Having a large amount of rods and reels to maintain, I began looking for a spooler that would make the job of replaing line a bit easier . My orginal plan was to purchase one of  the foot controled electric models that are typically found in tackle shops, but with pricing that begins at $1000 that option went out the window very quickly. However, after a little further research, I found South Chatham Tackle company which is just up the ... << MORE >>

Fished Lake Jordan joined by Ed Mathis, and Robert Harber for a day of striper fishing. We left the Ebenezer boat ramp at around 7am and immediately began setting out the lines of the four rods that we brought along. We ran a hi-speed planer off each side of the boat, down to a depth of 9 feet, then, attached a buck-tail jig to one and a Z-Man chatter bait to the other. We hadn’t finished setting out the rods when one rod ...

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     Bobby Parker led the Fayetteville Anglers’ Surf Fishing workshop on August 4^th with one of the largest turn outs for a FAAN meeting since the network was established in March of 2007.  32 participants from as far away as Raleigh attended the workshop, for most this was the first time that they had attended a FAAN event.  As a result, the FAAN is stronger by 8 new friends who love to fish.

    Bobby began the workshop by discussing the places that anglers can travel in order to enjoy a quite a day in the surf, covering every major surf fishing destination from Fort Fisher to Corolla.  He talked about each destination in detail describing as accessible by foot or by vehicle and informing the group of any additional permits that may be required. All saltwater anglers are now required to have the North Carolina Coastal Recreational Fishing License, but vehicle access on some beaches also require a permit so it’s best to check local regulations.

    No fishing workshop would be complete without recommendations for tackle and Parker provided his assembly of anglers with a laundry list of items to use that included rigs, baits, knives coolers, rods, and reels.  He described the function of each item in detail with tips on how to use every one and a relatively cost of each allowing the attendees to formulate their budgets when planning a trip. 

    As daylight was escaping, Parker described two techniques for surf casting and why each was necessary.  He methodically explained the Hatteras Cast and Pendulum cast, then, demonstrated both with great accuracy.  Then, each participant was given the opportunity to try their hand at casting his surf rods, some as large as 14ft.  While a lot of the anglers were just getting their feet with this experience, some who were already experienced demonstrated cast of well over 300ft.  The many of the novice surf fishermen had never tried fishing with a bait casting rig before, but with a little encouragement all found that it is much easier than they thought and had heard.

    Thanks to Mr. Parker the event was as professional as any that you expect to pay money to attend and it was greatly enjoyed by all in attendance.  This is the type fun learning and camaraderie that is defines the Fayetteville Anglers’ Network.

    I finished building my first fishing rod this week and I must say that I am quite pleased with the end result. It's a great meduim action spinning rod built on a 7 foot, IM-6 blank and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to cast lures at some inshore species with it very soon. I purchased a value kit from Mudhole Custom Tackle at www.mudhole.com for just over $45.00 and with a few required tools, thread, epoxy, and glues, I was ready to begin.

    The task seems a bit daunting at first, but Mudhole offers a DVD that explains the process thoroughly to get the novice rodbuilder off to a good start. You will have to pay attention to things like, how to find the spline of the rod and guide spacing.  Information for every step is  also available at Mudhole's website, youtube and the many  rod building forums on the internet.  

    I would suggest to begin with a foam handle kit, as cork handles need to be reamed to fit the blank. My kit had a cork handle and it wasn't extremely difficult, but it does require that you purchase additional tools and requires more build time. Cork handles give more of a quality look and feel, but the truth is that foam handles will most likely wear longer.

    The most time consuming part is wrapping the rod guides and you must prep the guides before you install them on the rod.  You will need a rod wrapper for this job and Mudhole's hand wrapper did the job just fine for a cost of $35. However, you easily build a rod wrapper of your own. When wrapping the guides be sure to take your time and keep the wrap close together.  You will get the feel for it in no time and you will have a completed rod before you know it.

    It doesn't appear that you will save much money by building your rods, but you will have a rod that is completely personalized to your own taste. I probably have about 8 to 10 hours of build time in my first rod, but alot of that time was redoing wraps that didn't suit me.  There's always a learning curve with these projects and I learned alot with the first build that I'm sure will make my next rod a fish gettin machine.

In the past few years, I have received several visits and phone calls from anglers claiming to have caught a Piranha from Lake Rim, or from another body of water in the area. The anglers all have and exciting story to go along with their catch and their always excited to have their identification of their fish confirmed, however, in each case the fish are identified as Pacu.  However, their appearance causes some alarm among other anglers for fear that these illegally introduced fish may ...

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LIZELLA, Ga. (November 23, 2009) – A commitment to offering inshore redfish anglers opportunities for lucrative payouts and low participation costs continues in 2010, evidenced by
the IFA Redfish Tour’s recently released 2010 regular-season schedule. The schedule again features 18 regular-season events contested across six different divisions with the tour making stops in some
of most famed redfish destinations in the country.

 

The regular season begins on February 27, 2010, when anglers fishing the Florida East Coast Division converge on Jacksonville, Fla., ...

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November 10, 2009– Los Angeles, Calif. - The Partnership for Sustainable Oceans (PSO), which represents recreational fishing and boating interests in California, today denounced a decision that could have a devastating effect on California’s economy and the public’s right to access the state’s coastal waters.

