Tackle/Fishing Supplies..Tips/Tricks

[OldTimer]

Soaked a third of the package well overnight - still way too tough and most was floating like corks............. So I boiled for it well for about half an hour.............. will give it try for carp on my next trip out.............

[OldTimer]

Tried using the soaked overnight plus ½ hour boiled version of this dried large white corn:

It goes on easy & stays on great, has almost neutral buoyancy , has a bright colour – but we had no hits on both our rods in 2 hours (i.e. 4 hour test) …………. there were active carp in our test location.

This is not it!

I do note that I did taste this version. To me - It was still very firm, next to tasteless and had little, if any, odour........... Sorta like my first wife's cooking..........

I will try another preparation method much later this summer or in the fall……… and report then……………..

[MichaelAngelo]

(06-20-2012 01:14 PM)OldTimer Wrote:  Tried using the soaked overnight plus ½ hour boiled version of this dried large white corn:

It goes on easy & stays on great, has almost neutral buoyancy , has a bright colour – but we had no hits on both our rods in 2 hours (i.e. 4 hour test) …………. there were active carp in our test location.

This is not it!

I do note that I did taste this version. To me - It was still very firm, next to tasteless and had little, if any, odour........... Sorta like my first wife's cooking..........

I will try another preparation method much later this summer or in the fall……… and report then……………..

Did you also chum with it? I guess that's the benefit of it being so cheap, it's good for chumming. For bait to put on your hook I guess sweet corn (sugar added) would work better. I've never hooked a carp with corn yet though. Just worms, and my home-made jello boilies.

Hammercarp mentioned dumping pails of soaked corn on a regular basis a few days before their fish-ins in order to establish a carp presence.

[OldTimer]

I think you can get canned or frozen corn a lot cheaper than the cost of this white corn........... and I imagine that regular dried corn at a Co-Op feed store is even cheaper to use as chum.

What attracted me was the large size (its as big as your thumbnail or more), and that it should last a long time on the hair rig.

I'm going to try boiling it for at least an hour (or more) in sugar water with vanilla and perhaps another flavour - in an attempt to make it a more attractive bait.

[Alex.D.]

(03-28-2012 02:25 PM)OldTimer Wrote:  It is good practice to inspect, a few times a year, the condition of your tiptop, guides, line rollers, and spool contact edges to avoid line damage leading to reduced strength and shock resistance.

In older rods made with simple chrome plated tiptop and guides it is possible within a short space of time when fishing “dirty” water for the line to cut a groove in the tiptops’ ring interior. This takes much longer nowadays with the ceramic and tungsten inserts, however these materials are subject to chipping and cracking if abused, or impacted.

If you see what looks like very thin threads or wisps of material on the surface of your fishing line - you have either a damaged tiptop/guide, or a damaged line roller, or spool edge on your reel.

Visual inspection works OK – but the quickest way to find a burr, crack or finish imperfection is with a Q-Tip (or cotton ball)……….. just rub the cotton around the interior of the tiptop and guides, etc. Imperfections will grab threads of the cotton batting.

Replace all damaged parts…………….

Cheers,

OldTimer

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(03-26-2012 07:45 PM)bettercallsaul Wrote:  I love rubber bands.

And the fabric covered "hair" elastic bands the girls use - last even longer for fishing purposes....

I figured this one out the hard way when i didnt look at my top guide had a chunk missing out of it and it stripped all my brand new braid that i juat put on before going out!

[OldTimer]

Here are a few “other” things I find quite handy to take on my fishing adventures:

Wet Naps: – the pre-moistened towelettes in individual wrappers that you typically use to wipe yourself after eating BBQ ribs or wings. These are real handy to clean up and de-scent your fishy hands at snack or lunch time (after handling bait and fish all mornin’). I get mine at Wal-Mart………. $2 for 54 of them. Only need to carry a few…

Polaroid Sunglasses – a good pair – so that you can see much better beneath the surface of the water, (and for eye protection from the sun or flying objects). An absolute must for river fisherman. A lot of the lure companies now sell these at fair prices. You can tell if sunglasses are true Polaroid technology if you take two pairs, stack them sorta - and look through two lenses at the same time………. if when you turn them to an opposing 90 degree orientation you find that you can no longer see through them at all- they are polarizing lenses.

Hat…. duh…………. You know why……… BTW the brim faces to the front……….. smile……..

A (“now banned in Toronto”) plastic grocery bag without leaks: They compress to nothing and have a thousand possible uses. (garbage, fish, sorta hold together a smashed Styrofoam worm container, a make shift minnow container… etc…)

If you fish with others…………. An old messed up CD disc……… one of the best sun reflective signalling devices around…….. just quarter to the sun - with the highly mirrored surface towards the target – look through the hole at your target and move the disc to and fro to send a flash at your partner. (I got this one at a Coast Guard survival course)

Strawberry or Black Licorice Twizzlers :… cuz I like them…and they are easy to eat while fishin’………….smile.

Cheers,

OldTimer

[MichaelAngelo]

When backpacking I carry some sort of bug mesh net. Last year I wrapped it around a loop I made out of a sapling and used it to catch some bait fish. Very handy!

Duct tape. It fixes everything. =P My friend was carrying my bag, slipped, fell and my reel cracked open, in half. Duct tape saved the trip and landed me my first pike!

[OldTimer]

I was looking about the net for info on fishing a particular surf fishing area and came across this video. Just had to share!

What a slick way of making identical dropper loops in any line strength using a very simple peg board - made out of a scrap of wood and a handful of finishing nails. Awesome.

This video was for the salt but - it would be great for making freshwater rigs for perch, crappie or ice fishing by using the clipped line alternate mentioned in the back of this short video..


Very easy, very quick.............. GOOD STUFF A+++.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla...5sLQH_N3BM

Cheers,

OldTimer

[OldTimer]

Here’s a tip I learnt from Ted Knott** – on how to lubricate “sticky” fishing rod ferrule connections that are hard to put in and pull out. It works on all rod materials (metal, glass, graphite).

Just rub the male end on the connection on the sides of your nose – your body oils are just enough to make the connection much easier to put together and to come apart, without over lubricating.


Cheers,

OldTimer



(**Ted Knott was a VERY well-known fly fishing, and rod building enthusiast from Ancaster, Ontario. (Ted taught my dad and I how to build rods and tie flies).Ted spent his life promoting, teaching, and protecting angling. The local Trout Unlimited chapter is now named after him. Ted passed away in 2005.)

[MichaelAngelo]

Great advice! Over-lubing seems to be a widespread problem. Just a little bit goes a long way!