Expect the Expected And Nothing More

Fortunately, I have rarely been skunked fishing out of Prospect Park. For those who may not be familiar with this type of terminology, "skunked" means to go fishing and catch no fish. Even when I first started out, this was not a problem. Now, it may have taken me two hours to catch a very tiny bass or fish of some sort, but I always walked away with a good time. I learned to expect what is expected. Early this morning around six o'clock I get this phone call from my cousin who lives about ten minutes away. He decided that he wanted to take his girlfriend for her first fishing experience and wanted to know if he could borrow some extra gear for the excursion. Being the fishing enthusiast that I am, I wiped the sleep from my eyes and jumped out of my warm bed to shuffle through my things. He told me that he wanted to target bass in Prospect Park, and really that he just wanted to walk and talk with her in the morning and had no expectations for catching.

As I found my extra poles and pulled out an extra pack of worms, this stuck with me. What should NYC fisherman expect from a day on the lake? I can tell you that I've come to expect at least one fish, but is that to be expected knowing how finecky fish could be at times? I thought again while I found a new pack of hooks and I paused. Without a doubt I know that I can always find beautiful scenery and a chance to think as I fish. And if I'm with a friend, I can find a good time to talk and share. It seems my cousin and his girlfriend were in for a treat today. Even if they don't catch any bass, I know that they will be content because they will have met their expectations of shared time on a beautiful lake.

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Quiet Approach

I remember the lisp of Elmer Fudd contorting "SHHH" right before the "I'm hunting rabbits" part and that's about all I know of hunting. My recent experience fishing in the Prospect Park has taught me, though, an even more important truth about hunting: whether you are in search of deer or fish, these animals have developed a keen sense for their predators which are not lions or beers in big cities, but us. Therefore, I have developed six rules for how to catch Large Mouths in highly pressured areas.

Rule #1 If there are people fishing around you, go to another fishing spot. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you will never be able to control the actions of those fishing around you. You can only control you. Other people will ruin all of the rest of the rules for you.

Rule #2 Fish may not have ears like me or you, but they can hear. I have been on my cell phone talking away and marched right up to the lakeside only to see 3 and 4 pounders swimming away. On the other hand, I have quietly casted my line 20 feet or farther from the shore behind a tree and hooked bass right where I usually walk. In fact, I even watched a frog hop after my worm as I was retrieving it, and swallow my bait.

Rule #3 Do not wear really bright colors. If you can see them, chances are that they can see you.

Rule #4 Tread lightly. I was quietly fishing the other day and was casting a swirl I saw underneath a low hanging tree branch when three fellow anglers stomped their way up to me. I actually saw the fish that I was hunting turn towards my bigfooted friends and swim away.

Rule #5 Soft Casts. Sometimes you should make a splash to attract fish, but most times a smooth splashless entry of your bait into the water is more agreeable.

And finally, Rule #6 Have Patience. This type of shore fishing is slow and tedious, but should provide results. I watched a loud mouthed man curse everything including himself one day at the lake. As soon as he left, I saw two big bass swim to the shore line where he was standing. Both the fish and I were glad that he was gone.

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There is nothing more fun for a first time fisherman than actually catching fish. Sure, the actually experience of holding a rod and dangling a hook is new, and thus, exciting, but how long does this captivation last. Well I’ll tell you; your child, girlfriend or wife will smile just about as long as it takes for that first bead of sweat to trickle down their face. They won’t last long. The best way to combat this problem is to target a species of fish that is easy to catch and a lot of fun to land.

In Prospect Park, Brooklyn NY, this fish is a sunny or any of his cousins. They are located along just about any shore line. Prospect Park, for better or worse, boasts a million of them, and pound for pound, they are one of the strongest fighters you’ll encounter. So what do you need to catch them? Any starter rod and reel combo tackle will suffice. If you have more than one type of set-up, always err on the side of less as these fish rarely reach the 1 pound mark in Prospect Park’s waters. Here are a few websites that provide great information on fishing for sunnies at lakes in general:

1. http://www.gameandfishmag.com/fishing/crappies-panfish-fishing/gf_aa066504a/
2. http://www.ehow.com/how_2312005_catch-bluegills.html
3. http://www.allsands.com/sports/fishing/panfishbluegil_tcj_gn.htm

I will provide a few tips that have worked for me at Prospect Park. First, try to use a #10 hook. This is a very small hook that can fit in the mouth of any sized sunfish and will provide a lot of opportunities to catch. These hooks, more than likely, will come already tied to a piece of monofilament seeing how the eye is small and hard to tie onto. Simply, attach you line from your set up with a basic fishing knot to the rigged hook. (See fishing knots on 7/23 post) For bait, there are plenty of options. Most people use bread or small pieces of dough. They both work just fine, but you can opt for a live worm or grub as well. The live worm will wiggle in the water and disperse a more natural scent, but it has been my experience that these fish bite bits of anything just as good. Don’t forget to attach a small bobber about 6-12 inches up from your hook. The placement of the bobber will also depend on how shallow the water is. You would want your hook and bait to rest about two inches above the lake floor.

