Field and Stream - Fishing RSS

Vintage Tackle Contest: Soap-A-Lure

Joe_Cermele — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:14:54 -0400

by Joe Cermele

Here's a direct quote from resident vintage tackle expert Dr. Todd Larson of the The Whitefish Press and "Fishing For History" blog regarding this Soap-A-Lure scent remover entered into the vintage tackle contest by Steve Crismon: "This was the toughest nut to crack to date. But I did crack it eventually." Strong words coming from the man that knows all things old school fishing gear, but I must admit this was one of the oddest entries I ever recieved. Steve found it at a yard sale 10 years ago.

Here's what was in that nut once once Doc Larson cracked it:

"For at least a hundred years, anglers have tried to remove or mask the smell of human scent and man-made chemicals, but it wasn't until the late 1960s and early 1970s that inventors began to take the subject seriously. In the span of six years, no less than three separate "Fisherman's Soaps" were granted patents, as far as I know the only such patents granted in American history. So…which of these three belongs to your "Soap-A-Lure?" After checking the patents, only John Paul Noordam Jr.'s patent not only removes the fish smell, but also applies an attractant to the hands. Noordam was granted Patent #3,666,669 on May 13, 1972, and as your bar is marked "Patent Pending" I would surmise it was probably sold in 1970 or 1971, while the patent was being reviewed. Since so few have survived intact, I would say your soap is worth $10-$20. To view some other angler's soaps from the back pages of Field & Stream, click here."

Far as I know, that's the most valuable bar of soap ever! Nice find, Steve. Thanks for sending, and enjoy the Berkley Digital Tournament Scale that's headed your way

If you've already sent me photos of your vintage tackle, keep checking every Thursday to see if I chose it for an appraisal by Dr. Todd. If you haven't and want to enter the contest, email photos of your old tackle to fstackle@gmail.com, along with your name, mailing address, and story of how you acquired the gear. If I use it in a Thursday post, you get a Berkley Digital Tournament Scale (left, $40).

Huge 74lb. Striper Pulled From Long Island Sound

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:43:28 -0400

Captain Blaine Anderson, owner and operator of Anderson Guide Services pulled this monster 74lb. striper from the Long Island Sound on Wednesday, May 23. Check out his amazing photos plus a video of the fight here!

For more information on Anderson's guide services, which include one or two person light tackel charters, visit his website, call 860-667-4523 or visit his Facebook page.

Author Jean Craighead George Passes to Her Side of the Mountain

Online Editors — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:04:44 -0400

by Chad Love

For those of us who grew up in the B.D. epoch (before digital), reading was the primary way to stoke our young imaginations. There were few books that fired my pre-adult synapses more thoroughly than Jean Craighead George's "My Side of the Mountain."

This classic adventure/survival/nature tale about a boy named Sam, a falcon and their woodland adventures spurred many a childhood fantasy of mine. There were two people I wanted to be in 1979: Luke Skywalker and Sam Gribley. I knew, even at that tender age, that I'd never be able to make it into the cockpit of an X-wing, but Sam's world was wondrously real, tangible and right outside my back door. Reading "My Side of the Mountain" was a huge factor in sparking my lifelong interest in hunting, fishing and the natural world.

So it was sad to read (via Stephen Bodio's always awesome Querencia blog) of George's passing.

From Bodio's blog:
Old friends and heroes are dying faster than I can write about them. Jean Craighead George, author of one of my favorite childhood books*, My Side of the Mountain, and sister to the even better- known conservationists and falconers , the twin brothers Frank and John, died last week at 92. NYT here, Wiki here, her own home site here.

The New York Times obit gives some detail of George's life and career...

From The New York Times:
Jean Craighead George, a Newbery Award-winning writer for young people whose books brought the natural world from the Catskill Mountains to the Alaskan tundra to wild, luminous life, died on Tuesday in Mount Kisco, N.Y. She was 92. The author of more than 100 fiction and nonfiction titles that have collectively sold millions of copies, Ms. George was best known for two novels for older children, “My Side of the Mountain” (1959), which she also illustrated, and “Julie of the Wolves” (1972), illustrated by John Schoenherr. That book won the Newbery Medal — considered the Pulitzer Prize of children’s letters — in 1973. “My Side of the Mountain” tells the story of Sam Gribley, a youth who forsakes a life of quiet desperation in New York City to live on his own in the Catskills wilderness. There, he survives by virtue of the deep sympathy with nature that animates all of Ms. George’s protagonists, until the modern world closes in again.

The rest of the obit and the links in Stephen Bodio's blog post are worth a read, as Ms. George led a pretty fascinating life. If you haven't yet read "My Side of the Mountain" do yourself a favor: go find a copy and read it. Then do your children a favor and give it to them.

