Fishin' Tips

Below are some useful fishin' tips that every fisherman can benefit from.
There is everything from learning to tie a variety of fishing knots, learning how to properly
prepare and clean fish for eating, and learning how to properly catch and release a fish.
To go to another page or to find a particular species of fish, scroll up or down the page to locate the Navigation Stations identified by the swimming fish above and below them. To contact the web designer, click on the E-mail link at the bottom of the page. I hope these tips are helpful and to your liking.
If you would like to submit a tip of your own then just use the E-mail link at the bottom of the page to contact the webmaster and if chosen your tip will be posted with your name as the submitter. So you will need to include your Name as you would like it to be posted and where you are from (City, State). Good Luck and Good Fishin'!
Attention Anglers: Catching a record setting fish may not be as difficult
as you think. If you'd like your name to grace the pages of the International
Game Fish Association (IGFA) annual record book, all you have to do is catch
a Largemouth Bass of any size in the State of Illinois with 20 lb. test line
as this category is currently vacant so any size Largemouth will qualify.
So, who's up for the challenge?

[Fishing Knots] [ Measuring & Weighing Fish] [Tuning Crank Baits]
[How to Clean & Prepare Fish for Consumption]
[Proper Way to Catch & Release] [ Repairing Plastic Baits ]
[ Trick-Out Your Spinnerbaits ] [ Understanding Fish Biology ]
[ Blank Canvas Crankbaits ] [ How to Remove Line Twist ]

[ Spring Crappie Secrets ] [ How and Where to Use Plastic Worms ]

Fishin' Tip #1 Fishin' Knots

Basic Fishing knots



Uses: The Albright Knot is used to join monofilaments with different diameters. It is commonly used to join the fly line to the fly-reel backing line. It is well suited to slide readily through the guides when a fish pulls enough to reach your backing. Tying it: It is important to wind the loops neatly round the loop of larger line. Hold the loops under your fingers as you wind the line on. Advantages: The Albright is relatively smooth and passes through guides when required. Some anglers coat the knot with a rubber based cement to make it even smoother and more secure.	Uses: The Arbor Knor is used to attach the fishing line to the fishing reel, or "Arbor". Tying it: The second overhand knot is essential. Some fishermen recommend winding the loop twice round the arbor before making the first half hitch. This increases the friction which may be useful on some of the more polished reels. After forming the knot, snug it down tightly around the drum. Advantages: The Arbor knot is simple, easily learned and effective.	Uses: The Blood Knot is used to join two lines of similar size, e.g., when joining sections of leader or tippet. Tying it: There are several methods of tying it. The animation above shows each half being created separately, which provides a good picture of the structure. An alternative method is to just overlap the two ends and twist them together for about ten turns. Then go to the center of the twists and create a hole. Pass the two ends the opposite way throught the hole. Whichever method is used, the knot should be symmetrical about the middle with the twists continuing in the same direction. Advantages: The Blood knot is a simple, easily learned and very effective way of joining two similar sized lines.	Uses: The Double Surgeon's Knot is used to join two lines of moderately unequal size, e.g., a tippet to a leader. It is an easy knot to learn and tie and allows you, with the same leader, to select the size of tippet to suit the size of the fly. Tying it: The Double Surgeon's Knot can only be tied with a tippet as the entire length of the tippet has to be passed through the overhand knot. Triple Surgeon's: As an option, the two lines can be passed through the overhand knot a third time to form the Triple Surgeon's knot. Advantages: The Double Surgeon's Knot is an excellent knot to join two lines of moderately unequal size.


