I have tried a half dozen times and never caught anything in alpine lakes and streams.
Been using an ultra light rod with 4lb flouro line and 1/16th-1/4oz mepps spinners.
I can see the little wienersuckers in there and they don't even seem interested.
Have you tried appeasing the local spirits?
gays
Try activating your almonds, you'll see the error of your ways.
This is one of three things I do.
1. Leave an offering to the mother nature.
2. Burn sage.
3. Activate my almonds.
Fish just jump right into my arms.
Use a fishing net and some bread crumbs. Frick poles.
I just need something small.
then use a net moron. either use crumbs and a cast net like he said or stretch a seine across the river or get a weighted net that sits on the bottom on the river and leave it there for like a day
not me, and chumming/nets are not legal here or most places in civilized countries
everywhere ive been in the USA nets are normal and not illegal
He's talking about chumming and throwing a net. Which is illegal for basically every 'game' fish in north america
OP said he needs a small fish. Where im from using a throw net for sunfish is not illegal. Maybe chumming is but i dont know why it would be for sunfish
clearly no sunfish in alpine lakes, should probably at least know what your talking about before posting coastal Black person
>sunfish
>coastal
try again moron
If you don't mind taking the fun out of it, try one of these
I'm sure someone has the DIY version where it's just a 2 sticks with tension and a line.
>Frick poles.
Your lure isn't mimicking whatever seasonal insect they're autistically only eating when you're there.
Use worms
First find out what kind of fish are in your area, aim for a bait/lure that works for that particular fish or for a few on the list, if you ha e autist powers you can even look up the right knot/hook setup for your area and how to better mimic the movements of your chosen fish's prey
Wouldn't worms or other critters harvested around the lake/river guarantee you at least catch a few fish?
Yes but u will have to contend with things you may not want to catch, if you are just doing it for fun/catch release then sure
Do the fish you can catch in mountainous rivers/lakes vary greatly in taste? I'm gonna start fishing in a few weeks, I plan on using a simple bobber + worm (or other critters) setup. I'll eat what I catch, unless they're just too small or too big to eat in one day.
Powerbait or eggs.
The use a bobber or leader line. Fish are at different depths so present the bait at the right depth.
Make sure you have a slight tension on your line so you can feel the bite... First couple casts for me I barely noticed the bite and thought it was nothing or just scraping the ground.
When you feel that, give it a tug to set the hook.
Make sure you're using the correct size hook. Fish don't like bbc.
If you're fishing still water I would suggest a dropshot rig attached to a 1/4 ounce sinker just use a normal size 6 bait hook and a worm and you'll catch something in my experience trout are not in a spinning chasing mood 80% of the time and it doesn't matter what color spoon rostertail mepps you use cause it's a pure reaction bite I don't recommend powerbait cause it stinks and trout typically gut hook themselves swallowing the whole glob but if you don't wanna use baits and purely use artificial get a adjustable bobber tie a 1-2ft 2-4lb fluorocarbon leader and go to your local tackle store and ask what kinda Flys are working and use that fly at the end of your leader
Learn to scuba dive and take the fight to the enemy
Something like this? I've scaled it up before to catch larger fish
with a worm
Use live bait like worms, crickets, or any other live bait common to the area. A hook, a split shot, and a bobber is all you need.
I'd agree to this - while artificial bait is often more fun to use and maybe a bit more "sportlike", natural and live bait in my experience has a better chance of actually getting fish. One of the reasons is that more or less all fish will eat worms for example, but only predatory fish will attack a spinner, and there are way less of them on average in a body of water.
i dont wanna waste a wormbro on fishing:(
You could try sweet corn, straight from the can. That works pretty well for a lot of freshwater fish.
I've gone creek fishing as a kid casually and recently this past year. Never have I once caught anything with artificial bait. I have luck with mealworms and nightcrawlers. I watch YouTube videos of people catching trout with PowerBait and I'm dumbfounded.
accept the meme that is powerbait.
Use bait.
If you are trying for rainbow trout use this lure. I caught a shitload with them and then years later they were rated #2 best in field and stream.
To catch a fish ou have to think like a fish. Unfortunately OP is dumber than the fish so this is impossible for him.
>the bane of east coast fishinggays
name a more based animal
try trout magnets, they seem to do better for me than spinners
Going for trout? Some of this may seem obvious but if you don't know, you don't know. Try different retrieve speeds, try letting it sink longer etc. try to stay back from the water also because fish see like picrelated, if you can see them, they can generally see you. If you're walking about heavily on hard ground near the shore they'll sense that too, the way you can hear what's going on at the other end of the house when you have your head underwater in the bath.
Don't sit thrashing the same piece of water either, take half a dozen casts in a fan pattern and move along a bit until you are casting on to new water, or take a cast, step a few paces over, take a cast, repeat. I don't know about the kind of waters you're fishing or what the fish are eating but if you suspect it to be mainly insects, you might have more luck on the fly. Otherwise, try fishing with trout spoons and little hard metal fry imitations, with these you can go for a straight retrieve, varying the speeds/depths until you start getting bites, or you can try stop and go, letting it swim along for a bit then pause so it flutters down, before giving it a little tug and carrying on. Often a fish following this will get FOMO as the lure they're checking out shoots away from them and they'll instinctively strike at it.
