No Fancy Equipment Here.

I don't need a "fish finder". I don't need a $5 lure. I don't need a $50,000 boat. I can and do, however, catch lots of big pretty fish on a shoestring budget. I can get worms out of the ground, catch a baitfish and use it to get the "big one". If you are a lousy fisherman and you buy a hundred bucks worth of fishing tackle, you are still a lousy fisherman.

Feel free to post a comment, preferably on how you bring in a good catch.

FissureMan

Bad Weather For Most Fishing

Texas has had some crazy weather lately. Eighty degrees in January, wildfires, ten inches of rain in March, and even lows near freezing just days after those very floods. This weather, unfortunately, is not particularly conducive to good fishing. Well, maybe if you have your gear on the porch and don't mind fishing in the floodwaters, but I don't think that would be such a great idea.

I guess all we can do is hope(And do a Native American "Good Fishing Weather" dance.) and we might get some weather you don't mind staying out all day in. Just be ready, you will be glad you are when the fish start biting.

;~]

J

FissureMan
Happy Angling Folks!

When my father was a kid...

He would go fishing with his family and they could catch 80 Crappie in one morning. Of course they went out every day so they had every opportunity to catch plenty of fish. Grandma is now around 80yrs. herself. She was fishing when she was a little kid. My grandmother has fished for more than seventy years. That is possibly longer than many of you have been around for.

Post a comment on your own stories and tips if you want.

Thank's For Reading
FissureMan

What is the most fish you have caught?

Or what is the fastest you have caught them in? It can be fun to throw your lure or bait in and get a hit right as the lure hits the water. Sometimes you can catch two or three in just a few minutes, if you have a buddie you could give them the fish you just caught and sometimes cast it back in and catch another before your fishin' buddie sits down.

Think Like the Fish
Hook The Fish

FissureMan

Patience is a virtue.

Once when I was fishing with my father this was what happened.

We decided to go at around nine in the morning. We went and got to the lake at around nine forty-five or ten o' clock. We cast our lines and wasted nearly all of our worms. I think that Dad had one or two small baitfish. I hadn't coaught much if anything. We had had a string of bad luck like this the last three or four times we had gone fishing.

It was five eventually and we were out of water and tired as could be. I told my father "I'm tired, thirsty, bored and we haven't cought anything to make it woth it. Let's just go.". He said: "Lets stay for just ten or fifteen minutes. I can catch one, I know it.". I said "okay" despite my boredom, thirst, and exhaustion.

Part of the reason that we decided it was a good time to go is that it had just rained really well and the lakes were high and the weather was nice. About ten or fifteen minutes after he convinced me to stay, he caught a nice one. He wouldn't have been able to get the fish up to the bank without snapping the line if it hadn't rained so much recently. There was usually about three feet between the top of the bank and the surface. He had caught a catfish that must have weighed over five pounds.

We had only gotten home at around six so we had been gone all day. We got home and a friend who was at home waiting, knew that we went fishing. He also knew that we hadn't been getting much luck lately. He sacastically asked if we great fishermen had caught anything, at which point my father pulled out the catfish as we both marveled at the stunned look on the man's face. We had a really good fish fry that night.

These are the kinds of experiences you just don't get by watching reality television.

Please feel free to comment or post your own stories and experiences.
If you have a story about Bass, Crappie, Catfish, Sunfish, or any fish really please share it with us. If anything, teach someone the lost art of catching your own food.

E-man.

A.K.A.:
FissureMan

Hungry? Have a fishin' rod and some line and hooks? Close to a fishin' hole? Low on cash?

Get a little hook and string up your reel. Go to said fishin' hole and dig in the dirt somewhere and find some worms. I personally think that red wrigglers work best because they are livelier, last longer(especially in the heat) and are harder to get off the hook(and on). Fish until you catch a sunfish. You will want to use one for bait. Depending on if you have a ig rod on hand or not, you may or may not want to use a small baitfish(Or you may have thirty pound test line ready for the big one and thus bigger bait!). The bigger and livelier the baitfish the bigger the catch.

