tricks

The Latest Tips, Tricks, And Advice from Master Outdoorsman Jerome B. Robinson

fieldandstream-editor — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 01:30:00 -0400

Slide Show: This Week's Tips from Jerome B. Robinson

fieldandstream-editor — Sat, 20 May 2006 07:00:00 -0400

An Expert Guide to the Latest Techniques in Bass Fishing

fieldandstream-editor — Fri, 19 May 2006 13:00:00 -0400

Slide Show: This Week's Tips from Jerome B. Robinson

fieldandstream-editor — Tue, 16 May 2006 07:00:00 -0400

Walleye Fishing Tips: How to Stick 'Em

fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 05:25:00 -0400

Walleyes have a reputation for being short strikers. They'll hit the bait without getting hooked. But walleyes aren't tentative eaters, says South Dakota walleye pro Mike McClelland.

"Usually, the walleye makes a sincere attempt to eat the bait. The fisherman just didn't allow the fish to succeed."

Avoiding this problem-and consequently hooking more fish-is a two-step process, according to McClelland. Step one is to understand how a walleye eats. "Sometimes a walleye will slash a bait like a pike or a muskie does," he says. "But usually they'll swim up to it and flare their gills, inhaling their prey and the water surrounding it. If anything happens to interrupt that flow of water, you get a short strike, or nothing at all."

Step two, says McClelland, is adapting your presentation to decrease resistance in the lure-and-line combination, and thereby permit your bait to flow right into the walleye's mouth. To that end, he offers the following six tips:

1: Use Light Line Light (4- and 6-pound-test), thin-diameter lines offer less drag, or resistance, on a lure. This lets a walleye suck it in more easily.

2: Bounce the Bait When you're using live bait, McClelland recommends also using a bottom-bouncer rig. Bouncers are L-shaped wires that have a lead weight molded to the shaft. As an angler retrieves the rig, the weight bounces off the bottom and creates slack in the line, which allows the fish to inhale the bait more easily.

3: Shorten the Stroke Many jig fishermen pump their rods too vigorously, using long vertical strokes that can pull the bait out of a fish's mouth. Use short lifts instead and you'll hook more walleyes.

4: Offer a Bigger Bite Adding a plastic body to a jig also helps by increasing the surface area to which the fish's sucking force is applied. It may seem counterintuitive, says McClelland, but a slightly bigger bait is easier for the fish to inhale.

5: Pump a Crank With crankbaits, steady retrieves may hook aggressive walleyes, but a stop-and-go technique is better for deliberate feeders. Once the lure achieves proper depth, lift the rod tip, reel in the slack, and repeat.

6: Troll With the Flow When the water has a chop, trolling with the waves imparts that necessary slight slack in the line. Also, keep a close eye on your inside planer board as you make a turn; it will give you that small amount of slack that allows for more solid strikes-and more walleyes in the boat.

Spring Gobbler Scouting Plan

fieldandstream-editor — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 04:20:00 -0500

Dawn Listen
Before you leave home, grab binoculars, a notebook, a topo map, and a GPS. Bring lunch too, since this is an all-day project. At dawn, drive the roads, periodically stopping to listen or to get out of the truck and walk to a high vantage point. Mark the roosted birds you hear on a map or with a GPS. If you hear a bird fly down, listen, or use a crow or owl call to keep him gobbling to learn what route he travels first thing in the morning.

Morning Look
Watch open areas like fields and pastures for strutting toms. In the woods, look for strutters along logging roads and ridgetops, on flats, or in bottomland timbers. Walk quietly in heavy woods, keep your eyes peeled, and stop often to blow an owl or crow call. In open country, try to watch from a distance with binoculars.

Mark any strutters you spot on your map, along with the time you see them. If you know when and where a gobbler struts, you can get there before he does for a midmorning hunt. Look for hens feeding in open fields, too. Gobblers shouldn't be far behind.