Did anyone else read and become inspired by "My Side of the Mountain"? What were some of the other nature-themed children's and young adult books that influenced you growing up?

Video: Filming a Free Swimming Black Marlin

Online Editors — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:15:47 -0400

by Tim Romano

As a photographer and an angler, I just can't get enough of these videos that underwater photographer Marc Montocchio puts together about his blue water shoots. This installment shows Marc and his crew on the Pacific coast of Panama, trying to photograph a free swimming black marlin. Enjoy.

Peeing Swimmers Kill 500 Fish in Germany

Joe_Cermele — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:28:30 -0400

by Joe Cermele

Here's one from the "I Couldn't Make This Up If I Tried" file. According to Europe's Practicalfishkeeping.com, German swimmers are being blamed for the death of 500 fish in a lake near Hamburg. Apparently they just couldn't ditch the swimmy fins and pool noodles long enough to find a bathroom. From the story:

A spokesman for the local Angling Association said: "Swimmers who urinate in the lake are introducing a lot of phosphate. We're calculating half a litre/0.15 gal. of urine per swimmer per day." Applying anti-phosphate products to the water has been expensive and hasn't worked, fuelling a long-standing feud between fishermen and bathers in the lake.

The story also notes that the city's Urban Development and Environmental Authority says there could be another explanation...ice skating.

"The ice-skaters make a noise that wakes the fish out of hibernation", a BSU spokesperson said. "Then they can’t breathe and freeze. That’s a very common phenomenon."

So listen, I'm just going to leave you folks to it. Pee deaths? Ice skating deaths? You think you ever scared a lake trout so badly doing a hockey stop it went belly up?

New Top Alabama King Mackerel: 10-Year-Old Record Broken Twice in 5 Weeks

Online Editors — Wed, 23 May 2012 08:49:50 -0400

An Alabama family’s first deep-sea fishing trip yielded a memorable sendoff for their military-bound son and produced the state’s second record king mackerel in five weeks when Matthew Borden boated this 69-pound, 10-ounce smoker May 6, one week before shipping out for a long-term Navy deployment.

Rumble in the Jungle: Catching Huge Arapaimas on the Fly in Guyana

Online Editors — Wed, 23 May 2012 08:48:01 -0400

Field & Stream editor-at-large and FlyTalk blogger Kirk Deeter recently took part in an expedition sponsored by Costa del Mar sunglasses to fish in Guyana, where he became one of the first fly fishermen ever to land an elusive wild arapaima—the world’s largest scaled freshwater fish species.

Click here to learn more about arapaima fishing opportunities in Guyana and the film "Jungle Fish."

Scientists Develop Robot Fish to Improve Pollution Monitoring

Online Editors — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:55:19 -0400

--Chad Love

Landing one of these babies is pretty much a catch-and-release-only proposition. I hear they're not good eating and extremely difficult to fillet. Not to mention the fact that they thrive in some pretty nasty water...

From this story on therepublic.com:
Robot "fish" developed by European scientists to improve pollution monitoring moved from the lab to the sea in a test at the northern Spanish port of Gijon on Tuesday. The developers hope the new technology, which reduces the time it takes to detect a pollutant from weeks to seconds, will sell to port authorities, water companies, aquariums and anyone with an interest in monitoring water quality...The fish, which are 1.5 meters (5 feet) long and currently cost 20,000 pounds ($31,600) each, are designed to swim like real fish and are fitted with sensors to pick up pollutants leaking from ships or undersea pipelines. They swim independently, co-ordinate with each other, and transmit their readings back to a shore station up to a kilometer away.

So, if they can make robot fish to do this, why can't they make one that chases down and takes a lure, then fights like whatever gamefish has been programmed into its brain? Say you've never caught a bluefin tuna and probably won't ever get the chance, because they're doomed -- instead, you could charter a trip to "catch" robot bluefin.

Who knows, maybe in a few years we might not even need real fish in the oceans anymore, what with their annoying and expensive requirements for clean water and a suitable environment. Now we can repeal all our water quality and anti-pollution laws and start cranking out loads of these suckers, 'cause they'll live anywhere...

Hero for a Day 2012: Assessing the Health of an Ohio River Tributary

Sarah Smith — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:58:34 -0400

Kentucky high schoolers volunteered with the Ohio River Foundation to assess the health of a tributary to the Licking River, which flows into the Ohio, by collecting fish, invertebrates, and water samples. For more information visit our Hero for a Day page.