Once you catch the right baitfish you will want to perhaps get out a bigger rod and reel for the big ones. Now you just put a BIG hook on your line and hook the baitfish near the back of it below it's spine. If you hit it just right you can run the hook through it twice so it won't get off so easy. The reason for hooking it near the back under the spine is that this is the prime place to get it on good AND this also leaves the float bladder intact so that it can swim and attract your catch.

Now cast that bad boy out where you think the big one is and wait a while. You may get a turtle(especially if the bait dies) so you want to reel it in every half hour to hour or so. Using this technique you can go fishing on a LOW budget and catch a bass or catfish easily and it may weigh 5-7lbs. or more.

Careful, dont let 'em pull you in. Brace your self with rod in hand unless you want to lose it! Make sure you have your drag set right so that it doesn't snap your line but still reels in the big one.

Happy Fishin' Folks!
Good Luck!

What kind of lures work best for you? Is there a specific color anyone recommends? I personally feel that a lure that has a bright color(visible in murky water) is more likely to catch a fish's eye.

It seems like natural movement is neccessary as well. If you have a lure that doesn't have any movement that looks realistic you may not catch much. However, that does not mean that you can't give the same lure a realistic movement by bobbing the rod and reel up and down at the right pace while reeling it in. This technique often works better than a "lively" lure alone. There are a type of lure which you can probably find easily that has a flap on either side of the lure which collects water and makes the lure seem to swim naturally as you reel it in.

Sometimes the right lure can make all the difference. I have been fishing at times when I would catch two or three Crappie in only a few minutes(sometimes this spike in activity can go on for an hour or more if you are lucky) because of a very good lure that worked well with my equipment.

On the other hand, I have also been fishing in the past with a generic, cheap, small jig and catch nothing until someone(My father :~] ) told me WHERE they were at. Once you hit a close group of active fish you can have a lot of fun. To find a group of active fish often requires you to explore an area thoroughly to find the right vegetation and things that the fish(you are looking for) like to spend time around.

If you think that having fun, getting a good meal, and being a good fisherman is difficult or expensive then let me tell you that is totally FALSE!

Have a nice Day!
Thanks for Reading!

When is is the last time you enjoyed a good fish fry?

There is nothing quite like eating a lot of fish that you caugh only hours ago! What kind of fish do you prefer to eat? Do you like Catfish? How about Trout? I would enjoy a good bit of Blue Gill with fries and ketchup and onion rings. ;-)

Tell us what you like!
Have you caught any good fish lately?

Post a comment and tell us all about it!

We got 2 bucks worth of crappie jigs today(20 small-headed jigs 10 White/Pink/White and 10 Red/Blue/White ). One of these days we will go fishing and tell you how we do. What colors(if any) do you have luck with?

Tell us if you have any luck on minnows too. I have been told that smaller ones work well for Crappie. If you have any Crappie recipes please feel free to add them.

Please let us know about your fishing experiences and I will share some with you soon.

I am not sure if the crappie are spawning, I have not been fishing lately. It should be that time of year soon when crappie spawn and you can catch them on a jig easily. When Crappie spawn they fast - they dont eat so they can protect the eggs. When they notice a jig(or anything they think could be a predator) they try to kill it. This is why they bite very quickly making it easier to catch them. They are very good to eat especially with fries and ketchup. This way of catching Crappie costs very little; you don't need to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to catch some fish! The jigs usually cost mere pennies. You can go fishing frequently this time of year at different times of the day until you find out when the Crappie bite and then go out on the dock or in a boat, or even from the bank and catch enough fish to feed you for a day or two (maybe your family too!). There is nothing like having a fish fry- and leftovers!

Please post a comment if you think that the Crappie are spawning in your area. Or just post and tell us what you like to fish for and how. Tell us about any good fishin' stories too! I'll have one for you the next time I post.

Thanks For Reading!