Afternoon Connect the Dots
Once you know where the turkeys are, get out and pinpoint roost trees. Look for feathers, droppings, and tracks that show you the exact route the birds take after flying down. If you know where a bird roosts and where he goes first thing, you've found a good spot for an early-morning hunt.

Search the timber flats and logging roads for strut zones, indicated by drag marks and figure-eight disturbances in the leaves.

Gobblers don't feed much in the spring, but they follow feeding hens. Look at scratches in the leaves. The V-shaped scratches point in the direction of travel. If you find an area where birds have dusted, mark it as a good place for a late-morning hunt.

The more you can learn about obstacles like creeks, fences, and bluffs, the better you'll be able to guess where turkeys will travel, and the better you'll be able to set up in a position where a gobbler can come easily to your call.

Evening Put Them to Bed
Watch to see which way the birds approach the roost as they finish feeding. Mark potential ambush spots on your map if afternoon hunts are legal. Toward sunset, listen again for gobbling from the roost. Blow an owl call or coyote howler.

Ask the Experts: 15 Trout Guide Secrets

fieldandstream-editor — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 04:05:00 -0500

What's the no. 1 casting flaw?
Palmerton: Not waiting for the back cast to unfold. That's the most important part of the cast, where you create energy to drive the line.
Gunn: Spending too much time false casting. A fly in the air has never caught a fish but has certainly tangled.
Whitley: Not letting line extend completely. You have to let the line extend for the rod to load, and most people jump the gun with their timing.

What spot on a river is most often overlooked?
Palmerton: Hidden seams in the middle of the river, where slight depressions in the bottom produce a change in the water only visible to the trained eye.
Gunn: Many anglers wade into the water that they should be fishing. Before entering the water always stop, look, and study what's right in front of you.
Whitley: Near banks, very tight to the shore. Of course, this is where most people walk into the river. It's worth casting before you get your boots wet.

Every guide has pet peeves. Fess up...
Palmerton: I hate seeing trout mishandled, especially steelhead. It kills me when a guy wants a photo of a 10-pound steelie but doesn't grab it correctly by the tail.
Gunn: Loop-to-loop connections on freshwater lines. They negatively affect casting dynamics, cause the tip of the fly to sink, and get caught in the rod guides.
Whitley: Most people don't understand how subtly fish eat. It shouldn't take a bullhorn to convince people to set the hook. When in doubt, set it.

What is the key to landing big fish?
Palmerton: Move with the fish. If the fish is hot and you have a light tippet, stay even with him in the river. If you stand like a statue, you're done.
Gunn: Don't rush to get a fish on the reel, because any fish that you want on the reel is going to get there on its own. Control its head by getting it above the water.
Whitley: At the end, lower the rod tip to the water, at a 90-degree angle to the fish. When the fly line is at the end of the rod, rotate the tip upward, and lift the fish's head.

When do you know it's time to change flies?
Palmerton: For nymph fishing, the biggest variables are depth and presentation. I'll tinker with both of those things before I switch patterns.
Gunn: I try to stick to a proven pattern and not randomly switch flies. That said, I'm always open to trying a new pattern that a customer might have in his box.
Whitley: After six good drifts over fish I can see, I change. With dry flies, I'll drop down in size before I switch the pattern altogether.

How To: Catch Bass on a Crankbait

fieldandstream-editor — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 04:15:00 -0500

When water temperatures range from about 40 to 55 degrees, bass will snatch a speeding shallow-running crankbait, yet ignore just about anything else retrieved at the same pace. These crankbaits let you quickly probe lots of water to locate largemouths that have moved from deep winter haunts to shallow prespawn staging cover, including submerged wood, rocky banks, and early-season grassbeds. This illustrated guide tells you how to choose the right shallow-running crankbait for each type of cover and how to make it irresistible to the spring lunkers lurking there. All you have to do is follow the instructions and keep the net handy.

