Things I have done wrong

[Flatfish]

Kinda along the lines of the ongoing "How To" threads of late. These aint fun and sexy like "What color of corkie?" stuff. But I have seen the best anglers make these mistakes too. Something to think about when you are on the water.

Things I have done wrong, and have cost me fish.

I bought an expensive rod, but saved money on my hooks.

I did not tie on a new leader after landing/ fighting a fish.

I did not cull the leaders that got burned as I pulled the knot tight. ALWAYS spit a lot on all knots( all knots, egg loops, swivels, everything)-It's yucky, but not as yucky as a lost lunker.Quality controll because you are tired or cold or lazy or whatever is the big one. The best anglers work pretty hard at it. Effort equals results.

I stood in the same place and casted to the same rock all morning , because I was tired from getting up at 3:30 am. Look, first water is pretty rare these days(which is why we all get up early). Forget about the first water and fish the water well and move on.Sleep in a bit too. You will fish better and harder because of it. Cover water well, move to the next hole.

Don't check hooks for sharpness. These hooks-XYZ brand- are sharp out of the box. Buy a file you like. You should spend lots of time with Mr. file. Probably the number one cause of missed opportunity.

Don't follow reports that are more that 24 hours old. Who knows where they are now. Winter brats may travel several miles per day....or maybe they will only swim a bit. If the report ain't fresh, don't chase the rainbow.

I did not want to spend the money for good line, so I bought this cheaper line in a heavier test.-More drag in the water, maybe not as limp, or abrasion resistant, or a bunch of other qualities that are subtle. When in Rome...

When I was a kid, I HAD to learn how to drift fish for winter steelies....instead of learning an easier way to bank fish, I pick one of the hardest to master techniques, and grit my teeth til some poor fish hooks himself...because I had quit paying attention cause I never hooked fish. Drift fishing is a great way to catch fish. But takes years to master. Use a spinner or a float and jig/bait setup. It took me 2 years to drift fish into a steelie. You can catch a fish a lot sooner than that. My wife has fished with me for 9 years. This year she will start to drift fish. This was intentional on my part, and very kind of me too.

Choose a home river, and fish it til you know which rocks do and don't hold fish. On my favorite run. I can tell you which side of the rock a fish will bite on. I learned how to fish well faster, because I was not lost, wondering how to get to the river in the first place. If you need a map to get to a fishing spot maybe you don't need to fish it. Looking around to fun and all, but if you have to learn it on your own,,it is gonna take some time.Time is not on your side...Unless you are real wealthy and can fish all the time. Or you are Mic-K Jagger.
It wont let me say ****

Hire a guide. Puts you on the right end of the learning curve from the get go.

Learn about run timing before you go fishing anywhere. If there aint no fish there, what are you doing?

Fish with a mentor. They already have made the mistakes.When they tell you something it may come from years of experience. NW Steelheaders is a great place to meet fish geeks. Go find yourself a geek. A geeky geezer is a real trophy, but rare as sympathy from the IRS.

If you don't like crowds, buy a Fishing and Hunting News magazine. Read it. Then do not fish on any of the rivers in there. Where to fish? Call ODFW, or your mentor.

When your mentor laughs at you, smile and laugh too. They are showing you how to fish, your innocence is entertainment to them. Someday you may be a crusty egg goo smelling mentor. And you will laugh at Newbie.

When someone around you catches a fish, make a note of it Who, what, where, when, why, and how. The "Why" is the big one. Guides and top dog anglers catch the bulk of the fish. "Why" is what seperates them form us mortals.

Keep a notebook of every day you fish with all the stuff you can think of in it every trip. Water temp, clarity, baromometer, where in the hole was the fish, you cannot record too much information.It takes time before it will pay off, but it will pay off bigtime.

There is no secret lure or technique. Yep, and it sucks that there is not. But that would make it too easy. On any given day, on any given piece of water, there is a best way to cover the water. You cannot master all the ways to catch a steelhead.You will not live long enough to figure them all out. Do 1 or 2 things real well before you try to do new things. Remember- even if it looks easy, it probably is not. Mike Jordan made it look real easy to play basketball....

Have a good time. Too many anglers are so caught up with catching fish that they miss a lot of the fun. Relax and enjoy the day. If you are relaxed, you will fish better. I promise.

Buy quality gear. You do not need 10 tackle boxes of stuff to catch a steelie. Save your money for fishing trips.

Try to think outside the box. just because you have never seen it work does not mean squat.Steelhead will bite darn near anything if it is presented well. If you KNOW there is a fish out of reach from your regular techniques, figure out a way to get a bait/ lure in front of them. Think bobbers, or no weight.....

Take a kid.No explanation needed, right?

I have messed up a lot of stuff, and it has cost me a fish, or a limit. I will mess up again. There is no reason for you to have to learn all the crappy stuff on your own.

The details make or break you. The details are not fun and exciting. But they put fish on the bank.

Mark and the dog.

[ 12-28-2002, 03:11 PM: Message edited by: Flatfish ]

[Bankbound]

[img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] It's always the little things that'll kill you. Great post

MH

[Grant Scheele]

Great post!

[Rock Stick or Fish]

I think that I'm just getting around this one:

Return to the spots that catch your fish, but remember that its the same water you're looking for, and not some spot on the bank.

Its too easy to run to the same hole that had a fish last week, even if there's an extra 2000cfs in there now.