40-Pound Kamikaze Barracuda Launches Assault on Anglers

Joe_Cermele — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:29:10 -0400

by Joe Cermele

You think flying Asian carp are bad? They might break a jawbone, give you a nice sock in the gut, or leave you with a black eye. But they will not remove toes, fingers, or part of your face with razor-sharp teeth. Check out the video below. Baracuda rank high on my list of species I do not want flying at my head. You never see a nice, meaty, 10-pound flounder jump into the boat.

Conservation Update: Report Shows Energy Companies Sitting on 70 Percent of Leases

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 22 May 2012 08:44:10 -0400

by Bob Marshall

Sportsmen's groups got some new ammunition in their fight against the energy industry's push to open more public fish and wildlife habitat to development: A new Department of Interior report shows that 70 percent of public areas under lease by energy companies currently are "inactive" - meaning they are neither producing energy or part of an approved or pending development plans.

This helps put the lie to claims by energy's friends in Congress that public lands "locked up" for fish and wildlife are creating a supply problem causing high gas prices.

The report reads:

"Offshore: As of May 2012, nearly 72 percent of the area on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) that companies have leased for oil and gas development – totaling 26 million acres – are not producing or not subject to pending or approved exploration or development plans.

"In the Gulf of Mexico, which holds the largest volume of undiscovered technically recoverable resource (UTRR) on the OCS, 32 million acres are under lease. However, only approximately 10 million acres have approved exploration or development plans, and only 6.4 million of these acres are in production.

"Leased areas in the Gulf of Mexico – that are not producing or not subject to pending or approved exploration and development plans – are estimated to contain 17.9 billion barrels of UTRR oil and 49.7 trillion cubic feet of UTRR natural gas.

"Onshore: As of December 31, 2011, approximately 56 percent of total acres of public land under lease in the Lower 48 States – totaling approximately 20.7 million acres - are not undergoing either production nor exploration activities.

"As of September 30, 2011, there are over 7,000 approved permits to drill on public and Indian lands that have not yet been acted on by companies.

"Roughly 76 percent of the onshore acres offered for sale between October 1, 2010,and September 30, 2011, were bid on and sold for oil and gas activities."

So when you hear someone yell "we need to open up that backcountry to drilling," ask them "Why?"

It certainly isn't because the energy industry lacks leases.

This is more proof sportsmen can show their congressional delegation - and their neighbors - why opening up protected fish and wildlife habitat to more leasing isn't necessary. They should all remember once a lease is granted on public lands, it is almost impossible to stop development that devastates fish and wildlife, and ruins hunting and fishing.

Winner Announced in Name This Fish Contest

Dave_Maccar — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:51:53 -0400

by Kirk Deeter

Thanks to all you Fly Talk readers who chimed in with guesses on what type of fish this is, where it was caught, and what it ate. To my surprise, many of you nailed the fish right away. It is indeed an arapaima. A good number of you also got the country right. We caught it in the jungle in Guyana, near the Rewa River. But nobody until the very end (and she is a ringer who no doubt heard me talking about this adventure on ESPN radio in Denver Saturday morning) got the fly pattern right.

Believe it or not, on the end of that strand of 80-pound fluorocarbon is a streamer fly that's about seven inches long, and it looks like a peacock bass. So while many folks go to the South American jungle to fish for peacock bass, we learned that to catch arapaima it's good to fish with peacock bass. For the record, the correct answers are: arapaima, Guyana, peacock bass imitation.

Since not everyone had the benefit of listening to Denver radio, however, I'm going to award the prize to smccardell, who got arapaima, the Rewa in Guyana, and suggested a 5" whit fur strip diver (which, with the right cast at the right time, probably would have worked also). Hit me with an email at editor@anglingtrade.com and we'll arrange to get you your prize. And Erica, I'll make an IOU prize for you too, and thank you for listening.

This was part of an expedition sponsored by Costa Del Mar to help develop sport fishing in Guyana. You'll soon be seeing a story here on FieldandStream.com detailing the arapaima adventure. And down the road, you'll see more of this--and a trip Romano and I both took to Guyana's tarpon coast and rivers (yes, that's where the Tenkara tarpon happened)--appearing in Field & Stream magazine.

Chinese Angler Hooks Gigantic 1,360 lb. Kaluga Fish

Sarah Smith — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:58:26 -0400

--Chad Love

Ever heard of a "Kaluga Fish?" Me, neither. But they apparently get very, very big...

From this story on 11alive.com:
The classic line when someone says they've caught a big fish is "pics or it didn't happen." Well this one did happen. A 1,360 pound sturgeon was caught by fishermen in China's Heilongjiang River this week. The type of sturgeon, known as a Kaluga, or is sometimes called a river beluga, and is claimed to be the largest freshwater fish in the world.

