I stopped for a moment to talk to an elderly man that was sitting along a bridge just outside our compound here in Argentina. The man had gotten there just prior to my arrival and was still setting up his gear; he was using an old aluminum pole with a small, open-bail reel, that, although well-kept, was really showing its age. While talking to him, I noticed something that truly amazed me. The man reached into his tackle box and pulled out a handful of small splints of wood. After carefully fingering through them, he selected about six of them and pinched them to his line about 16 inches above his hook. He then took a piece of kite string and wrapped the splints securely to the line.

It was a really interesting method that, although it caught me off guard, taught me something very interesting about the fishing culture down here: that although the people here may not have even the most simplistic gear that we tend to take for granted in the US, they are perfectly content finding other ways to effectively fish.

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I am certain that many of us have faced this problem time and time again: you are fishing for a long while, and when you finally about to give up, a beautiful trophy strikes your line. As any fishermen would, your reaction is to set the hook, however, when you lift your rod and draw your line, the hook seems to be pulled out of the fish’s mouth without ever having even scratched the fish.

Although one can simply write a situation like this off by saying the fishermen has bad timing, or the fish had not taken the fly in yet, there is one cause for this problem that can not be avoided, and is typically the reason for such a disappointment: the hook.

When fishing rivers, it is important to understand the the rocks and small pebbles along the bottum of the stream wear away at the soft tips of the hook, thereby making the striking tip blunt and therefor less effective. It is therefor very important to maintane this piont.

Thanks to technology, this can be accoplished by utilizing a number of different mechanical sharpeners, as well as simply using a hand sharpener. Reguardless of the method, it is very important the you remember to get to the piont.

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As we all know, Northern cold-water fishing is a very popular passtime, and can become very competitive as fishermen attempt to get that last big one in before the season ends. Due to this, fisherman are always seeking advantage, and therefor the use of waders, throughout the entire season, are very popular, however, it is important to keep some very obvious things in mind.

Firstly, waders are undoubtedly a great advantage over having to stand along a bank, however, they are not entirly secure, regardless of weather the bottums of your boots are felted, or assisted by ‘corgers,’ it is important to remeber that they are not hiking boots, and you always face the risk of slipping and hurting yourself. This leads to the next, and probably more important caution I have for all of you is that waders are only waterproof from the sides and the bottums.

I have heard, and witnessed countless scary stories of fishermen being seriously injured, and in some cases drowing do to a simply slip up. What it is important to realize, it that if you fall while standing even in relatively shallow water, your waders have the potential to fill up rather quickly, and it can be increadible difficult to find footing, or tread water with that much extra weight, and therefore can have some very horrific consiquense. Although this is true, there is one very simple way to aviod such a problem.

When using waders, ALWAYS wear a strap-belt. A belt along the bellow, or waiste depending on design, will keep water from being able to so readily fill the waders, giving you more time to react to falling, and will give you opportunity to regain footing and refrane from the effects of the fall.

Anyways, I say all this to say, be careful this fall, and stay safe. All of the problems that we face throughout the rest of the season seem to become that much more dangerous as the temperature of the water drops. So be careful, and happy fishing!

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Although the simplistic method of “cast and wait,” is less advanced than others, it is typically reserved for young children who are perfectly content fishing with a stick and shoelace, which begs this question to be asked, “who enjoys fishing more?”

I have had the opportunity to go fishing with a number of great fishermen around the world, and have taken countless adults fishing, and have seen a number of different attitudes arise while fishing with them. I have worked with men that have had a great attitude, and who i have thoroughly enjoyed spending time fishing with. However, I have also been fishing with men who have had bad attitude and seem to have a gift of finding things to complain about.

Regardless of the above, I have also had the opportunity to take a number of children fishing, and have humbled myself to fish with them using a piece of thread attached to a stick, and, although we may not catch a thing those days, I have never gone fishing with a kid who has not completely enjoyed themselves. In this, these kids have taught me a lot about fishing, that it is not about how many fish you catch, or how large those fish are, fishing is all about enjoying yourself, and due to that, I encourage all of you fishermen out there, if you can find a child, two stick, thread, and some worms, you will find happiness.

