* Trolling Barracuda

. A surface feeder the barracuda is rarely caught deeper than 100 feet. The main diet is anchovies and other small fishes and large barracuda are very rare with 5 to 10 pounds most common. Most barracuda are caught with either hard lure like rapala. When using hard lures be prepared to loose a lot of rigs to the barracudas razor sharp teeth. When using bait either line or use a sliding sinker. A lot of bait fisherman use a wire leader with the only drawback being less bites. Hard lures are typically cast out and retrieved slowly with a change of speed often getting a strike by the barracuda. When fishing hard lure for barracuda the most often used colors are most beautiful and light colors combination or have chrome in them .Please use barb hook type as treble hooks do damage to the barracudas mouth. The barracuda is a great conservation story and releasing short fish with damaged mouths will not help their future. A good trolling for fishing barracuda would be from 6.5 feet to 8 feet with a reel able to handle 200 yards of 20 to 30# test.

The French Nymphing Method – A new approach to an old problem when fly fishing

Author: She's So Fly

This technique and rig is a relatively new approach to an old problem – spooky fish. The more you fish with it, the more you will see its potential.

French fly fishers developed this new nymphing technique during the World Fly Fishing Championship held on their home turf several years ago. The rivers were low and clear, and the fish were skittish.

The key to French Nymphing is contact with the flies, and ultimately the fish. You maintain contact with the flies by extending and elevating our arm and rod at the completion of the cast and never letting the leader touch the water.

Maintain line tension by leading the flies with the rod, keeping the coiled mono section just above the surface. When a fish hits the fly, the coils react by extending. Set the hook. If there's no take, finish the quick-set motion with a back cast. This loads the rod for the next presentation.

Since the leader and slinky are elevated, you have a huge advantage over traditional indicator techniques where the line sites on the water.

While French Nymphing, there is no slack in the line, and a minimal distance to move the rod for an immediate set. Furthermore, you can anticipate a trout's instinctive reaction by allowing your flies to sink for 3 to 4 seconds, then lifting slowly to cast again.

French Nymping is best done directly upstream or with up-and-across casts. It works in a variety of river conditions, but shines in riffles and runs 2 to 5 feet deep.

French Nymphing Rig:

Super long leaders that are had tied and boiled to make then very supple. Their leaders will average 12 to 25 feet long depending on the conditions.

The rods are usually 10 to 14 feet in length to make fishing this long of a leader a lot easier.

Leader:

The entire leader includes 3 basic parts: tapered leader, slinky (coil) and tippet.

The system's main component, the leader requires some explanation. The leader's length is typically 12 to 25 feet. A typical leader knotted to the welded loop in the fly line might consist of a thick butt section of about 4 feet of 25-lb or heavier test monofilament of a stiff variety. The material's diameter must be equal to or slightly larger than the butt material in the next leader segment. The stiff material will facilitate energy transfer during the cast.

The next part of the leader is the sighter - slinky (coiled mono section). Always carry fly floatant or silicone (green tub) Mucillin. Greasing the spring-like coils helps it float as an indicator in slower, deeper water, where you can't French Nymph effectively

After the sighter, a long length of level fluorocarbon leader actually presents the flies underwater. For this example, consider using a 6-foot length of 5X (0.006-inch) diameter material. Approximately 18 inches from the terminal end; attach a 4-inch long dropper tag using a Triple Surgeon's knot. Future articles will discuss the rigging's knots that employ the Davy Wotton knotting scheme along with the Triple Surgeon's knot.

Flies:

Use one or two flies with this technique. The flies should be weighted, slim and designed to sink fast.

Mono Coil Recipe:

You must cook your mono to make it coil. Ingredients include a plastic ballpoint pen, duct tape or rubber bands, and an assortment of different colored mono lines.

Simply wrap 15 to 20 pound test monofilament tightly around the empty pen tube and tape it at each end (rubber bands work too). Leave several inches of straight line off each end to make connecting it to your leader and tippet easier.

Submerge the wraps into a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove and place them immediately in the freezer overnight to help set the coiled memory.

Final Thoughts:

Building a French Nymphing leader is simpe and there are unlimited variations in color, length, and test. This coil leader system is not just for French Nymphing. Experiment and have fun, that's what fishing is all about.

