2011 February | Morton Fishery UK

Monthly Archives: February 2011

Determining the Best Bass Fishing Lures

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Keep in mind that just going to a tackle shop and asking the clerk is not the best way to choose a lure. You need to assess the spot you are fishing and know the water type, temperature, weed beds, native aquatic life and such. Using a plastic leech where leeches are not native is not going to produce.

Top water “surface” lures

These are the ones that stay on top of the water and you can actually see a strike. Some look like minnows or baitfish while others may resemble insects or bugs. Some may make noise or just mimic a swimming prey.

Spinner baits

These lures are designed to be cast and retrieved at a moderate speed. Metal blades attached to it spin and attract the bass on a visual level.

Soft plastics

This is probably the widest category of bass fishing lure anywhere. These can be made to look like worms, lizards, snakes or even small bait fish. The vast color selection is unbelievable. Soft plastics can be bought Texas rigged (with hooks already in them) or plain (no hooks).

Swim baits

Swim baits are soft plastic bass fishing lures that are designed to look like small prey fish. Most have tails that “wave” as they are retrieved. Usually, swimmers are retrieved like plugs; either at a steady pace or brought to a full stop, then retrieved again at a high speed.

Spoons

Spoon lures look like the inside of a spoon, hence the name. They are metal, have a color side and a plain, shiny side. As a spoon is retrieved, it spins and attracts the bass visually.

Jigs

This is a simple one, folks. Jigs are weighted hooks that are normally combined with a soft plastic worm. The weight causes the hook to fall to the bottom, so the angler needs to jerk, or jig, the rod tip to make it move. Done properly, it will resemble an injured prey fish. Most of the time, bass hit these on the fall. This is a particularly deadly bass fishing lure choice.

Plugs

Plugs are also known as crankbaits. Typically made of either wood or hard plastic, they are designed to move in a specific way. Some will resemble small fish or other prey attractive to bass. These are classified as floaters, shallow divers or deep divers. I think you can figure out what those terms mean without too much discussion, right?

In theory, any lure can produce fish, given the proper conditions and lure selection. Bass are especially territorial and aggressive, so will attack just about any thing that moves through the water near them. This is especially true of things that look like a meal to them. The best advice is to make your bass fishing lure look like a tasty treat and you will eat fish for dinner that evening!

Catch More Bass With the Right Lure

Bass fishing has grown in popularity, both within the amateur and professional or competitive fields. To become a successful bass fisher, you must learn which bass fishing lures are appropriate. These bass fishing lures will vary depending on whether it is a morning or an evening fishing trip, the area, the body of water and the water depth. Below are a few suggestions regarding the bass fishing lures that are available and the best ways to use each lure.

One of the most interesting bass fishing lures is crank bait. Crank lures imitate an injured or weak fish through using slow movements. They can be used on top of the water or as a sinking lure. They also provide a cranking noise which the bass often finds intriguing and attractive.

Jigs are a heavier bait with a lead head and usually a single hook. They are very versatile because they are useful in cloudy AND clear water types and can be used during all times of the day. The jig is most effective when the water temp is less than 60 degrees.

Spinner baits have a large, spinning, metal fin that agitates the fish. This causes the fish to attack the lure. These bass fishing lures can be used anytime and are especially effective when the bass are spawning because during that time they are less interested in finding food.

Buy the Award Winning ‘Esca Lures’ online at http://www.innovativefishingtackle.co.uk/

Vibrating lures are made of plastic or metal that vibrates. They easily sink to the bottom of even deep waters. There are a wide range of bass fishing lures that can be considered vibrating lures, such as tail spinners. Tail spinners are metal baits that have a small spinning tail that lure the bass. These fishing lures are best used near tree stumps, watery beds of grass, logs, near deep water or near river currents.

Rubber worms are less annoying than lively worms, but some anglers find them to be less effective. To most get the most out of your rubber worm you should add a weight to the lure to cause the bait to sink to the bottom, then slowly reel the lure back in.

