How to Catch a Beautiful Peacock Bass

One of the hardest fighting species of freshwater fish is the peacock bass. This beautiful looking fish is great fun to catch because when it bites it hits hard and then fights long and hard. If you’ve ever considered trying your hand at catching these awesome fish, here are some helpful suggestions. If you want to read more about other kinds of bass fishing, click here.

First you must go to the region where they are found. The most popular place to fish for them is in their native home, South America in the South American jungle. They have long been a favorite to go after in the Amazon River. However, if that’s not your style, they have been introduced into a lot of other beautiful locations. Today they can be found in Florida, Texas, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Panama, Guam, and the Dominican Republic.

Once you’re fishing in the right water you want to make sure you have the right tackle. If you’re going after the butterfly peacock bass, which is the smaller of the two species, you should use light tackle or medium weight tackle because the record fish is only 12 lbs. 9 oz., however you’ll want to use some good strong fluorocarbon line or braided line because of the way they fight. They strike hard and run and are generally a challenge to bring to the boat. Good strong line is required so they don’t snap it off. As with other fish of this size, using a light weight fishing rod and reel makes the fight more intense and exciting. If you want to learn more about different weights and types of fishing rods, click here.

A good big lure to use for peacock bass is a silver spoon or silver Kastmaster. They love to attack this shiny lures.

Best Deep Sea Summer Fishing Spots

When the hot summer days finally arrive there is nothing better to do than go out on a boat deep sea fishing. Trolling along for fish or just anchored waiting for them to come to you is a great way to pass a summer’s day. Even while you’re waiting for a bite you can be playing online fishing games on your smart phone. If you want to read more about a variety of fishing games, click here. Here are some of the top places to go out deep sea fishing.

Out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is Kona Hawaii. Summer time in these waters is when the exciting marlin fishing occurs. The warm water and the currents bring the fish in from all over. It was in May of 1982 that the record marlin was caught in these waters.

Another great place to go is Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The waters off the coast fill with fish this time of year. There are many species here from bonito to marlin. There are lots of wahoo in the region as well. The record was caught in July of 2005. Whether you stay in Cabo or Puerto Vallarta the water is wonderful in this region.

The Gulf of Mexico is another great place to go deep sea fishing in the summer. The fish is almost always biting. Some go very deep to avoid the heat. There are many species of grouper that are fun to catch in this region. The record for the grouper was caught here in May of 2002.

Up north in the Gulf of Alaska, the fishing is wonderful in the summer. When the water and the weather warm up the fish start biting. This is the best time to catch halibut, black bass, and of course salmon. If you’re interested in reading more about deep sea fishing, click here.

Bonito Fishing

Fishing for bonito is a lot of fun, but usually they are caught when trolling for other species. Bonito are found both in the Atlantic and the Pacific. The pacific bonito is smaller, with the all tackle world record weighting in at 14 lbs. 2 oz. The Atlantic bonito record is 18 lbs. 4 oz. Even though the bonito is related to the tuna, it is best known as a sport fish rather than for food. If you’re interested in reading more about fishing for other types of fish, click here.

The pacific bonito are found in pockets from chili to the Gulf of Alaska. They are most abundant from Baja California to Point Conception, California. The Atlantic bonito is found from Nova Scotia to Argentina. In North America the Atlantic bonito’s largest populations are found between southern New England and New Jersey. They are rare in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Bonito are easiest to catch at sunrise and dusk when they feed heavily. They tend to be close to the top water feeding on shrimp, squid, and other smaller bait fish. The fish seem to prefer anchovies and sardines where available. Top poppers and other top water lures that imitate these fish are very effective.

Atlantic bonito spawns in June and July. They reach their sexual maturity when they are about 16 inches long. They will move close to the shore and lay their eggs in the warm water. Pacific bonitos spawn in the spring when the water warms up. If the coastal waters are late getting warm because of a long winter they may not show up. Fishing maps will help you locate the best areas. Click here if you would like to read more bout using fishing maps.

Bone Fishing Essentials

One of the most popular sport fish to catch is the bonefish. It is fun to go after and even more fun to catch. Out of all the saltwater fish, bonefish is the one that you must go after to say that you are an angler. Here are some of the essentials you need to know if you up for the challenge. If you want to read more about fishing for other species, click here.

One of the reasons bonefish are such a challenge is that you can stalk them and hunt them. They like to spend their days in the shallow waters like sand flats, mudflats, and mangrove lagoons. The adults travel in small schools of 5-10 fish. They can move slowly when they are feeding or looking for food, but when spooked or hooked they will run with amazing speed. They can go from 0 to 100 in an instant. This is why you need lots of line on your reel and have the drag set fairly tight.

