Category
Safety & Stewardship
Fishing advice stops being useful if the access is illegal, the water is unsafe, or the fish should not be handled in the conditions you found. Start with Safety and Access, check the exact rule before you cast, and let conservation change the plan when it needs to.
Everything filed under this heading, newest first.
Worth opening first
- Fishhook Removal in the Field: When to Stop, String-Yank, Advance-and-Cut, and AftercareWhen to stop, when to cut, and what the aftercare actually involves.
- Pike Handling Starts Before the CastThe damage happens in the four seconds after the net, by which point the decision is already made.
- Fog Changes the Fishing Plan Before It Changes the FishingVisibility drops and the plan changes well before the fishing does.
- Two Anglers in Fast Water Need One Positioning PlanOne positioning plan, agreed on the bank, before either of you is standing in current.
- Kayak Fishing Safety for Beginners Starts With the Paddle BackSettle the safety question first. The tackle question will still be there afterward.
- Fishing in the Rain Without Becoming a Miserable PuddleRain is a clothing problem for several hours before it becomes a fishing problem.
- When a Formerly Quiet Fishing Spot Gets CrowdedWhat to do about the crowd that isn’t passive aggression from thirty yards.
- A Fishing Plan Needs a Reason to LeaveDecide when you’ll quit while you’re still dry and reasonable.
The Weather Doesn’t Owe You One More Cast
Not launching into a gale is easy. Walking away from a day that’s already going is the hard one, so decide what ends the trip while you’re still in the driveway.
Don’t Carry One Lake Into the Next
What moves between lakes is usually too small to see from the parking lot — a weed on a trailer roller, a cup of water in a kayak. Clean, Drain, Dry only works if you actually run it before you leave.
Tell the Fishing Story Without Giving Up the Spot
A fishing story can give away a spot before you notice. The water, the conditions and what you changed are the part somebody can use — the pullout and the pin never were.
Catch-and-Release Starts Before the Fish Is Hooked
The clock starts when the fish leaves the water, and almost everything that shortens it gets decided before the cast, from which hooks are on the lure to where that fish is going to be landed.