20 Questions
Think you're an angling expert? Take Boating World's fishing quiz and find out if you're dialed in or tuned out.
By Alan Jones
April 1, 2006
1. When fishing near shore in saltwater, you see a slightly calmer spot and smell watermelon;
what does this mean?
A. Someone has dumped garbage here.
B. There's an oyster bar just beneath the surface.
C. There are feeding seatrout present.
D. You're having serious personal problems.
2. When fishing in muddy water, what color plastic worm is usually the most effective?
A. Black.
B. White.
C. Chartreuse.
D. The different colors are just to attract anglers, since bass are color-blind.
3. A trophy 75-pound dolphin (the fish, not the mammal) is approximately how old?
A. 5 years old.
B. 10 years old.
C. 20 years old.
D. Older than Keith Richards' liver.
4. The largest catfish ever caught was how heavy?
A. 85 pounds.
B. 124 pounds.
C. 342 pounds.
D. Bigger than NFL linemen Orlando Pace and Julius Peppers combined.
5. Why do snook feed mostly
at night?
A. Baitfish aren't wary at night because most predators feed during the day.
B. Their black lateral line allows them to smell the presence of other fish.
C. The tannin-stained waters where they reside contain caffeine, so they can't sleep.
D. They have a membrane over their eyes that amplifies light.
6. What do the following fish have in common: largemouth bass, yellow perch, tiger musky, Atlantic salmon, brook trout, and cutthroat trout?
A. Pound-for-pound, they're considered to be the toughest fighting fish.
B. They're the major fish species with the longest standing world records.
C. Despite their different appearances, they're actually related to one another.
D. All taste excellent when grilled and served with lemon butter.
7. The plastic DOA shrimp is one of the most popular lures. How should you retrieve it?
A. Reel it in slowly without any rod movement.
B. "Walk the dog" by holding the rod tip low and twitching the rod tip downward.
C. Work it like a jig, bouncing it off the bottom in a hopping motion.
D. Reel it in as fast as possible, stopping occasionally.
8. When trolling for wahoo, what's the best speed?
A. 10 mph.
B. 15 mph.
C. 25 mph.
D. The same speed as those smuggling "square grouper" into Florida.
9. What's the
difference between "noodling" and "doodling"?
A. Catching a catfish by hand/dropping a jig down and shaking the rod.
B. Using macaroni noodles for bait/employing Cheese Doodles instead.
C. Trying various baits until you get a hit/casting a plastic worm and leaving it motionless.
D. Putting your head under water and yelling to attract fish/using a mixed breed of Dalmatian and poodle to land fish on the beach.
10. When fishing from an anchored boat in a ripping current, what's the best technique to use?
A. Cast a top water lure down current and reel slowly while making it dart.
B. Cast a deep-diving lure up current and twitch while reeling.
C. Cast a swimming lure or plastic paddle-tail jig, put your rod in the holder and grab a beer.
D. Cast a dead fish, click your reel into gear and give it some action to make it appear to be alive.
11. When fighting a large fish that's taking out drag fast and is heading for an obstruction that will cut you off, what should you do?
A. Tighten the drag because you'll lose it anyway if you don't stop it.
B. Twang the line like a guitar string, because the vibration is disturbing to them.
C. Flip the bail open on spinning rods, or put casting reels into free spool.
D. Always use tackle heavy enough for marlin so you don't lose one this way.
12. Naturally, the wind has been calm until the day of your fishing trip; now it's blowing hard. Where should you look for fish?
A. Stay in the lee, because fish don't like the wind any more than you do.
B. Fish the windward side of the shore because that's where the predators will be.
C. It doesn't matter, because there's no wind underwater.
D. You might as well stay at home and tackle that honey-do list your spouse has written up.
13. When surf fishing for species like striped bass, where should you cast your bait?
A. Wade out as far as you can and make a long cast because the fish are in the deepest water.
B. Cast where the waves begin
to form.
C. It doesn't matter because you're just on the beach as an excuse to check out the two-legged action anyway.
D. The turbulent area where the waves crashing on the beach and the receding water meet.
14. When you're
going to be releasing a large percentage of the fish you catch, which hook shouldn't you use?