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Furthermore, the targeted fish is a large bottom-feeder in the carp family, making bottom-fishing very effective. The setup that is used by most fishermen is very simple, it consists of a steel leader attached to a heavy lead weight. Along the steel leader there are two tag leaders that each hold a large hook.

On each of the two hooks there are two typical baits that are used by that Argentine fishermen, white rubber jigs, or live minnows, typically two or three minnows per hook.

To fish such a unit, the fisherman casts the line as far as possible, places the rod in a holder along the waters edge, and just waits. Although it seems like such a simplistic means by which to feed your family, it was very interesting to see the talent that it took to reel a fish in the air from a dike that is twenty feet in the air.

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Behind the compound at which I am staying, there is a large saltwater inlet, in which, there is a large number of big game saltwater fish. While walking back to the compound from a local town, I spoke with an older man who bait-casting small minnows along the coast of the inlet, and seemed to be reaping the benefits of many years of wisdom.

Furthermore, I have learned from a local missionary, that one of the largest international saltwater fishing companies is located in a nearby city. I will be headed into Buenos Aires this coming Saturday, and will be searching for a distributor, hoping to get a bargain on fishing gear. Furthermore, this coming weekend we will most likely be heading farther north to attempt to reel in some big ones!

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This increase has had some drastic, direct affects on shoreline fishing. Due to this rise, the population of feeder fish has had an inverse affect, creating a drop in their numbers, causing the larger trophy fish to remain off-shore, no longer coming into shallow water to feed.

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The “Red Tide” has been, throughout history, associated with many myths of war and gods, however, in reality, such a tide is caused by the blooming of specific algae in the water. The color of the algae can range from brown, to green, and is only visible during a large bloom, when the density of the algae is high enough to make the single-celled organisms visible as a mass.

Although Red Tide may occur often, they are not typically a threat unless they reach a piont where the algea is removing more oxygen from the water than can be sufficiently replenished. This will cause fatalities amoung small bait-fish species, thereby causing larger game fish to remain offshore, sometimes resulting in larger fish-kills, as occured in Florida during the Florida, and California Red Tides.

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The method was simple, wade into the muddy waters near the oceans edge, and tread water so that your feet just barely settle below the mud. After you have properly established your position, and have become familiar with the smell of the manure-like mud, slowly squish your feet around just below the mud and feel around for any hard objects. When you have stumbled across target, usually marked by a stubbing of a toe, or a cut along the bottom of the foot, use your toes to bring the object in question to the surface to reveal if you did, in fact, find a Quohog.

After a number of hours, and the recovery of many glass bottles, shoes, and golf balls, did manage to fill our two pecks of Quohogs, and had a wonderful evening of scrubbing and boiling those disdained creatures.

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However, cork falls subject to a number of unavoidable mishaps throughout use. The two major factors that play into the wearing of cork handles, are moisture, and insect. Contrary to what might be readily accepted, dirt and grime are actually good for your cork handle. This layer not only helps to break in the handle to make it more fitted, but will also create a protective coating over the handle, thereby keeping off termites and other wood-eating insects.

I own a number of cork-handled rods, and recently found small larva living inside the handle. Because of this, I had to cut a section out of the handle, and reconstruct that section, an art that I will explain more about tomorrow. Today, however, I wish to discuss the precautionary measures that can taken to maintain a cork handle, and thereby extend its use.

First, I stated that water was a leading cause of decomposition of cork handles. This is mostly due to the fact that the water can soak into the handle, and actually rot the handle from the inside out. To avoid this, be sure to not store a cork handled rod without first making sure that the handle has dried out. Furthermore, do not store such rods in musty sheds, or other such placed that tend to maintained a humid atmosphere. This leads to the next point.

Be sure to store such rods indoors in a place where bugs will not not be able to get to the cork to eat and lay larva. This is actually more of a problem than people seem to understand. Following proper storing instructions will definitely extend the life of your cork handle, and will allow it to serve you better.

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