Downrigger Diversity Adds Up To Success

By Capt. Jim Hirt
Captain Jim Hirt operates his fishing business out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin as Blue Max Charters.

Now is the time to think about changes to make you more productive next season. There are many ways to go on this subject. Over the next several articles I will try to cover topics like rigging, tackle and presentation. My goal is to provide information, which should lead to more fish and less slow fishing.

Let’s continue with downriggers. In the last article we covered the hardware, weights, releases and manual or electric models. Now we will go into using this tool in many ways. Read more

From the Water to Your Wall: Caring for Your Trophy Fish

Keith Sutton
15601 Mountain Dr.
Alexander, AR 72002
501-847-9643
catfishdude@sbcglobal.net

An anonymous person once wrote, “Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish goes home through an alley.”

Can any angler really resist the temptation to brag about a trophy catch? Is there truly one among us who doesn’t long for a lifelike mount to display on the den or office wall, a mount that reminds of the time, the place and the battle? And if that mounted fish provides an opening to retell the story our friends and families know by heart, so much the better! Read more

Catching Catfish for the Table

Keith Sutton
15601 Mountain Dr.
Alexander, AR 72002
501-847-9643
catfishdude@sbcglobal.net
www.catfishsutton.com

Some catfishing enthusiasts target trophy-class fish almost exclusively. For them, nothing makes a trip better than landing a huge blue cat, flathead or channel cat.

Many anglers have a different goal in mind. On most of their outings, they hope to catch enough eating-size cats, what we call “fiddlers” in the South, to provide the makings for a fish fry. If a trophy cat takes the bait now and then, so much the better; that just adds to the fun and excitement. But the main objective is catching fish for the table. Read more

Bluegill Smiles

By Keith “Catfish” Sutton

We all enjoy catching big fish, but sometimes it’s little fish like bluegills that create the most vivid memories.

Last week, Zach and I went bluegill fishing.

Our trip brought back some wonderful memories, and created some wonderful memories of its own.

Zach is my 12-year-old son. It’s been a long time since I was his age—36 years to be exact—but Zach is starting to enjoy the same things now that I enjoyed back then. Shooting a bow and arrow. Catching lizards. Looking under logs. Hunting squirrels and rabbits. Reading “Ripley’s Believe It or Not.” Read more

Smelting

By A. Sayward Lamb

When I think of spring I think of smelting, because it is a ritual that I have participated in since I was a boy. I cannot remember when I did not go smelting, so I must have started at a very young age. Smelts are a small, anadromous fish, which travel in schools, and are found in both fresh and salt water. The spawning runs for salt-water smelts generally occur during the late winter along the coastal bays and tidal rivers. Fresh water smelts generally begin to make their spawning runs about the time the ice breaks away from the shorelines of inland waters, and can last from a few days in small bodies of water, to as long as two weeks or more in large inland lakes. Read more

The More, The Merrier

By A. Sayward Lamb

Fishing trips are not always “strictly fishing”, because more often than not weekend or extended fishing trips, involve several friends or family members who want to get in on the act. I remember a story about an older bachelor who finally married. When he returned from his honeymoon trip, several of his buddies were curious to know what he had already learned about married life? When they inquired, his response was brief and to the point. He said: “Expectations far exceed realization!” Read more

Don’t Forget the Youngsters

By A. Sayward Lamb

Now that Spring has arrived it is time to begin making plans for fishing, hiking, camping, as well as numerous other summertime activities. I hope that when you are planning your outdoor activities you will be sure to include youngsters in your plans. I vividly remember, as I am sure many of you do, of being included in on a fishing trip when we very young. My earliest recollections are mostly going on short trips, and fishing for brook trout, in nearby streams. The trout were not large, with a daily bag limit of twenty-five fish per person per day, and the minimum length was six inches, but that didn’t matter at all to me, because I was going fishing. Sometimes I went with my father, or older brothers, and sometimes I was invited by the neighbors. Being invited, in itself, was exciting and I looked forward to each and every trip. Read more

Chasing ‘Gators

By A. Sayward Lamb

My first encounters with alligators happened in the summer of 1973, when my wife and I traveled from Maine to South Carolina to visit our niece Pam and her husband Daniel. Daniel worked for the Federal Wildlife Service and was stationed on Bulls Island, which is part of the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge. The island is located a few miles off the South Carolina coast and is accessible only by boat from a place called Moore’s Landing. It’s tricky getting out to the island because you have to plan your boat trip at high tide. At low tide the salt-water creek to the island is too low for any boat traffic, including flat bottom boats. Traffic also has to be in the daytime in order to find your way safely to and from the island. Read more

The Art of Fly Fishing

By A. Sayward Lamb

The contents of this story are copyright protected by law ? 2004, 2005 by A. Sayward Lamb and Maine Fishing Today. Any use, reprinting, copying or publishing to another website without the consent of the owner, is prohibited.

The contents of this story are copyright protected by law ? 2004, 2005 by A. Sayward Lamb and Maine Fishing Today. Any use, reprinting, copying or publishing to another website without the consent of the owner, is prohibited.

Fly-fishing is an art that can only be learned by seeking the knowledge and information needed to become an accomplished fisherman. There are many resources available, such as books; fly fishing courses; sporting magazines; videotapes; etc. Often, you can arrange to learn some of the basic techniques from a friend who is already “hooked” on fly-fishing. Once the basics are learned, all it takes is practice–practice–practice. Your efforts will be rewarded by the many hours of pleasure you will experience when you hook onto a trout, salmon, or any other kind of fish. The action of a fly rod is so sensitive that you become an intricate part of the battle with the fish. The winner is always the person holding the fly rod, whether you catch the fish, or not. You may think this is a strange statement to make, but wait until you get the fly rod in your hands while battling a nice fish and you will understand what I mean. You will find the experience well worth the effort that you put into learning how to fly fish. Read more

Our Actions and Reactions – Part VII

By A. Sayward Lamb

Last November I went deer hunting with a friend, Leon Baker. We stayed at Leon’s camp located at Chain of Ponds, but did most of our hunting only a few miles south of the Canadian border. Hunting conditions were about perfect, because the weather wasn’t cold and we had about six inches of snow on the ground. The area we hunted was mountainous and mostly open hardwood.

Logging operations had been carried on at several locations in past years, but as far as we knew, only one operation was being actively logged and we made sure we stayed away from that area. Read more

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