Serious Business: Fishing, What is YOUR approach?

Janey Mae,

I have never fished for those either, mainly because we do not have them here. With the exception of the Rainbows but I fish them in the River here and not through the ice. I use nymphs and streamers for those here.

But from some of the TV programs that I have watched, you might want to fish with a spoon or a jig tipped with a minnow along the drop offs. Your best bet is to fish about a foot or two off the bottom.

But it would be better if someone who has more knowledge on this to answer you.

You might go to the Library and see if they have any thing to offer you or you might check your Internet.

By the way, I never wish anyone Good Luck but I do wish them Merriment. It is no good fishing if you are not having fun. Right?

Yes, fishing isn't fishing if it isn't fun hmmmmm there's another gray moment.

I can hardly wait to try this! I'll look up some of the techniques for my area. After the first of the year we can fish the river again. It's usually closed from Dec. to June but we are supposed to thin out the rainbows and the hybrids so the cut throat can survive. The river never freezes.

I owe you a debt of gratitude for your assistance.

My father was an avid fly fisherman... around Argyll, Inverness and Perthshire - with the odd sorty into Borders territory and further north into Caithness... When we were children it was a loooooooooong day to go in a boat onto the loch and sit, and sit, and sit... He was a fanatical fisherman - tied his own flies etc.

Then I met the love of my life. My Dad converted him from sea angling and what we call 'coarse' fishing to fly fishing... His life was changed. He became as much a fanatic as Dad....

Soooooo, now we compromise. 'We' go fishing; ie he wades into the water or sits in a boat... I sit on the loch-side or river bank and read a book...... I then cook the results of his 'fishing trip'....

He fishes for brown trout, salmon, rainbow trout. He still loves to go sea angling too.... cod etc.

He loves to fish, I love to cook........ a marriage made in heaven.

Catriona,

If you plan to sit around reading while they are fishing, there is a good book I would suggest reading.

"The Compleat Angler" by Izzak Walton.

It was published in 1653, a good story of Angling but there is much more to it than that. There is a good story line along with some poetry. I think that you would enjoy it. I most certainly did and I am getting ready to read it again.

As a matter of fact I enjoyed the book so much the first time I read it, I bought a copy of it. It was a used copy printed in 1912 I found on ebay.

For the serious Trout Fisherman, I again recommend "The Compleat Angler" here too. As for that anyone, I think would enjoy it.

Back to the Trout Fisherman, another book I would recommend is "Trout" by Ray Bergman. A very good book for techniques on Fly Fishing in a River or Lake, along with recipes for tying flies, tying a variety of knots, along with some stories of fishing memories.

If you are looking just for reading material dealing with the Fly Fishing line, is "Death, Taxes and Leaky Waders" by John Gierach. This is more of just for fun reading.

My father's copy is on my bookshelves Husband bought his own before we were bequeathed Dad's books - so we have two copies now.

The restaurant/Hotel the Compleat Angler at Marlow in Buckinghamshire is an amazing place on the River Thames. I recall that it dates back to the mid 1600s. Here's a URL for one of the sites which advertise the place, and a few more along the River Thames
http://www.thecompleatangler.com/wheretostay.html

Beware of the Humor of the Irish!!!!

A nice lawn chair and plenty of snacks and antifreeze is good too!!!!
Don't forget your sunglasses. Ice fishing gives new meaning to "BRIGHT"!

Worms, minnows, bullheads are good for trout, if that doesn't work, you can always try a Dupont lure! Just don't get caught.

This reminds me of an personals add I once saw: Wanted, good woman who likes to clean and cook fish and owns a boat. Please send a picture of the boat.

What's a Dupont lure, mighty sir?

I shall go in search of these books! Thank you for the recommendations! I love books but seem to be finding less time to read since I've discovered this site. Dear me.

A wee note of misfortune for me, last night my husband discovered PartyPoker.com and that he can play for free. I went to bed as I couldn't play here. Schanizzle!

Janey Mae,

While your husband is on the computer playing poker, maybe this will give you the time you need to do some of your reading and tying flies.

I have been having the same problem tying my flies, I use to tie everday, at least one or two a day. But since I found this site, it has consumed a great deal of my time. Now since we have this thread going, I am starting to get itchy fingers to get started again and to get myself back out on the river again.

The ol' boy is trying to push me off the puter as we speak. *sigh* I'd love to see some of your flies. I've not tied any in a great while. You are right, this would be a good time to start.

Well, I'm off to drive back to my house with many many family obligations. I'll be back on the 26th. Merry Christmas, Happy Channukkah, Happy Solstice, and anything else you can think of.

Take care of you!

The only Ice Fishing story I can contribute took place in upstate Pennsylvania about 2 years ago. All my trout fishing buddies and myself rented a cabin on a lake for a weekend. As we unloaded our vehicles, I realized the fishing was not a priority. There was one tackle box, and like 5 cases of beer. Still, I was excited about the prospect of catching fish. That was dashed completely when they used a chainsaw to cut the holes in the ice. All we caught was a cold, but we had quite a good time not catching fish, although I don't remember that much of it!

Eamon