Preparation
Preparation is
a key element in fishing whether casting for cash in large tournaments, or
drowning worms for bluegills in a farm pond. How many times have we seen
fishermen scrambling to get their boat back on their trailer after they’ve
forgotten to put the boat plug in? How about those times while standing
around waiting on safe light during some intense dock talking, someone remembers
that all important item that they’ve left home? Preparation goes far beyond just
having the necessary equipment loaded on board. It’s a state of mind. When the
trolling motor hits the water, your mind needs to be clear and concentrating on
one thing. CATCHING FISH! How can we concentrate on lure presentations,
boat positions, establishing patterns, casting, etc, while our minds are racing
thinking about the items that we might have left behind, or the maintenance we
forgot to do?
A
checklist is a very simple and effective cure for our early morning
forgetfulness. I’ve managed over time to condense my checklist into four
categories. The boat/trailer category will have things like, check
oil reservoir, wheel bearing grease, etc. The truck category contains items like
check oil, water, tire air pressure, etc. The personal category has things like
medicines, sunglasses, sunscreen, drinks, etc. The last but not least is
the gear category with items like new line on reels, sharpen hooks, net,
flashlight, etc. Simple yes, but very functional! A checklist will go a long way
in making your morning less stressful, and it will help you in being better
prepared mentally for the day of fishing ahead. “Hey, did you remember to grab
those Senkos out of the truck?” “Oh Yeah!” “Did you remember to put the plug
in?” “OOPS”!!
Skin To Win
We all know that in
fishing with any type of plastics, in order to make them weed less we must
impale the hook into the bait to cover the hook point. This is where the problem
arises of getting the hook to penetrate through the bait far enough to have
enough hook exposed to also snag into that hogs lip. This problem compounds
itself even more when your using baits that have somewhat thicker bodies. Offset
shank wide gap hooks have definitely helped this problem considerably, but there
is a technique to use to help you hook up more often regardless of the
hook you’ve chosen to fish with. This technique is often called skinning,
and it implies to bury the hook point just under the surface on either SIDE
instead of hooking the bait dead center. With the hook point just barely under
the skin of the plastic, the chance of a hook up is greatly increased. It
also makes the bait last longer as you have more options as to where to insert
the hook point such as either side of the bait after the hook is in place.
The only thing to be
aware of while using this method is to make sure the bait doesn’t roll as you
retrieve the bait towards the boat. If the bait rolls, just hook the bait
elsewhere until the bait is working properly.
Next time your rigging up
that plastic bait, just remember “SKIN TO WIN” and it might just get that
fish to the scales that you otherwise would have lost because of bad hook
penetration. Now about those knotty knees and hairy back……………….