Knock On Wood
Shallow wood cover, especially if it's close to the deeper water of a creek channel or other dropoff, is a prime place to find feasting prespawn bass. Tie a fat-bodied craw-colored crank to 17- to 20-pound-test line and cast it to logs, stumps, and cypress knees. Run the crankbait along the length of downed trees, bumping it into limbs, branches, and roots. Be ready for a strike when the lure ricochets off the cover. If your crank hangs up, lower your rod to put some slack in the line; the lure should float toward the surface. Bass may need a little extra coaxing at this time of year, so make repeated casts to a promising piece of cover, particularly on its sunny side.

Crank The Rocks
Prespawn bass commonly stack up along natural rock or riprap banks. To catch them, position your boat over 8 to 10 feet of water along a rocky shore and cast a shallow-running crank with a wide, rounded bill at a 45-degree angle toward shore so it lands within inches of the bank. Then retrieve the bait at a slow to medium clip. Be sure to bounce it off the rocks and work it all the way back to the boat. The bass may hit anywhere from 3 to 10 feet deep.

Rake The Grass
Concentrate on grass in the deeper ends of reservoirs where clearer, stabler water conditions tend to keep bass biting this month. Use a depthfinder to locate submerged vegetation in the lower reaches of creek arms. Work the edges of the weedbeds, as well as the stretches of thinner grass extending from them. The border between new green grass and dead grass can also be very productive; identify such spots by purposely snagging some growth with your bait so that you can inspect it. Target vegetation that tops out between 4 and 7 feet beneath the surface. Work a slim-bodied crank deep enough to tick the grass, ripping the lure through to spark strikes.

Fly of the Month: The Partridge and Orange

fieldandstream-editor — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 04:15:00 -0500

MATERIALS
Hook: Wet fly, 1XL shank, size 10Â¿Â¿Â¿16 Thread/Abdomen: Hot Orange Pearsall's Gossamer silk thread Thorax: Hare's ear dubbing Hackle: Grouse hackle

DIRECTIONS
Step 1 Attach thread behind the hook eye and make three wraps toward the bend. Peel the fuzz from the base of a grouse hackle and strip off the fibers on its right half (as you look at its convex side). Use the correct hackle size. The lowermost fibers should be as long as the hook.

Step 2 Mount the hackle atop the shank, with the concave side up and the tip over the eye. Clip the stem, and continue wrapping the thread in close, touching turns to a point on the shank just above the barb. Reverse direction and wrap back, stopping a third of a shank-length behind the eye.

Step 3 Dub a ball-like thorax halfway to the hook eye. Position the thread in front of the dubbing.

Step 4 Take two wraps of the hackle toward the bend. Then capture the hackle tip with one wrap of thread.

Step 5 Wrap the thread forward once through the hackle. Secure it with three half hitches, clip off the hackle tip, and dab tying cement to the head.

Survival Skills, Part II: Fire

fieldandstream-editor — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 04:10:00 -0500

Friction-Based Fire Making
Rubbing two sticks together is likely the oldest of all fire-starting techniques, and also the most difficult. Besides proper technique, you have to choose the right wood for the fireboard and spindle. Sets made from dry softwoods, including aspen, willow, cottonwood, and juniper, are preferred, although a spindle made from a slightly harder wood, combined with a softer fireboard, can also work. The friction of the spindle against an indentation in the fireboard grinds particles from both surfaces, which must heat to 800 degrees F before a glowing coal forms. This must then be transferred to tinder and gently blown to life.

Hand Drill (picture)
Using a hand drill is one of the simplest friction methods, but high speed can be difficult to maintain because only the hands are used to rotate the spindle. It works best in dry climates. Step One Cut a V-shaped notch in the fireboard, then start a small depression adjacent to it with a rock or knife tip. Set a piece of bark underneath the notch to catch the ember. Step Two Place the spindle, which should be 2 feet long, in the depression and, maintaining pressure, roll it between the palms of your hands, running them quickly down the spindle in a burst of speed. Repeat until the spindle tip glows red and an ember is formed. Step Three Tap the fireboard to deposit the ember onto the bark, then transfer it to a tinder bundle (see "Tinder Bundle" on page 56) and blow it to flame.

