4 Tips To Help You Land More Fish!
By: Tyler Dunn   Tyler Dunn Guiding

Preparation, anticipation, execution and confidence are words you would mostly likely hear in a dressing room around a hockey rink. Sport fishing like hockey has all four of these factors involved.  These steps are just as important as having all the right equipment when heading out for a day on the water.

With today’s technology, tactics and the amazing amount of information available on the internet. Pre-fishing should almost always begin at home. No matter if it is on an online fishing forum such as OFNC, blogs or even a guide’s website. More often than not someone will be willing to help you start in the right direction. After researching the web, maps and any other information you can the time comes to prepare your gear. I’m one of those guys who absolutely enjoys every minute of gearing up for the next outing. I used to fish on 1-2 hours of sleep regularly. I’d be up all night tying leaders, sharpening hooks, basically anything I could think of. It didn’t take long for me to realize that sleep was one of the most important aspects of starting to prepare for tomorrows day on the water. I don’t mean crash for 12 hours before you fish, a good 6 hours should be sufficient for a solid day on the water. If there is one type of fishing I find myself preparing most for, it would definitely be for a day on one of Lake Superior’s tributaries float fishing for steelhead. I remember wasting so much time tying on the river banks during my first season chasing bows.

Despite the hours of frustration endured on the river banks, I stuck it out and one night it finally dawned on me to pre-tie leaders the night before. I felt almost as dumb as I did when I first found out about using a small inline swivel below your float. I now tie a few leaders in various pound tests in a couple different lengths. Even if they don’t last me all day and I end up having to tie a few later on, it still saves me from a bunch of tying early on. Do as much as you can at home before you hit the water. No matter what species you chase. Being prepared for your day will give you more time to catch fish.

Any good angler can tell you once in awhile when a fish will hit. A great angler on the other hand does this regularly. Anticipation of a bite is probably one of the least talked about topics in fishing. Anticipation and confidence really go hand in hand. When you fish with confidence your anticipation increases because you know where the fish are and what they want. In turn, once you start anticipating strikes from fish. Your confidence will increase. As far as confidence baits go, I would recommend on having a few baits in each lure department. For instance small mouth bass will hit tubes, worms, jigs, cranks, jerk baits, top water, spinner baits and inline spinners just to name a few. 2 or 3 lures of each will give you enough to begin experimenting with colours and help you gain confidence with each different group of baits.

If you are a bass angler and don’t have a selection of at least the mentioned baits above, your simply selling yourself short. Use every different type of lure available to you even if you can’t afford to buy a big selection. Another good tip to help you gain confidence in new baits is to use them when the fish are around and biting. Most anglers will pull out the new lure fresh from the package when nothing has hit on the usual offering. So, after about 20-30 casts with the new shiny $15 crank bait, back into the tackle box it goes to slowly rust because your lack of confidence in the bait. If your searching new water with a new lure or casting blindly in every direction, 9 times out of 10 you’re going to come to the conclusion that lure doesn’t work at anytime, in any colour. Instead, next time you arrive at your first and usually favourite fishing spot. Try the new bait before good old faithful. Toss in that jerk bait you have never caught a bass on and work it instead of flipping your (even mine) favourite tube jig past the stump that always holds a bass. It is hard to put down comfortable and learn how to catch fish on something uncomfortable. Once you have confidence in a variety of baits, you then step into the realm of trying to figure out patterns and begin taking advantage of having options in your arsenal.

Even if you do go purchase a few of all the different varieties of baits and read as many articles as you can about using them. The bottom line is that it comes down to you and how you execute the plan. In order to execute your plan perfectly you must not only put your bait into the strike zone but make no mistakes from that point on. Fighting a fish does take skill but for the most part, practice. Most fish I have lost or seen lost was a result of a mental breakdown. Pulling your bait away from a smallmouth on a top water bite is a great example. You must execute the perfect hook set, giving them a few seconds to take the bait and turn with it before you set the hook. You have prepared for the bite, anticipated the fish but now you must execute your game plan to get the fish to the boat successfully.

Basically with the right preparation, anticipation and execution you will gain confidence in every aspect of fishing. It doesn’t matter if you are a shore, boat, lake or river angler confidence is a priceless asset. Prepare for the day, anticipate the strike, execute your game plan and your confidence will grow!