Rubber Bands - A Fishing Tip

     One of the more enjoyable aspects of anglers is their need to collect things. This will include obvious items that spell out "fishing gear" and will include hooks, sinkers, flies, spinners, lures, fishing boxes and even smell eliminating stuff.

     And one of the most versatile items invented by man, and I am sure the inventor must have been a fisherman, are rubber bands. Apart from the fact that they come in different colors, in different sizes and in different strengths, they must have been invented for the fisherman - at least they should have been.

     Think of some of their uses:

          - when packing your gear into the car a pair of rubber bands hold together your rod. Ther is nothing more annoying than breaking off the point of your rod as you juggle with the packing.

          - your fishing tackle boxes will get old, and a rubber band will be a great help by holding down the lids.

          - keeping your nylon in place both in the reel and your spare.

     I could go on forever but the fact is that there are so many specific uses that the best thing you can do is to make sure you always carry a few in your gear.

Your Fishing Reel - Taking Care Of Business

Anyone who sees him or herself as an angler will end up with loads of fishing gear. Lures, flies, weights, swivels of all sorts and descriptions will make their miraculous way into the "fishing gear" and woe betide if anyone dares to even look at the stuff.

Stuff? What stuff? "My equipment, thank you very much".

Then every once in a long while you actually sit down and check over what you have managed to collect. Old gear, new gear and even old but never used gear. Then you will find the broken pieces like the old reels or bits that have been left over from another age. You may even trick your kids into believing they reel from before the war - the civil war, of course.

Then there are a few who after many years of dedicated fishing turn into real anglers - those who have forgotten more than what nearly everybody else will ever learn.

You will hear about them, they will be spoken of, and perhaps you will know of them because of their results. They won't brag but they may talk about better fishing times. And if you see them fishing you may perhaps recognize them but there will still be something mysterious about their know-how.

Then you will notice their gear, or lack of gear compared to others. They will have precisely what they need, it will rarely be new but it will definitely be well kept.

And that is one of their secrets - they take care of their equipment.

Take a look at their reel and how they care for it:

* they wipe it down after each use to avoid sand and dirt sticking to it.
* their line, especially if it is monofilament nylon, will never be old and the reel will always be full.
* the line will always be changed from season to season.
* they will oil and grease the reel regularly, as you can tell by the sweet way it runs silently.

The other thing you will notice when you see one of these anglers is the calmness that surrounds them. They are patient folk and that patience is always present, especially when the are fishing or when they are taking care of their equipment.

A good workman takes care of his tool just as a great angler always takes care of his gear.
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Much of what I write, and especially about fishing, comes from things I have picked up along the way and wanted to share with my kids.  Another of my fishing online presence is located at: www.fishingtackleboxesnow.com where I also deal with fishing boxes in general (as well as other fishing accessories).

Bond, Natural Bond - Fishing Tale # 7

The best times are those when you fit in perfectly with nature. It happens once in a very long while. It has to do with how nature is feeling that day and whether you can synchronize yourself with the vibes that nature is emitting.

Yes I know it all sounds very "new age" but it wasn't supposed to. It is just that fishing allows you to be in a much deeper and profound contact with nature. Any fisherman worth his salt has to be able to read those small signs that surround him. This can be a strong wind or being aware of a gentle breeze as it fly's by. It could be, and should be, the color of the water, the types of insects that are around or the way the currents move and curve round underwater objects.

On those rare occasions when you seem to be able to second guess the natural forces that surround you, you do it in what appears to be a subconscious manner. I suspect that it is simply being in contact with yourself and being able to read all those non-verbal communication signals around.

Most anglers will have a day like this when everything they did reflected a perfect response; when they were able to exist in perfect harmony. And when these days do happen they leave something inside us, not just a memory but a sensation of "it shouldn't be otherwise".

And then what we all try to do is to replicate our mood and feeling with nature; but it is not easy to bring this up again at will because not only must we feel and intuit, but nature has to be in the right mood to cooperate. But this never stops you from trying.

Ten or twelve years ago a three of us went trout fishing to "our" streams up in the mountains somewhere in South America. The trip in an old an battered jeep played an important part in getting into the right mood.

In the early morning we managed to see many wild rabbits, which was unusual. Then sitting on a fence by the side of the road (I use the word road with exaggeration) an owl watched as we got closer. It suddenly spread its wings and slowly began to beat them as it arose flying in a straight line right in front of the windshield. Its wing span must have been about six feet - unless the thrill I felt made me lose all concept of reality.

We reached the river and started fishing. Soon each on of us went his own way. I reached a small secluded pond and in short order caught 13 trout. I had never done this before, not out of the same pool.

I spent most of the day alone, a day that holds my trout catching record but more importantly the day that nature was supremely giving. In the early afternoon I noticed the small herd of cows that were grazing across the river bank, move closer to the edge. I can see them in my mind as their enormous eyes stared at something in the water. I looked and saw a tapir, the size of a small pony swimming down the middle of the river. It just stared back at me as it passed. A tapir is a mammal the size of a pony that appears to be a cross between a pig and a cow (without the horns, etc). It is natural to the South American rain forests and surroundings.

I finally collected my stuff, put it into my fishing tackle boxes and brought back with me the memory of a day in which nature showed me how to bond.