Grubs are very attractive to bass. They have a soft body with a hook attached to a head of a jig. It is the perfect bass fishing lure to use when there is insufficient cover in a highland body of water. They are also most useful in deep, clear bodies of water so that bass can see there color patterns.

Poppers can be an effective lure for bass, but are not as versatile as others.They are most useful only during the summer months and can only be used on top of the water. When you slowly reel these lures in, they create a popping motion on top of the water.

Docile, hard to catch bass is a problem that can be solved with tube jigs. These bass-specific lures work best with a spinning reel on a medium to medium-light action fishing rod.

The Many Types Fishing Lures – How They Are Different

There are so many different lure types today it’s hard to keep track of them all. This article is written with the intention of listing as many available lure types as possible while keeping it simple. Therefore even though lots of types will be listed, only three categories of lures will be talked about in more detail.

Fishing lures are usually put into categories based on how they work, or on their physically defining features. Some of the categories of fishing lures available today are surface baits, spoons, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits. There are also jerkbaits, crankbaits, and soft-bodied rigs.

Surface baits are obviously lures that will float on top of the water. When a fish hits one of these lures it makes a great show and really gets the adrenaline going. So much so that most anglers try to set the hook right away, when hesitating for a second or two is the proper way to ensure the fish has the bait.

Some well known lures that fall under the category of surface baits are the Hula Popper, Jitterbug, buzz baits, darters, and prop baits. All these different subcategories have their own unique characteristics providing varying levels of movement and noise on the water’s surface.

A spoon is just an elongated chunk of metal, usually in the vague shape on an ellipse, having a treble hook on the end. Most have one side painted with various color schemes, while the other side is just the bare shiny metal.

Spoons are commonly used on pike and bass and are used with either long casts or by trolling a boat along the shoreline. Spoons that are known by a great deal of anglers include the Red Daredevil, Five of Diamonds, and Little Cleo brand spoons.

Lastly is the category of lures known as spinnerbaits. These baits range in size and color like most lures do, but they have a spinning blade just behind the eyelet, a bell shaped body, and a treble hook which sometimes includes a bit of fur as added enticement.

The speed of a spinnerbait’s blade is dependent on the rate of the retrieve. This rate will need to be changed depending on the particular lure being used and type of fish being sought.

Familiar lures from this category include both the Rapala and Panther Martin brand spinnerbaits, as well as the Blue Fox Vibrax Spinning Minnow. All are very successful spinnerbaits to use.

Although every type of lure couldn’t be discussed, the knowledge provided in this article regarding the surface, spoon, and spinnerbait lure types should provide anyone with a place to start.

Buy the Award Winning ‘Esca Lures’ online at http://www.innovativefishingtackle.co.uk/

Fishing Industry

Sectors

wild

marine

pelagic

predator

tuna

billfish

shark

forage

herring

sardine

anchovy

menhaden

demersal

cod

flatfish

freshwater

farmed

carp

salmon

tilapia

Commercially important finfish fisheries

There are three principal industry sectors:

The commercial sector: comprises enterprises and individuals associated with wild-catch or aquaculture resources and the various transformations of those resources into products for sale. It is also referred to as the “seafood industry”, although non-food items such as pearls are included among its products.

The traditional sector: comprises enterprises and individuals associated with fisheries resources from which aboriginal people derive products in accordance with their traditions.

The recreational sector: comprises enterprises and individuals associated for the purpose of recreation, sport or sustenance with fisheries resources from which products are derived that are not for sale.

Commercial sector

The commercial sector of the fishing industry comprises the following chain:

Commercial fishing and fish farming which produce the fish

Fish processing which produce the fish products

Marketing of the fish products

World production

FAO catch statistics, world catches 1950-2005 in million tonnes.

Main articles: World fish production and Fishing industry by country

Fish are harvested by commercial fishing and aquaculture.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the world harvest in 2005 consisted of 93.3 million tonnes captured by commercial fishing in wild fisheries, plus 48.1 million tonnes produced by fish farms. In addition, 1.3 million tons of aquatic plants (seaweed etc) were captured in wild fisheries and 14.8 million tons were produced by aquaculture.

Following is a table of the 2005 world fishing industry harvest in tonnes by capture and by aquaculture.

