Lake Fishing Tips - How To Catch A Great Haul

Here are some lake fishing tips to help you catch more fish.
Lake fishing is a very enjoyable way to fish.
There are few things as pleasant as sitting next to a lake on a Summer's morning in the countryside.
Before you go fishing you will need a rod, reel with some line, hooks and weights, floats and a landing net.
You can use a ledger, but I prefer to float fish. I select a float, put some weights on the line so that the tip of the float will just be showing above the water. Nest I put a fairly small barb less hook on the line.
I put a nice piece of luncheon meat on the hook and cast out into the lake.

I then throw a few pieces of luncheon meat into the water near my float to attract some fish.
Sometimes I will have a bite within a few minutes of starting, but usually I need to wait for about an hour before the float goes under the water.
One of the great things about fishing in lakes as opposed to rivers is that once you have fish in your swim, there is no current to take them away, and you can go on catching plenty of good fish for anything up to a couple of hours.
To start with do not use any ground bait, you might be lucky and start hooking fish without any.
You probably will need some ground bait though, but an important tip is to just throw a few very small pieces in, just enough to attract the fish and not enough to feed them.

This way you will always have some hungry fish in your swim.
Here is another tip.
Once you have hooked your first fish, throw a little more ground bait in.
This is because the fish you have just caught will have disturbed the water and you need to distract the fish that are still in the swim and keep their interest aroused.
Part of the excitement of fishing, is not knowing what you are going to catch.
You cast out into the murky water, with your hook about six feet under the float - but you can't see the fish.
When your float goes under the water, and you have a bite, you strike and if you hook the fish, if it is a small one, it will come in quite easily.
If you hook a bigger fish, you will know straight away, because you will feel your rod bend and often the fish will speed away, deep in the water and yards of line will fly off of your reel.
This is what you have been waiting for!
When this happens, it is best to try and keep your rod fairly upright and use the flexibility and power of the rod, to play the fish.
Gradually reel the fish in closer to the bank, keeping the line taught.
If all goes well you will be able to reach for your landing net, then try and pull the fish near to the surface of the water.
This will probably be the first glimpse of the fish you will have - always an exciting moment.
If I am fishing on my favourite lake, it will probably be a carp.
I will then have some idea of its size and weight.
More than likely, he will dive deeper into the water again, if it is a large fish and this could go on for a few minutes, until he is a little more tired and I can pull him to the surface, place my landing net under him and scoop him out of the water.
Once he is safely on the bank, I will take the hook out of his mouth and weigh him, then gently lower him back into the water to swim away.
Its very satisfying to land a nice fish, if it happens once or twice in a session, then its been a good day`s fishing.
Over the last few years fishing with a pole has become popular.
This consists of a hollow fibre class or carbon fibre pole in one metre sections.
You can build the pole up to the length that you are going to present the bait out to, for example twenty metres.
At the end of the pole will be some line with a hook with your bait on it.
When you get a bite, you will have more chance of catching a fish because there is no slack. The once you have hooked the fish, you just take sections off of the pole until you are left with the fish near enough for you to scoop it up with your landing net.
Poles are quite expensive though so you will probably not want to start off with one.
Another popular method of fishing is to use what is known as a hair rig.
You will usually ledger with this method and this consists of a hook attached to your line with another smaller length of line (the hair rig) that is attached to the hook and dangles beneath it with the bait threaded on to the hair rig.
With this method the fish sucks in the bait and the hook will also be sucked into its mouth at the same time.
When the fish feels the hook it will try to blow it out of its mouth, but this will usually
result in the fish being hooked.
If you intend to go fishing, the best idea is to go with a friend first to see if you enjoy it.
If you do then you will need some fishing tackle, such as a rod, reel with some line and some hooks and floats.
You can often pick these things up at a good price at car boot sales and websites such eBay and Amazon.

For more tips on lake fishing plus details of free fishing trips that are available please visit: http://www.squidoo.com/lake-fishing-tips

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ged_Silvers 

See my previous post: Lake Fishing Tips - Catch More Carp

Lake Fishing Tips - Catch More Carp

Carp are one of the most popular species of fish to catch in lakes. One of the reasons for this is that they grow to such a large size and you are always guaranteed a good battle when you hook one.
There are three main categories of carp, crucial, mirror and common. All of these grow to a good size and will give you hours of pleasure in catching them.

Once you have found a lake where you know there are carp, one of the first things you should do is to try and find out what the best bait is to catch them with. You could try by trial and error, but if there are other people fishing at the lake, if you ask them, they will often give you a good idea. On some lakes sweet corn is the best bait, but on others it could be luncheon meat, bread or doilies.
Once you have decided on the bait, you need to find a likely place to catch your carp. If there is a bailiff at the lake, he will be able to give you some information on this that will save you a lot of time. If there is no one to ask, places that carp are likely to be caught, on a sunny day are where there is some shade, near trees or overhanging branches. Other places are those where there are water lilies or other lake plants such as reeds. If you cast out to these places you will often do well.