Uses: The Dropper Loop creates a loop in the middle of your leader or tippet and provides an attachment point for an additional fly. If desired the loop can be made long enough to set a hook directly on it. Tying it: There are two main methods of tying it. The animation above shows the loop being wrapped round the overlap point which is held still with your fingers. The same result can be obtained by leaving the loop still and passing a match-stick through the overlap which then is used to twist the overlap into a spiral. The loop is then passed through the hole occupied by the match-stick. Whichever method is used, the knot should appear almost symmetrical either side of the loop. Advantages: The Dropper Loop angles away from the line which helps to avoid tangles.	Uses: The Nail Knot is an important fishing knot used to join two lines of different diameters - it allows for line diameters to diminish down to the fly. It provides a good method for attaching your leader, or tippet, to your fly line. Tying it: There are several ways of tying this knot. The animation above shows the smaller line being threaded through the loops using a straw. Alternatively, the line can be threaded beside a nail (hence its name) or pulled through with a needle. Advantages: The Nail Knot is a smooth compact knot which will readily pass through the guides.	Uses: The Perfection Loop is the easiest way to tie a small loop in the end of a leader or tippet which lies perfectly in line with the standing end. Tying it: This knot is most easily tied in the hand. Hold the first loop between finger and thumb. Wrap the second turn round the finger and thumb and then between the two loops. Tuck the second turn through the first, checking that the loop crosses and traps the end. It can also be tied through a fly or lure by passing the free end along the path shown in Frame 7 above. Advantages: The Perfection loop creates a stable loop which lines up neatly with the standing end	Uses: The Rapala Knot is intended to be tied directly to the lure. The Rapala brothers emphasize that if a swivel or leader is essential, choose the lightest tackle possible. This allows the lure to move with a natural motion. Tying it: A long enough loop should be left to ensure that the eye is not gripped. Advantages: The advantage claimed for this knot is that it allows the lure to move naturally


Uses: The Snell Knot allows the leader, or tippet, to be directly tied to a baited hook. Tying it: The Snell knot can only be tied with a leader as both ends are used to tie the knot. When tightening the knot, hold the turns under your fingers to ensure they snug down neatly. Advantages: The Snell Knot is claimed to provide a reliable connection which preserves the strength of the line - particularly if the thickness of the eye is greater than the line diameter.	Uses: The Surgeon's Loop can be tied quickly and easily in the end of a line. It is often used to make a loop to loop connection or to create a loop which allows the artificial lure or fly to move naturally. Tying it: It is tied in the same way as the Double Surgeon's Knot. Advantages: The advantage for this knot is that some sources claim that it retains a high proportion of ideal line strength.	Uses: The Uni Knot is a versatile knot which can be adapted to many purposes including snelling; connecting hooks, swivels and lures with a loop; and joining two lines. Tying it: The version shown here is tied to an eye. When joining two lines, each knot is made round the other standing end. Advantages: It is fairly easy to tie in the dark with practice. Claims that it retains a high proportion of line strength have been disputed. When tied round a large diameter eye, it may retain strength well, but if used to join two lines, like other knots where a line passes round itself, a breaking strain of 50% of ideal performance is more likely.	Uses: This knot is used for making your own bobber stops for slip bobbers. It enables you to use a bobber in any situation from deep water to shallow water. This lets you get the bait to the exact depth the where the fish are at the time. Tying it: This knot can be easily tied by following the illustration above. Advantages: This knot will enable you to fish accurately with a slip bobber to any depth desired. It makes fishing for deep water fish very easy.

Fishing Line Bar

Fishin' Tip #2 Measuring & Weighing Your Catch

Use a flat board, close mouth, and
compress the tail.
Length is measured from the tip of the snout to the end of the tail with the fish laid flat on a ruler, with the mouth of the fish closed and the tail lobes pressed together. Using this method will insure you always have a legal sized fish in your possession since most lakes have size limits on the various species of fish.

Man Fishing in His Boat

How to Weigh Your Fish With a Ruler
Fish can be injured when weighed with portable scales. To estimate the weight with a length measurement (in inches), use the following formulas.

(Girth is the distance around the body)

Walleye:
Length x Length x Length
2,700

Northern Pike:
Length x Length x Length
3,500

Sunfish:
Length x Length x Length
1,200

Bass:
Length x Length x Girth
2,700

Trout:
Length x Length x Girth
800

Tuning a Crank Bait

Tuning Your Crankbaits
Many crank baits, both deep and shallow runners, need tuning occasionally to keep them running true. Tuning your crank baits will increase strikes and hooking power. To tune your crank bait, bend the line eye opposite the direction you want the lure to run. Maintaining your crank baits will keep them productive for years so you'll always have that lucky lure to boost your confidence and catch more fish.