Capture

Aquaculture

Total

Fish, crustaceans, molluscs, etc

93,253,346

48,149,792

141,403,138

Aquatic plants

1,305,803

14,789,972

16,095,775

Total

94,559,149

62,939,764

157,498,913

This equates to about 24.4 kilograms a year for the average person on Earth.

Commercial fishing

Double-rigged shrimp trawler hauling in the nets

Main article: Commercial fishing

The top producing countries were, in order, the People’s Republic of China (excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan), Peru, Japan, the United States, Chile, Indonesia, Russia, India, Thailand, Norway and Iceland. Those countries accounted for more than half of the world’s production; China alone accounted for a third of the world’s production.

In the 1990s and 2000s it has become increasingly evident that industrial fishing has severely depleted stocks of certain types of ocean fish, such as cod.

Fish farming

Intensive koi aquaculture facility in Israel

Main articles: Aquaculture, Mariculture, and Fish farm

Aquaculture is the cultivation of aquatic organisms. Unlike fishing, aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the cultivation of aquatic populations under controlled conditions. Mariculture refers to aquaculture practiced in marine environments. Particular kinds of aquaculture include algaculture (the production of kelp/seaweed and other algae); fish farming; shrimp farming, shellfish farming, and the growing of cultured pearls.

Fish farming involves raising fish commercially in tanks or enclosed pools, usually for food. Fish species raised by fish farms include carp, salmon, tilapia, catfish and cod. Increasing demands on wild fisheries by commercial fishing operations have caused widespread overfishing. Fish farming offers an alternative solution to the increasing market demand for fish and fish protein.

Fish processing

Tuna under the knife

Main article: Fish processing

Fish processing is the processing of fish delivered by commercial fisheries and fish farms. The larger fish processing companies have their own fishing fleets and independent fisheries. The products of the industry are usually sold wholesale to grocery chains or to intermediaries.

Fish processing can be subdivided into two categories: fish handling (the initial processing of raw fish) and fish products manufacturing. Aspects of fish processing occur on fishing vessels, fish processing vessels, and at fish processing plants.

Another natural subdivision is into primary processing involved in the filleting and freezing of fresh fish for onward distribution to fresh fish retail and catering outlets, and the secondary processing that produces chilled, frozen and canned products for the retail and catering trades.

Fish products

Sea urchin roe.

Main article: Fish products

Fisheries are estimated to currently provide 16% of the world population’s protein. The flesh of many fish are primarily valued as a source of food; there are many edible species of fish. Other marine life taken as food includes shellfish, crustaceans, sea cucumber, jellyfish and roe.

Fish and other marine life are also be used for many other uses: pearls and mother-of-pearl, sharkskin and rayskin. Sea horses, star fish, sea urchins and sea cucumber are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Tyrian purple is a pigment made from marine snails, sepia is a pigment made from the inky secretions of cuttlefish. Fish glue has long been valued for its use in all manner of products. Isinglass is used for the clarification of wine and beer. Fish emulsion is a fertilizer emulsion that is produced from the fluid remains of fish processed for fish oil and fish meal.

In the industry the term seafood products is often used instead of fish products.

Fish marketing

Fresh seafood laid out on one of several floating barge vendors.

Main article: Fish marketing

Fish markets are marketplace used for the trade in and sale of fish and other seafood. They can be dedicated to wholesale trade between fishermen and fish merchants, or to the sale of seafood to individual consumers, or to both. Retail fish markets, a type of wet market, often sell street food as well.

Most shrimps are sold frozen and are marketed in different categories. The live food fish trade is a global system that links fishing communities with markets.

Traditional sector

Fishing in C Mau, Vietnam.

Main article: Artisan fishing

The traditional fishing industry, or artisan fishing, are terms used to describe small scale commercial or subsistence fishing practises, particularly using traditional techniques such as rod and tackle, arrows and harpoons, throw nets and drag nets, etc. It does not usually cover the concept of fishing for sport, and might be used when talking about the pressures between large scale modern commercial fishing practises and traditional methods, or when aid programs are targeted specifically at fishing at or near subsistence levels.