It is found in the Amur River basin in the border areas of northeastern China and eastern Russia. The Kaluga has a maxiumum size of about 2,200 pounds and can grow up to 18 feet long. The fish was caught Tuesday at Tongjiang, a city that borders Russia in northeast China.

Wow. That's a "Hook Shots" episode just waiting to happen.

Video: 20,000 Trout in a Bucket

Online Editors — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:15:37 -0400

by Tim Romano

The title of this post is a little misleading. While in theory these little guys are in a bucket, what you're actually seeing here is 20,000 freshly hatched cut bow trout (a hybrid between a cutthroat and a rainbow) in what's called an egg jar.

This is where the little guys get blown around in freshwater at the hatchery before being let loose inside in small raceways when they get a little bigger and have consumed their egg sacs. After that, they are transferred outside and fed until they're ready to be stocked in a river or lake. I found watching them to be pretty mesmerizing. I hope you do too.

The CatchFeed: 50 Top Photos from Catchbook, Field & Stream's New Social Fishing App

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:43:40 -0400

These 50 photos are our editors' picks for the best shots posted so far by users of our new Catchbook app!

About Catchbook Fishing Reports
Catchbook is a free social fishing app we built for the iPhone to help you share photos of your fish while recording the spots where you caught them. Check out more great fish photos from around the country (and start posting your own catches) by downloading the app from iTunes! Visit fieldandstream.com/catchbook for details on how the app works, and why it'll help you catch more fish.

Catchbook Photo Contest
We're giving away a Columbia PFG Blood and Guts™ Ball Cap, for the best photo posted each week (as chosen by our editors) from now until then end of July. At the end of each month we'll pick our favorite overall shot and run it in the magazine! Each monthly winner will also receive a Columbia Airgill Chill™ Long Sleeve (men) or Ultimate Chill™ Long Sleeve (women). Click here to learn how you can enter this contest. Click here for the official rules.

CO Teen Who Caught 31lb State Record Striper Lied About Location

Sarah Smith — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:38:56 -0400

--Chad Love

Remember the story about the 18-year-old Colorado teen whose 31-pound striper shattered the state record?

In what is becoming a depressingly common theme this year, the record catch has been nullified because the boy apparently lied about where it was caught.

From this story on timescall.com:

A Longmont teen lied about where he caught a hefty striped bass last month, he admitted Wednesday night, so he can't claim the state record for the 31-pound, 8.4-ounce fish he landed. "It was a different lake, a different place," said 18-year-old Isaac Sprecher. He said it was "stupid and immature" for him to have originally contended that he'd caught the striper on April 20 at northwest Longmont's McIntosh Lake, when he'd actually reeled it in that afternoon from one of the ponds at Pella Crossing, a Boulder County Open Space area at North 75th Street south of Hygiene.

Pella Crossing has catch-and-release rules for large and smallmouth bass, and Sprecher said Wednesday that he hadn't immediately been able to reach a Colorado Parks and Wildlife officer to see whether he'd be able to check whether the striped bass he'd caught could somehow officially be weighed before freeing it to swim away.

According to the story, Sprecher wasn't sure if he could keep the fish, but since it was almost dead, anyway, he decided to take the fish home. When wildlife officers arrived to verify the catch, Sprecher told them he had caught it at McIntosh Lake.

"I wasn't honest," Longmont High School student Sprecher said on Wednesday. "I'm greatly sorry for all this." "It's a good life lesson," he said. "It wasn't right for me to lie about it."

All's well that ends well, I guess, and it seems that Mr. Sprecher, as he acknowledged, will take away some wisdom from the experience, but what I really want to know is... where are these Boulder County ponds that hold 30-pound stripers and why isn't Tim Romano catching them on the fly?

Killer Snakeheads: The Real and the Hollywood Varieties

Joe_Cermele — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:28:06 -0400

by Joe Cermele

First, check out this video from ABC 7 News in Virginia. It seems angler Juan Duran may have set a new world record for snakehead right here on American soil. This week, Duran wrenched an 18-pound monster out of the Potomac River near Washington D.C. The current world-record snakehead weighed just over 17 pounds and was caught in Japan...right where these fish belong in the first place. If you think a snakehead that size in our rivers is mildly freightening, check out video number two.

This, folks, could be where we're headed.

