Big fish come to those who wait, but those who fully prepare catch the most! Here is a formula which includes a few things many fishermen overlook and it may well make the difference between big fish success and utter disaster! By a guy who hooked a previous world record carp.
1. Fish location is not for the lazy! It's a vital fishing 'must do' especially for big fish and is the universal fishing rule number one; you will not catch any fish where there aren't any!
2. Always use a sharp hook of suitable size for your fish, and bait! A sharp hook has always caught more big fish than that old blunt beast of an old pattern hook you find in the bottom of the tackle box even if it was your favourite 5 years ago!
3. A bait that still tempts the fish you are hunting and has not already lost its 'edge' through previous over-use which actually repels wary fish instead! Do your own thing; homemade baits are the closest thing to a sure-fire bet of a bait; readymade baits are often a lottery in actual effectiveness; the ones you choose may already have been 'hammered' without your knowledge! When it comes to baits, flavors and rigs, adaptability and creativity is the name of the game. Being prepared to take risks and do new things always pays-off big-time in the end! The best baits are the ones that catch on the day after all!
4. Lady luck always helps no matter how much you prepare for your fishing! You might hook the one fish you desire within just 5 minutes of your first cast; or it might take you 10 years!
5. You will need other tackle to enable you to land the big fish you're after including an adequate rod, reel, line and hook link and a strong enough hook not to open-out when the real pressure during the fight reaches its peak, generally on the first run or at the landing net!
6. You will need equipment to deal with the fish once hooked. You will need a big enough landing net for a start. It's no good using a normal 42 inch carp landing net for a 6 or 7 foot long catfish, unless you are particularly skilled at 'folding' such beasts into such a net in the dark, on your own at night, in the rain, on a slippery wet bank! (The secret is drilled rehearsal!)
7. If you are a responsible fishermen and care for the future of your sport, then you will realise that the fish are the future. Remember, smaller fish will be the personal best fish in the future. So if you care for your fish and intend replacing it back into the water it lives in (and not cooking it for tea,) then a protective mat big enough to completely remove any danger of damage from contact with the ground is an excellent and essential bit of kit.
8. Suitable unhooking forceps are necessary (as are sharp scissors!) Often unhooking a well hooked fish with your fingers is difficult without causing undue damage due to difficult angles with a barbed hook which potentially might cause damage. Practicing your forceps skills can make hook removal simple and clean so keep them easily accessible. I've seen far too many so-called anglers rushing and fumbling when unhooking fish virtually ripping the hook out of them. This is completely irresponsible and utterly unnecessary and can produce wounds which last for the life of the fish! Just calm the fish down by de-stressing it with plenty of water and wet hands, being efficient, confident and quick. It's like the old dentist joke:
"You what - you want 200 dollars for just 2 minutes work to remove my tooth; that's a joke!" The dentist responds by asking: "Would you rather I took an hour instead!?
9. Use of fish care kits with swabs and antiseptic solution are very responsible too in helping heal the hook wound and any scale damage or fresh scrapes, or previous wounds on the skin etc. It is very possible by doing this you will enable the fish to recover from capture much faster, even put on more weight quicker in the future owing to less stress and even potentially save a fish's life!
10. You need a venue containing the species and size of fish you are hunting; it's no good fishing for salmon in a river devoid of them for the past 30 years or for a 30 pound carp where the biggest is 19 pounds!
11. Have all your camera equipment ready for use! When you catch your personal best fish of a life-time, you want the photos to reliably come out right; there's nothing worse when they don't! (No problem; just catch the same fish twice!)
12. If you fish at night take at least 2 torches and always have plenty of spare batteries. Its 'sod's law' that the one night or session when the fish feed like mad is the one you find your torch packs up. (Bulbs blow too!) Head torches are very popular and cheap these days and I also use 'glow-in the dark' pencil torches to find my torches (and glasses) at night. I hang one on the bite alarms to indicate the position of the rods on dark nights. The dim light of a pencil torch is enough for landing big fish in the dark without spooking them off at the last minute at the net and losing them because you have a thousand candle-power lantern on the bank or have a 100 light-emitting diode torch on your head! (On some carp lakes in the UK, constant use of such torches make the banks at night look like a scene from close encounters of the third kind or club laser show rather than a natural lake-side environment; expect to see a 'ufo' any minute!)
