Fishing can be quite daunting for beginners who have just started, and it is a game of patience. We have compiled a list of the top fishing hacks tried and tested by the best anglers worldwide.
Contents
Best Fishing Hacks 2023:
1. Extend the life of your bait
If you’re using live bait instead of lures, you can add a little bit of hydrogen peroxide to your bait bucket, which will increase the oxygen supply in the water and prevent it from suffocating.
Don’t pour too much hydrogen peroxide into the water as it may lead to toxicity in the fish, and they might die due to oxygen overdose.
2. A better way to organize your fishing hooks
Use safety pins to arrange and organize your fishing hooks by size properly. Hang all the fishing hooks of the same size under one safety pin, which will help you find the right size quickly without going through the entire assortment.
3. Differentiate your fishing rods
You can use colored tapes to differentiate between different types of fishing rods that you might have. Many rods look very similar as they share identical colors; this trick will help you quickly choose the type of rod you need without going through every rod.
4. Using a Line Cutterz ring
Every angler knows that you have to repeatedly cut and re-tie your fishing line every time it gets stuck is some obstacle, and this can be pretty challenging when both of your hands are busy handling the fishing rod.
People often use their teeth to cut and snap the fishing line; however, this can be quite harmful as the fishing line can very easily chip and crack your teeth.
A line cutter ring has two blades on either side that can easily cut any fishing line.
5. Organize your fishing reel
You might often need to switch to a long line while fishing out in the sea; the quickest way is to replace it with a new reel spooled with a line of a different length. However, it’s pretty easy to get confused if you have multiple reels. An excellent way to combat this would be to label your fishing reel with colored tape according to the line size; you always know which reel to get.
6. Organize your lures
Lures come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and functions. If you have a lot of them, it can get quite challenging to remember which lure is suited for what fish. You can organize your lures using a zip-lock bag, separate different types of lures, and label them individually. This way, all your lures are organized and accounted for.
7. Learn how to get rid of a backlash
If you use a baitcaster, you must be familiar with a bird’s nest or backlash. This happens when the spool is overrun, and the line doesn’t get peeled fast enough, leading to the line bunching up inside the reel, which causes a tangled mess.
A bird’s nest isn’t something that can be avoided entirely, as it is bound to happen to even the most experienced anglers. You just need to be prepared to deal with it as efficiently as possible.
Here are some of the steps you can follow to quickly get rid of a backlash.
● Avoid pulling the line.
Once you get a backlash, don’t pull on the line too much, as the extra tension might cause the line to snap under pressure.
● Use the drag adjustment.
Tighten up the drag to the maximum, and rotate the handle while applying pressure on the spool.
● Feel for the knots
You want to run the knots underneath your fingers to untangle them, do this for all the affected areas until the line is clear of knots.
● Reel it back
Once all of the affected areas have been cleared out, hold the line between your fingers and start reeling it back into the spool.
Read the Full Article: How to Prevent Baitcaster Birds Nest?
Ice Fishing Hacks:
Fishing in cold and frigid areas is not an easy task. However, we have the best ice-fishing hacks to keep you covered in even the coldest climates.
1. Hockey Tape
Hockey tape was made for use in freezing climates. You can wrap it around the handle of your fishing rods and other metal equipment, which will significantly improve the grip and functionality of that particular equipment. This is very useful as metal can freeze and stick to human skin at extremely low temperatures, leading to frostbite.
2. Petroleum jelly or lip balm
Frozen line guides are among the most aggravating problems anglers face in colder regions. The ice formed on the guides weakens the line and can cause it to snap prematurely. One of the easiest ways to combat this is to apply some petroleum jelly or lip balm on the line guide, which will prevent it from freezing.
You don’t need a lot of it either just a few swipes on the guide rings will do the job and keep them ice-free for several hours.
3. Hand warmers
Keeping the hole free of ice-up can be a headache, especially when you have to shovel out ice every ten minutes just to keep it from freezing over.
An excellent way to prevent this is to throw a couple of hand warmers into the hole; the heat emanating will keep the water temperature warm enough that ice doesn’t build up on top of the hole.
4. Be patient
During the winter, fish tend to move slower in cold waters to save energy. Do not move your bait too fast or rapidly, as the fish will let it go to conserve energy.
