Here’s my annual list of fishing tips I thought up or stole from better anglers than myself.
The first is to keep all the empty line spools after loading your reels. No matter how big or small they will come in handy. An example is braided line. It’s expensive, it does wear out but it can still be useful. Instead of throwing it away, I store it on an empty spool. When I load a reel with new line I’ll fill the spool on the reel half way with the old braided line.
I attach the two lines using a blood knot or uni-knot and finish filling the reel to the top. Chances are you’ll never hook a largemouth bass big enough to run out over 100 yards of line, and if you do call me, I want to take that photo. Even some of my saltwater reels have older braid as backing that could stand up to a fight.
You save money putting less new line on the reel and you end up with another filling or more depending on whether you buy small or large spools of new line.
I remove the line by using my battery-powered drill and a long ¼ 20 bolt, a couple of washers and a nut. You probably already know how to do this but let me explain to the guys who haven’t figured this one out. I put the long ¼ 20 through the center of the spool, tighten it up using the washers and nuts and then use my drill to strip the line off the reel. It takes a minute or less to do this and you have the old line that you can save for another day or throw away.
Throwing old line that is completely worn in the trash is very important. There are environmental types out West who are trying to ban fishing line in streams, rivers and the ocean because it kills fish. Yup, that’s right, take away the fishing line and you take away fishing. Guess these clowns want to save tautogs, one fish at a time. Don’t give them the chance to do that to us.
One other tip about refilling a reel. When you know you are ready to replace line, at the end of the fishing day make the longest cast you can. Now by hand strip off another 15 to 20 feet of line. Take a piece of cardboard or paper and lay it against the spool and reel in the line. Once you are home you can remove just the line you want to get rid of on one of those empty spools and use what is left on the reel as your backing.
I use fly and light tackle most of the time but I also love to be out in the surf looking for big stripers. One of the important connections on any rigs, including saltwater fly setups, are swivels. These tiny items keep your line from twisting and when you are using light lines, one too many twists and you lose your a fish to a broken line. The swivels usually come in little zipper-top plastic bags. Ever try to get one out with cold, wet hands or in the dark? It just doesn’t work.
I have an addiction. I love orange-flavored Tic Tacs. They sell the large container size at 7-Eleven downtown. In fact, I think I’m the only guy who buys them. Once I have gone through a box of these candies, it goes into my tackle storage. When I buy swivels I place them inside the empty plastic box. Just like the candy, I open up the little flip top and shake one swivel at a time out to get into the action faster.
I carry several different sizes for different rigs. I take the label off the zip package and using shipping tape to attach it to the box. Now I can have several of these together in my pocket and still be able to get to them if it’s raining in the spring and my hands are slippery or freezing in the fall and frostbite is just around the corner.
One of the things that surf guys use are casting eggs. These are oval pieces of wood that resemble eggs that are used for casting small lures a long distance. I have adapted the idea to freshwater. I have tiny Rapala jerk bait lures that are only an inch long. They plain old cast poorly even with ultra light gear.
I couldn’t use an egg to cast these tiny lures so I converted a Zara Spook into a casting aid. Every once in a while tackle shops have a sales basket with stuff they can’t get rid of and that’s where you find this item. Zara Spooks are made in a number of great colors. Every once in a while the designers go off the reservation and come up with ugly color combinations that they think fishermen will buy. That’s why these normally very effective lures end up in that dollar basket.
I bought four that were painted chartreuse with orange stripes. Told you they were ugly. I got them home and removed all the hardware. Now I have a torpedo-shaped piece of plastic. I drill out both ends and put a metal leader though the body. Using a metal sleeves, I make loops to hold the swivels and clamp the leader at each end. I hang them up and paint them flat black.
When I go fishing I tie the lure body with the pointed backside forward, right on the line. On the other side I tie on a leader 3 to 4 feet long. Now I tie on the tiny jerk bait that I can now cast a country mile and still have action with the tiny Rapala. The Spook body adds just the right amount of weight for the cast and just goes along for the ride after the casting is completed.
One more tip. In the spring when you dust off that assortment of reels, do you know what kind and pound test line is on the reel? Sometimes I do and many times I don’t. I take a shipping label and attach it under the foot of the reel with the pound test and type line every time I change the line. Sometimes I just use a fine-tip Sanford Sharpie and write the number on the bottom of the foot. You can do the same for any style reel you use.
That’s it for the tips. Squid are in and stripers are chasing them. Time to join in on the fun.