When I first started fishing, I came to the park and had my same set-up, a starter rod and reel combo that I had used for bass primarily. I went to the tackle store and asked for sunfish hooks and bait and the gentleman gave me $30 dollars worth of equipment. I didn’t need it. I walked the shore line for an optimal place to fish for these shallow water critters and came across an older gentleman with a very simple rod. He had no reel. It was an old fashioned cane pole with no eyes along it except for at the very top. Attached to that singular eye was a piece of light fishing line about double the length of his 7 foot pole. He also did not have a popper, just an old white Styrofoam cup. I watched him pull his line to his free hand, tear a piece of Styrofoam from the cup and place the small white dot on the tip of his hook, and that was it. He pulled up fish after fish. I caught, but not like he did. He looked at me and laughed a hoarse nasal “who sold you that crap.” I kept quiet and smiled. He must have mistaken my silence for irritation because he offered to me the secret of his technique. He said “My friend. I was jus joshin wit ya. Listen to me. It’s all about the free fall. Nothing else matters.” And you know he was right.

What makes Prospect Park Lake different from any other lake in the world is that it is located in NYC and it is used by many people. There may not be many fishermen, but there are tons of visitors. And what do these visitors love to do? They love to feed the ducks, swans and pigeons. And they feed them tons of bread nonetheless. Whatever pieces of bread the birds do not eat, the fish find. It seems that these sunfish around the park have been trained to react to the falling of white objects from above. It is an easy meal for them, and as a result, it is an easy catch for us.
Next, I noticed that this older man fished areas that people feed birds at. And now so do I. This is not to suggest that you can’t catch sunnies anywhere else. Just look for small disc shaped craters in the lake floor. Sunnies spawn in these craters all summer so you will always find fish around and in them. Have fun and remember that it’s all about the free fall.

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Why Fish NYC?

It certainly is not for the recognition. Most spectators think I’m daft. As I walk around the lake with a rod and reel in hand, I constantly draw the same questions from park goers: “What are you going to do with that stuff?” as if my rod and reel are just as out of place near a city lake as walking around with a pair of skis in hand. I’m going fishing, and not just me. Everyday men and woman alike, from all walks of life, flock to the shorelines of this city’s finest parks in search of what I believe Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, had in mind when they successfully built both Central and Prospect Park.

Escape. Yes, fishing may be a form of escapism. Walk the archways of Olmsted and Vaux, and immediately you are in another world. It is possible in Prospect Park, Brooklyn NY, to enter the Grand Army Plaza entrance, walk for five minutes and find yourself in a setting that has few reminders of the bustling civilization on the outside. Walk to one of Central Park’s lakes and realize that other beings inhabit the space of the city as well, and they swim where they are not supposed to be. Through fishing we can experience the unexpected, we can discover our own treasure and we can return to it, for free, again and again.

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With the Right Tools, Fear Is Not a Factor

I have a confession to make. The touch of a wiggling fish against my thumb or any digit of my hand used to creep me out. Don’t get me wrong; I landed them, but in the past you would have caught me on any given day holding a taunt line staring down at an acrobatic fish doing better somersaults than any circus de soleil performer I had ever seen. It just took me a bit more time to remove the hook. However, when I watched Roland Martin or Bill Dance, who have to be 50+, boldly “lip” a Large Mouth bass just as easily as my grandmother would pinch my cheeks, something within me would awaken. After watching these seasoned veterans of the sport gracefully handle fish, I would hear a voice from inside say “You can do it!” Fast forward a couple years to the present, and I realize that I can. It just takes the right tool. A main tool of my fishing gear is a “fish lipper”. It is a great way to not only avoid touching a game fish directly (if you have issues like me), but this lipper also protects the fish as well.

As I recently discovered, bass and other fish have a protective slimy coat that protects them in the water from bacteria and other potentially harmful organisms. If handled incorrectly, this coat could be removed, which could bring danger to the fish. Now, this would be no problem if you were keeping the fish, but if you plan on fishing any of the NYC public lakes, be advised that the lakes enforce a strict catch and release policy. A lipper comes in very handy.

Another tool that no fisherman should go without is a reliable pair of pliers. These serve as line cutters, hook removers and bait augmenters on every occasion. Fishing without this tool can be very irritating. If you thought I had a problem lipping a Large Mouth, imagine me trying to remove a hook from that fish’s mouth while lipping it. It’s not a pretty site.

There are many tools on the market for aspiring fisherman. Some are necessary while others are not. If you plan on fishing NYC lakes, I recommend a good lipper and pliers; they will save you time and discomfort.

