Choosing the best common carp bait sounds simple until you start looking at the options. One angler swears by fishmeal boilies, another catches regularly on sweetcorn, and someone else refuses to fish without tiger nuts. They can all be right. Common carp are adaptable feeders, and a bait that works brilliantly on one lake can…
Choosing the wrong fishing line can make walleye jigging unnecessarily difficult. A line that is too thick may reduce casting distance and create extra drag in current, while a line that is too light can lead to breakoffs around rocks and submerged structure. If you’re wondering what pound test for walleye jigging works best, the…
Most anglers know that catfish can live and grow in ponds, but do catfish spawn in ponds naturally, or do pond owners have to keep introducing new fish? The answer is more complicated than it first appears. Catfish are capable of reproducing in ponds, but successful reproduction is not guaranteed. In fact, many stocked ponds…
Do carp feed at night? Yes, and on many waters, darkness can be one of the most productive periods for carp feeding. However, there is an important difference between knowing that carp eat after sunset and assuming they always feed more at night than during the day. Common carp are adaptable fish. Their feeding patterns…
Bass fishing on a full moon has a reputation for producing some of the best nighttime catches. Some anglers plan entire trips around the lunar calendar, while others believe a bright moon makes bass harder to catch. The reality is less predictable. A full moon changes the amount of natural light available at night, and…
Carp are remarkably hardy fish, which can create the impression that they are comfortable spending a long time out of the water. They are not. A carp does not necessarily die within seconds of being lifted onto an unhooking mat, and under favorable conditions it may remain alive considerably longer than the few moments normally…
If you’ve ever landed a catfish and heard a croak, squeak, grunt, or strange grinding sound, the obvious question is: why do catfish make noise? The sound can be surprisingly loud when the fish is out of the water. It may even seem as though the catfish is somehow vocalizing. In many cases, however, the…
The pickerel vs perch comparison becomes confusing surprisingly quickly because the word “pickerel” does not always describe the same fish. If you mean a true pickerel — particularly the chain pickerel — and compare it with a yellow perch, the two are very different fish. Chain pickerel are long, toothy ambush predators from the pike…
Choosing what lb line for carp fishing sounds as though it should depend on the size of the carp. In reality, the water you are fishing usually matters more. A clean lake with plenty of open water places very different demands on your mainline than a swim containing weed, submerged branches, mussel beds or sharp…
Catfishing with goldfish is a genuine live-bait tactic rather than just another strange bait experiment. In places where using them is legal, goldfish can be used for large blue catfish and flathead catfish, particularly when the goal is to present an active baitfish around deep holes, current breaks, or heavy cover. There is one important…