A. A stainless-steel J-hook.
B. A circle hook.
C. A bronzed J-hook.
D. Who uses hooks when you can buy hand grenades on the black market?
15. Generally speaking, in salt water, which of the following statements will help you catch the most fish?
A. The direction sea grass is bending will show you where the fish are.
B. Follow the movement of the sun to find the fish.
C. When fishing a reef, the biggest fish will be down deep.
D. Because fish only bite when you're busy getting a drink or applying sunscreen, never pay attention; a watched pot never boils.
16. What's the best
way to clean rods and reels after fishing in the ocean?
A. Fill the bathtub with warm soapy water and give them a good soak, rinse, dry, and lightly spray with WD-40.
B. Rods and reels rust out after six months anyway, so why bother.
C. Spray them with a high-speed hose nozzle because salt crystals can get in every nook and cranny; then dry it in the sun.
D. Rinse with a hose that has no attachment and dry with a clean cloth.
17. Which of these are actual carp baits?
A. Devil's Breath cheese nuggets, Carptastic, Dough-Bro balls.
B. Frenzied Hemp Pellets, Sugar Puffs, tiger nuts.
C. Zara Spook, tube lure, buzz bait.
D. The muscular lining of a cow's stomach, snails, camel's feet.
18. When polled, most Great Lakes freshwater fishermen and saltwater anglers said they usually look for what type of fish? (two answers)
A. Bass/redfish.
B. Yellow perch/anything.
C. Salmon/Stripers.
D. Walleye/Flatfish (Halibut, Flounder).
19. What's the best bait for cubera snapper, which can grow to more than 120 pounds?
A. Live lobster.
B. Pinfish.
C. Piece of bologna.
D. Extra large shrimp.
20. If you miss a strike with a plastic worm, what should you do?
A. Reel quickly to simulate that the bait is trying to escape.
B. Drop it back down; it might bite again.
C. Reel in and cast somewhere else, because you can only fool a bass once.
D. Tell your buddy it was a submerged branch out of embarrassment.
ANSWERS
1. C. When trout get excited - like during a feeding frenzy - they often regurgitate their food, which forms an oily slick that calms the water and gives off an odor resembling watermelon or mown grass.
2. A. Surprisingly, black and dark purple are the most visible in muddy water. If you don't believe it, next time you're in murky water, drop various colors down and you'll discover that black wins easily.
3. A. Amazingly, the dolphin has a life span of only 5 years, making it one of the fastest growing fish in the sea. A 10-pounder is only a yearling. So far, efforts to grow them commercially have failed.
4. D. Last year, a Mekong catfish was caught in Thailand that weighed 646 pounds. The world record blue catfish, weighing 124 pounds, was caught on the Mississippi River near Alton, Illinois, in 2005. It beat the state record by nearly 40 pounds.
5. D. Recently, marine biologists have found that Snook have a membrane over their eyes that amplifies ambient light, like a military-issue starlight scope. The snook's pronounced lateral line can sense vibrations, which also helps.
6. B. According to the IGFA, these are the oldest world records on the books: yellow perch (1865), brook trout (1916), tiger musky (1919), cutthroat trout (1925), Atlantic salmon (1928), and largemouth bass (1932). All are older than the oldest saltwater record (Pacific sailfish 1947). Answer D is also correct ... mmmm (let the musky go, however).
7. A. Representatives from DOA say to reel it in slowly with no movement, because this is how an unwary shrimp in the wild behaves. Besides, most predators are lazier than a teen with mono, and they like to eat without expending energy.
8. C. High-speed trolling for wahoo is now the norm, ever since an enterprising captain (several have claimed to be the originator) noticed that the wahoo's prey, the flying fish, travels at approximately this speed.
9. A. Noodling is the art of wading and probing holes in a river/lake bank with the hands or feet to find large catfish (upwards of 100 pounds) and wrestling them out with your bare hands. Doodling, a much tamer activity, consists of dropping a jig down in clear water and shaking the rod tip, then holding it still.
10. C. Since the current is giving the bait action, you don't need to reel. Most predators face into the current and look for easy prey to come sweeping past. Lively bait that's standing still is a predator's dream.
11. C. As crazy as it sounds, you should flip the bail open or put it into free spool, because when you release the tension off the line, the fish is likely to think the hook has come free, and they tend to stop dead in their tracks and go back to what they were doing.
