Fishing with kids is a great time and especially if the fish are biting as well. One thing that really seems to draw the fish to the kid's hooks is the use of live bait. Live bait is in the form of worms or minnows and these come in a variety of sizes. Worms can be dug in the back yard and with all of the rain; the night crawlers are around in numbers as well. Minnows can be bought at the local bait shop and they offer a variety of sizes. Fishing with live bait is generally done with a hook, sinker and bobber. Worms draw panfish, sunfish, crappies and perch while minnows will draw the bigger predator fish, perch, crappies, bass and pickerel. If you want to have a fun day get yourself some of this live bait and see what the kids will catch.
BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors
www.backwoodssportsman.com
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Getting Kids Fishing
Kids and fishing are two things that go hand in hand when talking about outdoor activities. Fishing is a fairly easy sport to introduce kids to and fairly inexpensive as well. One doesn't need any of that fancy equipment or even a boat as there are many shoreline opportunities that allow access to fishing areas. A plain hook and bobber with a worm can produce hours of entertainment as well as some artificial bait that work very well also. Most outlet stores have fishing packages that you can purchase that have all of the essential items that you would need to experience a day of fishing. Any size fish, big or small, will be a trophy in kids eyes so don't worry about finding those big fish. Biggest thing is getting a fishing rod into a kids hand and a fish on the hook and this will hook those kids to fishing for life.
BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors
www.backwoodssportsman.com
BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors
www.backwoodssportsman.com
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
NH Moose Lottery Drawing Takes Place Friday, June 19, 2009
The annual drawing to select the lucky hunters who will be offered a permit to hunt moose in New Hampshire this fall will be held on Friday, June 19, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. at the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, 11 Hazen Drive in Concord, N.H. Fish and Game will issue 515 moose hunting permits this year. The public and interested media are invited to be on hand to watch the excitement as the names are drawn. Winners are selected through a computerized random drawing.
Radio personalities Peter St. James and Ken Cail will broadcast live from Fish and Game headquarters that morning from 6 - 10 a.m., with drawing results starting at 9 a.m. Tune in to radio station WTPL (107.7 FM), which can be heard from Nashua to the Lakes Region; or in the Upper Valley, the broadcast can be heard on 94.3 FM or 1400 AM. The station will also stream the audio on its website, www.WTPLFM.com.
Lottery results will also be available online - official lists of winners and alternates will be posted on the Fish and Game website by 11:00 a.m. on Friday, June 19, 2009. (Please be patient; the large spike in web traffic on lottery day sometimes causes download delays.)
Information:
http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Newsroom/News_2009/News_2009_Q2/moose_lottery_drawing_061509.html
BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors
www.backwoodssportsman.com
Radio personalities Peter St. James and Ken Cail will broadcast live from Fish and Game headquarters that morning from 6 - 10 a.m., with drawing results starting at 9 a.m. Tune in to radio station WTPL (107.7 FM), which can be heard from Nashua to the Lakes Region; or in the Upper Valley, the broadcast can be heard on 94.3 FM or 1400 AM. The station will also stream the audio on its website, www.WTPLFM.com.
Lottery results will also be available online - official lists of winners and alternates will be posted on the Fish and Game website by 11:00 a.m. on Friday, June 19, 2009. (Please be patient; the large spike in web traffic on lottery day sometimes causes download delays.)
Information:
http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Newsroom/News_2009/News_2009_Q2/moose_lottery_drawing_061509.html
BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors
www.backwoodssportsman.com
Friday, June 12, 2009
Look to Weed Clumps
Spring is fading away and summer patterns are starting to set up for the fishes activities. The spawn has ended and either those fish are still resting from that or are moving out to their summer haunts. One location that you will find or where you can intercept them is the weed clumps first away from the shorelines. These may be in somewhat deeper water but offers these fish a place to either hide to recoup, or a place for them to take up an ambush location. Fishing these areas isn't difficult and a variety of plastic bait riggings will get the job done. Check out these clumps of weeds as it won't be long and the fish will be heading to their summer deeper haunts.
BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors
www.backwoodssportsman.com
BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors
www.backwoodssportsman.com
Thursday, June 11, 2009
After the Spawn
Many anglers have been catching fish in the shallow waters of the shorelines and have been doing fairly well at that. But now as spring is further along and fading into the past those shallow waters have warmed up considerably and these fish may be on the move.
Spring time fish are generally found along the shorelines doing their yearly spawning ritual and replenishing the lakes with new offspring for the years to come. After the spawn the females leave the shallows first and then the males will follow once the fry reach a certain size and don’t
need the male’s protection any longer.
