DIKE FISHING

 
Harvey Cappel, when he isn’t fishing.
Editors Note: You can get more of Harvey’s sage advice in his book; True Story, I Swear It –
Maybe available on Amazon.com
First thing to do is get a big jar of Vaseline and spread a thin layer al over your face and
arms. Now you are ready for Dike Fishing,
I once read a book about fishing that said. Find all the places where you can’t catch
fish and don’t fish there anymore. I used to Drag Race and teach Drag Racing. I told
my students that winning was as simple as “just stop losing”. For example, don’t run
out of gas on a quarter mile race track; I actually saw this several times in my 14-year
racing career. Now I recognize that you may not have the 77 years I have had to learn
all that is wrong about life and Dike fishing so I am going to boost your fishing skills by
telling you how to fish on the Dike.
1) Large bait catches large fish that you can eat. Piggy perch and small hardheads
won’t take large bait. Artificial lures are out; they get hung up.
2) Use live bait, piggy perches, mullet, etc. Live and dead shrimp are for kids that
catch junk fish you can’t eat. It is less boring than waiting on the big fish. Kids can’t
drink beer so boring is a problem for them.
3) Wear light colored clothes. This serves two purposes, you will be cooler in the
summer time and the fish will not see you easily. Try for colors that match the background
sky. Fish are not unlike big game, if they can see you they will be extremely
cautious as to what they will do. Catching bait with a cast net has the same problems,
if the bait can see you they will run ahead of where you throw your net; got to sneak up
on them.
4) When night fishing with lights, set the lights as close to the water as you can
so you won’t walk in front of the lights. Again, if they see you, they will be much harder
to catch. Also at night , wear dark clothes.
5) Night fishing under lights seem to be unfair to the fish. The light attracts the
bugs that fall in the water. This attracts the bait fish that swim around the surface. And
finally, it is usually trout that circle below the fish bait. Simply chunk something in the
water that the trout like and you’ve got one. That is actually true but that action spooks
the rest of the trout for a few hours. Try setting more than one light about 25 feet apart
so the action in one trout circle doesn’t affect the adjacent one.
6) Now you might think you know it all. Fact is, I have used the above for over 50
years and only caught one small flounder on the Dike. So don’t do anything I just told
you. And by the way, a good sunscreen works better than the Vaseline and isn’t nearly
as messy. Until next time, smile big, fish good, and be kind.