This weeks AMFisH fishing vlog – fishing leaders and when to use what size leader – fishing.

Hi fellow AMFisHers!  This weeks AMFisH(LEARN more here: www.amfish.ca) fishing vlog is about leaders and what size you should use for what application:

Leaders come in various sizes ranging from 4″ all the way up to 24″ and longer, with fisherman also making their own leaders of up to several feet to fit their specific application.  Most commonly used sizes for everyday fishing for pike as an example would be 12″ to 18″, as you want as much main line coverage as possible. What I mean by this is if a huge pike attacks your bait with a lot of force, the fish might inhale most of the leader along with the bait, so you don’t want those sharp teeth anywhere near your main line.

So how do you know what size to use for what application?  Common rules of thumb are to use smaller length leaders for casting and longer for trolling.  A shorter leader is best for casting as it along with the length of your bait will still leave some safe/comfortable swinging room around you to cast.  As you will see I discuss this in detail in this vlog as using a longer leader while trying to cast a long bait will only cause you nothing but grief and possible injury along with broken gear.  Trying to cast a 12″ bait on a 24″ leader is 36 inches of line that you need to swing back then forward, not an easy or safe task with a heavy bait.

On the other hand when you are trolling a 12″ bait you do want that extra long leader in the range of 18″ to 24″ in length and sometimes even longer.  When a big fish zones in on your bait as you are trolling and moves in for the attack with speed, in most cases the attack is so violent/aggressive that the fish takes the entire bait into it’s mouth along with some of the leader, so if the fish has your 12″ in it’s mouth and you have a 12″ leader on it where the fish also has half of your leader in it’s mouth, there is a high possibility that if that fish thrashes or turns quickly it’s teeth can cut your main line.  In that same scenario if you have a 18″ to 24″ leader on the fish can have a foot of that leader in it’s mouth BUT there will be very little chance of it’s teeth cutting your main line as the main line will still be 12″ away from the fishes mouth.

When you get into those short leaders in the 4″ to 6″ range they are great choices for when you are catching toothy critters like pike in that smaller range, where you just need a few inches on line protection from the teeth.  Due to us not knowing what size fish will attack our bait, I always suggest using a minimum length of 8″ to 12″ for a leader, that leaves you some extra line coverage if you get into some bigger fish.

Hope you found this vlog helpful!

The AMFisH guy…

LEARN more: www.amfish.ca

#fishing #fishingtips #AMFisH

This weeks AMFisH fishing vlog – flipping jig is a good bait for largemouth bass!

Hi AMFisHers!   This weeks AMFisH fishing vlog is about the flipping jig being a good bait for largemouth bass:

Flipping jigs are a skirted material sitting on a jighead with a weed guard and are designed to be fished in thick weed cover.   You would typically fish these baits with a soft plastic trailer on the hook, which sits right under the skirt giving the bait a body(see picture below).

These baits are a very good bait for largemouth bass BUT you can catch other species on them as well.  The flipping jig in most cases is fished in a finesse style fashion, meaning you flip/pitch it out into thick week pockets, sunken trees, lily pads, any sort of brush as this bait can handle it being pretty close to 100% weedless.

You let the bait sink to the bottom and settle, give it a few seconds and then twitch it two times then let it settle again.   You can pause longer or shorter between twitches as the bass will tell you how they want to bait presented to them, by striking a certain presentation.

You can get them in various sizes, colours and weights with the trick being matching the soft plastic to the bait.  A creature bait, crawfish bait or a chunk trailer are the norms for soft plastic baits that go with the flipping jig BUT you can explore some other options like putting a swimbait on the back of the jig and fishing it along open water patches link a swimming bait.   Below is a picture of the full bait setup and how it should look when the soft plastic is placed on it.