Mainly anglers go after bonefish with a fly rod. When they are searching for food they stir up the sand or mud and then eat with their heads down and their tails sticking up out of the water. These tailing fish are easy to spot making sight fishing fun.

When walking through the sand flats you can come upon 5 or 6 tailing bonefish you can cast your fly past them and strip it in front of their noses. They casts are usually long distance so practice your long cast with a 10 weight fly rod. Once their hooked they will run hard. The amazing thing is that they may run at you or away from you or any other direction. They run so fast when they run away the reel just screams. To read more about fly fishing click here.

Fly Fishing in Colorado

The Colorado Rivers and streams after all the trout spawning is finished, fly fishing really begins to pick up. Colorado is blessed with many medium sized to small sized rivers and streams that are just amazing for trout fishing. If you’re interested in reading more about trout fishing click here.

Fishing for trout on a fly rod is almost the greatest thing in the world. Down on the Arkansas River, between canon city and Buena Vista, there is a caddis hatch that begins towards the end of April in the Buena Vista area and then slowly works its way downstream to canon city. The hatch will generally make it to canon about around then end of May. During this month fly fishing is exceptional in the area where the hatch is occurring. Caddis is signaled to hatch out of their aquatic larval stage into their flying adult stage by temperature.

In the region of water were the hatch is going to occur, the cool morning begins with wet fly caddis larva. The fish go crazy for these and in the Arkansas River this means 10-16 inch fish. As the day warms up you switch up to a caddis emerger pattern which the fish are expecting and will go crazy over. Then, when the temperature reaches a perfect level the caddis hatch and completely engulf the river. Using a dry fly elk hair caddis pattern will keep them busy. However, for some there are too many caddis. You must present your fly just perfectly to the fish. You can see the fish gorging themselves on the caddis as the bug sits on top of the water waiting momentarily for their wings to dry enough for flight. If you want to learn more about fly fishing click here.

Greatest fishing spots in Virginia

Virginia is an amazingly lush state that has many rivers, streams, lakes, and reservoirs that provide fresh water fishing. Virginia also has a great coast line and offshore areas that have excellent saltwater fishing.

Fishing in the Chesapeake Bay along the estuaries of the James River, the York River and Rappahannock River are some of the greatest cod fishing in the area. As the fish move in and out of the bay they pass through this area and feed on the food that is brought down from the rivers into the bay. To read more about deep sea fishing click here.

The North Fork Shenandoah is a great river to fish. It is peaceful and pretty, fast in some spots and slow in other places. It is a great river to fly fish, especially in the fall and spring. Fly fishing is wonderful here. If you want to learn more about fly fishing click here.

Virginia’s largest body of water is the John H. Kerr reservoir. This lake was formed by damming the Roanoke River. This big body of water is home to some great fishing for several species including bass, crappie, and catfish. If you want to read more about bass fishing click here.

Smith Mountain Lake is another large reservoir on the Roanoke. There are several rivers that feed into the lake, including the black water river. There are many species living in this lake and the fishing is wonderful. The lake has many coves and fingers where fish thrive

Claytor Lake was formed by damming up the New River which flows through the southwest part of the state. Claytor is smaller than some of the other bodies of water, but there are lots of fish and very pretty country. The lake has lots of cover on the bottom to support a good population of bait fish and therefore a good population of game fish.

Best Spots for American Shad Fishing

The American shad is a wonderful fish to catch because they love to run and fight hard. They are also known for their strong jumping antics. They are found up and down the east and west coast of North America. They have never caught on for sport fishing in Canada, but are very popular in the US. Here are some of the best spots to go fishing for the American shad.

One of the greatest rivers to fish during the spawning season is the Delaware River. The shad stage in the estuaries and eat while they get accustomed to the low salinity levels. Once they are used to the water they shoot up the river to their spawning grounds. During this time shiny spoons may catch their attention, but they are off their feed until they have finished spawning. On their way back down the river they start eating again. This is perfect setting for fly fishing using some of the bigger bugs. They are hungry and need to regain their strength so they will be eating as large of bug as they can swallow. To read more about fly fishing click here.

Another great east coast shad fishery is the St. Johns River in Florida. Because the water is warm almost year ‘round Spawning begins in late November. This gives you an opportunity to fish for shad for many months by starting on the St. Johns and working your way along the coast in the spring. If you want to read more about Florida fishing click here.

On the west coast, the Sacramento River in California has a great run of shad. They will also stage for a week or so in the estuary before moving upstream. As they return they will begin to feed. Fish eggs and small crank baits work well for catching these hungry fish.