When both of these fish have vacated the shallows, this is the time that anglers struggle for a while trying to locate fish. These fish are still in the generally same area but are relating to different types of things at this time. They leave the shallows and head for deeper water and this can entail anything from the first weed line to different water depths.
Since the water is warming nicely, they will start moving towards their summer haunts and these areas are where you need to focus your energy in search of fish. Flats out from the spawning areas are great resting places as well as feeding areas as the fish still need to eat to survive.
Working these flats is a great way to locate some fish and the flats that have clumps of weeds on them with open sandy areas around them are great attraction areas to fish. What we are looking for are areas that the weed growth has started but doesn’t grow into a big area of continuous weeds. Pods of weeds are great ambush places for these fish to sit and rest waiting for an unexpected meal to come by.
Plastic baits are a good choice to working these areas and a few different techniques work very well. A Texas rigged plastic bait, a weightless plastic bait and also the Carolina rig works very well in this situation. For the Texas rig any type of plastic worm or creature bait will work very well as well for the weightless baits. The Carolina rig works very well with creature style baits and also some finesse plastics as well.
The waters are still a little cool so working these baits somewhat slowly works very well and also the slow presentation is something that these fish may not have see that often. Many anglers fish to fast and are missing a lot of bites because of this, but don’t get the wrong idea, there are still times when burning these baits produces better than anything else.
If these flats aren’t producing that well then it may be time to move to the next deeper feature. This can be a drop off, ditch, hump, or just about anything in deeper water. These areas may not be quite their summer haunt areas yet but are the in between “season” places. To many times anglers don’t like to fish deeper water but by changing your tactics a little, these may turn into your favorite places to fish.
Underwater points are a great place to search for fish and finding the tip of these underwater points can be very productive. “Just had that happen recently as the flats weren’t producing very well and decided to look at a nearby underwater point. The water at the tip was 11-12 feet deep and by working a Carolina rig around this point, put a few fish in the boat in a short period of time”.
If I wouldn’t have tried that there would have been only one fish caught on that outing as I went back to the flat and tried again later and nothing was there willing to bite. By trying these different areas you will learn some new waters as well as some new ways to fish different baits.
In general my type of fishing is mainly deep water and struggle some in the shallow spring time areas. But once the spawn is over and they start moving out, then the fishing season really kicks into gear for me.
Next time that you head out and are not finding the fish in the shallow waters, move out some and look for something that is a little different. Each year these fish use different areas or relate to the same areas a little differently and by using your electronics as your underwater eyes and search around these spots, this will put a lot more line tugging days on your side.
BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors
www.backwoodssportsman.com
Spring time fish are generally found along the shorelines doing their yearly spawning ritual and replenishing the lakes with new offspring for the years to come. After the spawn the females leave the shallows first and then the males will follow once the fry reach a certain size and don’t
need the male’s protection any longer.
When both of these fish have vacated the shallows, this is the time that anglers struggle for a while trying to locate fish. These fish are still in the generally same area but are relating to different types of things at this time. They leave the shallows and head for deeper water and this can entail anything from the first weed line to different water depths.
Since the water is warming nicely, they will start moving towards their summer haunts and these areas are where you need to focus your energy in search of fish. Flats out from the spawning areas are great resting places as well as feeding areas as the fish still need to eat to survive.
Working these flats is a great way to locate some fish and the flats that have clumps of weeds on them with open sandy areas around them are great attraction areas to fish. What we are looking for are areas that the weed growth has started but doesn’t grow into a big area of continuous weeds. Pods of weeds are great ambush places for these fish to sit and rest waiting for an unexpected meal to come by.
Plastic baits are a good choice to working these areas and a few different techniques work very well. A Texas rigged plastic bait, a weightless plastic bait and also the Carolina rig works very well in this situation. For the Texas rig any type of plastic worm or creature bait will work very well as well for the weightless baits. The Carolina rig works very well with creature style baits and also some finesse plastics as well.
The waters are still a little cool so working these baits somewhat slowly works very well and also the slow presentation is something that these fish may not have see that often. Many anglers fish to fast and are missing a lot of bites because of this, but don’t get the wrong idea, there are still times when burning these baits produces better than anything else.
If these flats aren’t producing that well then it may be time to move to the next deeper feature. This can be a drop off, ditch, hump, or just about anything in deeper water. These areas may not be quite their summer haunt areas yet but are the in between “season” places. To many times anglers don’t like to fish deeper water but by changing your tactics a little, these may turn into your favorite places to fish.
