Different Presentations Mean More Fish!

Fishing Outfitter and Guide Blake Rasch Fishing Tips!
© 2011 Blake Rasch and
Blake Rasch's Strikes, Bites, and Fights!™

Great Fishing Tips for All Anglers from

Blake Rasch's Strikes, Bites and Fights!

Across the Nation, fishermen are out on the water. They're going after Bass that are bedding in the shallows, Tarpon off the breakers, chasing walleye out west, and all the other gamefish in rivers and lakes. And regardless of your location, dollars to doughnuts there's bream and sunnys galore!

My Dad called home last night from Afghanistan, and I was excited to tell him about the great fishing we have been enjoying the last few weeks. It sounded almost too good to be true, but I have tons of pictures that Mom has sent him over the last few weeks to prove it.

He and I discussed some of my secret fishing tips and techniques, and I am happy to share them with all of our readers.

Think about this: Fish spend most of their time cruising around and looking upwards for the next bit of chow. Make it easy on them! Put your bait or lure slightly above where you think they are. If your fishing live bait, grubs, worms, or crickets, set up your bobber so the bait is above where you think the fish are hanging. If you know or can see some cover set yourself up so the bait floats by a few inches below the top of the cover, and adjust it on subsequent casts so it's a little deeper each time. Once you're in the fish, you will know what depth they're holding at.

Bobber fishing is fun no mater what your age, but especially when we are talking panfish. I take my ultralight fishing rig, and when those hand sized, lunker bream inhale mealworms under a bobber, you really have a fight on your hands!

My Dad hunts hogs, and we found that it's pretty easy to raise your own grubs in a bucket filled with the fermented cracked corn he makes as a hog attractant. You have to be careful because the hogs may get to it first, but you could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Mash to attract hogs, and grubs to catch fish with. I plan to do a post on raising Black Soldier Fly grubs, mealworms, and Red Wrigglers pretty soon.

Crankbaits are my favorite hard sided lures. Dad likes top water lures, especially the Zara Spooks. He can make them walk across the surface of the water like no one else can, but... he just doesn't catch that many fish! (Don't tell him I said so!!!) It is really important to know what the water looks like before you make your first cast. If the water is all churned up, dirty, or silty, it's important to use a deep diving crankbait that bumps and grinds into and over the bottom, making plenty of noise and letting fish home in on the offering. When the water is clear, presentation and colors are more important, because the fish are responding to visual cues after hearing the bait.

Here are a few more pieces of advice for you to consider:

• Check your line regularly. No fun to lose a fish because your line is frayed or worn, and you didn't strip off a few feet of line before tying on a lure or hook.
• If you're catching fish on one lure and the bite stops, switch to a completely different type of bait or lure.  Ripping in crankbaits? Switch to a slow retrieve spinner.
• Change colors or designs and see if that makes a difference.
• Retrieve at different speeds.
• Finally, have a net handy. Makes releasing much easier!

Changing presentation is one of a few ways to make things happen out on the water! And please don't forget: Take a friend fishing whenever you can! Teach them to enjoy, preserve and protect the outdoors so we can all enjoy it forever!

Keep your line tight!
Blake Rasch
Blake Rasch's Strikes, Bites and Fights!


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Change It Up! Guest Post by Blake Rasch