Recreational sector

Fly fishing in a river

Crappie Fishing Tricks – Crappie Fishing Guide Review

There are so many Crappie Fishing Tricks to choose from on how to successfully catch a crappie. All you have to do is pick a technique that can work best for you.

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Here are some of the techniques that you can use if you decide to go fishing for a crappie.

First: Use a 13-foot crappie poles with 10 lb. line and a double minnow crappie rig with a slip bobber. The Crappie rigs are available almost anywhere around the lake. Hook the minnows through the eyes, as this will keep them alive longer and make them pull through the water better as he drifts. The 13 foot poles will help you cover more area and it also makes it possible to just lift the fish in the boat, even when fishing the deeper areas of the lake. Second: Be more sensitive and watch those bobbers closely, because with just a slight sideways movement, and they’re gone. Third: When fishing a jig, use a loop knot for best results. It allows the jig to move more freely when casting and provides an enticing subtle movement when fished vertically.

Here are some things you will learn with the Crappie Fishing Tricks E-kit: how to turn any dead spot into a hot bed of attacking crappie by using two rods, a bobber, two minnows, a crankbait, and a pair of nail clippers; the amazing dirty dozen crappie attractor secret that triggers a natural phenomenon and forces crappie to school right below your bait; and how to use the Sunday Funnies section of the newspaper to create an ugly bait crappie tear into like pissed-off piranha.

Try the fishing tricks or techniques mentioned above on your fishing one weekend, and get your own E-kit to learn how to catch crappies fast and easy.

Click Here For Crappie Fishing Tricks Instant Access Now!

Catch More Fish and Save Money!

Buy our award winning fishing lures at www.escalure.co.uk. These fishing lures are guaranteed to improve your catch rate success

I noticed that he had about 4 large bass on a stringer near the shoreline, which immediately sparked my attention. I started inquiring and asked him what are you using for bait? His answer surprised me. He said Bluegill. I thought to myself for a second and said “really?”. I would have thought that shiners or some of the other bait sold at the Bait shop would be producing such results. He further indicated that he has been using Bluegills ever since he was a boy and has never felt the need to change.

I went home that day and did some research and found the Bluegills are a keystone species for the overall health of any healthy pond or lake. Bass, Pike and Catfish feed on them all year round. This made me think that for all the years I have been buying bait the best bait at all was free swimming right in front of me. Since that day I have supplemented my Bait shop run with a few extra hours in the morning Bluegill Fishing to fill the bait well. I still use Shiners and Suckers, but Bluegill is never out of the question while on the pursuit of a Large Bass or Pike.

They can be rigged much the same way as you hook a shiner or sucker, but I generally use a slightly larger hook as I think that the height of the Bluegill’s body sometimes make it difficult to swallow for a smaller bass. Their sharp dorsal spikes are actually an asset when setting the hook as they can give some more resistance when a Bass or Pike tries to spit the hook once on the line.

Now I even have numerous lures that resemble Bluegill in my tackle box. All of these lures have slight variations of color, but have the general shape of a bluegill.

How to Use a Fish Finder to Catch More Fish

Using a fish finder to locate fish is not difficult, but it does take some practice and some getting used to. The first thing to do after buying a fish finder is obvious- Read the Manual! The manual may not be exciting or may have more technical information than you are interested in reading, but it cannot be stressed enough how important it is to read the manual in order to familiarize yourself with the unit you purchased.

The next thing to do will be to mount your fish finder. Whether you are using a transom mount, trolling motor mount, hull mount or a portable mount, your manual will be able to walk you through the steps to properly mount your model. If in doubt, consult a professional or have a professional mount it for you.

Now you are ready to turn on your fish finder and get ready to catch more fish. When you first turn the unit on, it will be in automatic mode, meaning that the pre-programmed settings will be in use. As you become more familiar with your model, you will be able to switch to manual mode and customize the settings to the fishing conditions you experience. To begin, leave the fish finder on automatic and take a five minute spin around the lake, bay or ocean that you fish in. Watch the display constantly to get a feel for what you see. Don’t worry about catching fish or understanding everything on the display yet. That will come with experience.

