eels were landed upon reeling in. The hooks of the rest of the rigs had all been twisted and the hooks had been shed leaving a bare hook and no fish! Now you might say this was no big deal as eels are slippery customers and can ties themselves up in knots to get off the hook literally tying themselves up in knots in the line and pulling themselves off.

But I noticed some hook were massively more consistent at preventing eels getting off the hook and there were the sharpest hooks of the sharpest patterns that I had specially sharpened. Over all the faster and deeper a hook penetrates the harder it is to shake free. I found that the hooks with the longer thinner points were the most successful. (This I have applied with indisputably better measurable results in carp fishing.) But there are very few hooks suitable with ideal characteristics and even these need specially sharpening!)

For example even the short and long shank Nailer type hooks convert many more bites into landed fish when very finely and skilfully sharpened. The greatest test is when using barbless hooks which so many fisheries demand these days; lost fish due to a non-maximised hooks are completely unnecessary. In the odd extremely rare occurrence that I have lost a big fish due to a hook point breaking or bending over I know the chances are I would never had achieved a take from the fish in the first place had the hook not been so skilfully honed!

Very much comes down to the thickness of the hook wire used in the region of the first 4 to 5 millimetres from the end of the point. The next incredibly important point is the thickness of the point. When I sharpen my hooks I hone them using a diamond hook sharpener and aim to get the first 4 5 millimetres thinner than needles and thickening out more only as the bend is approached.

Such hooks are supreme in performance to such a degree that without such hooks I know I will be missing out on at least 2 thirds of fish picking up baits (as they can simply mouth baits and slip the hook with ease and this is no exaggeration because I have measured this over 10 years of testing ultra sharp hooks beside chemically sharpened hooks straight from the packet!)

At the start of my many years of testing I did not use ordinary Cyprinus Carpio carp to test hooks - but crucian carp. These are very well known to be even more notorious for playing with baits and for being especially good at not getting hooked; even hitting fish mouthing baits when float fishing is a highly developed skill requiring endless hours of practice!

My testing originally involved ground baiting a shallow slope in the waters edge with bread paste. A series of 4 feet long lengths of line were tied down to bank sticks out of the water and small hooks of various patterns were attached and baited with bread paste and soft pellets. The crucian carp would come along feed on the ground bait and take the baited hooks and guess what? They could get off 9 out of 10 hooks of different patterns tried - every time! Any hooked fish were immediately returned as I was observing and making notes of all that was happening.

The results were so surprising and the implications were so shocking that it lead me to a big re-think about hooks completely. I discovered that just because a hook has what appears to have a sharp point it most certainly does not mean a carp cannot slip off the hook very easily and often so fast it is as if they were not actually initially hooked and often the sharper the hook the more easily it came off because the hook pattern simply did not do anything but allow this to happen – which rather defeats the point of it!

Bent hooks have obviously one solution but various hook patterns used like this are well known to have caused carp damage and as such are unethical and banned on pretty much all UK carp waters. The more flexible fish-friendly approach came in the form of line-aligner rigs, but these certainly do not do not work as great as anglers think and just because a hook turns due to the angle created it certainly does do mean the hook holds achieved are ideal even where a rig designed to penetrate the flesh of the bottom or scissors is used!

Even today thousands of carp are still lost on line-aligner rigs and anglers still keep suffering the either lack of bite indication due to fish instantly slipping the hook or get single and double bleeps on alarms where carp still shed the hooks anyway due to years of practice 24 hours a day in avoiding hooks! No-one I know claims a 99 percent conversion rate even with special (ethical) stiff rigs and stiff Withy Pool type rigs and so on.) Even so-called high profile anglers are still assuming chemically-sharpened hooks straight from the packet perform well enough compared to hooks skilfully honed to perfection by diamond sharpener in both in advance and before every single cast!

I hope this all makes you think! If you doubt the veracity of my testing why not get highly skilled with a diamond hook sharpener and do your own very strict tests fishing unsharpened hooks against the very thinnest finest of hand-sharpened hook points (sharpened at least for 5 millimetres) and the difference in your big fish results will become very well proven to you too!

