The Nano Fishing System Catches Trophy Fish

Have you noticed how anglers fishing in a boat edge closer to you when you’re catching fish from shore? Or how when you’re on shore, you wish to cast out further?

Warming waters in spring offer shore fishermen some of the best activity of the year. Warmer waters and weather patterns bring the fish right into us to spawn. While I do fish in a boat at times, I do not own one. Everything you learn in my column will work on shore but is also deadly in a boat.

My go-to method that produces both bad fishing and good is float fishing. The use of an indicator up top, when properly adjusted, shows you what is happening below. Using a float (or as many call them, a bobber) is the only method to present bait to fish in a natural fashion. All other methods of fishing require you to fool the fish with movement or the shape of the bait.  Float fishing allows you to deploy your bait, set the depth and see the exact moment a fish takes your hook bait.

Warming waters bring fish in close to shore where we can easily use small floats (castable bite indicators) and adjust to the lighter takes of fussy fish. Fish are the same temperature as the water, so in cold or cool Midwest waters, fish are slow and cold. To adjust to their slow and shorter movements when feeding, I use much smaller floats. This allows me to see small movements that indicate the fish feeding. A larger bobber, like a plastic, center tube slip bobber, are too large and heavy to show movement on bites.

In this article, I am announcing a new attack system called Nano Light NL3. Nano Light tackle is dedicated to getting past the defenses of fish. This system allows fishermen to catch fish in poor moods. I am catching more trophy fish than ever by sticking to this system.

The system focuses on leader lines that are lighter than the 4-pound-test main line used on spinning reels. The combination of the two closely resembles what I used to fish for the USA Fishing Team in World Championship heats. This is a live bait championship, and is close to the way most people fish in the U.S. Most anglers will fish live bait at some point in the season. Lures and fly fishing are another way of fishing, but they are more complex and difficult. Errors fishing artificial lures and flies will frustrate many anglers and be the cause of low fish catches. They’re simply harder to succeed and master.

If you are not catching…it’s likely your tackle. Changing to the Nano Light method will mean a lot more success. How much success? The last charity tournament I fished had the 2nd place fishermen weigh in 4 fish. I beat him by 122 fish! Nano Light will catch fish in the worst conditions with the worst fish activity, and dominate in good, active fish conditions.

The Neon Light system

The secrets of the Neon Light system lie in the leader, hook and light float.

Your leader lines should be 3-pound lines which are commonly used for ice fishing. Given the current poor ice conditions, you will need to find these on sale right now and can get a great end-of-season deal. Three-pound leader has a thickness of .13 mm or .005 inches. I prefer the mm designation as it is shorter. You don’t need to be an engineer; just match up with a line for your main line.

Slightly stronger is Frost Ice line by Clam which is .15 mm for your leader line. Sufix Ice Magic by Rapala is also a good choice. If you want a bit more strength, switch to 16 mm, “3-pound” P-Line Ice Line (which is fluorocarbon coated) and better in clear waters. The thinnest of all the pack, and one I would pick, is Gamma ESP Ice which boasts a .10 mm diameter.

Mind you, all these packages read “3-pound,” but line thickness is where your strength is measured. I have had guiding clients land a 14.5-fish on 3-pound leader and they weren’t really kind to it. I use these leaders to get more takes and more action when guiding because I want insurance that I will get the client a tight line and bent rod. I also fish these thin lines in competitions and when hunting trophy fish. They make a big difference.

One thing that drives me nuts: I have to do deep research just to find these line diameters online. (They make a difference in your leader performance). The thickness of your line on the leader plays a key role on the Nano Light setup, as does the hook. Lighter line is detected slower in a fish’s mouth than thicker line. This gives you more time to react and set the hook. A thin leader directly results in more fish for you. Use an 8-inch piece of leader as a rule, and a little longer in clear water. Connect this leader with a small swivel for strength.

For the main line, one I fish all the time is Sufix Elite in Hi-Vis Yellow, which is a thick 4-pound (what it says on the box) that is affordable. This main line is .20 mm, and the key to this system is that the top part never breaks (outside of human error). This 4-pound matched with 3-pound leader line will give you an advantage in both casting distance as well as the time it takes for fish to detect your line. These two line strengths work together with line stretch when playing a big beast fish, and give you some forgiveness.

Now, a good problem to have is hooking lots of big fish. When that happens a couple times in a row, we might adjust. I will go up in line size (5-to 6-pound) when the fish are really active, like a school of smallmouth bass that are breaking me off or taking too long to land. That’s a great problem to have!

My go-to rod for this system is a 9- or 10-foot Gapen IM6 Carbon float rod. The longer rod allows me more time to react and play fish on big runs. Add a 4000 series spinning reel and you will catch many species of fish on all sorts of waters: ponds, reservoirs, rivers, deep lakes and shallow lakes.

Properly equipped, you will dominate the waters with a Nano Light approach this year. For the ultimate Nano Light float rig, go to bit.ly/nanofish or find all my tips and tricks at LiveBaitFishingTackle.com.