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Casting the Shade: Fishing Techniques for Enticing Bass in Cover

If casting is an art form, I am the equivalent of a giggling five year old stabbing my fingers into paint. I suck. And I play at it. It was not until I walked the shore of Prospect Park Lake that I realized the beauty in the arc of fishing line being swung at its limit or appreciated the silent whipping sound of fishing line cutting through air on the way to its target. Standing there, spell bound, I watched these great fishermen constantly recreate these works of art, and I realized that great casting is not simply how far you can throw, but it is something much more personal. Okay. I have my lure of choice, which is in this case a Senko plastic worm. It is rigged Texas style (see 7/20 post), and I have found a perfect target for this sunny and hot day, the shade. All I have left to do is cast to the spot, right? Wrong, there are many different ways to cast your lure. There is the overhead cast, the side cast, the underhand cast and the skip cast just to name a few, and the World Wide Web is filled with many well written tutorials to help you learn them.
1. http://www.angelfire.com/ia3/fishing/howtocast.htm
2. http://www.ehow.com/how_2098641_cast-openfaced-spinning-reel.html

However, as an avid surfer of fishing techniques on the web, I would like to suggest to you that knowing how to execute these casts is way different then mastering them, and no other target area, in my opinion, demonstrates this than shade and cover.

Cover may be any type of organic or inorganic structure that provides shade and security slightly above or in the water, and the best lakes have plenty and different types when it comes to bass fishing. Take the two pictures in the article. They are but two different types of the many different structure areas found in Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn, NY.



Now let’s analyze the picture on the right. I uncovered this nice shady area around 3:30 pm on a very sunny and sultry day. I approached the shore quietly, checked my worm to see if the hook was hidden and I executed a side cast to the very tip of the shade, and I was happy. Or at least I was happy until the 25th time when I once again did not feel the nibble of a bass. I moved on.

An hour later I came back to the same shore line, and I encountered another gentleman there. He was older and more quiet then his young counterparts in the park who are eager to question “have you caught any?” a million times. He simply smiled and with one motion retrieved his snaking fishing line and lure to his hand out of the water and skip cast his bait with just enough angle and bounce that it dug deep beneath a hanging fan of weeds to the real shade. And I would have been more surprised, but I was still trying to figure out how he was able to muster such a swing, and whip of his line without taking a chunk of my face with it. I was that close. He sighed, waited and repeated the procedure again. I just enjoyed it; he seemed to enjoy the cast himself. He must have cast a million times to perfect that swing and control. Somewhere around the third cast his line zigged and then zagged, and he brought in a nice two pounder, and we both continued to smile.

First, I’ve since read up on techniques about skip casting and realized that there are variations to anything taught, and secondly, I’ve learned to become a more patient and observant caster, taking pride in the procedure and process and not just the fighting of a fish as a reward.

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Looking for the Bite: A Common Sense Approach to Locating Large Mouths

This past weekend the local fishing lake hosted an annual fishing contest for children to the age of sixteen. It’s called the Macy’s Annual Fishing Contest and it takes place every year mid July. I and every fisherman I know try to avoid Prospect Park lake during this time every year. Our common sense tells us to avoid the crowd. Where there are more fishing poles there will be less of a chance to hook into that dream fish. Well as I accidentally learned this past Saturday, fish take this commonsense approach to seeking comfort as well.

Stressed by the monotonous chores a Saturday morning could bring to any house hold, I decided to seek refuge on the shores of Prospect Park with my trusty fishing pole. I must have been really irritated and frustrated at home because when I arrived at the lake it was 10:00 am, the sun was beating almost every piece of shore line in view and the Macy’s Annual Fishing Contest attendees and their children were running around with bamboo poles. I came on, potentially, the worse day of the year, so without even dropping my line I decided to walk around the park. I saw the crowd by the boat house on the lake and went the other way. There was too much noise. I walked a little farther in the park and saw several spots to fish along the shore line that were empty, some with shade and others with out. Which of these areas do you think I chose? The sun was mighty that day and even with my hat and shades on I was still beading sweat. I chose the shade and not just any. I sought the darkest shade nearest the shore that was closest to the park’s exit point just in case those noisy kids decided to leave their party.

I walked under a very low hanging tree that I had to bow down to squeeze into and even bumped my head loudly upon a branch. The branch shook, and some small branches and tree trash fell into the lake. I didn’t think anything of it, but when I looked directly in front of me in the water I saw a very big bass swimming away. I was amazed, and I realized two very important lessons about shore fishing for bass. Firstly, quietly approach the area you plan on fishing, and lastly and most important, seek the common sense approach to locating large mouths. If the sun is very bright, and beaming thereby creating a hell like situation, what would you do? I would seek shade to cool off, and so do large mouth bass. If you are seeking relaxation, a place to cool off, would you seek noise and excitement? Neither would I. I would try to find the quietest place I could that had a great exit route. I bumped into that tree next to a piece of shore that had shallow water that quickly ran into deeper waters in a wider part of the lake. The bass had an exit point.

Of course as the weather and setting changes for the fisherman, the same situations change for the bass, so we would have to change our common sense approach to locating the fish for the changing scenario. However, on that day before I left I targeted really shady areas, under hanging trees, underneath lily pads, and even inside of bushes that half grew in the water, and as a result I picked up several bass by using this common sense approach to fishing. I also picked up my gear and left at 12:30 pm because my common sense told me that it was getting way too hot for my comfort level even in the shade, but I had a great time, and I’m sure the fish were still there in the cover cooling off when I left.

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