Vintage Tackle Contest: Whirlaway Rod & Reel Combo

Joe_Cermele — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:56:41 -0400

by Joe Cermele

This week in our ongoing vintage tackle contest we have the odd-looking rod and reel combo below. The photo was sent in by Henry Kenworthy, who wrote: This unique fishing rod was given to me as a child (approx 35 years ago) in Marianna, Arkansas, by a man named Cody as payment for helping him clean out his boathouse. I was 10-12 years old at the time. I remember Mr. Cody telling me that "in it's day, this was the Cadillac of fishing rods."

So is this all-in-one stick truly the Cadillac of rods or was it the Nova? Dr. Todd Larson of the The Whitefish Press and "Fishing For History" blog says:

"For at least 125 years, anglers have been trying to create the perfect all-in-one rod and reel combination. You have one of the many examples of this style from the post-World War II era. It is a "Whirlaway" manufactured by Great Lakes Products of Detroit, Michigan. First sold around 1950, the first model (which you have) was in fact a bit of a failure, and replaced by the all-new Whirlaway 75 in 1954. Noted tackle historian Bill Sonnett recently wrote an article about the Whirlaway, and noted that the problem was the original twisted the line so that after an hour of casting it became unusable. Your combo is quite popular with collectors, and should bring about $50-$100 depending on condition. To read Bill Sonnett's article on the Whirlaway, click here."

I hope you didn't do more than $50 to $100 worth of work cleaning up that boathouse, Henry. Still in all, a terrific find. Thanks for sending, and enjoy the Berkley Digital Tournament Scale that's headed your way

The Total Outdoorsman: Hunt Better, Fish Smarter, Master the Wild

Sarah Smith — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:09:26 -0400

by T. Edward Nickens

A little bit here and a little bit there. You keep your eyes open. That’s how you learn. You pick up a new knot from a new fishing buddy, or try a decoy trick you saw in a magazine. You make mistakes. And if you’re lucky, like I was, there will be a mentor along the way. An unselfish someone who cares enough about you that he wants you to know everything he’s ever learned.

That’s the good thing about hunting and fishing and camping: You can never know it all, and you’re never as good as you could be.

Over the years, I’ve learned from the best—mentors, buddies, guides, story subjects, and some of the most dedicated outdoor-skills competitors this world has ever seen. Put them together, and they’ve got a half dozen different ways to shoot a double or cast a fly rod. Here’s the best of what I’ve learned from them, and on my own, in 35 years of hunting and fishing. And this is what all sportsmen should do with such knowledge: Pass it on.

HUNTING
Good Dog

The best trick I ever taught my dog was to sit and stay for practically forever. A quiet, rock-solid sitter will be quickly forgiven for other minor trespasses.

A Predator’s Pace
My earliest hunting memory was of a squirrel hunt in the snow. We found where a fox was trailing a rabbit, and I saw how the fox placed its hind foot almost on top of the front track to make a single line of tracks and preserve energy. That’s called perfect stepping, and I’ll never forget how the trail ended perfectly in a scuffle of dirt and leaves and blood-speckled snow.

My Do-It-All Winch
A come-along can haul your ATV up a steep hill, free a stuck truck, winch a boat to a trailer when the trailer winch fails, help straighten a smashed gunwale, and get a deer out of the creek gully. Mine is stashed behind the truck seats, so I always have it.

Fear the Chigger

Translate a Quack
When I asked a world-champion duck caller what he said into his call, he simply turned the call around and blew a routine with the call backward. I could hear every grunt and tone change. Beautiful.

Know Your Guns
It’s important to know guns, period. You never know when a buddy is going to hand you his shotgun while he tightens his bootlaces. Know how to check the safety and chamber on every conceivable action—bolt, semiauto, pump, double gun, double-action handgun, six-shooter, whatever.

Practice the Long Shot
On an archery antelope hunt, I missed twice at long range. I finally took a nice goat at 37 yards, but I’ve learned to practice shooting my bow at long ranges. At 50 yards and better, little technique snafus show up. Fixing them tightens groups even at shorter ranges.

The Elk of Your Dreams
Elk antlers in velvet can grow an inch a day, which makes sleep impossible throughout the summer if you have drawn a Montana elk tag.

Get Sneaky
When jump-shooting ducks, how many times have you closed the last 20 yards at a glacial pace only to find that the ducks were swimming just out of range? That’s because they heard you when you were 40 yards from the pond edge. When you’re sneaking on ducks—or squirrels or turkeys—stalk them from the truck. Start getting quiet and sneaky long before you think you need to.

Eat it Now
Don’t save wild game for later, for someone else, or for something special. Grill a chunk of tenderloin or fry a slice of deer heart right now, while everything is still earthy and your face still smarts from the briers and the sound of the gun is ringing in your ears.