Another very good place that is often overlooked, but is one of my favourites, is in the margins. The margins, are anywhere from the bank out to about two metres from the bank, around the perimeter of the lake. Carp tend to swim around lakes around the margins, so you do not need to cast out far to catch them.
Once you have decided where to fish, the next thing to do is decide on the method you are going to use.
Probably the most popular method of carp fishing is ledgering with a hair rig. This has proved very successful and the largest carp have probably been caught using this method.
A hair rig consists of a hook with a piece of line attached to it and the bait is threaded on to this. Once a carp takes the bait, the hook is also sucked into the fish's mouth and when it tries to expel the bait, it hooks itself and you will hear your bite alarm sound and know it is time to strike.
I often float fish for carp as I find this very enjoyable.

I often find the margins are one of the best places to catch carp, so I cast no more than two metres out.
I fish so that my bait is just on the bottom of the lake and throw some very small pieces of ground bait out to attract the fish. I think it is important to make this point, because you only need to attract the fish, you do not want to feed them.
Sometimes you will find that after five minutes you get your first bite. Although sometimes it can take up to an hour before your first bite, but I often find that once I have my first bite, I will probably go on getting bites for a couple of hours.
When you are float fishing it is important to make sure that only the colour at the tip of the float is showing, so that with only the smallest of bites there is not much resistance for the carp and it can easily take the float under.
For this reason I usually choose a float with a bright orange tip rather than a dark coloured one, so that I can easily see the tip of the float.
Once the float goes under it is time to strike, with a bit of luck you will hook your fish and catch your first carp of the day.

For details of where you can fish for carp for free please visit: http://www.squidoo.com/lake-fishing-tips Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ged_Silvers

See my previous post: Lake Fishing

Lake Fishing Tips For Winter

Lake fishing in Winter can be great fun and you can catch a surprising number of fish if you use the right techniques.
In the Summer months it is usually quite easy to get the fish biting as the warmth will encourage most fish to become lively. This will also mean that they will expend more energy and become hungry and eat more food.
In the Winter months the fish will not be as energetic and as they expend less energy their appetites will also be reduced.
This will mean that you will need to use different methods to catch them.
It is worth remembering that fish have a sense of smell that is something like, three hundred times more powerful than a human's. Fish are attracted to food by what they can smell, once they are near to the food source they will then see it and be able to eat it.

So when you are fishing in winter, the bait you use is very important.
Bearing this in mind, if you used for example, luncheon meat in summer to catch carp, you will find that if you can warm the luncheon meat that you are going to use as ground bait up, it will give off a greater smell and you will still be able to attract carp to your swim.
If you have a flask of hot water, a good way to do this, is to put some small amounts of luncheon meat (that you are going to use as ground bait) in a small bag, such as a sandwich bag and put them in a cup of hot water for about five minutes.
When they the meat is warm, you will be able to smell it and then you know the fish will be able to smell it really well.

Then you can cast your bait out, and throw the warm luncheon meat out as ground bait.
Follow this process a few times and you will often find that you can attract some good fish to your swim quite quickly.
Another thing to remember is that as a fish in winter does not expend so much energy it will have a smaller appetite, so use smaller hooks and put smaller pieces of bait on for the best results.
Whilst on the subject of bait, it is worth mentioning that although maggots are super bait for summer in winter they are not of any use because they will die quickly because of the cold and attract virtually no fish although casters can still be good.
Bread can still be good bait. Once again think about how the smell attracts fish. A friend of mine makes his own bread and mixes curry flavouring to it in winter, and he usually catches plenty of good fish using this method.
Where in the lake should you fish in winter?
In answer to this, you should remember that fish do not like a cold wind on the surface of the lake.
You should therefore look for part of the lake that is sheltered from the wind. If the sun is out, look for a part of the lake that has sun on it, as this will warm that part of the lake and the fish will be much more active in it. In fact it is amazing how much difference it makes to a days fishing in winter once the sun comes out.
If you usually start fishing early in the morning, it is worth bearing in mind that some of the best fishing in winter will be later in the afternoon once the sun is out and the fish have livened up.
Remember to keep yourself warm in winter. You will be more alert and feel a lot better if you keep warm and feel like staying at the lake for longer.
Plan ahead and take warm clothing, shelter from the wind with some fishing umbrellas and take some warm food and a warm drink with you.
You will often find that not as many anglers will be at even the most popular lakes in Winter, this gives you the chance to find the best swim and often have a great days fishing.

For tips to help you catch more fish and free carp fishing please visit: http://www.squidoo.com/lake-fishing-tips

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ged_Silvers 

See my previous post:Basic Fishing Tips For Lake Fishing