Field and Stream - How to Fish RSS

Chad Love: Fishing Ban Rumors Debunked

Online Editors — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:09:20 -0500

By now -- unless you live completely off-grid or you've just returned from a two-week yak hunt in the wi-fi-free wilds of Mongolia -- you've probably heard that the Obama Administration is planning to ban fishing as we know it.

From ESPNOutdoors.com:

How To Ice-Fish With A Sounder

Online Editors — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:37:06 -0500

Successful fishing with tip-ups begins with suspending the bait in the cruising lane of the fish. Pike, pickerel, panfish, walleyes, and bass often frequent the area about 12 inches above the weed tops. Here's how to make sure your bait is in the strike zone and not buried in the grass.

Merwin: How do You Detect a Bite?

Online Editors — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:58:56 -0500

Tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap...

You know the feeling. It’s a bite! That little tapping you get as a bass takes a plastic worm. The magic signal of a brook trout chomping a nightcrawler. A striper bumping a plug somewhere in the darkness.

But how do you really sense the taking fish? Rod and line makers spend a lot of money hyping the so-called sensitivity of their products. But as far as fishermen are concerned, that might or might not be money well spent.

Merwin: How to Clear a Backlash on a Baitcasting Reel

Online Editors — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:21:12 -0500

Every baitcaster gets a backlash once in while. Untangling the line can be a real pain, and many resort to a knife or scissors to cut away the tangle in frustration. No more. This quick video tip for clearing backlash snarls will help.

Reeling forward slightly while pressing on the tangled line with your thumb smooths the snarl and pushes those overlapping line loops free. It’s not a new idea. I first heard of this in an article by bass pro Shaw Grigsby maybe 10 years ago. But the video here by Maryland bass-blogger Kevin Scarselli is the first live demonstration I’ve seen.

Yes, it works. At least it works most of the time. The main thing in clearing a backlash by this or any other method is ...

Facebook for Fishing?

timromano — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:19:55 -0400

Wanna talk to other anglers in your geographical area or perhaps for an upcoming trip somewhere else? Get info, share stories, pictures, meet fishing buddies or get the low-down on guides? Check out GoFISHn...

GoFISHn is "where anglers connect,". It's a place where anglers can easily share stories and information, and small businesses who serve anglers can discover new customers and stay in touch with existing ones.

GoFISHn is distinctive in this realm (at least I think so) by bringing in a very clean and open design that's easy to use, and it makes the creation of new content -- whether it's a quick status update or a photo gallery or a custom map -- easy to create and publish.

They've created a way to review gear and ask/answer questions, both of which are integrated...

Cermele: Can This Bag Save Dunked Electronics?

Joe_Cermele — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:09:59 -0400

Just yesterday, Merwin posted a blog on essential items you should never forget to bring out on a boat. I might have a new essential item if the Bheestie Bags I received the other day do what they're supposed to.

Cermele: Woman Fries And Eats Pet Goldfish After Fight With Ex-Husband

Joe_Cermele — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:37:43 -0400

I know this is a little off-topic for the blog, but it's too good. I had to share it. While looking at a few news sites this morning, I stumbled across this headline: "Woman Fries And Eats Pet Goldfish After Fight With Ex-Husband." Here's the story.

Cermele: Which Fishing Cult is the Most Insane?

Joe_Cermele — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:34:32 -0400

With striper season just beginning to take shape in the Northeast, I'm starting to get in that mode where I check tackle shops reports 3,000 times a day. My stomach knots up a bit every time I get a cell phone call from a friend who is more than likely on the beach while I'm at work. I go to bed at night wondering if I should have gone fishing and if the morning reports will tell me working all day on a couple hours sleep would have been justified.

Caption Contest: Win Some Buff Headwear

Joe_Cermele — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:44:52 -0400

I struggled how to work this image into a blog post about fly fishing for the past couple of weeks. Then it hit me...The caption contest. I mean, how could I not post this gem of a restroom sign? I found it while shooting a web story for F&S about stocking the high altitude lakes with airplanes (story forthcoming). I figure the bathroom was in a Department of Wildlife airplane hanger, and the pilot was stocking fish, so yeah - I can post it on a fly fishing blog. Right?

New Hook Shots: Giant Blue Marlin

Joe_Cermele — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:52:48 -0400

Without question, a large part of what makes fishing so appealing is the chance for the unexpected. Well, this Sunday, something incredibly unexpected happened...and my camera was rolling. Chad Love, who many of you know from our Field Notes blog, flew out from Oklahoma for a shot at his dream fish: tuna. He never caught one, but instead ended up boating a near 600-pound blue marlin, which in my opinion trumps any tuna in the ocean.

F&S Hook Shots, Episode 5: Giant New Jersey Marlin

Joe_Cermele — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:50:37 -0400

In this episode, blogger Chad Love flies East from Oklahoma to join "Hook Shots" host Joe Cermele in the blue water off New Jersey. The goal was to catch Chad his first tuna, but he got a lot more than he could have ever dreamed of when a near 600-pound blue marlin showed up behind the boat hungry. This is an epic fight you don't want to miss.

Click below to watch more "Hook Shots" episodes:

Cermele: Do You Keep A Fishing Log?

Joe_Cermele — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:50:17 -0400

While rummaging through a box of old books not long ago, I found a marble notebook that served as my fishing log. It was from 2003, and the first 10 pages had 5 trips logged, all with meticulous info ranging from water temperature, to wind, tide, hatches, and air temperature. The rest of the notebook was blank.

