This is what happens when you set the hook properly.
Photo: Vilma Sisler

“Don’t trout set, mon.”

Over the years countless bonefish anglers have heard this phrase from their Bahamian guides. OK, we know not to trout set, but what are we supposed to do?

Let’s start with a little bit of background. As trout anglers we’ve been trained to raise the rod when a fish eats. Raising a fly rod turns it into a shock absorber – it gives a smooth, steady pull on the fly that protects a light trout tippet and does just fine pinning your barbless #18 hook into a trout’s lip.

Bonefish have hard mouths, and when they eat your fly, you need a quick, sharp pull to bury the hook. If you raise your rod tip when a critter like a bonefish eats, the end result will be that the fly gets smoothly pulled out of the fish’s mouth, not jabbed in there like you want it.

If you’ve never had the shock absorbtion of a fly rod demonstrated to you, get a buddy and try this fun little exercise.

1. String up a fly rod with a line and a leader but with no fly.
2. Grab onto the end of the leader (with a light leader you can wrap it around your hand if you like).
3. Have your buddy grab the fly rod and walk back about 20 feet.
4. Have your buddy do a ‘trout set’ – just raise the rod tip. Pretty smooth pull, huh?
5. Now have your buddy point the rod straight at you, slowly pull in the excess line, and after the line is tight, give it another quick strip. OK, point made?

If you don’t have a buddy (nearby, at least) to try this with, just trust us – the classic trout set results in a very smooth gradual pull – excellent for protecting 7x tippets but terrible for burying 1/0 saltwater hooks into the mouth of a bonefish. Stripping the fly with the rod pointed straight results in a much sharper, stronger jab.

Here’s how to present and then set the hook when a bonefish eats.

1. Make your cast.
2. Keep your rod tip in the water, pointed straight at the fish. Strip out the excess slack.
3. When the fish sees the fly, give it a few quick trips.
4. Once he follows, keep moving the fly, pausing only to let him keep up with it.
5. Keep your rod pointed straight at the fish.
6. When you see the fish tip down to eat, or you feel resistance when stripping the fly line, keep your rod pointed straight at the fish.
7. Now give the line one more firm, long strip. It’ll generally stop dead, or the fish will take off. In either case, the hook is now set and you can raise the rod tip and have some fun fighting that bonefish.

It’s really hard at first to not raise your rod. For us the idea that finally got it through our thick skulls was “keeping stripping until the line is tight“. If you keep stripping until the line is tight and you don’t raise your rod tip, chances are you’ve buried the hook into that fish’s mouth and you’re good to go.

For some practice on setting the hook properly, drop us a line about Andros. They open on in October.

See the original article at GotHunts.com

Image credit: Nationaal Archief

I think I need to live in the country and milk cows all day.

See the original article at TheHuntersWife.net

Surprise, surprise! wolves continue to make news.

Here is the latest Idaho Fish and Game Department report on Idaho wolf management. This report contains a preliminary wrap-up on the first-ever wolf hunt season, current population and a summary of the current politics relative to upcoming court decisions.

Of note, are the two attached letters; one from the Defenders of Wildlife to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the subsequent response of the RMEF to Defenders. Good reading!

Check out this link relative to one view of this exchange between the Defenders and the RMEF. It is entitled, “Elk huggers take on wolf lovers…”

See the original article at GotHunts.com

My husband and I are very different when it comes to fishing together. I like to talk and he likes to answer with a yes or no, never initiating any form of conversation. It’s his quiet time away from the big city and away from talkers like me …

1. If I were a crappie, I’d want to live here.
2. I got my hook stuck on the anchor rope again.
3. My hand smells like a minnow bucket.
4. Why is that turtle following my bobber?
5. Can you get the turtle away from my bobber?
6. Have you ever caught a turtle?
7. I caught a (blipping) turtle.  Get it off.

And he hardly ever answers.  So I concentrate on fishing and start talking to myself  whether my husband is listening or not.

I caught this 5 lb crappie on a pink taily twirly majigger using a squirmy slimy stinky minnow under a bobbie and my husband could careless because it’s his “quiet time”.

And then my husband decides to talk to me so he can video tape what I just said … and well …

If you noticed, I was still talking when he cut me off.

I think I’m better off having a camera crew just follow me around.

And thank goodness I had on a hat ’cause there was a bird about to dive on me.

Bird attack.

In my squirrel’s nest.

So then my husband had to show off his crappie …

And I think that was the most he talked all week.

And he wasn’t even talking to me.

He ignored me.

Have a good day all … and after umpteen showers, I think my hand still smells like a minnow bucket.

Maybe that’s why my husband ignores me.

See the original article at TheHuntersWife.net

If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time you’ve probably come across a comment or two I’ve made about never tinkling in the woods.  I’m not that kind of outdoors girl.  A squirrel might see me.  But after an incident at the marina last week, well, um, lets just say I’d rather a squirrel saw me.

