Dos and Don'ts of Fishing

There are a lot of things you can do right in fishing and a lot of things you can do wrong, simply because you didn’t know there were such things to be aware of when fishing. To shed some light on these two subjects, I have listed a few of the ones you need to know.

Fishing “Dos”:

Do fish in areas that are known to be productive areas but are not already being fished by others at the time you are there.
Do have a plan of where you’re going to fish and what bait you’re going to use.
Do know where to go in case of a storm or an emergency
Do use lures that are appropriate for that time of year.
Do keep a topo map of the lake in your boat in case you get lost. (Eventually, you will get lost.)
Do know the weather forecast.
Do make sure your fire extinguisher is fully charged.
Do fish with a degree of stealth. This will increase your chances of catching fish.
Do fish an area well before you move on.
Do check your boat before you leave home, including: fuel, oil, life vests, batteries charged, water, fishing licenses, boat tag, emergency equipment, your medications, etc.
Do keep your kill switch attached to you when running the big motor. If you don’t know what a kill switch is, you need to stay home.
Do take your kids.

Things Not To Do:

Don’t be rude to other fishermen by running your boat upon them or trying to fish the same area at the same time if they were there first.
Don’t throw your old fishing line in the lake.
Don’t throw trash in the lake -- especially glass items and Styrofoam products.
Don’t “hit and run.” This means don’t run from one area to another, making just a couple of casts and then running hard again.
Don’t keep fish you are not going to eat.
Don’t hot rod your boat so that you endanger water skiers, swimmers and water bikes or make them feel uncomfortable by your antics.
Don’t disregard “no wake” buoys just because no one is watching.
Don’t drink alcohol on the lake.
Don’t run your big motor without a life vest on that is fastened. Draping it over your shoulder will do no good.
Don’t fillet your fish in the lake to avoid the limit laws. Keep what you are going to eat, and know that you can’t eat more than the legal limit.
Don’t litter private waters you are allowed to fish on; leave them cleaner than when you found them.