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101 Fishing Tips by Capt 101 Fishing Tips By Capt. Lawrence Piper www.TheAnglersMark.com [email protected] 904-557 -1027 Table of Contents Tackle and Angling Page 2 Fish and Fishing Page 5 Fishing Spots Page 13 Trailering and Boating Page 14 General Page 15 1 Amelia Island Back Country Light Tackle Fishing Tips Tackle and Angling 1) I tell my guests who want to learn to fish the back waters “learn your knots”! You don’t have to know a whole bunch but be confident in the ones you’re going to use and know how to tie them good and fast so you can bet back to fishing after you’ve broken off. 2) When fishing with soft plastics keep a tube of Super Glue handy in your tackle box. When you rig the grub on to your jig, place a drop of the glue below the head and then finish pushing the grub up. This will secure the grub better to the jig and help make it last longer. 3) Many anglers get excited when they hook up with big fish. When fishing light tackle, check your drag so that it’s not too tight and the line can pull out. When you hookup, the key is to just keep the pressure on the fish. If you feel any slack, REEL! When the fish is pulling away from you, use the rod and the rod tip action to tire the fish. Slowly work the fish in, lifting up, reeling down. Keep that pressure on! 4) Net a caught fish headfirst. Get the net down in the water and have the angler work the fish towards you and as it tires, bring the fish headfirst into the net. If you try to net the fish from the tail end, there’s a chance the fish will feel the net and make a surge away, possibly breaking the leader. 5) Just because you’ve caught a big fish at the bow of the boat doesn’t mean it’s going to stay there. If the fish goes to the stern, go back there with it! Be careful as you walk from bow to stern. This is a good reason to keep the deck completely cleared of coolers, tackle boxes and other gear. Tell your buddies to get out of the way, you’re coming through! 6) My jig rod is a 6’6” medium heavy rod with a 1000 size reel. This is a light outfit and fun to catch fish on. I’ve got it spooled with 10lb braid and a 14lb fluorocarbon leader and usually a ¼ oz jig. The leader will break before the braid will, and I want it to. Braid is expensive and if you lost 30-40’ every time you hung up on an oyster you’d be changing spools every hour or so. Contact Capt. Lawrence Piper to set up your fishing trip today! 2 7) Use a Uni-to-Uni knot to tie the fluorocarbon leader to the braid. I make the leader at least 18” long. If you hang up in the oysters or on a downed log, point your rod tip straight at the hang up, wrap the braid around your hand and pull until it comes loose or breaks. Most times the leader will break but leave you plenty to tie another jig on. 8) On my jig setup I use a DOA Loop Knot to tie the fluorocarbon leader to the jig. Once your fingers get coordinated with tying the knot it’s quick and easy and has landed over 3 foot long fish. 9) My float rig rods are 7’ Medium Heavy rods and have a size 2500 reel. This is still light tackle, but I like the little extra umph to hookup when using a float. I have 15lb braid on these reels and tie the braid directly to the Cajun Thunder float with a Trilene Knot. I then tie on about a 3’ fluorocarbon leader and then a #3 circle hook and a Trilene Knot. 10) Every guide has his own way of hooking a live shrimp with a hook. If it’s a larger shrimp, I go just under the horn between the eyes and the brain. If it’s a small shrimp, I go between the tail fins and hook him from underneath and through. Both ways the shrimp will live for a while. 11) Practice your casting from all planes. Put a bucket out in the yard and remove the hooks from a top water lure then practice casting from overhead, sidearm, off shoulder and underhanded to the bucket. When you get on a charter boat you may have some buddies, the console, or rods in the way of your favorite cast so you may have to adjust the plane of your cast. 12) If you’re fishing a live shrimp under a float and that shrimp comes skipping out of the water, get ready! There’s a good chance an Amelia Island keeper fish is lurking underneath and that shrimp is scared! 13) When casting the float rig, swing it back easily and without stopping, come forward with a gradual acceleration to make your cast. Those that whip the cast back and then forward tend to throw their bait off! It doesn’t take much to cast a spinning rod with braided line on it. Get Away From it All and…Let’s go Fishing! 14) I use a lot of live shrimp in the back waters of Amelia Island baited to a1/8 or ¼ oz jig. If you’re right handed, hold the live shrimp parallel to the deck, head to the left. Hook the shrimp down 3 through the back with the jig, spin the jig and come back up through the belly and then straighten it a little. The shrimp will appear to “swims backwards” as you retrieve it. 15) If you get hung up in the oysters with a jig or hook, my advice would be to just break it off, tie on a new one, and keep on fishing. Years ago I’d go over and try to get the jig free, but it’s not worth it. In addition to scaring away any fish, you run the chance of damaging your trolling motor or boat hull. 16) While battling a big fish if it goes under the boat don’t be afraid to stick the rod tip down in the water and walk the line around the boat until you and your rod are on the same side of the boat as the fish is. If he’s around the engine, put that rod tip down in the water and walk it around. 17) When setting the hook, you don’t have to do what I call the “Georgia Hook Set”! That’s when bass fishermen rear back and do such a strong hook set that the fish’s lip comes back with the hook! I tell my customers to “lift the rod tip firmly”, set the hook and keep the pressure on. 18) When fishing mud banks you can toss your jig and bait right up on the mud – no need to make a perfect cast. Just reel it slowly down the bank and into the water. Sometimes there’s a drop off at the water line on low tide so let it fall slowly. Capt. Lawrence Piper 904-557-1027 [email protected] www.TheAnglersMark.com 19) Be patient and enjoy the day when fishing top water lures. I’ve had some outstanding fishing trips by just taking my time and REALLY fishing that lure. Work it slow, make it gurgle, walk the dog, pause. Try to imagine driving a big old Trout crazy as you work that lure! 20) One of the most common mistakes I see my guest anglers make is that they make a great cast to a log or dock piling then they immediately throw their bail! Instead of the bait falling to the bottom at the structure, it now swings back towards the boat and they could be fishing 10-15’ away from where they wanted to fish! Leave the bail open and let your presentation fall where you wanted it to! 21) When using braided line on a spinning rod, throw your bail manually with your left hand after you make your cast and then pull the line taut. Get in the habit of doing this after every cast. This keeps the braid on the spool from getting spongy and forming loops. Most of us grew up turning the handle to have the bail throw automatically. Contact Capt Piper to set up your fishing trip today! 22) I had an angler accidently toss one of my fishing rods overboard while casting. Luckily his buddy gave him a really hard time! I always put the reel base between my middle finger and ring finger and this locks it in and prevents an accidental tossing! We were able to jig the rod up and salvage it. 23) Artificials do catch fish! I’ve got buddies that strictly fish artificials and sometimes they do just as good as or even better than the anglers that are fishing live bait. I’ve noticed that they have a huge 4 selection of colors and swim patterns and they are changing them constantly to find what the fish are eating. 24) If the fish aren’t eating live bait, try an artificial grub on a jig. You just never know what the fish are eating or what’s going to turn them on so making a change will help sometimes.
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