How to Clean & Prepare Fish for Consumption

Angler with His Limit

Once an angler has decided to keep a fish for consumption purposes, the fish must be cleaned and stored on ice as soon as possible. Currently, Illinois sport fishing regulations prohibit the removal of the head or tail or cleaning of the fish to which length limits apply, while still on the waters where the length limits are enforced.
     Fish tastes best when cleaned and cooked within two hours after catching it. Fish must be stored in the coolest conditions possible (on ice) and eaten within a day or two. Different types of fish may be cleaned according to one of the methods described below or at right.
     If the angler plans to eat the fish at a later date, the cleaned fish must be frozen. If prepared for freezing properly, whole fish (skin on) may be kept for up to 6 months. Fish fillets (skin off) may be kept for up to 3 months. Frozen fish should be thawed in the refrigerator to prevent bacterial problems from occurring. If the fish tastes bad;
Don't Eat it!

Wanna Learn How to Do More Than
Just Filet Your Fish?
Now You can Unzip Your Fish With

The Videos That Show You How to
Effectively Remove all the Bones From
All (Yes I said All) Species of Game Fish
Check Out the Sample Links Below

Bluegill	Catfish	Bass
Northern Pike	Salmon	Walleye

Filleting step 1
First, position the fillet knife behind the gill and cut at a 45 degree angle turning the knife towards the tail as soon as you begin to feel the fish's backbone.

Run the knife along the fish's backbone until the fillet is removed.

With your fingers, find the top of the rib cage and take the fillet knife and run it under the rib cage, making sure you remove all the rib bones.

Run the knife between the fillet and the skin, removing the skin.

You now have a ready to eat fish fillet. Cook it any way you like and enjoy!

Hiker cooking fish Flopping Fish

To purchase these very informative and
MUST HAVE "No Bones About It"
videos or DVD's just click the link below and you too can be an expert at unzipping your catch the fast and easy way. A must have for any serious fisherman who likes to eat his catch but doesn't want to spend all day cleaning fish!

Man catching Bass from boat

(Click on the Bass in the pictures
to go to where to fish for them
in the great state of Illinois)

Man catching Bass from shore

Different species of fish have various tolerance levels for stress caused by being caught. For example, largemouth bass and walleye tend to expend their energy rapidly and seldom become seriously exhausted. Fish such as stripers, muskies, and northern pike are more sensitive to this type of stress and must be handled quickly to insure their survival upon release. Follow these simple instructions for proper catch and release.

Land the fish as soon as possible. Playing a fish until it is exhausted will cause it to build up lactic acid and will diminish its chances for survival.
Refrain from using a dip net. Netting tends to disrupt the protective mucous covering the fish and that increases the possibility of disease once the fish is back in the water.
No fish should be grabbed around the abdomen because the internal organs are fragile. Handle toothless fish by gripping their lower jaw. Grab a fish with teeth behind the gill covers. Don't
squeeze directly on the gill covers and never handle a fish by depressing its eyeballs.
Wet your hands before handling a fish to reduce the loss of the fish's protective mucous coating covering its body.
Handle the fish with care when removing the hook. Avoid excessive handling and don't
drop the fish.
Keep the fish in the water as much as possible during the hook removal. Long-nosed pliers
can be used to dislodge the hook while the fish is in the water.
Don't attempt to remove the hook if it is lodged in the gullet or throat. Don't attempt to jerk or pull on the line to remove the hook. Simply cut your line and release the fish. Fish released in this manner stand a good chance of surviving.
Never throw a fish back into the water. Gently place the fish into the water and let it swim away.
To revive a fish, hold it upright and move it back and forth (gently) so the water is forced over the gill filaments.
Never place a fish on a stringer if there is a possibility that you might release it. A properly aerated live-well or an ice chest filled with water and a little ice is better for holding fish temporarily.

Repairing a Plastic Bait with a Cigarette Lighter

Perhaps one of the worst feelings a fisherman can experience is finding the perfect plastic worm or lizard for a given set of circumstances that is producing fish and then going through all you have of them before the bass bite has cooled down. You are left staring at a pile of baits on the deck of your boat that have the nose or body torn and ripped rendering them unusable. If you carry a cigarette lighter with you in your tackle box, you can be back in action in no time at all. Simply hold the torn section of the plastic bait over the flame until the plastic melts back together. Be careful not to touch the burning plastic, as it can cause a nasty burn. As the bait begins to cool, you can reshape the nose or body by gently rolling it on a hard surface. By the way, you can add a new tail to an old bait or change tail colors by swapping tails from different colored baits using this same technique.

