Bucks County Doggie Angler

 

Bucks County Angler

 

                   Let's talk about the joy of having a fishing companion, and I don't mean a fellow fisherman. No, for me the best fishing companion has four legs and a tail. I've been fishing with dogs for years and have always had golden retrievers. Right now, Annie, my 2 year old golden retriever is my fishing companion. She's been going with me for about a year and a half and we have had some great success. In the past I only took my dogs on rare occasions fishing with me because I was afraid of them getting ticks. However, in more recent years, tick medication for dogs has become very, very useful and effective. So, Annie goes with me more often times than not when I go fishing. She loves watching the birds floating on the lake, the people walking by telling her how beautiful she is. And best of all, when I catch a big fish, she's completely obsessed with it. In August I went fishing around my birthday with her and ended up snagging 2 very large channel catfish and the look on Annie’s face when they broke the water as I was reeling them in was absolutely hilarious. I wish I had been able to take a photo of it but obviously my hands were full. Instead, I have to settle for the look of her being curious with them as I was unhooking them and getting ready to set them free. That same year I also landed a lunker bass, which was as tall as she was, which is one of my favorite photos of all time.

        Having your dog with you while you're fishing serves more of a purpose than one might think. Sure, it's always fun to have your pet with you when you do activities, and it doesn't hurt that some cute joggers might come by and fawn over her. But having your dog with you also tends to keep some of the less desirable aspects of public fishing at bay. The rather rude ‘gentlemen.’ who try to fish almost literally on top of you tend not to do that as much when your dog is right beside you. Dogs are also handy for keeping the geese and other annoying waterfowl away. And if you've never nailed a goose between the eyes of the lure, well, you just haven't been fishing enough, but a good pup will keep that down to a minimum.

         So finally let's go over some safety considerations for having your dog with you during a fishing trip. For one thing, you're probably going to want to bring a considerable amount of water and something for it to drink out of. I found collapsible water bowls both inexpensive and incredibly useful. It's not a great idea to give your dog complete free run of a fishing area at a park or a lake. Secondly while your dog may be a completely well-behaved and trustworthy pet, others aren't likely to have the same situation so it's best to keep them on the leash. Either attached to yourself or you can also stake it into the ground. Finally, and although this should be fairly obvious, I still feel it needs to be said, you should always keep one eye on your dog when casting. Last thing you need is your pup catching a hook in the face…Or anywhere else for that matter.

        Bottom line… Fishing, like so many things in life, (with the possible exceptions of showering or the literal act of creating children.) is better with a dog. Although it's best with my dog... My dog is the best dog. OK, here's some pictures.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
                                   Lake Luxembourg , October. 6, 2023   So, I thought that I would take another fishing trip for the day. So I traveled down to the boat rental house area of Lake Luxembourg and cast a few lines in the water using the usual night crawler bait. After an hour or two of only catching some bluegill sunnies, I decided to try out a new fishing technique that a fellow fisherman had taught me at Tyler Park a few weeks earlier, known as wacky bait rigging. Within two casts of trying that, I pulled up a very nice sized Largemouth bass, the 1st I had caught of that size in a year or two. It also marked the first real success I had ever had with any kind of non-live bait lure, having exclusively used worms for the entirety of my fishing career. Wacky bait turned out to be just about the best s...
Read more

Catching largemouth bass on lures.

Image
                                                               Lake Luxembourg and in the Neshaminy Creek.           One of the most enjoyable fish to catch anywhere is the largemouth bass. One of the most beautiful fish in freshwater, it's prized by anglers all over the world as one of their absolute favorite fish to catch. Now of course, you can catch them with a variety of live bait, night crawlers, red worms, minnows. Even crickets and grasshoppers work pretty well. But there's something kind of special about catching them with lures. I think it's because you must have a considerable amount of skill in order to get the bass to strike the lure and even more so to successfully land the fish. Full disclosure, up until very recently,...
Read more

The Bucks County Angler

Image
             Catching white crappies Lake Luxembourg , November 27 2023           Contrary to the belief of many, you can do some very good fishing in the colder weather. The fact of the matter is as long as the temperature is above 40° the fish are not all that inactive. Oh, it's true they're going to be slower and less hungry so you just kind of have to work at it a bit harder. One particularly good trick I learned was using under-spin jig head lures technique that worked particularly well on this particular fishing trip to Luxembourg which resulted in two of the first white crappies I had ever been able to pull up. Fishing with jig lures involves letting the lure sink to the bottom and then jerking up the tip of your fishing rod infrequent intervals to create the appearance of a dying fish or other prey. It's a good idea with certain under spin jigs to add a small amount of weight righ...
Read more