Be Your Own Rangefinder
Know the length of your normal stride. It’s fun to test your range-estimation skills, and my stride comes out to 39 inches, from heel to tip of toe. I know that every 10 strides equals approximately 32.5 feet, so I call that 11 yards.

Don’t Fart in Your Waders
That gas is lighter than air—and it can only go up.

Share your Bounty
Share your kill. I take a wild-game appetizer to every party and label it proudly. (O.K., the big bowl of “Rudolph chili” at a church Christmas dinner might have been over the top.) But I give game away to anyone curious about the taste of a duck. I’m a one-man public relations team for eating wild meat.

The Semiauto Sin
Boy, did I screw this one up. I turned my son loose on a semiautomatic .22 rifle way too early. Nearly ruined him for a single-shot bolt action, which is the best tool for learning rifle-shooting mechanics.

The Forgivable Sin
No, I can’t move the gun slowly when the deer is kinda sorta looking my way.

Whistle While You Hunt
It worked for me once, so I know that running whitetail bucks will stop at a loud whistle often enough to make it worth whistling every time.

It’s the Little Things
Once I spread a bunch of bird-feeder thistle seed in front of a two-man deer stand. My young daughter couldn’t believe all the birds she saw a couple of mornings later. And she couldn’t wait to go hunting with me again.

Make the First Shot Count
Keith Gleason taught me how to hunt. He was a Marine sharpshooter just back from Vietnam. I was 13 years old and knew next to nothing, but when we hunted groundhogs with his heavy-barreled .22/250, we traded shots, one for one. I sometimes whined—to myself—that it wasn’t fair to be held to the same standards as a sniper. But I learned early to make every shot count. I have a feeling that was Keith’s plan all along.

Let Kids Have Their Fun
Other parents might disagree with me, but I’ve learned to let my young son blow the duck call whenever he wants, stretch whenever he feels like it, and play Angry Birds in the deer stand whenever he’s bored. I want him to think that hunting with his dad is the best thing ever. The other stuff can come later.

Listen to This
I buy a bunch of cheap foam earplugs the first day of the season, every year, and stash a pair in every place imaginable—shell bags, daypacks, coat pockets, wader pockets, my binoculars case. I once hunted ducks with a guy who held a foam earplug in his mouth like a cigar stub, ready to deploy at a moment’s notice. The older I get, the smarter that seems.

Wake Up Earlier
Much as I love to hunt, I hate getting up. But I’ve learned to get up 15 minutes earlier, and stay in the woods 15 minutes longer. The missed winks are more than made up for by not having to rush to get settled in before shooting light. And that last quarter hour is equal to 900 seconds—900 extra chances for something amazing to happen.

Just Fold Already
Don’t bluff a Cajun in camp poker. Even if he’s only 8 years old.

Take No Hunt for Granted
My most memorable hunting partner was George Bolender, a quadriplegic bowhunter who hunted from a wheelchair outfitted with a bow holder his buddies jury-rigged from an electric screwdriver. He released arrows by puffing into a tube. He got no more than one shot a day. “Don’t ever forget that it’s a privilege,” he told me.

FISHING
Hammer a Bream Bed
There’s no finer way to usher in spring than with a floating foam spider tethered to a sinking ant. Start with formal attire: Tie on a black foam spider with white legs. Using an improved clinch knot, tie 4-pound tippet to the hook bend on the spider; it should be just long enough to reach the bottom of the bedding area. Add the sinking ant, and you’re in business. It’s a deadly tactic with spinning tackle, too. Just add a casting bubble a few feet up from the spider.

Family Matters
This was a hard lesson to learn: I can’t mix fishing with family vacations. Other people have no trouble with this, but it’s all or nothing, one or the other, for me.

Build a Predator Rig
Gather your tired, your lipless, your scarred and rusty Rapalas, the wretched refuse of your ancient tackle box. And make of them an awesome predator rig. Remove the hooks from a plug. Tie it to your line, and tie a short stout dropper between the trailing eye and a big in-line spinner or spoon, such as a Dardevle. (If fishing for toothy predators like muskies, use wire.) Now you have a rig that looks like one fish chasing another fish, which can trigger a bite like nobody’s business.

See the Spots
It is easy to be bedazzled by all the colors, but it’s pretty simple: Brown trout are light with dark spots. Brook trout are dark with light spots.

Trash Your Yard
Any angler worth his mealworms knows that old logs, scraps of plywood, and pieces of ripped-up utility trailer tarp do not constitute untidy yard debris. These are natural bait habitats and will produce at a moment’s notice a free bounty of earthworms, crickets, and beetle grubs.