Under the California Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), California’s South Coast Blue Ribbon Task Force (BRTF), appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, today voted to send its own preferred alternative proposal to the state’s Fish and Game Commission (FGC) that will close vast areas of the South Coast to public access, ignoring the impact this decision will have on the state’s economy and budget. Particularly hard hit will be the Malibu, Orange County and San Diego County fishing communities. The recreational fishing and boating community supported Proposal 2, a proposal drafted in part by recreational and commercial fishermen and that provided significant additional conservation for California’s ocean resources while minimizing the economic impact of lost fishing opportunity.

“By making this decision, the BRTF passed over the three proposals it earlier voted to send to the Fish and Game Commission that were created by 64 stakeholders who worked 14 months to create these three proposals under an ever changing set of guidelines,” said Bob Fletcher, former president, Sportfishing Association of California, a regional stakeholder group member and PSO member. “Proposal 2 has a high conservation value that is relatively the same as other proposals but would have the least economic impact on Southern California, particularly San Diego where fishing and boating is an integral component of the local economy. The BRTF choose to ignore Proposal 2 in favor of its own version.”

“Recreational fishermen are the first and best ocean stewards who strongly believe in conserving ocean resources and will be the first to step forward when conservation action is required,” said Patty Doerr, Ocean Resource Policy, American Sportfishing Association and PSO member. “In a sound public policy process, the conservation effort must also be balanced with responsibly regulated fishing, economic considerations and access to the fishery resource. The BRTF, in creating its own alternative, failed to meet these basic objectives.”

The South Coast BRTF met October 20-22, 2009, to review three marine protected area (MPA) proposals, including Proposal 2, to be forwarded to the FGC for consideration during its December meeting in Los Angeles. At that meeting, the BRTF voted to advance all three proposals to the FGC. The BRTF met again on November 10 to finalize the development of an integrated preferred alternative that would include elements from the other three proposals. Proposal 2 is one of the original three proposals forwarded to the FGC. Proposal 2 placed MPAs in locations with a high level of conservation while minimizing the economic impact on local communities and allowing recreational anglers maximum access to fishing.

“The action of the BRTF flies in the face of California residents’ ability to access our state’s coastal waters and prime fishing grounds,” said Paul Lebowitz, director, Kayak Fishing Association of California, regional stakeholder group member and PSO member. “In four surveys conducted during the last two years by Field Research and Research Analytics & Strategy, Californians have clearly demonstrated they strongly support maintaining recreational fishing as an activity to be enjoyed by everyone. From a Field Research poll in mid-2007 to a recent poll of Laguna Beach residents, Californians have repeatedly said they support recreational fishing, want it to continue, and favor recreational fishing over marine reserves.”

“This is a dark day for California’s recreational anglers”, said Steve Fukuto, president, United Anglers of Southern California and PSO member. “Most disappointing is the fact that anglers provide approximately $70 million each year to California for marine fisheries management and countless hours of volunteer time to support fisheries in the state. For example, United Anglers of Southern California were instrumental in creating the white sea bass hatchery program. No other user group even comes close to this level of investment – certainly not the people who support closing our state waters to California’s residents.”

As this BRTF creation moves to the FGC, the PSO will continue to support Proposal 2. Fletcher further said, “It is simply the most balanced alternative and represents the least negative economic and social impact. It chooses the heritage of recreational fishing in Southern California over symbolic gestures that are not necessary for the protection of our ocean resources. As a community, our goal from the very beginning has been to maximize the conservation of our oceans with the least impact on the economy. Proposal 2 does just that.”

The PSO encourages recreational anglers and boaters to attend the December 9, 2009 FGC meeting in Los Angeles where the BRTF will present its preferred alternative to the FGC. Lebowitz said, “Anglers should attend and voice their support for Proposal 2 and against the preferred alternative.”

The PSO includes the American Sportfishing Association, Berkley Conservation Institute, Coastside Fishing Club, Contributing Members of the Avalon Tuna Club, International Game Fish Association, Kayak Fishing Association of California, National Marine Manufacturers Association, Nor-Cal Kayak Anglers, Shimano Sport Fisheries Initiative, Southern California Marine Association, the Sportfishing Association of California, United Anglers of Southern California and the Watermen’s Alliance

I purchased my first Berkely Gulp!! shortly after it was introduced to the market and I immediately became a beleiver in it's effectiveness.  My first baits were the Gulp! shrimp and since then I have expanded my usage and inventory has expanded into several more of there offerings.  Of course one of the drawbacks to Gulp is the fact that they must stay hydrated.  If you have ever left some attached to a hook and set the rod in a rod holder for any period of time as I have , you know that it nearly takes a hammer and ...<< MORE >>

While browsing over the North Carolina Wildlife Commission's website, I found a unique and valuable feature called, "Ask The Biologist". This forum is designed to answer fish and fish-related questions from North Carolina's anglers. Ocassiaonally they use these questions to give detailed answers in their forum at NCwildlife.org. I have had several questions about Crappie fishing and decided to give this feature a test drive.

I spend a bit of time chasing Crappie on both Jordan Lake and Shearon Harris throughout the year and some the differences have raised some questions that I thought the "Ask The ...<< MORE >>