Two-Man Friction Drill (picture)
Two people can do a better job of maintaining the speed and pressure needed to create an ember using this string variation of a friction drill.

Step One Have one person apply downward pressure to the drill while the other uses a thong or shoelace to rapidly rotate the spindle.

Fire Plough (picture)
This produces its own tinder by pushing out particles of wood ahead of the friction.

Step One Cut a groove in the softwood fireboard, then plough or rub the tip of a slightly harder shaft up and down the groove. The friction will push out dusty particles of the fireboard, which will ignite as the temperature increases.

Pump Fire Drill (picture)
The Iroquois invented this ingenious pump drill, which uses a flywheel to generate friction. The crossbar and flywheel are made of hardwood; the spindle and fireboard are made from softwoods (as in the hand drill).

Step One Bore a hole in the center of a rounded piece of hardwood and force the spindle in so that it fits tightly. Select wood for the crossbar and bore a larger hole that will slide freely on the spindle.
Step Two Attach the crossbar to the top of the spindle with a leather thong or sturdy shoelace.
Step Three Wind up the flywheel so that the thong twists around the spindle, then press down. The momentum will rewind the crossbar in the opposite direction. Repeat until friction creates a glowing ember.

Bow Drill (picture)
Of all the friction fire-starting methods, the bow drill is the most efficient at maintaining the speed and pressure needed to produce a coal, and the easiest to master. The combination of the right fireboard and spindle is the key to success, so experiment with different dry softwoods until you find a set that produces. Remember that the drill must be as hard or slightly harder than the fireboard.

Step One Cut a notch at the edge of a round impression bored into the fireboard, as you would for a hand drill. Loosely affix the string to a stick bow, which can be any stout wood.
Step Two Place the end of a wood drill the diameter of your thumb into the round impression, bear down on it with a socket (a wood block or stone with a hollow ground into it), catch the drill in a loop of the bowstring, then vigorously saw back and forth until the friction of the spinning drill produces a coal.
Step Three Drop the glowing coal into a bird's nest of fine tinder, lift the nest in your cupped hands, and lightly blow until it catches fire.

Spark-Based Fire Making
Human beings have been starting fires from sparks since the days of the cave dwellers of the Paleolithic era. It is still a vital survival skill for modern hunters and fishermen to learn. If conditions are wet or windy and matches are extremely difficult to light, a glowing spark in tinder uses wind to its advantage to burst into flame.

Flint and Steel (picture)
Striking the softer steel against the harder flint will produce sparks to flame your fire. The curved steel striker provided with flint and steel kits is easiest to use, although with some practice you can produce sparks by using the back of a carbon-steel knife blade. (Stainless-steel knives are usually much too hard to shave sparks from.) An old bastard file or an axe head will also work.

Step One Grasp a shard of hard rock, such as flint or quartzite, between your thumb and forefinger with a sharp edge protruding an inch or two.
Step Two Tightly clamp a piece of your homemade char cloth or a lump of birch tinder fungus under the thumb holding the piece of flint. Grasping the back of the striker, knife blade, or file in your other hand, strike a glancing blow against the edge of flint, using a quick wrist motion. If you're using an axe, hold the head still and sharply strike the flint near the blade, where the steel is harder. Molten sparks from the steel will fly off and eventually be caught by an edge of the char cloth, causing it to glow.
Step Three Carefully fold the cloth into a tinder nest and gently blow on it until it catches flame.

Another option is to use a magnesium-and-steel tool, which is an updated version of an ancient method that creates a strong shower of sparks. The advantage of this method is that the magnesium shavings flame briefly at an extremely high temperature, eliminating the need for char cloth or tinder fungus.

Step One Using a knife blade or striker, shave a pile of magnesium flecks into a nest of tinder.
Step Two Strike the steel edge of the tool with the back of a knife blade or the scraper provided to direct sparks onto the tinder.
Step Three When the tinder starts to smolder, gently blow on it until it bursts into flames.