How to Make Use of Overlooked Crankbaits
Next Time you're rummaging through the bargain bin at your nearby fishing tackle outlet, pick up some solid white crankbaits. Most fishermen pass these up because they aren't flashy enough, but that plain white surface is a blank canvas waiting to be turned into any colored lure you like. They are easy to paint and allow you to match the color of the baitfish in your local lakes or any new lake you might fish. Get yourself a set of colorful waterproof markers to give these "PLAIN" baits the look of living forage. You can easily store them in your tackle box and you won't need to buy every color of your favorite lure. You can also add a bleeding effect to the baits making them even more productive.

Rotating Crankbait

1. Crappie will move to shallow waters at the first sign of warm, sunny weather. This is a feeding movement. Don't mistake this as the spawn.
2. Spawn occurs when the water surface temperature reaches around 62 degrees. Fish outside the spawning area to catch the bigger females.
3. Smaller jigs (1/64 oz. to 1/32 oz.) catch big and small fish, but larger jigs (1/16 oz. to 1/8 oz.) could eliminate catching a lot of the smaller fish.
4. If you are using a strike indicator (float), use only the size needed to just stay afloat for the size of jig you're using. There will be less resistance for the fish.
5. After the spawn starts, if a cold front moves through and the barometric pressure drops, the fish did not move. Slow way down and fish tight to the cover with no movement. Fish with a plain minnow or add a minnow to your jig.

Plastic worms can be fished virtually anywhere bass are located. However, there are special spots or structure types that have plastic worm written all over them. The following is a list of areas plastic worms should be used and how to use them.
Laydown Trees
Laydown Trees fallen into the water offer thick cover in which bass will hide. Hold your boat off the end of the tree and slowly retrieve the worm through the limbs. Each time the worm crawls over a limb, give it slack so it can sink back to the bottom. Work from the root and through the outer most limbs.
Floating Cover
Bass like to hide below floating cover such as vegetation mats and driftwood. Ease in close and flip your favorite worm into the tiny holes and pockets in the cover. Use a heavy weight if necessary to punch through the cover, and then jig the worm slowly beneath it
Grass Line Edges
Hold your boat closes to the grass and cast a swimming-tail worm along the edge. Try different retrieves (straight swim, lift drop) to see which the fish prefer. Key here is to find the high percentage spots that have the irregular points and gaps.
Pockets in Matted Vegetation
Position your boat on the outside of the vegetation. Cast a weightless worm over pockets and holes in cover. Reel the worm rapidly into the pockets, and then stop your retrieve for a few seconds. If a bass strikes your worm wait until you feel the pressure as the fish begins to swim away to set the hook.
Boat Docks
Pick a boat dock apart. Skip cast a Texas rigged worm beneath the piers. Use a swimming worm parallel to the sides of docks. Flip around pilings, ladders or any object that offers shade.
Stump/Timber Lined Drop-offs
Position your boat in the deeper water and cast perpendicular into the shallows next to the wood cover. Wait for the worm to sink to the bottom then pull the worm with a lift/drop retrieve. If it's standing timber cast the worm through the limbs and trunks of trees as close as you can get to the trunk. Pull the worm through the notches where the branches grow out of the trunk of tree.
Fish Attractors
Thoroughly cover all brush piles, stake beds, tire piles, and other man made fish attractors with a Texas rigged worm. Move closer if no hits and use a larger worm and flip it through the thickest cover again.
Bluffs
Position the boat close to the bluffs. Use either a Texas rig worm or a finesse worm parallel to the face of the bluff. Shake the worm as it sinks down. If it hits a ledge pop it and pull it and shake it back down. Work the entire area, this method works well for bass holding on rock beds.
Run-Ins
Use a Texas rigged worm and cast it into the mouths of culverts, drains, gullies, and other spots where water is emptying into a reservoir. Food will wash into these areas often times especially after heavy rains and often time's bass will move there to feed.

Anywhere you've caught bass use a worm as a cleanup bait to rework spots where you have caught bass on spinner baits, crankbaits or other types of lures. More times then not using a worm through the same area will bring an additional strike.