It was a very hot week of fishing.  85 degrees hot. Being on a boat in the middle of the lake with the sun beating down on you feels like 95 degrees.  Without making a move, you’ve already worked up a good sweat.  Which means your clothes are wet and stuck to you.

My husband decided he needed more minnows so we headed to the marina.  We pulled up at the dock and I decided I better use the ladies room.  So I pranced across the dock and up the pier to the restaurant wishing everyone a good morning along the way.

On my way out, I wished more fellow anglers and marina workers a good morning and climbed back into the boat.  As we pulled away I noticed several workers going about their business on the dock, people having coffee on the upper level of the marina restaurant and I thought about the people that had a beautiful view to the water while dining in the restaurant.

We finally made our way to a brush pile with our fresh minnows and my boat duties kicked in.  I bent over and dropped the anchor in the water.  I bent over and set the minnows out for easy access.  I bent over and handed my husband a minnow.  And I bent over,  grabbed my pole and started fishing while standing.

A short time later, another boat anchored behind us to fish a separate brush pile.  We made small talk with the older couple and then I went about my fishing business.  Bending over to get a minnow, bending over to pick up my minnow I dropped and bending over to pick up my squirmy little minnow again.  After about an hour, our elder friends left.

You know when it’s 85 degrees out, your clothes are stuck to you, you’re swatting bugs in fear of getting bit and you start itching?  Well I was all over the boat swatting and itching when I felt something biting the back of my leg.  I turned my body to give the back of my leg a good itch when I noticed it.

You know when you’re the girl that doesn’t tinkle in the woods and is in fear of bathroom germs so you cover the toilet like you’re wallpapering the thing in case your squat fails?

You know when it’s 85 degrees and your ass is as sticky as wallpaper?

And your squat failed for that brief second just long enough for a 5 feet long piece of toilet paper to stick to your ass.

You know when you bend over 100 times in a boat and you’re husband never notices that you have  5 feet of toilet paper hanging out your sticky wallpapering ass?

You know when you’re on a boat and an older couple is fishing behind you and they never once said, “Excuse me hon, but I think you have something hanging out your panties?”

You know when you’re sitting there having flash backs of where it happened, when it happened, and for the love of prancing across the marina like you’re super TP girl, who in the world saw you?

Oh help me.

And then you do what every wife would do after sitting on a boat with their husband for 12 hours a day…

“Mark? Grr Mark.  Grr.  As many times as I bend over in this stupid boat, how did you not see 5 feet of toilet paper hanging down to my ankle?”  I went on and on.  Blah blah blah.  Guys at the marina saw me.  Other anglers saw me.  Blah blah blah.  OMG blah blah blah.  I don’t even know what I was rambling but it was a good wife ramble for a good 15 minutes.

And all he had to say was, “Jody,  I was fishing.”

I am never using the marina bathroom again.

Mariana worker:  Where you going?

TP super girl:  To use the ladies room.

Mariana worker:  It’s that way.

TP super girl:  Oh no it’s not.  It’s behind tree number 3.

Have a good day all … to tinkle in the woods I’ll go.

See the original article at TheHuntersWife.net

from North Dakota Game and Fish

North Dakota’s paddlefish snagging season opens May 1 and is scheduled to continue through the end of the month.

North Dakota’s paddlefish snagging season opens May 1 and is scheduled to continue through the end of the month. However, depending on the overall harvest, an early in-season closure may occur with a 36-hour notice issued by the state Game and Fish Department.

Legal snagging hours are from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. One tag per snagger will be issued. Snagging is legal in all areas of the Yellowstone River in North Dakota, and in the area of the Missouri River lying west of the U.S. Highway 85 bridge to the Montana border, excluding that portion from the pipeline crossing (river mile 1,577) downstream to the upper end of the Lewis and Clark Wildlife Management Area (river mile 1,565).

Mandatory harvest of all snagged paddlefish is required on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. On these days, all paddlefish caught must be tagged immediately. The use or possession of a gaff hook within one-half mile in either direction of the Highway 200 bridge on the Yellowstone River is illegal at any time during the snagging season.

Snag-and-release of all paddlefish is required on Mondays and Tuesdays. Those planning to participate during snag-and-release-only days need to have in their possession a current season, unused paddlefish snagging tag. Use or possession of gaffs is prohibited on Mondays and Tuesdays, and, if it occurs, during the snag-and-release extension period.

If the season closes early because the harvest quota is reached, an extended snag-and-release-only period will be allowed for up to seven days immediately following the early closure, but not to extend beyond May 31. Only snaggers with a current season, unused paddlefish snagging tag are eligible to participate. Only a limited area at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers is open to this extended season snagging opportunity.

All paddlefish snaggers must possess a paddlefish tag in addition to a valid fishing license and certificate that may be required. Cost of a paddlefish tag is $3 for residents and $7.50 for nonresidents.

See the original article at GotHunts.com