Plastic Bait

There's no getting away from plastics. Where fishing equipment once was fashioned out of wood and other natural materials, molded plastics of every description have found their way into ponds, lakes, and streams. Multicolored, squiggly, wiggly things of every description are being used widely by anglers of every experience level. Some plastic lures are even coated with scented fish attractants-a kind of fishy perfume, if you will-that, combined with all kinds of noise-making bobbles, make for a lure that screams to be eaten!

The most common plastic lure is shaped like a worm, round at the head with a flat tail that causes the lure to swish and sashay as it is reeled in. "Starter" worms are six inches long and are shaded purple. They are designed to have a hook pushed through them in much the same manner as a real worm, but doing this with a plastic worm won't remind you of the meathook scenes in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. When going this route, you'll need to use a special hook meant for use with plastic worms; such hooks won't do live worms. Feed some monofilament fishing line through the hook eye and tie a standard Trilene knot on the hook. (Don't use a swivel snap when rigging a plastic worm.) Push the hook through the worm to conceal the hook eye and knot in the worm's head. The hook should also be somewhat concealed in the body of the worm. Since plastic worms used in this configuration are quite light, they won't cast as far as more heavily weighted lines, and their effectiveness is related to the angler's willingness to play the worm in the water, gently jerking the lure every so often as a tease to the fish. For a more sincere cast, attach some weight to the line with split shot squeezed on to the line about a foot above the worm. Bring the worm in slowly.

Plastic lures also come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. So, besides standard plastic worms, you might want to try experimenting with plastic reproductions of newts, frogs, minnows, crayfish, eels, and bugs to see what works for you. But at the end of the day, it's not the jig but the jigger who carries the day by bringing back a fish or two to fry up at the campsite.

Hooking

Like most things that rely on tradition for explanation, fish-hook sizes are classified according to a system seemingly based on the illogical thoughts of a confused drunkard. To the novice, the numbers relating to fish hooks bear no relation their sizes whatsoever. In fact, there is some method to fish-hook madness: Assuming that "1" represents the average size hook, with hooks getting smaller as they go up in numbers (in multiples of two)-say 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, with a size-2 hook being bigger than a size-10 hook, for instance.

Hooks that are bigger than a size-1 hook are expressed with a number and a zero on each side of a slash (1/0, 2/0, 3/0, 4/0). Notice here that hook sizes are numbered sequentially and can include ascending numbers that aren't multiples of 2. "Standard" hook sizes used with worms and other bait are usually sized at 2, 4, 6, and 8. Smaller hooks are used to catch smaller fish, and bigger hooks, larger fish. "Treble" hooks (three points) that you see on artificial lures follow the same numbering system.

Catching

Catching a fish is a lot like playing a good game of poker. You can't change the cards you're dealt, but you can change the way you play them. Luck is involved, but skill is just as important.

There are days when the fish just aren't biting. Or times when you're fishing in one place, but the fish are off somewhere else. But you can really increase your odds of catching a fish if you know what you're doing.

Some of the best times to fish from shore are early in the morning and at dusk. In the middle of the afternoon, on a hot sunny day, you'll have a better chance of finding fish in deeper water-it's where they go to cool off! If you are fishing in a stream, for example, this may be a good time for you to look for them in deeper pools.