Fishing Guides

Skills worth getting right

Knots, rigs and technique are the parts of fishing you control. These guides cover them step by step, say plainly where the evidence is thin, and skip the folklore.

An angler in waders casting a long surf rod into breaking waves at first light on an open sand beach
Fishing Guides

Best Conditions for Surf Fishing: Reading Tide, Wind and Swell Together

How to read surf fishing conditions as a system — tide, wind and swell together — using official NOAA and NWS data, plus safety guidance for the beach.
A close-up editorial photograph of a green braided fishing line knotted to a clear monofilament leader on a weathered wooden surface, with a spool of green braid and a spool of clear line in the background
Knots

Best Knots for Joining Braid to Fluorocarbon

How to join braid to a fluorocarbon leader: which line-to-line knots to use, why braid slips, and how to keep the connection small enough to pass the guides.
Wet hands cradling a brown trout half-submerged at the surface of a clear stream, the fish facing into the current moments before release
Fishing Guides

Catch and Release: Doing It So the Fish Survives

Wet hands, under a minute of air, cut deep hooks, revive facing the current. NOAA and state agency best practices for releases that actually survive.
An angler's essentials on sunlit dock planks — rod and reel, landing net, a tackle box of lures, and a folded paper slip tucked beneath a worn leather wallet
Fishing Guides

Fishing Licenses: How the System Works and Where the Money Goes

License sales plus excise taxes fund fisheries through a user-pays system dating to 1950. How the Sport Fish Restoration program works and why licenses matter.
An assortment of colorful soft plastic fishing lures (worms, creature baits, and swimbaits) along with a weighted jig hook arranged on a wet granite rock beside water
Lures

Fishing Soft Plastics

How to rig soft plastics, what research shows happens when a fish swallows one, and why bass colour vision makes most tackle-aisle shades irrelevant.
An open tackle box filled with various green, chartreuse, white, and natural-colored soft plastic fishing lures sits on a rocky shoreline beside a baitcasting reel and rod, a dark landing net, and calm water
Lures

How to Choose Lure Colour

Water absorbs red light first and blue last, so lure colour changes with depth and clarity. How to choose for visibility instead of guessing from folklore.
A man in waders, a cap, and a backpack stands on rocks at the edge of a fast-flowing river holding a fly-fishing rod, with a large boulder and forested bank in the background
Technique

How to Read Water

Riffle, run, pool and glide — what each one is, why fish sit beside fast water rather than in it, and when hiding behind a rock stops paying off.
Fingers holding a bare fishing hook while line wraps neatly along its shank, golden-hour light on a wooden boat gunwale
Knots

How to Snell a Hook: The Snell Knot

The traditional snell knot in five diagrammed steps — why wrapping the shank instead of the eye changes hooksets, and where snelling shines.
Extreme close-up of two clear tippet sections being joined with symmetrical wraps meeting in the middle, soft river-morning light
Knots

How to Tie a Blood Knot

The blood knot in five diagrammed steps — the classic join for two similar lines, the fly angler's leader knot, and the detail most tiers miss.
Weathered hands wrapping clear fishing line into neat twists beside a hook, soft overcast light with river stones blurred behind
Knots

How to Tie a Clinch Knot

The original clinch knot in four diagrammed steps — how it differs from the improved version, where it still makes sense, and its known limits.
Two different fishing lines — thin braid and clear leader — joined in the middle and held taut between two hands in warm side light
Knots

How to Tie a Double Uni Knot

The double uni knot in five diagrammed steps — the standard way to join braid to leader or any two lines, with the wrap counts that make it work.
Hands holding a fishing line with a small neat loop standing out from its middle, cool blue coastal light with surf rods blurred behind
Knots

How to Tie a Dropper Loop

The dropper loop in four diagrammed steps — a standing loop mid-line for multi-hook rigs, plus the twist count and the pull that forms it correctly.
Close-up of a person's weathered hands threading a clear monofilament fishing line through the eye of a metal hook over a sunlit wooden surface
Knots

