Don't Take Your Net For Granted

Many anglers tend to not think about their net. Their net is either attached to the back of their fishing vest or it's just laying somewhere in the bttom of their boat. Now I realize that nets can last for years and sometimes don't even get used that much, but I'm just reminding you to take a little time to make sure that your nets are in good condition before you next fishing trip. Your net can easily be the difference between landing a big fish and watching that same fish swim away.
I used to have a net that hung from the back of my fishing vest and was constantly getting hung up on brush while I walked through the woods along my favorite trout fishing river. The net getting stuck was such a common occurrence that I began to not even give it a second thought. Then one day I went to use it on a nice twenty-inch rainbow, and when I netted the fish the fish went right through a hole that was in my net. I don't know if you've ever had this happen, but I think it's the definition of a clusterf&%#! Fishing line wrapped around what seems to be everything, screaming, pulling the fish in hand over hand, it's an absolute mess.
After this fiasco had finished, I went over to the shore, took my vest off, and removed the old net. I figured that I'd be better off without it. Then a couple of weeks later I hooked into a very large trout, and at that point realized that I didn't have a net to help land the fish. Until that point I hadn't thought about my net since the clusterf&%#. I obviously don't use my net unless I'm dealing with a big fish. In any case, once I got my large trout close to the shore, I realized how difficult landing the trout was going to be.
After getting the trout close to me a couple of times and having it peel off line away from me, I realized that I was in trouble. Then on the third or fourth go around of getting close to me, the trout had obviously had enough, because it shook it's head twice, buried it's nose into the rocks, took off like a shot, and broke my line. I realized later that the only way I could have landed that trout on four pound test was if I had a net
The bottom line is that you need to check your nets periodically to make sure they're in working order. And if you have one that annoys you, replace it rather than just chucking it. I just don't want you to go through the experience of losing a trophy, as I did. It's no fun at all.

Trevor Kugler is co-founder of JRWfishing.com and an avid angler. He has more than 20 years experience fishing for all types of fish, and 15 years of business and internet experience. He currently raises his three year old daughter in the heart of trout fishing country.....Montana!
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Don't Forget Your Camera On Your Next Fishing Trip

Here's a little scenario for you: You're out fishing with your buddy when he hooks into a trophy. It's a BIG fish and after a long fight, the two of you finally land the monster. You're both incredibly excited and very happy to have witnessed such an epic moment. Then you realize that you forget your camera, and of course, your friend doesn't have one either. There are going to be no pictures of the monster on this day. This scenario sucks, I've been through it. You're left with nothing but a great fish story. This is of course assuming that you fish like me, and release fish after you catch them.
If you are a catch and release angler, a camera is a pretty important thing. Technology has made it that much easier for all of us to have a quality camera with us at all times. And no I'm not talking about you camera phone. Those cameras aren't worth the price of admission. I am talking about digital cameras though. Digital cameras have become very affordable and the quality picture they produce is quite amazing. Digital cameras have become small enough that they can fit in most pockets on a fishing vest as well. If you do decide to go with a digital camera, either buy a water resistant one or make sure you store it in a Ziploc bag. We don't want your camera getting ruined if you have an accident.
Another option, which I've used in the past, is to carry a disposable camera with you. I used to carry a waterproof disposable camera in my fishing vest that is before I got my digital camera. The disposable camera worked fine and is still a viable and less expensive option. The only issue that I ever had with my disposable waterproof camera is that it was quite bulky. It almost took up an entire pocket in my fishing vest by itself. The digital camera I have now is very small and I don't even realize it's there.
The bottom line is that you remember your camera on your next fishing trip. Especially if you're a catch and release angler, as I am. It makes no difference whether you have a digital or disposable camera, just don't forget the camera. You never know when you might run into something on the water that you'd like to capture. I've seen sun rises and sunsets that bring a tear to my eye, and I'm glad IU had a camera with my to capture the essence of them.