Now start adjusting one feature at a time and become familiar with that feature. One of the key settings to play around with is the Sensitivity setting. When you adjust the unit’s sensitivity you are adjusting the power of the fish finder. The simple rule of thumb is, the lower the power (sensitivity) the lower the quality of the view on the display. Experts recommend setting the sensitivity to between 75 and 100%. Trial and error will be the best way to determine the optimal setting for your model.

The next setting to visit in manual mode, is the Fish ID setting. Once you have a feel for your unit, turn off the Fish ID feature and try to get used to reading the fish arches that you will see naturally on the screen. The fish icons displayed by the Fish ID are useful for true beginners, but once you begin to familiarize yourself with the display it is better to learn how to read the natural fish arches. The fish arches will give you a more accurate view of what is under water.

Another feature, Auto Depth, is best used at its pre-programmed setting as you begin using your fishfinder. Using the pre-programmed setting will tell the unit to automatically track the bottom and is best used when you are new to using sonar. As you become more of an expert, you can manually set the upper and lower limits of the display window. The smaller the display window you set the better the resolution will be. In general, expert anglers eliminate the top few feet of water and stop the scan about ten feet below the true bottom. The display window size will of course vary depending on how deep the water is and what type of fish you are looking to catch. Experiment with the display window size until you are comfortable with both the amount of water you can view and the picture resolution.

As you are becoming more and more familiar with your fish finder, you will notice a horizontal line across the screen. This line is the Depth Cursor and can be moved up or down on the display. When you find some fish, adjust the depth cursor to cut through the fish arches and the unit will tell you exactly how deep those fish are. Now you know exactly how deep to drop your bait.

One last feature to touch on in this article is the suppressor setting. This setting tells the unit how much “back ground” noise to filter out. Eliminating the back ground noise may be helpful, but if your transducer is mounted properly it is generally unnecessary. If you find you have to use the suppressor to locate fish, then you should check that your transducer is mounted correctly. In general you want to have the suppressor off as having the suppressor setting too high can block the sonar signal entirely and you won’t find fish that way!

Using a fish finder can seem pretty daunting at first, but like anything else in life, it just takes practice. Don’t be afraid to experiment with your model, try different settings, and see what happens. Trial and error will ultimately help you tune your fish finder to the perfect configuration for your fishing experience. Before you know it you will locate more fish than you know how to catch. Good luck and have fun fishing!

Catch Bigger Fish On Lures – Lateral Thinking For Lure Makers

Now, we’ve all heard of the lateral line, right? It’s the little line that runs from the gill cover to the tail of most fish?

And we all know that the fish use it to sense vibration in the water, yes?

But just how sensitive is the lateral line and why is this important to people who make or fish with artificial lures?

Well, I’m about to tell you a story that will show exactly how sensitive the lateral line is.

My story starts in the winter of 1994, in the years before a closed season unnecessarily spoiled the winter fun of many a catch and release trout fisherman who was targeting large sea-run fish at the river mouths, well away from the spawning grounds upstream. But I digress…..

In those days I was a little less obsessed with making my own lures than I am today, and although most of my leisure time was spent in this pursuit I did sometimes allow myself to engage in other forms of fishing. That season I was doing quite a bit of fly fishing, and I was learning from a good buddy who was very skilled in the art. When I first started, we were chasing fish that were feeding on baitfish migrating upstream from the estuary, and we were using a particular pattern of wet fly called an Olive Matuka. This little fly was barely an inch and a half long, but matched the size, shape and color of the baitfish well.

Buy our award winning fishing lures at www.escalure.co.uk. These fishing lures are guaranteed to improve your catch rate success

My first trip out I stood on the banks of the swollen river watching the muddy brown water rush past and looking at the little fly at the end of my line wondering how a fish was ever going to find it. My buddy assured me that the fish would find it, so with more than an ounce of scepticism I started to make few casts. We were just downstream of a small road bridge, and the pocket immediately below one of the pylons had been a productive spot for me during the summer months, so I flicked a cast in there. The current was so fast that the fly was dragged from where I wanted it to be in an instant and was carried downstream. I worked it back and had another cast, this time stripping the line back as fast as I could from the instant the fly hit the water. Whack! My first brown trout from a flooded Merri River.

