Helpful Fishing Tips

With summer officially here I thought it would be fun to talk about a very popular All-American sport; fishing. Which, before you start to open that mouth of yours, is most definitely is a sport. Any activity that requires you to go to a store and drop a thousand dollar on equipment is a sport. In this case soccer is not a sport, sorry Europe.

Fishing is a game of skill, you need to know what you’re doing in order to heighten your chance of catching a whopper. You need to know what bait/flies to use, where fish like to hang out (the water yes, but where in the water?), what their feeding habits are and when to switch from dry flies to dynamite. Unfortunately for you, I know the answer to only one of those questions which is to start with dynamite and then the other fish will be too afraid not to take the bait.

Anyway, here are some helpful tips for that excited fishermen/women that might make your summer experiences a little more fun:

- Always come prepared. Especially when you are hiking to a river or lake. You don’t want to get all the way there and realize you forgot your fly rod, flies or pants.
- Bring the proper equipment. If you are going to a river, don’t bring bate to troll with. If you’re going to fish in the ocean, don’t bring dry flies. If you’re going to fish anywhere, don’t bring your wife, she will hate you for it.
- Don’t forget the fishing license. It seems ridiculous that morons who destroy and deface million year old landmarks can freely go in and out of national parks, but you need to pay for a license to pretend to catch fish.
- Talk to local fishing stores to see what’s working. For the women that don’t know, fishermen gossip more than Carrie Bradshaw (for the men, Carrie Bradshaw is the main character in Sex and the City). People at the local fishing store will not only know where and what the fish are biting but also that Benji’s wife is sleeping with Steve down the street and it’s only a matter of time before Benji finds out.
-Let the waters calm. After catching a fish (haha, like that’s gonna happen), wait about 3-5 minutes before throwing the line back in there. The reason being is fish get scared. To make it more relatable, imagine you’re standing around outside your office, smoking an e-cigarette and reading the latest copy of Stupid Things to do on Break Magazine, when all of the sudden you see a hamburger float by in the air. You go to grab it, but Benji gets to it before you and once he sinks his teeth into it, it starts dragging him all over the place. He’s flopping and screaming but can’t let go of the hamburger. Finally he’s pulled up into the air, onto the roof of your office building and out of site. Do you think you’re immediately going for the next floating hamburger that comes along? No, you’re not because you’re thinking, “What the hell just happened?” You’re scared, just like the fish are after one gets hooked. Give it a few minutes and let them forget about everything. They aren’t the smartest animals. Yes they have instincts but instincts also cause you to throw up in the car when you drank too much so don’t put too much faith into them.
- Bring a camera. No one believes a fisherman/women. You’ve heard the story a millions times, “I caught the biggest fish you’ve ever seen.” and they proceed to hold their arms straight out to their sides to show you it was a six foot fish. If the person had a camera, they would be able to prove this fish existed. Take a picture of each fish you catch and make sure there is no time-stamp on the photos because you will get caught trying to make the same fish look like six different ones.

If you didn’t catch anything, say you lost your camera and tell the story about that six foot fish.

- Bring beer, seriously, you’ll need it.
- Switch it up. Don’t keep throwing your line over the same hole. You are only making the fish nervous. Fish are a little bit like Woody Allen, they get nervous and overthink things. Don’t keep going for the same one over and over, give him a rest and come back later when he’s distracted by a younger relative.
- Fish are not toys. If you don’t plan to eat them, please make sure you handle them with care and resuscitate them before releasing them back into the water. You just put them through a traumatic event so let them recover a minute before catching them again.
- Have fun. The most important thing is to have fun. When you’re getting frustrated because you’re not catching anything, take a breath, look around at the the children next to you at the fish hatchery, give them a smile and throw that line back in the water. You’ll get one soon buddy and if you don’t, you can always lie.

- Author Brock Lindeke and his wife live in Santa Cruz, Calif. They come to Tahoe five or six times a year and Brock says it's their favorite place in the world! He has been going on fishing trips with my dad since he could hold a pole, and taught Brock everything he knows about it.