Fish in the Dark
Growing up, I was a good boy who gave his mama little trouble mostly because I developed a love of the Jitterbug instead of the 12-pack. And I don’t mean the swing dance. My idea of a hot Friday night was, literally, a hot Friday night, ushered in with an Ugly Stik rod, a Mitchell 300 spinning reel, and a gurgling Jitterbug.

The same tactics still produce: Standing 10 feet back from the water, I’d make a few searching casts along a shallow shoreline. Next I’d ease into the water just fished, and fire long casts parallel to the cover, working every inch of the banks. I used black Jitterbugs that showed up against starlit skies, retrieved them slow and steady, and didn’t set the hook till I felt a solid smack.

Nothing teaches discipline as well as learning to keep that Jitterbug in the water after a slashing miss, giving a midnight bass a second crack.

Don’t Hog the Bow

Excuse Me, Mr. Perfect
No, I should not have leaned my favorite trout rod against the open truck door.

Know Your Blades
I used to think a spinnerbait was a spinnerbait, until I read an interview with bass legend Hank Parker that parsed the different varieties. Colorado blades produce lots of vibration for muddy waters and lots of lift for shallow shorelines. Willow blades are better for cold water or clearer water where sunlight can penetrate and flash off the thin metal.

And Parker is a huge fan of tandem blades, especially in heavy cover. If the first blade bumps a rock or treetop, the second one keeps spinning to attract fish and also prevents the lure from toppling to its side and snagging.

Protect Your Catch
Avoid running rapids with a stringer full of fish hanging off the canoe. Trust me on this one.

Pick Your Paddlers Wisely
If you are going to flip a fully loaded canoe in an Alaskan rapid hundreds of miles from civilization, paddle with a bulldog-shaped former hockey player from the Dakota plains who does not know any better than to grab a swamped boat and swim it through the trees. Again, trust me on this one.

C’mon, Respect the Truck
I know they are your favorite fishing snack, but please do not open your jar of pickled eggs in my pickup while we are driving down logging roads.

Hold Firmly
Develop a taste for beer in cans covered in fish slime.

Raise Expert Swimmers
Ours is a water-loving family. Powerboats and canoes, freshwater and salt, moving water and calm. Our kids have been taught to swim by coaches and experts, because accidents happen, and we want our kids to not just float but be able to swim their way out of trouble.

Fish Are Everywhere
Isotope analysis of songbird feathers reveals nutrients derived from salmon flesh. Works like this: Bears eat salmon. Bears poop. Berry-rich shrubs grow lush with poop fertilizer. Songbirds eat berries. Everything is connected.

Dig Out a Stuck Boat
If you push a grounded boat backward, the transom will dig in. How do you escape? If you are an American outdoor writer, you might wait for another boat to tow you to freedom. If you are an Athabascan native who hauls everything from whitefish to moose down northern Alberta rivers, you dig a trench beside the boat, parallel to the boat’s keel. Then you rock and push and shove the boat sideways into those extra few inches of water. Now you can back out, or extend the trench to deeper water. And you try not to smirk at the outdoor writer riding shotgun.

Tie My Fly
Boy, was I a whiny, impatient beginning fly-tier. In the depths of my petulance I whipped up a one-material fly that could only be described as unartful. I lashed lead dumbbell eyes to a hook, built up a garish thread snout, and wrapped the whole kit-and-kaboodle with pearl Krystal Flash chenille. Offensive? A cheap trick? Yes and yes. But it is hot snot on fish. In various sizes, with or without a gaudy Flashabou tail, it has caught shad, stripers, bluegills, crappies, bass, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and false albacore. It is known by at least three people as the Nickens Know-Nothing. I couldn’t be prouder.

Eat More Pike
I love the taste of northern pike. Sure, the bones are a pain, but here’s a work-around. Chunk fillets into 1-inch cubes, which makes the bones easier to pick out. Boil for three minutes and drain. Dredge through melted garlic butter. Some call it poor man’s lobster. I call it a snack fit for a king.

Fix Any Flat
I’ve used a Springfield Quick-Change Trailer Jack to change tires on everything from a utility trailer to a small johnboat trailer to a double-axle saltwater boat trailer. It’s the size of a Frisbee, and you can stow it anywhere, so I take it everywhere. One of my best $40 investments, it also makes greasing bearings go easier.

Keep Fishing
I have never caught a fish with my line out of the water.

Fish the Bass Breeze
I watched reservoir-challenged Total Outdoorsman Challenge competitors learn this lesson the hard way: On a windy day at Table Rock Lake, the inexperienced big-water anglers hightailed it to calm waters or anchored up in the lee of protected points. Bad move. A stiff breeze pushes the entire food chain downwind, from phytoplankton to fingerling fish. Predators stack up along rock riprap, underwater ledges, and other structures to ambush disoriented bait. Calm-water competitors suffered low scores.

