Fishing School
Finding The Fish – Beginner Module
Welcome to the Salt Strong Fishing School!
This is Lesson #1 in the BEGINNER module.
Mobile Users: all 3 modules are found down below the video lessons
Equipment Used In This Video
- Real Shrimp: Texas Rigged Shrimp
- Lure: The Prawn Jr rigged on 1/2 oz Weedless Football Jighead
As mentioned in this lesson, there are often WAY more fish under bridges than most people think.
Here’s a fun video showing exactly how many are down there when a camera is dropped down close to the underwater structure.
Homework
In order to ensure that you can quickly find the best spots to catch fish, make sure to watch this quick lesson that shows a fun homework assignment that’ll result in you have at least 3 great spots to fish the next time you have some open time.
As always, please use the Comments section below if you have any questions… we’re here to help.
Tight Lines!
I have two questions. !. What size hook would you use with a live shrimp or an artificial? 2. Speed Clips thoughts about them to help going through artificial, trying to find what the fish are liking that day?
1) The hook size on shrimp should be based on the size of the shrimp (and sometimes even hook manufacturer since they don’t have equal sizing). Average sized shrimp in the 3-4 inch range do great with most size 1 hooks, and go up or down based on shrimp size. More details on in the description section of these hooks: https://fishstrong.com/collections/terminal-tackle-1/products/eagle-claw-plain-shank-hook
2) Speed clips are ok to use in general, but they have more cons than pros so we don’t recommend them. If you’re newer to fishing, it’s best to use no more than 2 lures as described in the Intermediate section of this fishing school so that you can make sure to not waste mental energy on lure selection… if you’re using great lures like the ones in that section, a lack of catching fish is due to spot selection (not lure selection), so you’re better off changing spots instead of lures.
Thanks
What kind of rig should you use
The rig used isn’t nearly as important as spot selection and positioning. Live shrimp on a knocker rig is tough to beat for catching lots of fish while being very easy to do.
Does the app account for differences between the tide at the tide station, and the tide in the inland waterways? In Surf City, NC where I fish a lot, the tide is about 4.5 hours behind the posted tide of the Ocean City fishing pier on the ocean side of the island. How would such a difference affect Smart Spots, AI Game Plan, and other features of the app?
For areas that have a Ocean station that’s technically closer geographically to an inland spot that the closest inland tide station, the system is set up to ignore the ocean station since there is going to be such a big delay from ocean movements to inland.
Note: These adjustments are done manually, so let us know if you see any in particular that aren’t doing this properly.
After closer investigation, it doesn’t look like there is an inshore harmonic or subordinate station anywhere near the sound side of Surf City. Surf City is in the middle of Topsail Island, a 26-mile long barrier island with New River Inlet at the north and Topsail inlet at the south. The other station in the area are New River Inlet, which more or less has the same tides as the Ocean City station. Looks like local knowledge prevails in this case. Thanks for your reply, really enjoying Salt Strong.
What do those circles and swirls mean on the 1 foot contour layer in the smart spots app?
The 1 foot contour lines represent different depths. So a circle would just mean that there’s circular section of bottom that’s either shallower or deeper than the surrounding bottom. And a swirl would mean that the bottom depths are curving for some reason.
What landing net do you recommend for paddle boarding?
I have never taken a net on my paddleboard, so not sure which one would be best. I recommend posting the question in the Community platform because we have a lot of members who fish from kayaks/sups who would surely be quick to offer some helpful intel: https://community.saltstrong.com/
Excellent lesson. Info ups the odds of me catching more fish in the future.
Thanks Luke, I appreciate it.
Hi Everyone, is the fishing school only for members or can visitors use it to? have none member friends I am trying to explain it to them.
The Fishing School lessons are available to everyone, so feel free to pass any of the lessons along to your friends. Thanks so much for helping spread the word about Salt Strong!
How do you read contour lines.
My apologies for missing your question Frank! The contour lines are there so that we can see where the underwater ledges are likely to be. An example of how to get started with reading the lines for identifying good spots can be seen in the video above starting at the 2:50 mark.
Thanks for the beginner info. I started trying to get better acquainted with the smart spots but got distracted. Im back now with more time and determination!