All in all the flipping bait will produce a lot of fish is applied with the presentation the fish start reacting to, which is why having a few different sizes, weights and colours is a MUST.  Sometimes you will want the bait to fall faster hence the heavier jigs, other times you will want the bait to fall slower so a lighter jig will be needed.  In the end these are great baits for bass no matter how you look at things so pick up a few and give them a try!

Hope you found this vlog helpful!

The AMFisH guy…

http://www.amfish.ca

LIKE us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/amfish14

#fishing #bassfishing #flippingjigs #AMFisH #fishingtips

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Today’s AMFisH fishing blog post – tips for spooling line on a baitcasting reel.

Hi AMFisHers!   Spring fishing is almost here and I thought I would share a post with some tips in it for spooling line on to your baitcasting reels.

First fishing line does not last for many years and it ages quicker is left in direct lights so keep your spools tucked away in a dark place.  Depending on how often you fish it is a good idea to get into the practice of changing it every season, mono and fluorocarbon for sure, with braid you can usually get away with cutting off several feet to get to fresh vibrant line below.

Using a small one inch piece of hockey tape placed on your spool will allow for a nice grip for your line(see picture below) which is crucial for a good solid base line.

Next if you are only using mono or fluorocarbon you should use the arbor knot (reference the video at the bottom of this post)to connect your line to your spool, this is a great knot for this exact purpose.    Once you have tied your line to the spool you will want to spool it on nice and tight, make sure your drag is tight as this will give you a good solid foundation of line on the spool.

If you are using braided line you will follow the same steps above BUT you will want to spool you line on as tight as possible, a very strong foundation with braid can help prevent many issues.   Due to braid having zero stretch you can spool on 20 to 30ft of mono on the spool first(reference picture below), then tie your braid to the mono using a uni-knot(reference video link below) as this is a very strong knot for tying two pieces of line together.

Once your braid is tied to the mono turn that drag forward and spool the line on nice and tight.   You should be able to get a full spool of 150 yards on to the average baitcasting spool BUT be sure not to over spool your reel, keep an eye out for no line reaching above the spool edge, leave a little free space.

When spooling a baitcasting reel you will want to have you spool of line upright so the line comes off the spool and onto your reel spool the exact same way it is sitting on the spool you purchased.   By using an inexpensive spooling/line storage box similar to this(see picture below)one will allow you to spool your reels easily and quickly, as well as allowing you to have all your spools of line organized in one place.

When you are finished your freshly spooled line should loon like it does in the picture below, nicely spooled, even, tight foundation, not over spooled and ready to be used!

 

 

Hope you found this vlog helpful!

The AMFisH guy…

http://www.amfish.ca

http://www.facebook.com/amfish14

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This weeks AMFisH fishing vlog – The AMFisH creation story, video #100!

Hi fellow AMFisHers!  This is a very special AMFisH fishing vlog that is going live this week, as it is the AMFisH creation story vlog as well as my 100th video that has gone live on my YouTube channel!

AMFisH goes back many years to the time when I was in the mid teens and thinking of what wanted to do for a living or what I wanted to be part of as a career, a very confusion time for me as I knew fishing was what I wanted to do but had not idea how I would get to doing it.

Fishing intrigued me since I was a toddler, every time I was near water which was not too often I felt this connection with the water and just seeing someone fishing made me curious.  I recall camping with my family and being around 6 to 7 years old, sitting by the lake campgrounds watching this older man catching fish.   He had walked out to about mid thigh deep water and was casting, every few minutes his fishing rod was bending and I knew he was fighting something he had caught.

After seeing him catch a few fish I walked over as he was coming back to shore and was amazed to see fish he had tied up with some rope.  They were resting in the shallow water and as he approached the shore he said hi how are you.  Being a very shy kid I just smiled and he said nice fish eh, I moved my head up and down and walked away.

