7 Steps To Your First Thrilling Salmon Fishing Adventure

Your First Pole:
The most important piece of equipment is a fishing pole of course! The best place to purchase a pole is at a real pro shop or bait and tackle shop. Pro shops usually have a generous return policy. If you get a pole that is not comfortable for you, too stiff or too flexible, too long or too short, they will generally exchange it for a pole that will work better for you.

Bottom line, they want your return business for other things like bait and tackle.

The Place:
The best place to fish for salmon is in the river when they come up to spawn. The local pro shop should be happy to provide you with the best times for fishing salmon.

Salmon spawn at different times and come up the rivers at different intervals throughout the season. So, planning is important if you want to actually fish when the salmon are spawning.

The Boat:
Best case scenario is to have a flat bottom river boat, but those are expensive. It may not be a good idea to take a regular "V" hull lake boat into the river because the depths can be too shallow and unpredictable.

Another wonderful way to experience your first salmon trip is by hiring a guide. You'll learn more from the guide then on your own. It can be pricey, but it's worth it.

No boat? No worries. Fishing from shore is a wonderful way to experience this fantastic hobby as well.

The Bait:
Ask the Pro's at the pro shop what works best in your area or the area you are going to fish. They will most likely suggest salmon eggs. They are cured in many different ways and everyone has their favorite.

You may wonder why you would want to use salmon eggs. It's very simply really. After salmon spawn, the parent fish stay around the nest to protect the eggs from predators like trout.
The currents will also carry the eggs away. When this happens the parent fish gently pick the eggs in their mouth and bring them back to the nest. So, when you dangle salmon eggs in the water after the salmon have spawned, they will see the eggs and assume that some have floated out of the nest. When they go to retrieve them, they get hooked!

The Catch:
Take along an ice chest filled with ice to keep your catch fresh. You may want to have a couple of five gallon buckets as well. One bucket for cleaning your catch. Another bucket to keep the ready-to-eat gutted and cleaned salmon in.

If you clean it before you take it home, you avoid the smelly bloody mess in your kitchen.

A third bucket could be used to save salmon eggs gutted from a female. You can save the egg sack and cure it later. You can learn more about how to cure the eggs, or roe, online or talk to someone in your local pro shop for suggestions.

The Filleting:
You can cut your fish in two ways, steaks or fillets. Salmon steaks are the easiest way to cut them up. Filleting takes a little more practice. You will probably mangle the first few you try to fillet. Don't let that bother you. All those little mangled pieces can be smoked and turned into a salmon dip. Mmm good!

The Cooking:
There are many ways to cook salmon. Pan fry, BBQ, roasted or even smoked. If you do decide to smoke your salmon pieces, be sure not to over dry them.

Here's a simple recipe for salmon dip.

One cup smoked salmon
Two 8 oz packages of cream cheese
Half cup chopped onion
Salt, pepper, garlic, to taste

Now it's time to stop reading about it and go out there and catch some salmon!

What a Fish Finder Can Do For You!

Have you ever spent hour after unproductive hour fishing on a lake with nothing to show for it? I doubt there's a serious angler anywhere who hasn't had that happen to them. So, if you can relate to that, this article about the advantages of a fish finder might be just what you need.

Fish finders utilize sonar. These devices use sound waves to detect the bottom of the lake, calculate the depth, and will also detect anything between the surface and the bottom, such as fish. This technology gives the angler a huge advantage by letting you know right away whether or not there are any fish present.

Fish finders have become increasingly more sophisticated in recent years. Early fish finders simply flashed to indicate the presence of fish. But, today, with improved electronics, you can get things such as LCD's with a wide variety of LCD types and resolution. The best fish finders today are similar to watching a color display of the water you're fishing in and show everything with great clarity.

Fish finders vary widely in price and, like everything else, you get what you pay for. Larger units with more features will cost more. Generally, units with higher resolution will cost more than those with lower resolution. Higher resolution will give you greater detail as to what is in the water.
Many of the most popular fish finders are wrist-mounted devices and are worn just like a wrist watch. They will only have basic functions but are very mobile and easy to use. Other fish finders utilize large displays and can be mounted to your boat.

Fish finders can be found for as little as $100 and as high as several thousand dollars. There are many brands available with a wide variety of features, so it pays to do your research before you buy. You can check locally or do what most people are doing nowadays... check them out online. It faster and easier.

You can also find fish finders that include a Global Positioning System (GPS). GPS technology is great for anglers as it provides accurate information about your location. This will help you to return to that great fishing spot with ease. All you have to do is simply record the GPS coordinates of any location and you can easily find it again. The accuracy of GPS is about 9 feet so that should be good enough to find those fish again.

And one of the best benefits of GPS is the safety factor. You will never get lost as you can program your starting point and then easily find your way home... even on the largest of lakes and even in dense fog. Don't underestimate the importance of this feature.

So, having a fish finder is a great way to increase your catch each time out. It will tell you where the fish are (and are not), give you depth information, and return you to your favorite fishing hole. And, with GPS, it will get you back home easily and safely. Do your research online and find the best fish finder to suit your needs and budget. You won't regret it.