5. Keep your reel safe
When reels are exposed to freezing temperatures, they can malfunction, and regular grease or oil will not do anything as it thickens and becomes gummy. To keep your reels in the best possible condition, use micro-polymer lubricants as they perform the best even in the coldest temperatures.
Homemade DIY Fishing Hacks:
Now let’s get into some homemade DIY fishing hacks that anyone can do with the tools already available at their home.
1. Portable rod carrier
If you need a new fishing rod carrier, all you need is a five-gallon bucket and a couple of pieces of PVC pipe. Cut the PVC pipes to the length of the bucket and glue them to the sides of the bucket. That’s all you need to do; you can now store your fishing rods in the bucket.
2. DIY floats
Cheap fishing hacks don’t get any better than this; if you’ve got spare wine corks lying around the house, don’t throw them away!
Wine corks make fantastic floats or bobbers, which can help you when fish bite your bait as the reverberation from the bite may not travel up the line; a bobber is placed in the water to indicate the same.
3. Fish scaler
If you have a couple of spare beer bottle caps, you can attach them to a piece of wood that you can hold comfortably and use to scale the fish. This is a very effective method to scale the fish as the pointy protrusions on the bottom of the caps act as tiny blades.
4. Say no to dull hooks.
You can use a simple diamond nail filer to sharpen fish hooks as they can get dull over time, which might reduce the chances of you hooking a fish properly.
5. Rust-free hooks
Keep the silica gel packs that come inside cereal boxes and other things. They can be put inside your tackle box to prevent your fish hooks from rusting. This works because silica absorbs moisture from the air, which prevents oxidation.
6. Cod-liver oil
You can dip your bait or lure into some cod liver oil, this makes your bait more enticing to the fish, and the fish go crazy over it.
7. Unconventional bait
Sometimes when the fish aren’t biting, you can use foods such as hot dogs, cat food, marshmallows, etc. They do seem unconventional, but they just might work, and while fishing for catfish, it’s been proven that they love sausages and hotdogs, and anglers like using them because they are cheap and easy to find.
8. Safety pins
Safety pins are a must-have whenever you go out fishing as they can help in various situations. If you break one of the guides rings along the line, you can use a safety pin as a quick fix by bending the pine 90 degrees and keeping the hole where the guide ring used to be.
This is not a permanent fix but will allow you to keep fishing for a little longer; you will have to get the rod fixed eventually.
Night Fishing Hacks:
Fishing in the dark can be cumbersome as things progressively get harder without the light. Here are a couple of nighttime fishing tips that might come in handy next time you venture out into the dark.
1. Stay organized
This is one of the most important things to keep in mind while fishing in the dark; you need to be able to locate all your fishing equipment without needing to look at it. So, keep everything you might need nearby and wear a headlamp to illuminate the things in front of you.
2. Clothing
Be sure to pack some extra clothing if the night turns chilly; you should be prepared.
3. Blacklight
Spooling a fluorescent monofilament line on the reel is somewhat of a necessity if you’re fishing in the dark. The fluorescent line glows under the black light, which will allow you to keep track of your line even in pitch black.
4. Weather
You should always be mindful of the weather before heading out for fishing. Do not go out in the water if you see any lightning in the area. If the thunder strikes the lake or any body of water, it can very easily travel up your fishing rod and electrocute you.
Fishing rods are usually made of carbon fiber or graphite, which are excellent conductors of electricity.
5. Noise
You have to be quiet and stealthy while fishing at night, especially if you’re in a motorboat. Switch your engines off and drift into the fishing area quietly to not scare the fish away from the loud engine sounds.
6. Lure colors
The color of your lures will change according to the moon cycles; if you’re fishing on a moonlit night, you should use bright colors like yellow, green, red, or orange to catch the fish’s attention.
Subsequently, if you’re fishing in little to no moonlight, you might consider using brown, black or blue lures.
7. Muddy areas
Fish love muddy bodies of water, but they can be hard to find during the nighttime. Instead of blindly looking around for muddy waters at night, you should map out the area when there’s sufficient light during the daytime. This will increase the chances of you catching a fish.
Conclusion
There you have it; these are all the tips and tricks you might find valuable next time you’re out fishing. As always, stay safe on the waters and have happy fishing.