So intrigued at what I had seen I knew that this was something I had to do, not sure how but I had to find a way.  Growing up with non outdoorsy parents I did not fish much as a young child but have some fond memories of a few outings, catching  my first fish ever a small rock bass on a worm, that was on a hook tied to some line dangling off a thick 2ft branch.  Fishing in Florida off a pier and catching nothing while others were and those very special outings when camping with my first bullet cast fishing reel/rod combo casting out a dried out black rubber worm and catching nothing hour after hour but sticking with it in hopes I would catch something.

I have very few pictures of me fishing as a child but the memories I had kept me going all these years along with watching fishing shows on TV as that is how I lived my fishing outings through the shows.   So many years later it is an unbelievable feeling to be living my passion/dream and it’s hard to even describe how amazing it is!

I thank everyone out there for their support and look forward to sharing another 100 videos with all of you!

Tight lines!

The AMFisH guy…

http://www.amfish.ca

http://www.facebook.com/amfish14

AMFisH daily blog post – spring fishing bait tips!

Hi fellow AMFisHers!   Spring is just around the corner and there are some key spring fishing strategies when it comes to what baits to use.

Bait fish are their smallest in the very early months so throwing a huge bait does not make for a good choice.   You will want to stick to smaller baits, in the 3.5″ and shorter range, as well as slimmer profile baits with not too much body bulk.

Spring is the time of year when everything is rejuvenating itself, small fry bait fish are scurrying around everywhere, insects are flying around and landing on the water holes, so a great choice of baits are ones that mimic these behaviors.

By using small simple/easy to fish baits like in-line spinners, beetle spins and spoons in very natural looking colours patterns, you capitalize on the current behavior of various food sources that fish gorge on in that spring season.

Coming out of a long, cold and dark downtime the fish light up at this new time of year and can feed rather intensely due to all the available food growing amongst them.  Keeping it simple for the first couple of months definitely increases your chances of many successful fishing days and some very memorable fishing days that may not happen again.

Below are a few pictures of the Williams spoons, Bluefox vibrax inline spinners, Johnson beetle spins and Mepp’s inline spinners which are in the 2″ to 3.5″ size range that you want a bait to be in during early spring.  They are very natural looking colours, silvers, black bug like patterns ad what you will want for a colour selection.   Lastly they give off some good vibration which you can’t use enough in the early spring to attract those fish strikes.

These may be small baits and you might be thinking that bigger fish would not go after baits this size, but many big fish will never pass up on an easy simple meal that they have to expend very little effort to gobble up.

Early season is a great time of year to catch some good fish and plenty of them so think small, natural and noisy to get them going.   You can also work these baits pretty quickly if the water temperature is slightly warmer than usual, spring bait fish and insects are not moving around slowly they are full of life and all over the place!   Get you small bait selection ready and enjoy the results they will bring.

Hope you found this post helpful and may tight lines find you this spring!

The AMFisH guy…

http://www.amfish.ca

http://www.facebook.com/amfish14

This weeks AMFisH fishing vlog – my biggest Canadian largemouth bass catch, a 7lb monster!

AMFisHers!   This week s AMFisH fishing vlog is a short video of my biggest Canadian largemouth bass caught to date, 7lb monster!

 

I was fishing a well known spot on a lake I fish a lot on and it was very close to sunset, when I decided to end the day fishing that spot.  I saw a huge breech and new something big was in the area on a feed so I continued to circle this massive weed/rock filled structure, using my go to bait double Colorado chartreuse spinnerbait with a twin boogie tail YUM trailer.

After several casts in the area I circled around one more time and I am pretty sure I dropped my spinnerbait right on that massive bass!   It was a good strong hit and the fish went straight for the bottom, put up a very good fight and was an extremely thick long fish.

Missed getting a good view of it on this video as I was trying to put it directly in the live well once I got it in the boat so it could re-coop before I took some pictures.

Catching your biggest species of fish is a fabulous feeling and sure makes for a great little video to share with all of you!

Hope you enjoyed this vlog and be sure to subscribe to my channel.

The AMFish guy…

http://www.amfish.ca

http://www.facebook.com/amfish14