You can design the best carp bait in the world but if the carp can get off your hook is all wasted, but an incredibly sharp hook in the correct pattern combined with a truly great unique bait is proven to catch more big fish. This is the explanation to why when I visited that small fish water yesterday I was able to hook that that rare upper thirty within hours. For more information on the sharpest big fish edges that can double or treble your catches, why not take a look at my uniquely researched and big fish catches-proven bait secrets bibles on line at my Baitbigfish site now; see my biography or Google for much more!

By Tim Richardson.

Now why not seize this moment to improve your catches for life with these unique fishing bibles: “BIG CARP FLAVOURS, FEEDING TRIGGERS AND CARP SENSES EXPLOITATION SECRETS!” “BIG CARP AND CATFISH BAIT SECRETS!” And “BIG CARP BAIT SECRETS!” For these and much more free information now visit: For secrets of making money-saving big fish baits see baitbigfish.COM (Home of world-wide proven readymade and homemade bait success secrets bibles and further free articles!

How to Choose the Right Fishing Boat

If fishing is your favorite hobby and you still don’t have a boat you must have desired for it. Is it your budget that has stopped you from buying a boat? Don’t worry. You can get a boat at an affordable price. Go for small fishing boats. They are quite useful and less expensive. If you are cost conscious these boats are a good choice for you.

Anglers often think that small boats are not good enough for fishing. If you don’t have much extra money, go by the tips given below and you will end up finding the right boat for yourself. There are a number of effective boats in the market but you need to do a little bit of research to find the boat that suits your need.

Inflatable boats do a great job as far as fishing is concerned. People often do the mistake of comparing inflatable boats with children’s toys. But in reality inflatable boats are absolutely something else. They are quite different from the small boats that you usually see in the pools. If you want a versatile and convenient boat for fishing nothing can be better than the inflatable boats. Moreover these boats will cost you much less than the traditional boats.

Different Kinds of Inflatable Boats

There are different kinds of inflatable boats. Before choosing one, follow these tips to get an idea about the benefits of each type of boat.

Mini Pontoon Boats:

These boats are ideal for fishing. Mini Pontoon Boats are becoming quite popular day by day. It is good for single angler. But it can also carry four anglers at a time. The seats are set between two inflatable pontoons. There are some Pontoon Fishing Boats which have a platform in between the pontoons. You can use this platform for standing. In early days pontoon boats were mostly used by the fly fishermen. But those were usually one person pontoon boats. These days’ traditional fishermen also prefer these boats as they are very cost effective. If you go for river fishing this is the best option you can ever have.

Foldcat Fishing Boats:

For people who search for versatile boats Foldcat Fishing Boats are perfect. These are the most versatile of all types. Foldcats can be called pontoon boats as well. But they are much larger than the Mini Pontoon Boats. These fishing boats are consisted of a pair of small outboard motor or long oars. You can carry these boats in the trunk of your car. If you are targeting at small fishing boats Foldcat is certainly your best choice. You can use these boats in rivers, lakes as well as in ponds. So go for Foldcats if you are in the market of small fishing boats.

Kayaks and Canoes:

Have you ever thought of Kayaks and Canoes? They can really make good fishing boats. These boats are very convenient and they are also easy to carry. You can carry these inflatable boats in the trunk of your car. Even if your favorite fishing spot is far away you will have no problem carrying them. Kayaks and Canoes can be used in small lakes, ponds and river. Moreover these boats are the most affordable ones.

If you can’t afford these boats then one more option is open for you. You can go for used pontoon boats. But remember that you should not buy boats from some local outlet with a poster “Pontoon Boats for Sale”. Always purchase from quality manufacture for guarantee, discounted shipping charges etc.

AUTHOR: Anita Shields is a professional writer who writes on various topics. For more information on Pontoon Boat Fishing or Pontoon Boats she suggests you to visit http://www.adventureboatclub.net/

By ANITA SHIELDS