The idea of fishing as a patient activity is in some ways not the ethos to adopt when trying to catch fish, if things aren't working, try something else, you won't catch much standing in the same place, casting and retrieving the same lure in the same way. Even if your lure, cast and retrieve is exactly what the fish will take, if you're thrashing the same spot, if the first couple casts don't get a fish you aren't gonna get bites unless a random patrolling fish comes along. Same idea for the other aspects, you can make your way up a shore with a great lure but if the retrieve isn't what they're going for that day, they just won't take.
tl;dr - move about, change up.
King
This anon speaks truth.
I'll add that fish tend to congregate at inlets and outlets. Fishing dawn and dusk is the conventional wisdom, but some bodies of water seem to buck this trend. I've been on lakes that only produced fish for me in a 1-2 hour window at a seemingly random time of day, like noon.
In running water, think where the fish are holding. Plunge pools, shade, undercut banks, seams, eddies and just upriver from rapids are places I throw lures. In larger rivers, cast slightly upstream and let it sink down deep, then reel in across the current to advertise to as much of the riverbed as possible.
forgot pic
guess I'm a moron
This man fishes. Been fly fishing in the rockies my whole life. Never heard it stated better and simpler than this. Excellent post.
In Dutch we have the saying for predatory fishing that 'snoeken is zoeken' - 'fishing for pike is searching'. You have to go to where your predatory fish are, they won't come to you.
Spinners are a solid pick. I've caught more on spinners than on soft lures. They do most of the work themselves as far as action goes.
Think of how murky the water is, which would not be very murky in alpine lakes i'd gather. Go for natural colours when it's not murky.
Think of how likely fish are willing to give chase and pick slow/fast lures and speeds accordingly. You can reel in soft bait on a jighead stupidly slow.
If you can, mimic whatever the natural source of food is.
Think of bait size. What fish are you going for? How large are their mouths? What are they likely to strike at - aggressively, curiously or hungrily?
Think of time of day. Nothing happens around noon. Early morning, mid to late late afternoon or dusk are prime times for predatory fish here.
And above all, best of luck. Not catching shit happens to the best of us. Don't give up and post a cool fish here when you catch it.
Any advice on fishing with soft lures while we're here? I just started fishing in canals with soft plastic perch imitations, how often and how vigourously should I be twitching them?
If fish are really active (as they currently might be), you might get away with straight retrieves. Otherwise just hobble it along the bottom like picrel.
I'm not a big fan of letting it sit on the bottom and twitching it now and then unless you're absolutely sure there's fish near it.
Thanks anon.
How about if the bottom is all weed and it comes up covered in weed half the time (even with weedless), as seems the case in most of the canals I'm fishing? Also how big of a movement am I going for with this hobbling, a big pull to lift it a meter and then let it drop for a few seconds? Or more of a lots of little wrist flicks at greater frequency type thing?
>How about if the bottom is all weed and it comes up covered in weed half the time (even with weedless), as seems the case in most of the canals I'm fishing?
Topwater lures are an option (floating, poppers, etc.), or not letting a spinner sink and reeling when it hits the water. If you're really intent on using softbait on a jighead and you want to avoid the weeds, do a straight retrieve (picrel, fine when fish are active).
You can also tie a dropshot rig.
Also a texas/carolina rig should avoid most weeds and you can continue using that unless you really feel like you're doing underwater gardening.
I personally like just dragging my spinner above the weeds, but to each their own. Trying to give you the options available.
>Also how big of a movement am I going for with this hobbling, a big pull to lift it a meter and then let it drop for a few seconds? Or more of a lots of little wrist flicks at greater frequency type thing?
You can do both. I find that bigger jumps maximise hangtime (not a meter though, bit much), but can't go wrong with switching things up a little if you're getting nothing. Pike and perch have a tendency to bite my softbait while its on its way down, sometimes straight after a cast.
Thankyou anon, I will give all that a try.
Enjoy. And don't forget, not catching shit is normal and happens to everyone.
Your advice worked well anon, although I applied it while canoeing back home rather than where the canals are. Caught a few like this, although the weeds were so thick 80% of cast were instantly dragging weed, they certainly liked the bottom twitching. Psyched for a longer session and hopefully some big ones.
Happy to hear it's working for you!
Nice pike, they are really good for making fish patties.
Just carry a can of sweet corn with you and a small shovel to find some worms. That's all you need if you're not for sport matters and just want to take something alive from the water.
This thread and the other fishing one got me going. I loved fishing growing up. Picked up a sick nasty Lew's reel with like 10 bearings, 7ft shimano SLX rod, some soft plastics, couple cranks, a spoon, and DEET.
Will report back by Monday morning.