Over the next couple of months we caught a lot of trout out of that river, and each time I marvelled that the fish had managed to find my little fly in amongst all of that dirty, fast flowing water. But find it they did. Regularly.

Late one day I was on my way home when I crossed the river at that same road bridge and couldn’t resist the temptation to stop for a cast or two. It was raining heavily and the sun was low in the sky, so combined with the dirty water I was dubious about whether the trout would find my fly. I wasn’t disappointed, and looking back I guess I also shouldn’t have been surprised.

To cut a long story short, over the next couple of years I continued to visit that spot with my trusty fly rod during the winter floods. I fished in daylight and I fished on the darkest, moonless of nights. I used black flies, I used green flies, I used white flies. I caught trout, consistently.

Now a wet fly is a lot smaller than a lure, doesn’t create a fraction of the vibration in the water and has a much more slender silhouette. Yet the fish consistently found it despite low light, extremely

UK rail travel is back on its wheels…a quick and cost-effective way to get to Edinburgh!

UK rail travel has improved significantly over the past few years. While I grew up at a time when everyone had something negative to say about British Rail and nothing positive, I have only ever had positive experiences.

In fact, I’ve taken the train in both Germany and Japan, famed for their super efficient public transport services and experienced more delays than in the UK.

Times have seemingly changed. If you are already in the UK, taking the train or the bus is well worth considering. Intrigued??

Everyone wants to fly these days. It’s quick, relatively cheap and, for some, exciting.

Flying into Edinburgh is certainly both of the above but there are other options and depending on your circumstances these options might just have the edge.

Edinburgh by road and rail has never been easier. Let’s fish a little deeper….

Let’s say you are in London. You’ve made the cracking decision to come to Edinburgh for the weekend and you are in the process of deciding how to get there.

You could fly from one of London’s airports to Edinburgh. It will take you at least an hour to get to the airport. Of course, you have to be there at least 90 minutes early to check in, go through security etc. Once you’ve boarded, taken off, and landed in Edinburgh another 90 minutes have literally flown by – and you’re not even in the city centre.

That’s a grand total of at least 4 hours to get from your house to Edinburgh airport. Take the train from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley and you are in the city centre of Edinburgh in 4 and a half hours, refreshed after a relaxing journey through the beautiful British countryside.

No security checks, no queues, no hassle. What’s more….trains to Edinburgh from London King’s Cross leave every half hour.

If you find yourself in another UK city, the journey may be even shorter. What is the drawback here? Well….as I mentioned on the air travel page, the key is to book in advance.

If you go to the national rail website, check the train timetables and try to book a train from London to Edinburgh leaving today you will probably be charged over £100 for a one-way ticket, as you would for a last minute flight with a low cost airline.

Should you decide to book your train a month in advance you could slash that price right down to around £25 one-way. Bargain.

Factoring in your train fare to get to London Gatwick, Luton or Stansted, it would be very difficult to find a flight to Edinburgh for £25.

Taking the train to Edinburgh from another British city, if booking in advance, is an excellent option.

You have a bum of steel you say? Well if that’s the case then taking the bus to Edinburgh is the option for you.

Edinburgh Bus Station is located in the city centre at St. Andrew’s Square roughly a two minute walk from Waverley Train Station and Princes Street, the centre of town. See the Edinburgh street map to visualise everything.

Companies such as Megabus and Citylink have great offers on routes all over the UK. Yes, if you are coming to us from the south of England or Wales, bring a cushion to sit on and your mp3 player but you can make massive savings.

While booking in advance is paramount when flying to Edinburgh or taking the train, if you are in no rush to get here, taking the bus is the cheapest option by a country mile.

If you live in the north of England, taking the bus is definitely an option to consider seriously.

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Catch More Fish and Save Money!

UK rail travel is back on its wheels…a quick and cost-effective way to get to Edinburgh!