Fishing Without Bait

Have you ever left the dock and headed out to fish after forgetting your bait?

How many of us have ever left the dock and headed out to fish only to find you left the bait in a cooler on the dock? It’s a long ride back to the dock, and at the price of fuel today, it makes it very expensive to head back and retrieve it.
I have left my bait on several occasions over the years. There were also some days when there was no bait to be found! There are some solutions to a dilemma like this. Being prepared ahead of time can allow you to fish without retrieving that bait.

I always keep several items on the boat. These are things I only remove when I do a complete cleaning, and I make sure they are stowed on the boat again before I finish. They include several Sabiki rigs in a variety of sizes, an unbreakable jar of salt-hardened shrimp pieces, and a cast net.

The Sabiki rigs are a staple item on my boat for catching live bait. The shrimp is what I use to tip my bucktail jigs, and it also can be used alone to catch small fish for bait. The cast net is, of course, the major bait catching item. I keep it stowed in a two gallon plastic bucket, always ready when a school of baitfish comes around.

Improvising also plays an important role on one of these days. I remember one trip in particular when I was growing up in Key West. We had a small skiff and outboard – an 11 hp Wizard from Western Auto – and we did a lot of trolling for barracuda. We trolled because the boat leaked so badly we could only anchor for a few minutes at a time.

The boat was tied to some mangroves in a small creek. A fishing trip entailed buying bait, usually three pounds of whole mullet, and taking all our gear to the boat.

On this particular day, we managed to leave the mullet on the counter at the bait shop. We discovered this fact after we had left the creek and run to the small islands near Sawyer Key, around which we planned to troll. With no bait, my father took his shirt and undershirt off. He tore several strips of cloth from his white undershirt. They were about ten inches long and two inches wide.

Normally we would have taken one filet from the side of a mullet and cut it in half long ways to make two strip baits. This strip bait would be placed on a tandem double hook rig, and trolled slowly behind the boat. Barracuda on the grass flats around these islands could not resist bait like this.

Today, we took the cloth strips and hooked them up just like we did the mullet baits. In short order, we had several fish in the boat. The belly of a barracuda is very nice and white, and my father did not wait very long to slice a few strip baits from the fish we had caught.

It turned out to be a good day, even “without bait”. I even went to “Show and tell” at school the next Monday to tell everyone how we had caught fish on a piece of cloth!

Next time you're on the water with no bait, try a little innovation. It just might work!

Worms as Bait

Worms are a natural bait for both fresh and saltwater fish. Beach worms and Blood worms make ideal baits for saltwater fish while the common garden worms will catch most species of freshwater fish.

Two methods of attaching worms to hooks work best. The first is to simply thread the hook down through the centre of the worm leaving a 1-2 cm tag each end and lifting the upper portion up over the hooks eye and onto the line, using a small half hitch to hold it in place.

The second method is to thread the worm onto the hook leaving loops or folds. Again leave tags of about 1-2cm each end and use a half hitch at the top to hold the worm up in place. Using this method a number of worms can be placed onto the single hook providing a larger mass of bait 

and an excellent bait presentation for larger fish.

Teknik susun umpan


TEKNIK memasang umpan juga penting untuk menarik perhatian ikan. Ini kerana cara menyusun serta meletakkan umpan turut diambil kira supaya mangsa lebih cepat memakan umpan.

Menghimpunkan jumlah umpan yang banyak terutama cacing pada mata kail antara teknik yang boleh digunakan ketika memancing air tawar untuk memikat penghuni sungai ataupun tasik. Cacing adalah antara umpan paling berkesan untuk kebanyakan ikan air tawar. Ia mungkin digunakan seekor atau beberapa ekor sekali gus seperti gambar rajah berikut.

Fishing Games Download

Catch a boatload of fishy fun in this original arcade challenge! Load up the RV and crisscross the country in a series of tournaments that will put your angling prowess to the test. Cast your line in colorful locations like Bullhorn Lake, Golden Corn Lake, Wicked Mansion Lake, and more. Catch fish to earn points and climb to the top of the rankings in the amateur, pro, and elite circuits.



Your fellow fishers are sure to keep you on your toes, but watch out for surprises swimming just below the surface that will slow you down. Featuring innovative gameplay, colorful full-screen graphics, and hours of fun for the whole family, Fishing Craze is no fish-tale ... it's the real thing! Catch it today!




Games Download

Live Prawns

To attach live prawns, carefully pass the hooks point under the first shell section after the tail. Do not attempt to go for more as the prawn will die. Live prawns are gulfed down by all fish and your hook will take.If your fortunate enough to be able to gather live prawns, your fishing experience is sure to be successful.




They make an excellent bait for virtually every estuary species and many ocean going species too.You'll need a good aerator and continual water changes to keep them alive. If they die, freeze them immediately, however, once thawed, they do not re freeze well.Dead prawns are simply attached by threading the hook up through the body from tail to head.

How not to launch your boat

Boat launching can be a slightly stressful situation at times. Often you are faced with impatient anglers who feel that you holding them up is going to cost them a fish of a lifetime. If you have to share the ramp with other water users, such as jet skis, this situation can become even more stressful.

I am a proponent of making sure that you are ready to launch when you pull up to the ramp. I can't stand people who drive up to the top of the ramp and begin to get the boat ready - that is what the preparation area is for! I have seen many anglers load the boat up for longer than ten minutes while others wait behind them and it never ends well. Fortunately I am a patient person, but others aren't always this way.

Enough of the serious talk though. While trolling around youtube I came across this slightly disturbing video of a failed launch of a jet ski. It would have been nice to see more people come to the rescue, but I guess there isn't much that can be done - I hope that wasn't salt water!

Boating Knots: Zeppelin Bend

Have you ever been out on the water and needed a rope of a certain length of rope only to have 2 short lengths of rope in the boat. I know that I have been in this situation and have obviously needed to join the ropes to make the required distance. I am no rope knot expert, in fact I am known for tying fairly poor knots, but even I use this knot!

One of the best knots for this task is the Zeppelin Bend, which can be used to attach two lengths of rope with similar diameters. It is easy to tie and quick to learn - the following video shows the process of tying the Zeppelin Bend very well.

Best fishing songs

Fishing is a subject that much has been written about over the years, but there have also been some fantastic fishing songs written as well. My personal favorites would have to be take me to the river (not technically fishing I guess) and fishin' blues, but there are many great ones out there.

Do you have a favorite fishing song or do you have a tune you like to listen to when you are fishing. Please leave a comment.

How to prepare a crab for the table

Despite the fact that most people just love eating crab many people don't really know the first place to start when cleaning one! The process can be made as simple or as complex as you like and many people I know simply boil the crab and break it apart to eat it. Others use a machete to cut the crab in half and remove all the innards before cooking as they believe it makes the crabs even tastier.

This short video will show you one of the best ways to clean a crab and with careful attention you can easily learn this method!