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COVID 19 Impact Changed Fishing

COVID 19 Impact Changed Fishing

I fish all year.  I usually have my boat serviced in February.   For me, at least, COVID 19 changed fishing this year.

The Impact of COVID 19 Changed my Summer

COVID 19 parked my boat and my motor home.

My boat is where I parked it after my last fishing trip in early February.  The motorhome is right in front of the boat and hasn’t moved since late November.  I should tell you that my wife won’t let me take the boat out by myself anymore because I am old.  With COVID 19 made it tough to find someone to fish with.  COVID 19 changed my summer.  We had planned to camp and fish in several different places.  Instead, we stayed home.  I did prepare for fishing next year.

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The Best Fishing Lure

The Best Fishing Lure

The Best Lure Ever – In My Opinion

I have been fishing since I could walk.  At some point, I talked my Dad into buying me a fishing package advertised on a comic book…. 6 ft. rod, open-face spinning reel, plastic tackle box, stringer, bobber, a package of hooks and a plastic weight for casting.  I practiced casting in the yard for hours.  I decided I needed a lure to cast so I went to the local bait shop.  A wooden floating Rapala caught my eye.  Its still the best lure I have ever used.

Best lure rapala is the best lure

 

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State Parks, County Parks – Family Fishing Fun

State Parks, County Parks – Family Fishing Fun

State parks can provide great fishing.  We think of county and state parks as great places to hike, camp, picnic and play.  When there is a lake, there is so much more to do.  Type “state parks” or “county parks” into your browser.  You will probably find a list of parks, in your state, that offer fishing and boating.  These parks are accessible and inexpensive.  They can be a vacation destination out of state or a great day trip.  Fishing lodges and guided trips are great, but not a possibility for everyone.  Not everybody can get to an isolated lake or stream to fish.  Accessible fishing in parks can be fun for the family or someone who wants to get away for a few hours of fishing.

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Fishing Spots – Hard Walking, Better Fishing

Fishing Spots – Hard Walking, Better Fishing

Every fisherman wants to find hidden fishing spots with untouched water.  Anglers ask, “Is there a good fishing spot near me?”  It might be a rock sheltering fish in a creek.  A drop off near the shore of a lake may attract feeding fish.   A spring fed pond off the beaten trail attracts few people.   A boat makes it easy to find an isolated spot on a lake or river. On board electronics make it even easier.   On land, with so many people fishing, hidden fishing spots can be hard to find, but offer more fish.

 

 

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Stream Fishing – Challenging, Exciting, Peaceful

Stream Fishing – Challenging, Exciting, Peaceful

I love stream fishing in the spring.  Its too late fish spoons as water levels drops.  Its too early to have a lot of success with dry flies because of debris on the water.  But, choosing the right bait is pretty easy this time of year.  Almost anything will work.  There’s water in every stream.  The fun and challenge of stream fishing is reading the water and knowing where to find the fish.
animated-fishing-image-0025

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Boat Cover – Long Term Protection, Beware

Boat Cover – Long Term Protection, Beware

How do you store your boat?  Years ago, our porch became a boat house.  You may store your boat in a garage or undercover at a storage facility.  Over the last few years, I have stored my boat, in my yard, under a good boat cover.

Why a Boat Cover?

There are good reasons to store a boat, long term, under a boat cover.

  • Boat Covers are cheap compared to Storage.
  • Covered boats are easily stored in a yard and kept safe.
  • The cover can be removed quickly and applied all season long.
  • A cover can be opened to get something out of the boat.
  • One person can put on the cover.
  • The cover can stay on when the boat is moved.

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Fast Water Fishing- Spring Runoff Action

Fast Water Fishing- Spring Runoff Action

We’ve waited all winter for the chance to get into that stream or stand along the bank of that river.  Its time, but fast water from spring runoff can make things challenging and dangerous.


fast water fishing

Fast Water Means Safety First

We should think about safety when we think of the fun of fishing in spring runoff.  Ultimately, we want to be around to fish the rest of the year.

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Catch, Release Policy- Maintaining Fish Stocks

Catch, Release Policy- Maintaining Fish Stocks

Fisheries have a catch and release policy to maintain fish stocks.

Keep Fish Jumping!!

 

Catch and Release

Policy Rationale

Catch and release helps the natural fish population continue to breed.  Healthy fish populations are important for lots of reasons.  They provide fun for  fisherman.  They are part of the local eco system.  They are a food for other animals.   Fisherman release fish to maintain the local population.

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Lure Assortments- Fishing Fun

Lure Assortments- Fishing Fun

Fishermen love fishing tackle for a Christmas.  Single lures are great, but lure assortments are exciting.

Lure Assortment Value

The larger lure assortment the lower quality the lures.

Quality affects:

  • Action – the way the lure moves in the water.
  • Delivery – ease of casting
  • Durability – how long the lure lasts with normal use
  • Strike Success – how easily fish can take the lure

lure assortment

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Fishing Equipment – Practical – Expensive?

Fishing Equipment – Practical – Expensive?

So you want to buy fishing equipment?

fishing equipment

Fishing Equipment

 Expensive or Practical

Should you buy an expensive lure or a package of lures for the same price? Should you by a high end rod or a rod and reel combo for the same price?

Familiar or Novel

Should you buy something that is familiar …. a replacement reel, for example or something novel?

Will the novel item be used?  Will a familiar item be boring?

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Canoe Fishing —– Different Canoes – Different Applications

Canoe Fishing —– Different Canoes – Different Applications

Canoe fishing is peaceful and exciting at the same time.

