Fishing Photos: Capturing the Memories

How many times have you been out fishing for bass on your favorite lake or stream, caught a great largemouth or smallmouth and just wished you had a picture when talking about it later.

Ok, part of the reason may be to ward off your friend’s comments about fishing tales and fishermen being truth-twisters but the real reason is to save the memory …

(Especially these days with the threat of Alzheimer’s lingering in the distance!) 

In today’s modern digital world there is hardly a reason why most of us shouldn’t be in a position to “snap the pic” to preserve our catch in digital form …

One reason is the camera feature present in most cell phones today (though the images maybe marginal) while another pertains to the affordability of decent digital cameras.

Here are a few key pointers to consider when thinking about camera and shooting options:

• Number of megapixels should be > 5 mega-pixels
• Cost (although I would argue today a decent digital can be had for $100)
• How to frame the picture (get close and avoid distractions in the photo frame!)
• Consider lighting and practice shot before taking actual photo
• Use the flash to offset the bright background typically found in the outdoors under sunny conditions
• Shoot images holding camera both horizontally and vertically …

Now you can be capturing the photos to save your own fishing memories …

Is There An Easy Button for Bass Fishing Success?

Ever stop and visit a bass fishing forum and notice how many participants post questions like:

* What’s the best lure to use today?

* Is today a good day to go bass fishing?

* Does anyone know a secret method for catching bass now?

* What’s the best lure color?

When I first started seeing these questions, I didn’t give them much thought. In other instances I even took the time and posted an answer.

Of course being in the education business, my answers were rarely just a quick …”it’s this lure or that color”. Rather than the quickie answer, I would frame the response addressing the weather, season and water body conditions existing at that time to better put things into perspective.

In my mind, it’s really a matter of mindset and how you approach preparing to fish for bass.

Does the “Bass Fishing Easy Button” Really Exist?

A Few Green Fishing Tips

With summer in full bloom, many of the “green living” folks among us venture down to the nearest water body to do a little fishing and in my case bass fishing.

Although I still consider myself a journeyman when it comes to green living and maintaining a green lifestyle, I have been using most of the following green fishing tips for decades.

Here are a few helpful green tips to make all of our fishing trips more enjoyable and help keep the aquatic environment closer to its natural state:

• Be conscious of your trash and pickup after yourself;
  • Cleanup all used packaging material, tangled fishing line, and spent tackle.  Recycle materials (fishing line, tackle, etc.) whenever possible.  Today, fishing line recycling stations are popping up all over the place.  Be sure to take advantage of them!
• When catching your own bait, only take what you need;
  • Native minnows (chubs, shiners, etc.), worms, leeches, crayfish are often harvested by fisherman before each trip.  In some areas, excess fishing pressure may be straining bait as well as fish populations.  Only take the amount of bait actually needed for a given trip.
• When buying bait, do not release non-native bait species into the environment;

Using Topographic Maps When Bass Fishing

Maps are an important tool and great asset for bass anglers and a good topographic map can be the very best map resource.

Being an outdoorsman, most bass fishermen likely know at least a little about topographic maps especially about using them for navigating across their local fishing and hunting haunts …

Beyond indicating  the nature of the topography (elevation changes across the map area), topographic maps also show the presence of water (lakes, streams, etc.), vegetation (trees, brush), and manmade features like structures and roadways.

If you fish reservoirs and are fortunate enough to locate older topographic maps that were created before the reservoir was constructed, you are definitely in for a treat …

Why? … 

KVD Talks Finding and Catching Fall Bass

When bass fishing's G.O.A.T. talks about finding bass, it's always time to listen.

Take a few minutes and hear what Kevin VanDam has to say about locating and catching fall bass in natural lakes and ponds during the fall...