Shine a Light for Walleyes
Walleyes, like deer and cats, have an extra light-gathering structure inside the eyeball called the tapetum lucidum, which reflects brilliant pinpoints of light. You can shine a strong light in shallow waters to find walleyes, which you should do as often as possible just because it’s cool.

Bring Home Supper
When my kids were little, the first thing they said upon catching a fish was “Can we keep it, Daddy?” To which I nearly always answered, “Yes-siree-bob.” As long as it was legal, it was headed for hot iron. I’ve battered and fried many a 3-inch-long fish finger, and the smiles on my kids’ faces have helped keep them going back for more.

Save That for Breakfast
Don’t throw away leftover fillets from a camp fish fry. Store fish, boiled potatoes, and other goodies in a zip-seal bag and place it in a cool creek, weighed down with a rock, overnight. For a quick breakfast, heat a tortilla in a fry pan, then reheat the leftovers.

Just One More Cast…
My biggest bass ever was a 10-plus-pound beast that sucked in a small white Woolly Bugger 15 feet from the boathouse. I was fishing for crappies with a 4-weight fly rod. You never know.

CAMPING
Sleep Under the Stars
Growing up we slept under the stars—without a tent or tarp—to prove how tough we were, but now I sleep in the Big Scary Open because I get a huge kick out of nodding off to shooting stars and waking to the first rays of the sun. And it’s super cool to sleep with frost sheathing your sleeping bag. If you’re squeamish about dozing off without the protection of a nylon cocoon, try it my way: Spread out a space blanket, followed by a sleeping pad. Having a couple of feet of ground cloth between you and the bare ground is a mental comfort, yes, and it also means you can spread your arms and thrash around a bit without actually wallowing in the dirt. I wear a fleece cap to hold in extra body heat and keep a flashlight tucked in a boot near my head so I can find it quickly. If it makes you feel better, the other boot can hold a knife, pepper spray, or ninja stars.

Two By Two
The old-timers are right: You need two handfuls of tinder and enough kindling to fill your hat twice.

Trip-Proof Your Tent
In 30 minutes you can replace all of your old tent guylines with reflective cord, and never again trip over them while stumbling around during a middle-of-the-night pee—during which you stub your right big toe so badly that the nail splits and the toe swells and you can’t wear wading boots for two days. Listen to me.

The Snore Solution
Forget the earplugs. Pack your own solo tent.

Cut On a Clean Surface
I always bring a couple of flexible cutting boards on camping trips. They weigh next to nothing, stuff anywhere, and make slicing, dicing, and cleaning fish easier. share the case load Bringing beer should never be the responsibility of a single individual.

Home Turf
A piece of indoor-outdoor carpeting makes a fine front porch for any tent. It keeps the dirt out and doubles as a changing-room floor if you have a large tent vestibule.

Carry It All
I thought I knew how to pack a canoe for portaging—then I took up with a few Canadian friends. Made me look like some dipstick pioneer peddler hawking fry pans in the backcountry. I’ve since dialed up my act, eh? Now when my friends and I take a trip, we start with a couple of monstrous portage packs, such as the indomitable Boundary Pack (cascadedesigns.com). Loaded like a standard backpack, it still has room for tackle bags, daypacks, maps, and all the other crap that winds up strewn from bow to stern.

Unless we plan to use our paddles as makeshift hiking staffs, we lash them, along with fishing rods, to the underside of the canoe seats. Next, it’s Canadian clean-and-jerk time: One paddler shimmies into the lightest portage pack and single-mans the canoe on his shoulders. The other paddler doubles up—wearing the heaviest pack on his back and carrying a lighter one in front by threading his arms through the shoulder harness in reverse. To be honest, with such a load I sometimes peter out halfway down the trail. But there’s a substantial psychic reward in humping the bulk of the gear in one giant effort.

Get Yourself a Barrel
My favorite piece of camping gear is a canoe barrel. These barrels are waterproof. They will swallow a stove, pots, and food for a week. They make a nifty camp seat. Best as I can tell, they are mostly available in Canada and the Boundary Waters region of Minnesota, which is like Canada. Google “canoe barrel” and convert CAD to USD.

Get More Firewood

When the Party’s Over
Nobody likes the drive home after a fun camping trip. Use the time wisely by planning the next trip. Right now. Have the outline of another adventure sketched out by the time your tires hit the driveway. Nothing makes the bitter pill of unpacking gear go down easier than the promise of another great trip to come.

From the May 2012 issue of Field & Stream magazine.