13. If you fish in the heat you need water and loads more of it than you think! You 'feel' hydrated long after your body has become dehydrated. Most people in an out of doors setting are amazed how dehydrated they get but this is because they do not realise just how much more active we have to be outside. Everything takes effort, exertion and energy to get things done and just breathing a lot more loses you much more water and not just in hot conditions. Remember you will usually dehydrate yourself looking around and locating fish, getting yourself and your fishing gear to your swim and having set-up your tents, rods and baiting-up with ground bait if desired. From personal experience; you're not much good as a fisherman with a heat stroke and a dehydration headache; playing a big fish with a bad headache is most un-cool!
14. Please be aware that fish when first caught come from water that is generally cooler than the air at the height of summer and they will need constantly cooling down with generous amounts of water. Fish skin and delicate vulnerable tissues as in the gills in such conditions can dry out very quickly and be damaged. So be efficient in unhooking fish and very quick with pictures, and keep fish wet! (Wetting your hands before touching your fish really reduces the heat sensitivity shock on them and covering their eyes with a wet sling or sack is very sensible and can help a fish 'settle' on your unhooking mat and de-stress it which is very important! I usually take at least 2 big bottles of water just for one night, so you might imagine how much I take for a 3 or 4 days and night session.
15. A bit more about fish recovery and handling. If it is very hot, keep the fish out of the sun and in the water until the last second while everything on the bank is prepared so the fish is out of the water the minimum time possible. When handling, touch the fish as little as you can to avoid stressing it and utilise your wet unhooking mat to carry it back to the water. It may take some minutes if not hours to get a big hard-fighting fish to recover from a spirited fight. During this time make sure you choose a conveniently shaded cooler margin for the fish's and your own comfort; and be persistent! You may have to artificially work the gills of the fish and wave fresh oxygenated water into its mouth for its energy and metabolism in order for it to recover, which might take an hour or more in very hot conditions!
16. Polarising sunglasses are one of your key bits of kit because they can make you look cool when standing on the bank like an idiot, even though you might have caught no fish, be sweating gallons and look like the morning after your stag night and your gear might have been almost totally destroyed in a freak storm that the previous night! 'Shades' are also good for looking for signs of fish such as cleaned feeding spots and impersonating celebrities. In combination with a hat, they even shade your eyes from harmful rays direct from the sun and reflected back off the water, which can easily avoid you a nice headache after a day watching the water, or a tiny little float!
17. If you fish in the winter you will always need more warm dry windproof and waterproof clothing than you think! When your rain or snow-proof stuff gets wet and it's raining or snowing, if you have no way to dry out; you'll slowly freeze! A windproof fishing shelter or 'bivvy' with a door with zips that really work all the way down to the ground, can literally be a life-saver just as much as a life-jacket when using a boat! Comfortable anglers catch more big fish because they can focus on catching fish instead of just staying warm! (In any country, when you spend the night outside in a strong northerly wind with a minus degrees Celsius wind chill factor, clothes are not just about comfort, but avoiding hypothermia, so beware!
18. It takes practice to do anything in life consistently successfully. 'Beginners luck' is one not so 'weird' phenomenon. It is easily explained; often a new fisherman on a water with different baits and rigs, fishing unusual or less popular spots (because he is not familiar with the 'popular' ones,) will hit the biggest fish first. (No big surprise there; so be prepared!)
So there you have it; it's easy, there's nothing to catching big fish! When 'opportunity meets preparation,' big things will happen! This fishing bait secrets book author has many more fishing and bait 'edges.' Just one could impact on your catches!
By Tim Richardson.
