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 Keys to Catching and Landing More Fish
Art Taylor, Owner/Operator of "Searcher" and Searcher Sportfishing in San Diego, Ca. gives some helpful hints to improve all facets of fishing.
Keys to Catching and Landing More Fish
 There are a few simple but critical factors that will improve any anglers catching and landing ratio.
The key areas that we’ll be covering in this article are bait selection, handling and hooking of baits, drag settings and the condition of your monofilament line. All of these factors provide the keys to catching and landing more fish.
The first and most critical factor is bait selection. You have to have a lively bait in order to get bit and if you don’t have a bait that swims and takes line off of your reel then your success rate is not going to be as high as it could be.
Therefore, having a screaming hot, live bait is the key to getting picked up by the fish you’re targeting.
There are certain indicators that are critical in making a selection as to which  bait you are going to pin onto your hook. The overall look and appearance of the Sardine or Anchovy needs to be clean. When dealing specifically with Sardines, you don’t want a bait that has a red nose, red sides or a red stomach area. If a Sardine has lost most of its scales and its slime then it will develop red spots on its sides. If you see a Sardine with this appearance avoid it. It should be used as chum. If you pin this type of a bait on your hook the fishing better be wide open, with totally stupid fish or you’ll be wishing instead of fishing.
The key is taking an extra 30 seconds at the bait tank or hand well and finding the bait that is bright, shiny and  has clean white sides. Don’t take the first bait you see just because it swam into the bait  net. Your fishing success starts with bait selection. It’s a cliche but it’s true, “the bait you want is the one that you can’t catch.” Think of it this way, do you want to eat a roast beef sandwich that has moldy, beat up bread with dark black meat? Well, it’s the same for a tuna or yellowtail. They want a fresh healthy bait to eat and they will wait until they find it.
Even though you’re excited about the trip, you’ve traveled all night to get to the fishing grounds and your blood is pumping with anticipation you still need to take your time and pick a fresh, good looking bait. This is the number one factor in getting bit.
 Once you’ve selected your bait and you’ve got the best of the bunch, it will mean nothing if you mishandle it. The goal is to be as gentle with the bait as possible. Don’t give it the death grip, which can suck the life out of the Sardine and knock off all of its scales and slime. Or worse yet, don’t keep it out of the water so long that it’s so starved for oxygen and nearly dead that it can’t swim the way you need it to. Keep the bait in the water as long a possible at the hand well. Always handle your bait with a wet hand and get the hook into the bait as quickly and precisely as possible.
Know where on the rail you want to go to make your cast and get there quickly. The best tip I can give you is to have a crew member bait you up a couple of times if you’re having trouble hooking the bait. Watch their technique and then mimic what they do.
Also watch the guys who seem to be catching all the fish. I’ll guarantee you that they spend no more then eight seconds once they have selected their bait to when their bait is in the water racing away from the boat. Watch and do what they do. You’ll be amazed at the results.
 There are three ways to hook your bait that I prefer and discuss in all my seminars. The first is to hook the bait sideways through the nose.
This is a good hard spot in the bait and it will stay in the bait better. This method is good while drifting or in heavy current. The advantage of this method is that you can slowly retrieve the bait and it will still swim in a natural method and you can get picked up on the retrieve.
 The second method of hooking a bait would be by the anal fin. This is a softer area in the bait and will require great care in casting out the bait.
This method may even need an underhand cast to keep the hook from pulling out during the presentation. However, with practice a sensitive overhand cast can be accomplished. This hooking method will have a tendency to make the bait dive deeper then one hooked through the nose. The disadvantages to this method are that you need to be careful not to go too deep into the bait and catch a vital organ which could quickly kill the bait. It is very difficult to hook a bait with this method if you use circle hooks. You could rub more scales and slime off the bait during the process and lastly, you can’t effectively retrieve the bait in a natural swimming action so bites on the retrieve are very rare.
 The third method would be through the breast fin.
This again is a fairly hard area of the bait. The hook will stay in the bait well and like the anal fin method the bait will have a tendency to swim downward toward the bite zone.
Sometimes when the bite is scratchy change things around. Not only the line class but how you hook the bait. Sometimes changing from hooking the bait through the nose to hooking it by the anal fin  will get the bait down to the target fish’s preferred depth and will allow it to swim freer then if it were hooked through the nose. The key is to change things if you are not getting bit.
Once you have selected the best bait you can find, handled it correctly and found the method of hooking the bait that the fish are preferring then our keys to better success move to your equipment and fighting of the fish.
This next major factor is your drag setting and having new line on your reel. If your drags are not set properly to the class of line you are using invariably two things will happen.
 If your drag is set too tight you can break the fish off at the hook set or into its second or third run. If the drag is too loose then you may never get the hook set properly into the fish or you will spend more time on the fish than necessary. Drags that are too loose can cause the hook to wear a bigger hole in the fish’s mouth resulting in the hook pulling out during the fight. If you are on a fish longer than necessary your percentages of getting wrapped on other hooked fish around the boat go up.
In general, the longer you are on a fish the greater the percentages of losing the fish.
You can use a couple of methods for setting your drags. One way is to use a hand-held scale. This method will require two people and utilizes the same scale used to  weigh fish. Usually it’s a spring-operated type and a loop is tied into the end of the main line of your rod and reel. One person reels and pulls on the rod causing line to come off the reel and the other holds the scale. This can be a very exact method for setting your drags but will only be as accurate as your scale. The second method is the one I use and it’s the feel method.
After thirty years of setting drags it’s possible to simply pull line off a reel and  sense what drag pressure is correct for the specific line class being used. I strongly recommend that you double check you drag settings with crew members before you soak a bait. They are on the water every day and are very good at setting the drags to the correct pressure.
I think that most line manufacturers recommend that drag pressure be set at 25 percent of the breaking strength of the line. For instance, 30 pound test line  would have a drag pressure of seven and-one-half pounds. In my opinion that is too loose. I think it should be between 32 to 33 percent of the line strength.
However, I have a tendency to fish a tighter drag then most. As long as your drags aren’t what we call “stupid tight” your chances of landing a fish and putting a tag in it are much greater with a snug drag.
The last factor in improving your catch percentages is to make sure your equipment is maintained and that all the line on all your reels is fresh.
New line is a must in ensuring you the best chance of landing the quality fish you are after. This doesn’t mean that the line is new when the trip starts and you’re done.  Some people will try to nurse their line through an entire multi-day trip and that’s simply foolish. People ask me when should I change my line and my answer is always different. Replacing line depends on a number of factors. How many fish have been landed, is the line fatigued, can you see or feel abrasions and how many tangles have you been in. I have seen line that has caught one fish and needs to be replaced. I’ve also seen line that has not even caught a single fish that needs to be replaced because it’s kinked and nicked from multiple tangles. If you catch a fish remember the fight. Did I get wrapped on someone else’s fish, did it rub on the bottom of the boat, did it hit the prop or anchor line and did I pick up a bunch of slack lines. Remember the approximate depth all of these events occurred at and either cut that section of line off your reel, if you have  the capacity, or totally replace the old line with new.
The biggest tip I can give anyone about improving your catch percentages is to ask the crew questions. These guys are out on the water everyday and know what worked last month, last week and yesterday.
They are professionals and make their living fishing. Use them as a resource. There are no stupid  questions and they are more than w ill i n g t o s h a re their knowledge and help you catch more fish.
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