You would think that since I'm a writer, I'd stick with a fishing log, but I guess on trip number 6 I came home dead tired and just said "eh, I'll skip it tonight." I never went back to it. But without question, I'd be a far better angler if I had kept it up.

Cermele: Flea Market Tackle Shopping

Joe_Cermele — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:51:08 -0400

This past Sunday morning was rare. I wasn't fishing. That doesn't happen often, but prior obligations found me in the quaint river town of Lambertville, NJ. On my way home, I happened past the Golden Nugget Flea Market, which I haven't visited in years, and just like that I decided to rekindle my love of hunting for fishing treasures at the dirt mall. I confess, I'm a closet flea market and yard sale addict.

Cermele: Custom Reels At Punk-Rock Prices

Joe_Cermele — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:10:23 -0400

Though I'd love to tell you the reel below is the latest from Orvis inspired by the likes of Johnny Rotten and Joe Strummer, I don't think they've recognized the marketability of punk-inspired reels...yet. Yes, it is an Orvis reel -- my old 7/8 Rocky Mountain to be exact -- but the zebra finish with red brushed-aluminum spool is pure custom. How did such a thing of beauty come to be? Here's the scoop.

Merwin: A Hook That Needs No Knot

Joe_Cermele — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:06:39 -0400

Writing about fishing for Field & Stream tends to make me a lightning rod for new and often odd fishing gadgets and gizmos. Here’s the latest: A fish hook that requires no knot for attaching to your line. Simply double your line, place the resulting loop over a tiny post on the hook shank, then wrap the doubled line around the hook shank four times. The Easy2Hook is going to revolutionize fishing--or so the maker tells me. Here’s a short video to show you how it works.

Cermele: Get The Most Out Your Food Fish

Joe_Cermele — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:03:24 -0400

I can remember extreme excitement at the prospect of eating trout I caught on opening day when I was little. But the truth is that it was all fun up until the actual eating part, where I'd take two bites and opt for the french fries on the side. To be honest I'm still not a huge fan of trout, especially the stocked variety. One day when I have kids, I can only hope they're as into eating fish as the lad in the video below.

Cermele: The Clothes Pin Bass Plug

Joe_Cermele — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:52:18 -0400

Other other day I was leafing through a copy of "Outdoor Lore" by Clyde Ormond. It was published in 1964 and just one of many great books in the F&S office library. In it was a section on making emergency fishing lures. Everyone seemed to dig my Guinness Widget lure, so I thought I'd share the clothespin bass plug I found in this book.

Cermele: Fishermen Should Watch More Nature Shows

Online Editors — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:42:09 -0400

I don’t really watch that much TV, but I do love a good nature show. Outdoor shows are great, but they can’t teach you the same things about a fish or animal as can the high-speed cameras and dedicated research of the fellas on the National Geographic and Discovery channels. I've learned more about the way trout feed and how tuna coral bait from nature documentaries than I ever have from a fishing show. These shows can even make your bait seem more interesting. If you don’t believe me, watch the BBC video below.

I know it’s not a video about fish, exactly, but c’mon, that’s pretty wild.

I once saw a documentary about ...

Cermele: There's A Lure In Your Beer Bottle

Joe_Cermele — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:23:24 -0400

In my last post regarding frog lures with custom legs, a comment was made that it was thought these lures were a homemade concoction. Well they were not, but if you're into homemade lures, here's a gem that I've resurrected from a blog post I wrote a long, long time ago. Behold the Guinness Widget lure.

New Hook Shots: I Hate Wind

Joe_Cermele — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:30:53 -0400

In case you missed my post last week, I mentioned that I was down in South Texas chilling out at Get-A-Way Adventures Lodge. I had been there before to fish the skinny water of Lower Laguna Madre for trout and redfish, and it was brutally windy all week. Well, guess what? The wind followed me again. But it didn't stop me from putting together the latest installment of "Hook Shots."

F&S Hook Shots, Episode 4: Texas Coast Adventures

Joe_Cermele — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:49:26 -0400

South Texas may be a hunter's paradise, but the saltwater fishing is just as world-class. In Episode 4 of "Hook Shots," Joe Cermele fights some seriously windy conditions both offshore in the Gulf and on the flats of Lower Laguna Madre to show you everything Port Mansfield, Texas, has to offer an angler, from grouper to gator seatrout.

Click below to watch more "Hook Shots" episodes:

Cermele: Light It Up

Joe_Cermele — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:33:46 -0400

That's me in the photo below fighting a seatrout with a five-weight fly rod on the dock of Getaway Adventure Lodge here in Port Mansfield, Texas. It happens to be my home away from home this week. Photographer Bill Honza snapped the (awesome) shot last night in the eerie green glow cast by the bait-attracting dock lights.

New State & Pending World-Record Catches

Joe_Cermele — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:58:43 -0400

These fish are seriously brag-worthy. Here are 23 of the latest pending IGFA and state-record catches from around the globe.

Cermele: Weird Reels & ICAST Beer Blasts

Joe_Cermele — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:48:08 -0400

I planned on filling you guys in on some cool stuff I found here at ICAST, but unfortunately I've gone and drank too many beers.

Cermele: Lure Winner Announced

Joe_Cermele — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:44:40 -0400

Last week I posted a little "guess the fish, win cool lures" contest. Well, I must say I was pretty impressed with the answers. Almost all of you got the first two, flounder and muskie, correct, but that last two, well, guesses were vast. The correct line-up was flounder, muskie, smallmouth bass, and striped bass. Below are the photos from whence the clips came.