Underwater points are a great place to search for fish and finding the tip of these underwater points can be very productive. “Just had that happen recently as the flats weren’t producing very well and decided to look at a nearby underwater point. The water at the tip was 11-12 feet deep and by working a Carolina rig around this point, put a few fish in the boat in a short period of time”.
If I wouldn’t have tried that there would have been only one fish caught on that outing as I went back to the flat and tried again later and nothing was there willing to bite. By trying these different areas you will learn some new waters as well as some new ways to fish different baits.
In general my type of fishing is mainly deep water and struggle some in the shallow spring time areas. But once the spawn is over and they start moving out, then the fishing season really kicks into gear for me.
Next time that you head out and are not finding the fish in the shallow waters, move out some and look for something that is a little different. Each year these fish use different areas or relate to the same areas a little differently and by using your electronics as your underwater eyes and search around these spots, this will put a lot more line tugging days on your side.
BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors
www.backwoodssportsman.com
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Fishing June 7 2009
Been a long time coming to get the boat out once again and was nice to be on the water searching for bass again. The fish are transitioning into their summer patterns and are moving away from the shorelines out to the weed lines or next contour drops. There is always going to be fish along the shorelines but the better quality fish are out further relating to structure or something a little different in a particular area.
The shallow water is filling in nicely with weed growth and this is giving the fish something to relate to and also creates ambush areas for feeding fish and hiding areas for bait fish. The first area that I went to is a creek mouth with a big flat on the front face of it. Water depth ranges anywhere from 3-4 feet down to around 10 feet.
Report:
http://www.backwoodssportsman.com/Fishing_Reports.html
The shallow water is filling in nicely with weed growth and this is giving the fish something to relate to and also creates ambush areas for feeding fish and hiding areas for bait fish. The first area that I went to is a creek mouth with a big flat on the front face of it. Water depth ranges anywhere from 3-4 feet down to around 10 feet.
Report:
http://www.backwoodssportsman.com/Fishing_Reports.html
BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors
Monday, June 8, 2009
Fishing May 31 2009
It has been a while since we have been fishing and figured that we go back to a pond that has numerous pickerel as my son enjoys catching these. It was a beautiful day with light winds and nobody fishing so we decided to hike into the woods and try an area that we have never been to before.
Of course the ticks come along with venturing into the New England woods and didn’t take long to find the first one of them. Found a nice clearing along the shoreline that offered ample room to be able to cast our baits out into the lake. This area was a little slower than other areas but the fish did bite.
Rest of the report:
http://www.backwoodssportsman.com/Fishing_Reports.html
Of course the ticks come along with venturing into the New England woods and didn’t take long to find the first one of them. Found a nice clearing along the shoreline that offered ample room to be able to cast our baits out into the lake. This area was a little slower than other areas but the fish did bite.
Rest of the report:
http://www.backwoodssportsman.com/Fishing_Reports.html
BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
DES and NH Fish and Game Issue Advisory on Striped Bass and Bluefish Consumption
New Hampshire is One of Seven East Coast States Issuing Limits
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, in coordination with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and six other east coast states, has issued a fish consumption advisory for large bluefish and striped bass caught in New Hampshire coastal and estuarine waters.
According to state health officials, large bluefish and striped bass (larger than 25 inches) contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at levels of potential concern to the general public. This concern is especially true for pregnant women and young children. PCBs can affect the endocrine system and brain development, and have been shown to cause cancer in animal studies.
State health officials advised that striped bass and large bluefish caught in New Hampshire coastal and estuarine waters should not be eaten by pregnant women, women of childbearing age, nursing mothers and children under the age of six. The remainder of the general population should eat no more than one meal of such fish per month.
More information:
http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Newsroom/News_2009/News_2009_Q2/sw_fish_consumption_adv_060309.html
BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors
www.backwoodssportsman.com
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, in coordination with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and six other east coast states, has issued a fish consumption advisory for large bluefish and striped bass caught in New Hampshire coastal and estuarine waters.
According to state health officials, large bluefish and striped bass (larger than 25 inches) contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at levels of potential concern to the general public. This concern is especially true for pregnant women and young children. PCBs can affect the endocrine system and brain development, and have been shown to cause cancer in animal studies.
State health officials advised that striped bass and large bluefish caught in New Hampshire coastal and estuarine waters should not be eaten by pregnant women, women of childbearing age, nursing mothers and children under the age of six. The remainder of the general population should eat no more than one meal of such fish per month.
More information:
http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Newsroom/News_2009/News_2009_Q2/sw_fish_consumption_adv_060309.html
BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors
www.backwoodssportsman.com
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