Philip Robinson is happily married fisherman and a father of five. He has various on line projects and you can visit his latest website on fishing tackle boxes. As someone with a large family he focuses on fun, creativity, making ends meet and all in a loving environment.

Amazing Stuff and Fishing

For anyone who hasn't been bitten by the "fishing" bug - as a sport - the amount of "stuff" a fisherman collects over time is quite amazing and sometimes even baffling. Anyone who has been fishing, even if they miss a season or two, has managed to have many different hook sizes, or plastic worms or lures or flies, swivels, weights, even lines.

And what is even more peculiar to the uninitiated is that they even have repeats. Six of this and half a dozen of the other.

Yet if you have the bug, this is absolutely logical. Not only for a particular fishing trip but also a future expedition. Or what happens if you run out and are unable to find the exact same one. Different days with different lighting conditions require different lures.

And it is vitally important you keep them in your fishing tackle boxes.

A Fisherman's Gift

Fishing tackle boxes. come in different sizes and can be from different materials and even colors. They also make excellent gifts if there is an angler at home.
The funny thing is that fishermen are secret collectors of odds and ends - but they have focused their collecting craze on to fishing tackle. As this collecting craze among fishermen is well known there will always be something new, including different designs in fishing tackle boxes.
The risk for a committed collector / fisherman is that there will always be a temptation.
The other side of the coin is that the angler will have different fishing tackle boxes to organize all his tackle.
So at the end of the day the fisherman will be happy and the bearer of gifts will always have something to give.

They Call It Fisherman's Luck

Anglers tend to collect over time an extensive number of gadgets and accessories as tools of their trade. It is part of the fun and the wishful thinking. Somewhere, some place and some time there will be the perfect lure, the perfect fly, the perfect bait.
In the meantime while the fisherman finds it he will pick up many such articles, and they must be organized, stored and taken care of.
A good workman takes care of his tools and a good fisherman takes care of his tackle. It doesn't matter when you start fishing, as a child or older. The fact of the matter is you collect a lot of stuff, and this stuff has to be kept somewhere, and this somewhere is your fishing tackle boxes.

An Anglers Magic Artifact

For anglers worldwide tackle, lines, hooks and even fishing clothes are an essential part of their art. But there is always the extra special, wonderful and magical piece of fishing gear.
You have probably heard of a professional pitcher that always wears his good luck socks, or the tennis player that carries the ring his first girlfriend gave him as a good luck token. Superstition as in a rabbits foot? Perhaps, but the fact of the matter is that it works.
It could be your father's fishing tackle boxes or packing in a specific order, or that your first cast is always with the fly you made years ago. Whatever the case may be, you had better be very sure that you have it in your fishing tackle box. After all luck is what you make of it. It has been known to happen that a fisherman who hasn't yet found his good luck piece is, at heart, still unsure of his fishing skills.

Fishing And Philosophy - A Fishing Tale, No. 1

Many years ago as a young boy I discovered that life and fishing went together like apple and pie, like fish and chips, or even ginger and bread. In other words they blended together. What actually happened is that I associated the best things in life with fishing.

This was because my brother, my father and I spent two weeks every Easter fishing in the south of England. It was only us men - and how proud we were to be classed with the men while 8 and 9.

As we prepared our fishing tackle boxes, the flies, the rods, the waders and our anoraks - we boys became the fishing keepers, our father's gillies (Fishing Gilly - Scot and Irish usage for fishing guide and a bit more).

Forty odd years later I can still feel my father's gentle smile as he watched us.

These time were the best of times. We, at least my brother and I, hardly caught anything but we fished all day. We carried our fishing gear, our baskets, our picnic lunch, as we followed that man that was our hero. And when he saw us tiring and offered to carry our loads we always refused as pride gave us greater strength - and at night when we finally went to bed, we slept the sleep of babes.

Going out to the river every day for two weeks, walking out in the country - be it wet and be it cold - was a time when we felt absolutely at one with the world and with ourselves. And for little boys, that feeling of complacency with life is one that rarely came about.

In the evenings we sat together by the chimney and relived in part our day's experience. The coots and moorhens, the nesting king fisher (who became the symbol of our little band), the sheep in the field and the once only seen tracks of a fox. Our casts, our father's salmon - the sound of the river, the jokes and the waiting patiently for the rise of a trout.

These times became a treasured memory and the beginning of this series of articles where I will share some fishing tales (and yes some will grow longer in the telling) that I have learned to equate with what I call Fishing and Philosophy.

Fishing representing life and Philosophy "Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline" as defined in the dictionary or as I prefer "Philosophy from the Greek philosophia, which literally translates to "love of wisdom".

Every evening we lived moments that with time I have learned were full of love and sharing and this is nothing else than wisdom.

As a grown man, with children of my own, I still feel inspired by the bonding our fishing trips created between us band of men.

Fathers, take heed and blend philosophy and life - preferably with fishing.

Philip Robinson, the author is happily married and a father of five. He has various on line projects and you can visit his latest website on fishing tackle boxes and fishing backpacks (as well as other fishing accessories). As someone with a large family he focuses on fun, creativity, making ends meet and all in a loving environment.