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Canoe Fishing Despite Selling My Fiberglass Canoe

I love canoe fishing.  Since I was a kid, I have always had access to some kind of a canoe for a fishing trip either inland fishing or salt water fishing. Sometimes, it would be a borrowed canoe.  I say “borrowed” because I always brought it back.  Sometimes, I would rent a canoe.  Most of the time, I had a canoe of my own.  Now I find myself selling my canoe because its too heavy for me to handle.  I will keep canoe fishing but maybe from a fiberglass kayak.

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Special Needs Kids Get a Fishing Gift From a Stranger

Special Needs Kids Get a Fishing Gift From a Stranger

No one will ever know who this stranger was who bought a great gift for special needs kids.

 

A Guy Buys Fishing Rods

     I was just talking with a guy today who is not really into fishing.  As a matter of fact, his thing is race cars. He builds them and races them.  But, he went into a hardware store recently and saw a bunch of last year model rods and reels on sale.  He bought the lot thinking that he could find a way to donate them to needy kids or special needs kids.

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Family Fishing Trips Include Everyone, Young and Old

Family Fishing Trips Include Everyone, Young and Old

Have you thought about family fishing trips?  They can be fun, inexpensive and create a wonderful memory.

Family Fishing Trips – Great for Everyone

Family fishing trips can be a great experience for everyone.  Its an inter generational event that is not necessarily competitive.  The fishing gear can be inexpensive and should last for a long time.  I had the first rod and reel that I bought off a comic book cover for more than 40 years.  I hope the person who stole it is still enjoying it.

Kids enjoy family fishing trips.

Close to Home

A lake close to home is best as the family begins to fish together. Long drives, for an experiment like fishing, can often prove difficult.  A “put & take” pay-lake is a good idea because there is a high likelihood of everyone catching fish.  Adults should understand that they will not be fishing very much while children learn to bait a hook, put on a lure, cast, untangle line, unsnag line,  untangle line, take fish off the hook, unsnag line, rebait the hook or change lures, and cast.  This is  short term pain that will provide wonderful long term gains.  The idea is to help kids enjoy the experience.  If you are a novice as well, you will have the joy of learning together.

Include Everyone

Some people just don’t like the idea of catching a fish.  This goes for kids and adults.  So, family fishing trips should include other activities that involve everyone…. a meal, a movie, swimming, a hike, shopping or a boat ride.  Everyone should have fun at a family event.  I suggest that the everyone draw straws  to decide who gets to keep their cell phone “in case of emergency.”  Everyone else leaves the phone in the car.  Include the non-enthusiastic by having them pick the fishing spot, or drive the boat or choose the lures.  There are lots of ways to involve everyone.

Plan a Fishing Trip

Its easy to offer a reason for staying home, but home now tends to be a place where people are isolated by chores, or computers, or cell phones or TV or something else.  Family fishing trips can bring the family together focusing on each other.  Find a lake near you.  Asking at a bait shop or sporting goods store can often provide good information for planning your day together.  Do you need fresh water lures?  Is there a tackle shop nearby.  Do you need a fishing boat?  Where can you find state fishing regulations?  Who needs a fishing license.

Plan a family fishing trip.  If your family  is too busy to go fishing, you are too busy.

Leave a comment below.  When did you take your last family fishing trip?  Was it fun?

 

Camping World promotes family fishing trips.

 

 

 

 

 

Fishing Therapy Improves Every Area of Life

Fishing Therapy Improves Every Area of Life

Fishing Therapy is recreation and sport.

In Nature

Fishing therapy is recreation and sport. When we fish, we are in nature.  Sometimes, we are in the water.   We can be on the water.  Sometimes, we are near the water.  We are outdoors.  A deep breath in the fresh air, a stretch in the sunlight, smelling a wild flower, lying down in the grass are all simple ways to be in nature.  Being in nature calms emotions clearing the mind.

fishing-fall is fishing therapy

Primal Instincts

When we fish,  we experience some basic instincts.  Our hunting/gathering nature is kicks in as we search for the deep hole in the lake or the eddy behind the rock or the break in the weeds.  We battle the fish rather than the store clerk or mechanic or teacher or neighbor.  Even if we don’t eat fish, after a successful catch. we find some sense of pride in knowing that we could provide.

A Healthy Pastime


Fishing is healthy.  When we hook that fish, our heart races.   Our breath quickens,  We begin the exercise of playing the fish.  A day of walking the bank, wading the stream or moving about the boat can be quite a workout. Some fishing spots challenge us with strenuous climbing across logs and over rock or scrambling up and down steep river banks.

Good Therapy

Fishing Therapy is good therapy.  We laugh and yell in delight.  We talk to the fish on the line and in the water.  Doing all the actions of fishing like casting, baiting the hook or reading the water makes us proud. We enjoy friendly competition with buddies and famiy.   Stories of  “the one that got away”,from family fishing trips, are told for decades.  Everything around us fades, for just awhile and we feel better when we fish.

Good for Everyone

Whether we are world class athletes or hampered by a physical disability, we can go fishing.  Children using their first fishing rod need help.  One person may not like baiting a hook.  Another may be afraid to take a fish off the line.  Someone may not want to go ocean fishing because they get sea sick.  Another person may not want to be in a boat at all.  Everyone can find some way, some where to go fishing.

I am quite convinced that the world would be a different place if our  leaders regularly fished together.

Please leave a comment below.  Why do you fish?  Would you like to start fishing?

Camping World can provide fishing therapy.