How to Tie a Palomar Knot

The Palomar knot in four steps, why it suits braided line, the three mistakes that weaken it, and when a different knot is the better choice.
Hands tying two leader sections together with a doubled overhand wrap, one line thicker than the other, neutral riverside daylight
Knots

How to Tie a Surgeon's Knot

The surgeon's knot in five diagrammed steps — the fastest reliable way to join two lines, and the join that forgives different diameters.
Hands seating a compact fishing knot by pulling line steadily, a neat barrel of wraps near a lure clip over cool green water
Knots

How to Tie a Uni Knot

The uni knot in five diagrammed steps — one tying motion that handles hooks, lures, line joins and the reel spool, and why it earns the name 'uni'.
Fresh fishing line tied around the bare metal spool of an open spinning reel on a workbench in warm window light
Knots

How to Tie an Arbor Knot

The arbor knot in four diagrammed steps — the right way to start line on any reel spool, why it works, and the braid caveat worth knowing.
Extreme close-up of a slim woven connection between thin braided line and clear leader held under tension, bright daylight over open water
Knots

How to Tie an FG Knot

The FG knot in five diagrammed steps — the slim braid-to-leader weave, why tension is everything, and when its extra effort actually pays.
Close-up of hands tightening a small fishing knot against a hook eye, monofilament line catching warm morning light over calm water
Knots

How to Tie an Improved Clinch Knot

The improved clinch knot in five diagrammed steps: the wraps, the two passes, the extra tuck that makes it 'improved', and the mistakes that cost fish.
A bearded man wearing sunglasses, a cap, and chest waders kneels in shallow lakewater holding up a largemouth bass by its lower lip, with a fishing rod and reel resting on the water in the foreground and a forested shoreline behind
Identification

Largemouth vs Smallmouth Bass

Jaw against the eye, dorsal notch, direction of the markings — the three agency-worded checks that separate largemouth from smallmouth every time.
A bluegill held flat in a wet palm above calm water, its dark ear flap and barred flank catching golden-hour light along a reedy shoreline
Species

Panfish: What Counts, and Why They Matter More Than You Think

Panfish is an angler's word, not a biologist's — Wisconsin's legal list has 8 species, New Jersey counts three groups. Who qualifies and why they matter.
A man wearing a cap, sunglasses, and a green backpack walks along a rocky lakeshore at sunset while carrying a spinning fishing rod, with reeds and forested hills in the background
Beginner

Shore Fishing for Beginners

Everything a first-time shore angler needs: the licence question, where to stand, what to cast at, and the simple setup that catches fish from the bank.
Close-up of a man's hands rigging a soft plastic worm onto a hook while a baitcaster reel and rod, a bullet weight, a bead, and a swivel rest on a carpeted boat deck
Rigs

Texas Rig vs Carolina Rig

Same hook, same bait — the weight placement is the whole difference. When to fish each rig, how to set the hook, and why the weight material matters.
An angler in waders kneeling in shallow water holding a rainbow trout at the surface, its pink lateral stripe and spotted back clear against cold clear water
Species

Trout vs Salmon: Same Family, Very Different Lives

Trout, salmon and char all share one family — the real split is life history. Why Pacific salmon die after spawning, steelhead don't, and where char fit in.
A person's wet hands hold a walleye fish just above dark rippling water, appearing to release it back into a lake
Reference

Types of Fish: How Species Are Grouped

36,500 species sort four ways: by water, by migration, by family, and by law. A plain map of the types of fish — with every group linked to real profiles.
A hooded, cap-wearing angler in a dark jacket uses pliers to remove a hook from a walleye held against the edge of an aluminum boat, with a spinning rod in a holder and a misty, forest-lined lake in the background
Identification

Walleye vs Yellow Perch

Same family, and one eats the other. The glassy eye, canine teeth and white tail tip that mark a walleye — and the barred, schooling perch it hunts.

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