A Different Kind Of Catch Catching Them The dark, jade water is balmy and warm. In my right hand is a high-powered spear gun. Its mechanism is set in beautifully worked teak. Around 5ft long, it is clumsy on land but once in the water it balances perfectly. A long sharpened spear is powered by thick rubber bands. The trigger of the gun will release a spear that could pin a grown man to the wall. As we alight to the side of a dun-colored reef with knobbled outcrops and fire coral, teeming with fish, the hunt for our supper begins. We are several miles from Key West in the Florida straits, diving from the Discoverer Ketty Lund, a wooden-hulled scientific research vessel on a trip around the Keys. Her captain is Eric Smith, a muscular, salt-encrusted sea skipper and diver with a boyish gap between his front teeth who has piloted his boat and marine scientists around the Atlantic for years. On the long trips down from places like Labrador, Canada, to his home in the Keys, he will jump over the side and go spear fishing for grouper, snapper and tuna to feed himself and his crew. As we descend deeper into the cool depths, he is showing me how to hunt under water. [Read More]

The Difference in Lake Trout Lake trout are a type of fish that are completely different then any other fish. Those that like to go lake trout fishing, know that they are difficult to catch. Unless you know just how to do so, well, your chances are small of actually getting one. Lake trout fish are the ones everyone wants though as their size can be enormous! Lake trout fishing is a great type of fishing, but you will need the knowledge of these fish before you begin to fish them. There are many unique qualities to lake trout. One of the most important is their size. The record weight for lake trout is over 102 pounds! Imagine bringing that in! The average weight depends on what the fish eats. Those lake trout that can benefit from being in a lake with ciscoes, smelt or sculpins will grow to large sizes. These lake trout are called Siscowets or fat trout. Those that don't have this variety of small fish to eat, will eat plankton, insects, and crustaceans. Obviously, this fish is not going to weigh nearly as much. [Read More]

Do Fish See in Color Fish do indeed perceive color. Every fly fisher knows that or ought to know that. Like humans, the retina of a fish have rods and cones. Cones are used in the day and rods at night. Color vision evolved to help fish identify potential food. In the environment of the fish, the background will either be the bottom, the water itself, or if looking up for food it could be the sky. The bottom is normally tannish olive to green. When looking across the water, the background appears pale silver blue. But if the water is off color due to algae or high water one must take that into consideration as well. Skylight becomes more important at dusk and dawn when it contains more reds. Thus for opportunistically feeding game fish, flies with bright or contrasting colors and/or a lot of flash will make them stand out against the above mentioned backgrounds. The Mickey Finn, tied with yellow and red, and a silver body is one of the most effective attractor patterns. As for dry fly attractors , the Royal Wulff is still hard to beat, with its red and peacock body and white wings. Black flies, because of their strong silhouette also are easy for fish to spot. Let's not forget patterns that contain strands of flashabou or other tinsel that reflect light when stripped or while drifting through the current are easy for fish to spot. [Read More]

Worm Rigs - Fishing Plastic Worm Rigs - How to Fish Worm Rigs
If you use plastic worms you know there are many ways to rig them. Sometimes the conditions dictate how you rig them up, other times the fish just seem....