Early spring is one of the best times to go on sport fishing. It gives you a chance to get ahead of the competition and maximize your yield. However, early season fishing for unprepared sport fishers can lead to disaster. It can easily stall out your entire plan, leaving you behind against other competitive anglers out there.
Sportfishing is a $129 billion market. It’s one of the largest markets in the fish industry, as it provides privately caught fish to many restaurant chains. It’s an important market, but a challenging one. If you’re an amateur angler and want to get ahead of your competitors next year, consider these tips for your early season fishing.
Early Season Fishing is Crucial to Your Success
Many anglers determine their yearly success from the fish they catch during the start of spring. Many in the market tend to drop out of the competition when they know that their early season isn’t going pretty well. Sure, they usually return to the fray during the summer to catch some summertime fish, but they know that others are way ahead of them. So preparing for the early season is crucial to your success.
Expectation Setting
As an amateur angler, you shouldn’t expect that you’re going to get a lot of bites during your early-season career, despite all the preparation you’ve made. It’s important to ground yourself. These tips will only help you improve from last year’s success, and remember that morale plays a significant role in your career next year. There are still many things that aren’t in your control. You might have a ton of bites today, but you might not have the same situation tomorrow.
Choose Your Location
Having an excellent location to fish is one of the things that will determine your early-season success. There are many great places in the U.S. to fish, especially during the spring and summer seasons. If you want to catch the big fish, consider fishing on the coast of Miami or, better yet, the Gulf of Mexico. But if you’re going to catch some fatty salmon, you should go on one of those famous salmon fishing trips. Always remember that the location will determine your catch, so plotting your destinations early in the season will make a difference in your yield.
Moreover, if you’re planning to catch a particular species of fish for various reasons, like selling it to a local restaurant in your town, you should consider tracking its migration patterns. Once you track its migration pattern, the next spring and summer season should bring extra yield for you. For example, Atlantic salmon enjoy traveling around the coast of Maine, Quebec, and Labrador. So consider fishing for this species along those coastlines.
Know Your Fish
Next up in line is to know your fish. Much like choosing your location, you should consider catching one breed of fish from the start of the spring season until the end of the season. This will equip you with the knowledge you need to catch this species of fish. Alaskan salmon, striped bass, and fresh tilapia are the best fish to catch during the early spring season. They are the fattiest during this point of the year.
Prepare the Bait
Once you know your fish, you’ll know what kind of bait you’ll need to catch them. Every angler knows how important bait is for them, and interestingly enough, some bait for bigger fish also requires you to catch them. Study your fish, and know the bait they love to bite on.
Knowing the bait for fish before the season has even started is going to give you a huge lead. This will ensure that you get at least some bait during the start of the season.
Develop a Routine
Every experienced angler knows that developing a routine will help you get ahead of the game. Early day fishing is great because you can have more time in the field, and the longer you are out in the field, the more likely you can get a bite. However, it can be tough to get into that stride.
Experience plays a big role in this. While you’re waiting for the season to start, you should already start sleeping early. This will help you wake up early once you’re already out early season fishing.
Early season fishing is going to set your entire year for success. Follow these tips and enjoy your time out there! Remember that you should always raise your morale whenever you can because it will determine how long you’ll be fishing throughout the season.