How Do We Do It?

Not meaning to brag, my Dad and I have always had the ability to, generally, outfish anyone who was fishing with us! This, on occasion, has been almost enbarrassing and compounded by the remarks made by the other fisherman, you could tell they weren't very happy! My Dad had a long time friend that was a very good fisherman on his own right but when he was with Dad, he just couldn't keep up! Some how I inherited Dad's fishing ability, probably because Dad taught me everything he knew about the sport! I, like my Dad, have tried to pass on my knowledge to others but I cann't be held responsible for what they haven't learned! I have a fishing body that refuses to fish my methods and gets very upset when he catches few fish and I, on the other hand, am pulling them in one after the other! He is constantly asking what I'm using, what color is it, how are you working it,etc..I will always remember a cold early April morning while I was still in High School. My Mother and I had been fishing all the previous week, under much warmer weather conditions, and had quite abit of success on Bass while fishing with worms from shore. A friend asked if he could come out on Saturday morning to try his luck and I said yes. A major spring storm hit on Friday and Saturday morning dawned with wind,clouds,temps in the low 30's and snow! I just assumed my friend wouldn't show but there was a knock on our front door at 9a.m.. He had walked about 5 miles to our place and looked like a snowman! After he came in and warmed up, we went fishing! I already had my rod rigged so I showed him how I was set up and while he started to rig his rod, I baited mine and cast it out, then sat my rod down to see if he needed any help. I turned to check my bobber and it was gone! I grapped the rod and set the hook into a 3# Largemouth Bass. My friend hadn't even had a chance to bait his hook! I proceeded to do this two more times during the day and was rewarded with two more Bass in the 3#-4# class. My fiend caught a few small catfish,bluegill and perch but no Bass. My whole life has been like that. Not to say I always catch fish. There has been many times I've been skunked, but as they say, "A BAD DAY FISHING IS STILL BETTER THAN A GOOD DAY AT WORK"! A Proverb comes to mind, "GIVE a man a fish and feed him for a day. TEACH a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime"! Go fishing and take a friend and/or child with you. You'll have a great time!

Carp fishing in the Ohio River

I was down by the Ohio River the other afternoon and was remembering all the fun we used to have fishing for Carp alone the river! My Dad grew up in Wellsville,Ohio and he spent many of hours along the banks and fishing for Carp and Catfish. He would make dough ball for bait and would add flavoring which the carp really enjoyed! There would be some days the bite was fast and furious and then days when we couldn't get a bite! the fish generally weren't that big but they put up a scrap! One evening Dad had invited two cousins(Bill and Ken) along and their Dad(Rodger). We got into some larger fish and were having a blast! My cousins fishing line was not as strong as ours and they were getting a lot of break offs. Some of these fish were well over 5# and their Dad was becoming more and more frustrated with every break off. Finally, on the next line break, Rodger went running into the river chasing the broken line. It was shallow and he must have ran out 30'-40' and up to his waist to catch the line. He was successful and he turned back to shore pulling the Carp with him! It was one of the funniest moments to witness that! Carp are not afish I would chose as a food fish however that doesn't mean I don't enjoy catching them! For some real fun, take your kids to the river and have a ball!