Trevor Kugler is co-founder of JRWfishing.com and an avid angler. He has more than 20 years experience fishing for all types of fish, and 15 years of business and internet experience. He currently raises his three year old daughter in the heart of trout fishing country.....Montana!
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Do You Want To Catch More Fish?

There are some simple steps that you, the angler, can take in order to increase the amount of fish that you catch. Many times anglers do things simply because that's what they've always done them. One of these things is the way hooks are used. Yea, I said hooks. Now you're probably thinking to yourself, "I know how hooks are used", and you may be right. You might know how they've always been used, but what I'm asking you top do is start to think "outside the box" just a little bit.
If you want to consistently catch more fish, your offering needs to look as natural as possible. The bait that gets used needs to look like what the fish is used to eating. This means that smaller hooks must be employed. I'm speaking of normal freshwater fishing situations. Situations where we use what are known as normal fishing baits such as: worms, minnows, dough baits, crayfish, and the like. In these normal freshwater fishing situations, most of the time anglers use hooks that are much too large. For example, have you ever seen the "worm ball"? A "worm ball" is created because the angler is using a hook that's too large and has to thread the worm (s) onto the hook, thus creating the "worm ball".
A "worm ball" is anything but a natural way to present a worm. Try this.....throw a worm into the water and see what it looks like. That's the way you want to present your offering to the fish. The natural way is the method that most closely resembles how a worm really looks in the water, and threading a worm onto a hook isn't the way to present said worm.
The way to present said worm is by using a "gang hook". A gang hook is simply two small hooks tied in tandem. It may sound overly simplistic, but it's true. Two small hooks tied in tandem is the most natural way to present a live worm, hands down! The angler simply hooks the top hook into the head of the worm, then the second hook into the body. The live worm then looks completely natural, just as it would if it didn't have hooks in it. Start employing the "gang hook" today and you will begin to catch more fish. It's as simple as that.

Trevor Kugler is co-founder of JRWfishing.com and an avid angler. He has more than 20 years experience fishing for all types of fish, and 15 years of business and internet experience. He currently raises his three year old daughter in the heart of trout fishing country.....Montana!
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Another Reason That We Should All Use Gang Hooks

While fishing the other day, I had an interesting thing happen to me. I was using gang hooks tied on four pound test and doing quite well. I had landed three or four nice Rainbow Trout, when I hooked into a heavy fish. The trout that I had been landing were in the fourteen to sixteen inch range, but this fish felt quite a bit bigger than the ones I had been catching.
It's funny how this works, but after catching a lot of fish, you can tell almost instantly the basic size of the fish. After fighting said fish for a while I got it within net range and netted it. It was a very nice twenty inch Rainbow. When I went to unhook the fish, I noticed something quite interesting. The fish was hooked with the back hook on the gang hook. That meant that if I had been using a single hook, I probably wouldn't have caught this fish. It must have been one of those "short striking" fish that I used to miss.
Before I began using gang hooks, many times I would get a bite only to reel in and realize that the fish were biting the end of my worm off. Then I began to use gang hooks, which allowed me to present a worm naturally, and subsequently began to catch more fish. And the twenty inch Rainbow was no different.
Many times the fish I catch using gang hooks will have both hooks hooked in their mouth. When you get one hooked on just the trailing hook, it's usually a "short striking" fish, that wouldn't be caught using a single hook. This example is yet another reason that you should use gang hooks for all of your bait fishing situations (especially if there's a live worm involved).

Trevor Kugler - Co-founder of JRWfishing.com Trevor has more than 15 years of business experience and 25 years of fishing experience. He currently raises his three year old daughter in the heart of trout fishing country - Montana.
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Do You Keep Extra Clothes In Your Vehicle While Fishing?

