General Info- Fishing Tips for Beginners

Playing the Waiting Game                           

I have just arrived back home from the Bow River after sizing up the situation from the shoreline. I know there are fish down there somewhere in between one side of the river to the other. I even know which lures will catch me one of those Bow River fat boys; I know how to work the lure properly and which speed to retrieve it. All this does not seem to matter much right now as the water is just to fast to fish correctly. I guess I could stand there and take some casting practice but I already know how to do that also. This waiting game is never a game I have liked much, or at all really come to think of it.

So what does a guy/girl do when his or her favorite river is not worth fishing? He or she could stay home and pout, like I am doing right now, but I would not recommend that to you people out there. O.H, I know what you should do, pick a different place to fish for a couple of weeks and be happy we have so many nice places to fish here in Alberta. I think I will take my own advice and do just that. I am due back out on the shoreline at Crawling Valley Saturday and get to fish all day long. Here is what I am going to start out with when I am there. First, I will stop at my bait shop tonight and buy three tubs of frozen minnows. The minnows I like to buy are medium sized and unsalted. The reason I prefer medium sized minnows is that the small, medium and large fish will take this size of minnow. I have found that if I use small minnows smaller fish will be prone to take them and if I use large minnows, larger fish will be inclined to take them; so I stay right in the middle.

Here is the set up I use most often when bait fishing. First you will need a Pickerel Rig or otherwise known as a Crappie Rig. Open the package and set the hooks aside on your tackle box. Stretch out the line that has the wire guides attached to it until it becomes straight and has no curl left in it. Do the same with the hooks and then attach your two hooks to the wire guides that are on the main line. Clip your weight/weights onto the bottom and tie up the Pickerel Rig to your main line and you are now ready to attach your minnows to the hook. I put the point of the hook through the eyes of the minnow and bury the hook a little under the minnows dorsal fin which makes the minnow stay in the upright position at all times. And now you are ready to make your cast and catch some fish. One more little tip, I will only leave my bait under water in one spot for thirty minutes and then I will recast to another spot. I change the minnows after forty minutes as I like to always have fresh bait attached to my hooks. Then I sit back and catch fish all day long. What a great life I have!