12. B. Unless the wind has been blowing hard in the same direction for days, the best place is the windward side, where baitfish are likely to be pinned against the bank. If you answered D, you probably weren't going to get to go fishing anyway.
13. D. Ever notice that when people fish from boats, they cast toward shore, and people on shore always cast as far from it as they can? Most rookie surf fishermen cast their baits right over the fish. Look for washes near shore where baitfish are likely to be confused.
14. A. Like love, a stainless-steel hook is forever. Circle hooks are the best choice because almost all the fish will be jaw-hooked. Bronzed J-hooks will eventually rust out (mash the barb down too). It's still better to try to remove the hook, but if you can't, recent studies recommend that if you cut the line, leave 18 inches of line attached.
15. A. Seagrass is a great indicator to show you which way the tide is going, which is also the direction the fish go. Baitfish get swept along with the tides and are at their most vulnerable when they get funneled into narrow channels. Predators face into the current and wait for bait to come to them as they exit.
16. D. Remove the reel, gently rinse everything off, then dry with a clean cloth. You don't want to get water where you can't dry it, which rules out A and C. WD-40 makes a good solvent to remove old oil and grease, but lubricate gears with grease and use light machine oil for other moving parts (except drag components).
17. B. Carp are omnivores and will eat a wide range of things like dough balls, corn, breakfast cereals (like Sugar Puffs) and the other items mentioned, like tiger nuts, which come from trees. The answers in D are foods eaten by folks in France, where carp is the number one gamefish.
18. B. The American Sportfishing Association says more Great Lakes anglers target yellow perch as their primary species, whereas saltwater anglers said they were happy to catch any species, which either means they're flexible or just desperate to catch a fish - any fish. In 2001, 44 million Americans over the age of 6 went fishing. They spent more than $42 billion on equipment and contributed $116 billion to the economy.
19. A. Live spiny lobster (the kind you find in the Keys that don't have claws) are the equivalent of a snapper ice cream cone. And if you don't catch any fish, you still have dinner.
20. B. Drop it back in and wait before gently moving it. You know it's near a bass that's willing to strike and lots of times they'll make an exploratory pass at it before eating it. In the wild, worms seldom make a run for it. If you're using a minnow-type lure, reel faster because a baitfish will try to escape.
If you answered:
17-20 correct: You're no doubt slacking off at work, but you know your stuff.
13-16 correct: You won't make it as a pro angler, but you can probably out-fish most of your buddies.
9-12 correct: You at least appear to know which end of the pole to hold onto.
0-8 correct: Your spouse must be very proud of you for never skipping your chores to go fishing.
A. Someone has dumped garbage here.
B. There's an oyster bar just beneath the surface.
C. There are feeding seatrout present.
D. You're having serious personal problems.
2. When fishing in muddy water, what color plastic worm is usually the most effective?
A. Black.
B. White.
C. Chartreuse.
D. The different colors are just to attract anglers, since bass are color-blind.
3. A trophy 75-pound dolphin (the fish, not the mammal) is approximately how old?
A. 5 years old.
B. 10 years old.
C. 20 years old.
D. Older than Keith Richards' liver.
4. The largest catfish ever caught was how heavy?
A. 85 pounds.
B. 124 pounds.
C. 342 pounds.
D. Bigger than NFL linemen Orlando Pace and Julius Peppers combined.
5. Why do snook feed mostly
at night?
A. Baitfish aren't wary at night because most predators feed during the day.
B. Their black lateral line allows them to smell the presence of other fish.
C. The tannin-stained waters where they reside contain caffeine, so they can't sleep.
D. They have a membrane over their eyes that amplifies light.
6. What do the following fish have in common: largemouth bass, yellow perch, tiger musky, Atlantic salmon, brook trout, and cutthroat trout?
A. Pound-for-pound, they're considered to be the toughest fighting fish.
B. They're the major fish species with the longest standing world records.
C. Despite their different appearances, they're actually related to one another.
D. All taste excellent when grilled and served with lemon butter.
7. The plastic DOA shrimp is one of the most popular lures. How should you retrieve it?
A. Reel it in slowly without any rod movement.
B. "Walk the dog" by holding the rod tip low and twitching the rod tip downward.
C. Work it like a jig, bouncing it off the bottom in a hopping motion.
D. Reel it in as fast as possible, stopping occasionally.
8. When trolling for wahoo, what's the best speed?
A. 10 mph.
B. 15 mph.
C. 25 mph.
D. The same speed as those smuggling "square grouper" into Florida.
9. What's the
difference between "noodling" and "doodling"?