This may sound like a stupid question, but hear me out, it's not at all a bad idea to keep a small bag of some sort in your vehicle with a change of clothes in it. A change of socks is always a good idea, especially if you're liker me and like to fish in waders. On a hot sunny day, after three hours of fishing and walking from spot to spot, when you get back to your vehicle and take your waders off, what happen? Many times your socks are soaked with sweat. A change of socks can literally feel like heaven on earth after a long days fishing.
I'm not just speaking of a change of socks either. I'm also speaking of having a change of clothes just in case you take that wet and wild ride down the river because of a misstep or high water. If you take this wet and wild ride, as I've done before, you will literally be thanking God that you have a change of clothes in the vehicle. And if it's cold outside, as it was when I took the ride, you'll probably promise God your first-born, that you can get back to said vehicle quickly.
With spring quickly approaching, this means that the water is still quite cold and it's going to be high. Springtime is a great time for an accident to happen because of high-murky water, so make sure you have a small backpack or bag of some sort in your vehicle with a change of clothes in it. I promise you if you're unfortunate enough to take the wet and wild ride, you'll be thankful that you read this article and took the advice mentioned herein.

Trevor Kugler - Co-founder of JRWfishing.com Trevor has more than 15 years of business experience and 25 years of fishing experience. He currently raises his three year old daughter in the heart of trout fishing country - Montana.
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Did Someone Suggest Steelhead Fishing?

I had lived in Montana for a couple of years, when I began to hear stories about the great Steelhead fishing just a few hours away in Idaho. And then I started to see articles about this incredible Steelhead fishing. As a matter of fact, my friend Doug brought an article to me that explained exactly where to go. In hindsight the mere act of sharing that article with me, was the beginning of the entire debacle. From that point on, it was go time. Doug and I were making the trip to Idaho to experience some of this incredible Steelhead action. It ended up being about a six hour drive and most of the time was spent reminiscing about Steelhead fishing trips Doug used to take with his father while growing up. We grew up in central Pennsylvania and Doug's father was the best fisherman that I've ever known. He was very tuned in to what was going on in not only the local fishing scene, but also in upstate New York, where he would go and fish for salmon and steelhead and sometimes take us with him. Doug is full of stories about salmon and or steelhead fishing with his father.
And we talked about the various techniques and any tips that could be remembered after the passing of fifteen or twenty years. In our minds we got everything worked out. How we were going to fish, the area's we were going to fish, and the techniques we were going to use. All of this from reminiscing about a river some two thousand miles away and a freakin magazine article that could be read by anyone! But one of the things that I've realized in my fishing life is the fact that many times this is how it works. Poor saps like me, read an article, get all jacked up, talk to a few people, and then bam.....take off for whatever destination with delusions of grandeur firmly planted in their mind. And that is exactly what we were dealing with. As with many things in life, the trip sounded great on paper, but the execution was going to be difficult.
We arrived at the first river at dusk. It was a cold and rainy day, which is what we had always been told, was perfect for steelhead. We got out of the truck and walked down to the river. As we were walking one of us made the comment, "this river is much bigger than I thought it would be." In our experience, large rivers are usually difficult to fish from the bank. Especially when you're relying on drift fishing as the main technique. We threw large spoons and plugs around for awhile and then it got dark.
On the way to the hotel, we talked about how large the river was, and how difficult drift fishing was going to be from the shore. Then we decided, as we usually did, that going out and getting sloshed was a great way to cope with the river being so large. This was our mentality at the time, and although there were some really good times, it ended up not serving us too well. Before we left for the bar, we arranged a wake up call for five AM, so at precisely five AM, the phone rang.....Son of a bit.....I thought to myself as I picked up the phone.
As I lay in the bed contemplating whether or not fishing was a good idea, I thought to myself, "Why in the hell do you do this to yourself?" But in the end, I figured I had to fish, so I got up and headed down to the river. You may be wondering where Doug was? I would have had better luck trying to verbally entice pigs to fly than I did getting him to get his hung-over butt out of bed. It was clear that the morning fishing was going to be a solo mission. I was on my own.
It was a beautiful morning, and when I got down to the river I realized that this wasn't that much of a secret after all.
There were other fishermen chucking large lures and huge bobbers all over the place. They were standing in the river and fishing out of boats. It was quite a scene, and made me realize that someone must have been catching fish to warrant all of this attention. It was soon after making this realization that I felt my first bite of the day. I waited and set the hook, and reeled in my first Idaho fish! A six or seven inch rainbow trout. Yea, not at all what I was hoping for, but at least it was a fish, right? Seeing as how it was the only fish either Doug or I landed in 36 hours, I suppose I should have been more grateful than I was.
It's true though, we fished for the next thirty six hours and that was the only fish that was landed by either one of us. We didn't even see a steelhead on that trip. Caught by us or anyone else! But we did get the distinct pleasure of hearing from anyone we asked about fishing in that god forsaken state how; we should have been there the week before, because everyone was catching fish! Isn't this always the case on trips such as this though? It surely is for me. Everyone tells you how great the fishing was just before you arrived. It's as if the moment I step my foot into an unfamiliar river to fish for an unfamiliar fish, said fish decides not to bite. At least the fish most certainly decides not to bite my offering.
This, in a nutshell, is the reason I don't make many long trips to fish rivers that I'm unfamiliar with. I've found it's just not worth the time, money, and heartache to try to figure out a totally new type of fishing in a couple of days.

