50 fish in 50 states

One of my life dreams, perhaps a selfish life dream, is to catch a fish in all 50 US states. So far I have managed to scratch off 7 of those states. I am 26 years old so I have a little work to do, but being that I am a teacher, it shouldn't be to hard to hit a state or two each summer.

To date:

Indiana - Bluegills, LM Bass, SM Bass, Carp, Pike, all the trout/salmon species, Channel Cat, walleye, and various others

Minnesota - Perch, Pike, Walleye, LM Bass, Bluegill

Oklahoma - Channel Cat

Wyoming - Cutthroat Trout

Missouri - LM Bass, SM Bass, Bluegills, Channel Cat

Florida - LM Bass, Red Snapper, Blowfish, Triggerfish, Sea Bass, and other salt water fishes

Michigan - LM Bass, Bluegill

What are your fishing dreams??

Confidence Baits

Everyone has at least one in their tackle box. That lure that you go to when the fish just aren't cooperating. I have been asking myself several questions: what causes someone to gain confidence in a lure, and why is it that these particular lures seemingly catch more fish?

I have come to several conclusions on the causes of confidence in a fishing lure. 1) Instant success - catching fish on the first few attempts with a lure will install almost instant confidence in that lure. 2) Action/color - some lures just have something about them that not only attracks the fish, but also the angler. While there are certainly other factors involved these two seem to be the most logical.

So why do we catch more fish with these particular baits? What makes them so special? I would argue that it is not the bait that is the reason to the increased catch rate as it is the angler's experience in using the bait. Currently I have the most confidence in my Zoom Super Flukes. These 5 inch soft plastic jerk baits have caught me numerous fish, not only bass, when other lures have seemingly failed. There are several reasons why these lures have caught me more fish. 1) I have learned how to use these lures, how to present them, and how to detect even the most minute bite. 2) I know that when I tie one on that I'm going to have the opportunity to catch fish.

I first tied on a super fluke one afternoon while fishing a lake in a subdivision. This lake receives a lot of fishing pressure and the lures I had been throwing, spinnerbaits/crankbaits, just weren't getting the strikes. I had never used a fluke before, but I tied one on with a bullet sinker and just started flipping it into the lilly pads, around weed beds, and under docks/trees. After catching several bass very quickly, I had become a fan of the Zoom Super Fluke for life.

How does an angler gain confidence in a lure. First and foremost you need to buy something that you know you will use. For example, my confidence bait is the fluke so recently I bought a bag of sluggos. These two lures are similar in style, notice I said similar and not the same, and similar in how they are fished. Next, go to a lake/pond/river/whatever where you have a pretty good feel of where the fish are going to be. Finally, just start fishing. Learn the feel of the new lure and learn its action in the water. Follow these simple steps and you will gain confidence and put another weapon in your tackel box. I encourage you to experiment every time you go out with new lures, and try to instill some confidence in as many different lure types as you can. The more confidence you have, the more fish you will put in the boat.

Good fishing.

Evening Pond Fishing - 6/17/2009

This evening we hit a small private pond. The evening started off partly cloudy, but gradually the sun came out full force before setting for the night. The air temperature was probably high 60's. We started off catching bluegills hoping to get a few small ones to use as bait for bass/catfish under bobbers and out on the bottom. Unfotunately, sort of, the smaller gills were tough to catch as we could not keep the bigger ones off our pieces of nightcrawler.

Finally after sorting through the big ones we got a few smaller ones. Once the poles, a 7 foot medium heavy ugly stick and an old school baitcaster, were rigged up I set off down the bank in search of some feeding bass. I was a throwing a Terminator T-1 Spinnerbait in a chartreuse/white shad color combination rigged on a BassPro Signature series 7ft spinning rod along the bank. I landed 7 bass, nothing smaller then 13inches in about an hours time. The most effective technique this evening was ripping the lure back just under the surface. The big bass of the night went about 9 pounds if you can believe that!

The bluegills went mostly untouched under the bobber and on the bottom this day. Sam did manage to land a hefty snapping turtle on his bluegill.