Tight lines, and fun times, Shes So Fly

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/fishing-articles/the-french-nymphing-method-a-new-approach-to-an-old-problem-when-fly-fishing-4112672.html

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* Line Weighing

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Line Weighing
The Key to Your Jig Fishing Success

Fishing is a sport that's relaxing and based on friendship, but when it gets a little competitive, start stringing up your jig stick! Jig fishing has a tendency to separate the best anglers from the rest, and it tends to separate the big fish from the little ones. Fish instinctively understand what can or cannot fit down their gullets. A small fish that's been eating well is usually not interested to attack and digest a bulky jig. Big fish, on the other hand, prefer a bulky meal that a jig represents to them. Five fish caught on jigs will be bigger than five fish caught on any other type of lure. Still, jig fishing is a difficult skill, and it takes a lot of effort even for a jig master to drill out those five fish. It's not easy!

A jig is not a lure for open water or unobstructed bottom. Jig fishing is usually done in something - heavy weed or wood cover, flooded brush, sunken tree tops, rock rubble, cypress knees, tulle berms, etc. The snaggier, the better. Even in open areas, a jig will do best when it contacts small, isolated pieces of cover or slightly rougher bottom patches.

A jig is first and foremost, a drop bait. Jig fishing in shallow water (0 to 6 feet) gets you many fish on the drop before the jig even hits the bottom. If the jig is not accosted on the way down, just let it lay motionless for a while. Fish cannot stand this and will pick the jig off the bottom as it lays there. Still no hit? Jiggle it around without moving it forward - and let it lay motionless again. Repeat the jiggle and pause once or twice, then wind it in and drop it in another spot. It really doesn't pay to try to work it across the bottom in shallow cover. If the fish did not hit you on the way down or on the pause between jiggles, it's probably not going to hit you as you swim or drag it back across bottom. So just wind it in quick and drop it in another spot. The initial drop is the key. The jig has lots of visible and audible appeal as it drops. And yes, use liberal doses of fish attractant. Rattles are optional. With or without rattles. I am happy with my catches.

Jig fishing in deeper water is different. You can cast it out away from you, and reel it steadily across bottom until it bounces into any sort of underwater cover. Once you contact cover, stop reeling and just jiggle and bumble the jig all into the cover while hardly moving it forward at all. Still use the jiggle and pause tactic, and expect to get picked up on the pause. In deep water, you will get fish that whack you when you reel up to make another cast. So always let the jig hang suspended for a moment when you reel up all the way. When you get six feet off the bottom, jiggle it as it hangs there and see if you get bit. No takers? Just reel up and cast again.

The key to detecting bites in either shallow or deep water is to always know what your line weighs. As an alternative, you could become a line watcher which means to stare intently at the line where it enters the water. If you see the line twitch, streak off to the side or any other unusual movement in the line, it means a fish is toying with your jig. In the long run, however, you will become a better jig fisherman if you learn to line weigh rather than line watch. Let's talk about this.

You should know what your jig feels like at all times:

• When it drops

• When it rests on the bottom

• When you are lifting it up off bottom

Your jig can never feel any different than it is - it will always feel the same. Sometimes wind can encumber your feel. In wind, you may need to upsize the jig weight to retain its feel.

If you ever feel anything different, it can only ever be one of two things:

1. You are or will soon be snagged

2. Or a fish has the jig!

Now, you often hear advice that if you feel anything different, you should heroically haul off and set the hook. But if you do that, you will have a snag more often than you have a fish. What to do? Load increasingly steady but slight tension onto the line and rod tip by drawing the tip up or reeling in ever so slowly. If it is a snag, you will feel a lack of life, and you should back off to try to work yourself out of the snag before you get snagged too deeply. If it is a fish, you will feel one of two things:

1. Weightlessness. Absolutely nothing. Like your jig is floating in space. Reel in to get slack out of the line until you feel weight, load the rod tip, then whack away!

2. Vibrancy. Some feeling of life. Trust me, you'll instinctively know it's a live feeling of some sort on your line even if it is indescribable to put into words. Reel in just enough to begin loading the rod tip and whack away!

If you believe you had a fish on, but it spit the bait before you can whack it, JUST LEAVE THE BAIT THERE. You can usually jiggle it a bit and they will often pick it up again. Then whack them ASAP! Largemouth may come back once. Smallies may give you numerous chances.

So that's called line weighing, and it is a better and more reliable skill to learn than line watching.

Line weighing is the key to jig fishing success.

Source : http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/jig-fishing.shtml