Trevor Kugler is co-founder of JRWfishing.com and an avid angler. He has more than 20 years experience fishing for all types of fish, and 15 years of business and internet experience. He currently raises his three year old daughter in the heart of trout fishing country…..Montana!
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Choosing the Correct Fishing Rod

When it comes to fishing rods, what the heck does it all mean? There are all kinds of things written on the fishing rod itself, and all of them have a different "feel". I'm going to attempt to clear up some of the confusion for you, although at the end of the day it comes down to personal preference. I've seen a lot of anglers that have one fishing rod that they use for all of their fishing. This is a mistake and a sure fire sign that said angler doesn't catch many fish. I'm not suggesting that you should have a locker full of 50 different rods, but you should have two or three available for different situations.
Fishing rods come is the basic actions listed below. This information is printed (in very small lettering) on the rod itself, directly above the handle, along with suggestions as to lure and line sizes. My suggestion is that you have at least three rods to choose from for ant given fishing situation.
Ultra light Action - these rods are used for fishing very small lures. Ultra light rods are perfect for small stream and river fishing, such as when you're wading. The heavier the current, the longer rod you will want. Ultra light rods are a great choice for trout and pan fish.
Light Action - Light action rods are used for the same situations as ultra light action rods. If you're just starting out, start with a light action rod and work your way to ultra light. Again, these rods are perfect for trout and pan fish fishing.
Medium Action - Medium action rods are right in the middle of the scale (imagine that). Medium action rods are to be used when wading larger rivers for larger fish. I personally use medium action rods for my walleye and smallmouth bass fishing in Canada. Medium action is also a good size for trolling smaller lures.
Medium Heavy Action - This size rod is great for trolling most lures. Medium heavy rods are also great for most salmon and steelhead fishing. As the name suggests, these rods are to be used in situations where you're after bigger fish (10 to 20 pounds as a general example), although it's also a favorite size for large mouth bass anglers.
Heavy Action - Obviously, these are your big boys. Largemouth bass fishermen will use rods this size to fish heavy cover and the like. Also, when you're fishing for big pike and muskie, heavy action rods are a must. These rods are used for really big fish (over 20 pounds as a general example). This action rod is also used for heavy trolling, such as that done with downriggers.
After this brief overview, you should have a better understanding of what the different actions of fishing rods mean to you as an angler. As mentioned earlier, you will probably want at least three different fishing rods for different fishing situations. That way you can pick and choose as the situation changes. As an example, I use my four foot ultra light rod for most of my small river and stream fishing, but in the springtime, when the water is really high, I switch to my five foot six inch ultra light rod. The longer rod makes it easier to feel bites in heavy current.

Trevor Kugler
Co-founder of JRWfishing.com
Trevor has more than 20 years of fishing experience and currently raises his 3-year old daughter in the heart of trout fishing country......Montana.
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