RSF

[SteelieSteve]

Well said Mark
Sharp hooks, good leaders, and proven fish holding spots get fish on the bank. Though a good rod with feel and a quality reel helps alot too. Along with good eggs.

[blacktail]

Great post Mark.

It's very important to have confidence, a positive attitiude and pay attention.

Some things that really stuck out as being important for me is using quality equipment that is proper for the fishing you are doing and speding lots of time on a particular river or section of a river.

Also, it's good to experiment some when you're not having any luck, but don't get into the rut thinking that you need to change the color and size of your corkie, etc. every other cast. Keeping your offering in the water as much as possible is key. The more time it's in the water, the better your chances of catching a fish.

Mike

[ 12-28-2002, 04:05 PM: Message edited by: blacktail ]

[Bobby Ray]

Lots of spit!

[slamin salmon]

Thanks, I know all this info will help.

[GL2]

Flatfish laid it out there in a really good fromat.
I grinned lots of times cuz we all mess up as part of the learning curve.
Any new anglers should print his post out and save it. Go back & read it from time to time until you memerize it.
This is years of "free" knowadgle.
I used to be real "stingy" with info cuz I want to catch all the fish I can. But, Madwizard did a " who hasn't caught a steelhead" thread.
That made me realize that "novice anglers" have a long ways to go before they start catching "my" fish. I really can never hook enough fish, so I can be really "stingy."
I'm hooked bad!
A couple ideas to add:
If you use floracarbon leaders, you gotta have wet line to chinch the knot. Floracarbon line will cut & fray itself really bad if it's dry.
Try to get guide when he has no one else in the boat. I've done real low & clear water conditions with a guide that taught me alot. It takes a differnt game for differnt water conditions. A good guide will hook fish in all water conditions.
Get your self a "master." My fishing "master" is three years younger than me but, he was fishing with his father for steelies when he was 7 years old. They are hardcore!
My "master" started me out night fishing In Wa. with glow in the dark corkies. First two nights I got a silver each night. He hooked bouble digits both nights. Well I new I was missing fish, If he was hooking that many. I came back on the 3rd night with double digits of my own.
In the dark all you got is the feel of the rod, it taught me to learn the feel of a fish. The dark dulls all your other "senses."

BTW-
When I phone my "master" I allways address him as "Master." He calls me "my apprentice."
We have rules, I allways pay for gas & food.
If I find productive new water, and take my "master" to it. He gets fist cast, If I know that the fishing is gonna be red hot. I don't fish until master hooks up. After "master" gets into a fish, then I will fish.
So if you hear some guy calling his fishing buddy master.
STAY AWAY!! WE BOTH HAVE A SCREW LOOSE!!
But most people give us plenty of room when they see us acting like that.
Jason,
P.S: Allways respect your "Master."

[ 12-29-2002, 09:11 AM: Message edited by: GL2 ]

[Flatfish]

Wow Kids! Even GL-2 says this is years worth of messing up. I am ready to blush.

I would have posted all of my mistakes for all of you to read, and learn from. But all of that information would crash the server, and Ifish would be offline for many hours til it got fixed.
So we can start here.

Mark and the celebrity dog.

[big guy]

good n sharp. for some reason this took me the longest time to make my self do

[GL2]

Or how about...
When you tighten up your drag and hand your line against the butt of your rod to break off from the mother of all snags.
Then you tie on a new rig.
Your back in the water fishing and after a few casts you feel a fish.
Boom! You drill a hard hook set & your line snaps back at the reel.
Uh, I forgot to loosen my drag.
One of my classic bone head moves.

[tipndwater]

great post [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]
where were you 20 years ago, i went to that same school of hard knocks also.
all my dad did was plunk on the columbia.

[timinthegorge]

You guys are the BEST!

Great post Mark (the dog too)......

[Flatfish]

[ 12-29-2002, 09:30 PM: Message edited by: Flatfish ]

[Flatfish]

Murphys laws are listed above. A little known law was discovered today. Pulling plugs that were tuned, knots tight and glued, fresh line, brand new sharp hooks, yummy smelling scent, everything was right. Even the river was in perfect condition. We get up brite and early at 7. Head over the mountain at 9. Start fishing well at 11:30. Finally hook a fish at 2. Fight fish for a while, then gone. Vermin reels up....The front hook had actually come off the split ring! As in how did that happen??!! I am the one who puts the hooks and split rings on. They are tight when I put them on. I am sure they were tight... You bet I will check it next time.
I have seen a lot go wrong. I have never seen this. I think Murphy was just a few hundred yards in front of us in a red Alumaweld....

Mark and the dog.

[Hogmaster]

Been there, done that one too.

The only thing I could figure when it happened was that the plug must have hung and got twisted even if only for a few moments. Once the hook eye gets into the split, a thrashing fish can do the rest...

Too bad that vermin will forever look at you differently now and the dog will probably not look at you at all!

We gotta up our performance before the challenge! Heard nothing from Redbull, he must be hiding in shame after his lack o' landings!

[Flatfish]

I am not hiding in shame, oh mighty Strenmaster. Far from it.

Vermin made up for it later. We did well enough to compete in Jan., I figure.

The dog approves of most of my actions, unless they involve veggie burgers, or Stren. Hope the late natives are as strong as the winter run appears to be.

Has Danielson called you about that sticker for the side of your boat yet?

The dog did get his roast beef today.He is pleased.

Mark and the Maxima loving, Brad Pitt looking dog.