A. Catching a catfish by hand/dropping a jig down and shaking the rod.
B. Using macaroni noodles for bait/employing Cheese Doodles instead.
C. Trying various baits until you get a hit/casting a plastic worm and leaving it motionless.
D. Putting your head under water and yelling to attract fish/using a mixed breed of Dalmatian and poodle to land fish on the beach.
10. When fishing from an anchored boat in a ripping current, what's the best technique to use?
A. Cast a top water lure down current and reel slowly while making it dart.
B. Cast a deep-diving lure up current and twitch while reeling.
C. Cast a swimming lure or plastic paddle-tail jig, put your rod in the holder and grab a beer.
D. Cast a dead fish, click your reel into gear and give it some action to make it appear to be alive.
11. When fighting a large fish that's taking out drag fast and is heading for an obstruction that will cut you off, what should you do?
A. Tighten the drag because you'll lose it anyway if you don't stop it.
B. Twang the line like a guitar string, because the vibration is disturbing to them.
C. Flip the bail open on spinning rods, or put casting reels into free spool.
D. Always use tackle heavy enough for marlin so you don't lose one this way.
12. Naturally, the wind has been calm until the day of your fishing trip; now it's blowing hard. Where should you look for fish?
A. Stay in the lee, because fish don't like the wind any more than you do.
B. Fish the windward side of the shore because that's where the predators will be.
C. It doesn't matter, because there's no wind underwater.
D. You might as well stay at home and tackle that honey-do list your spouse has written up.
13. When surf fishing for species like striped bass, where should you cast your bait?
A. Wade out as far as you can and make a long cast because the fish are in the deepest water.
B. Cast where the waves begin
to form.
C. It doesn't matter because you're just on the beach as an excuse to check out the two-legged action anyway.
D. The turbulent area where the waves crashing on the beach and the receding water meet.
14. When you're
going to be releasing a large percentage of the fish you catch, which hook shouldn't you use?
A. A stainless-steel J-hook.
B. A circle hook.
C. A bronzed J-hook.
D. Who uses hooks when you can buy hand grenades on the black market?
15. Generally speaking, in salt water, which of the following statements will help you catch the most fish?
A. The direction sea grass is bending will show you where the fish are.
B. Follow the movement of the sun to find the fish.
C. When fishing a reef, the biggest fish will be down deep.
D. Because fish only bite when you're busy getting a drink or applying sunscreen, never pay attention; a watched pot never boils.
16. What's the best
way to clean rods and reels after fishing in the ocean?
A. Fill the bathtub with warm soapy water and give them a good soak, rinse, dry, and lightly spray with WD-40.
B. Rods and reels rust out after six months anyway, so why bother.
C. Spray them with a high-speed hose nozzle because salt crystals can get in every nook and cranny; then dry it in the sun.
D. Rinse with a hose that has no attachment and dry with a clean cloth.
17. Which of these are actual carp baits?
A. Devil's Breath cheese nuggets, Carptastic, Dough-Bro balls.
B. Frenzied Hemp Pellets, Sugar Puffs, tiger nuts.
C. Zara Spook, tube lure, buzz bait.
D. The muscular lining of a cow's stomach, snails, camel's feet.
18. When polled, most Great Lakes freshwater fishermen and saltwater anglers said they usually look for what type of fish? (two answers)
A. Bass/redfish.
B. Yellow perch/anything.
C. Salmon/Stripers.
D. Walleye/Flatfish (Halibut, Flounder).
19. What's the best bait for cubera snapper, which can grow to more than 120 pounds?
A. Live lobster.
B. Pinfish.
C. Piece of bologna.
D. Extra large shrimp.
20. If you miss a strike with a plastic worm, what should you do?
A. Reel quickly to simulate that the bait is trying to escape.
B. Drop it back down; it might bite again.
C. Reel in and cast somewhere else, because you can only fool a bass once.
D. Tell your buddy it was a submerged branch out of embarrassment.
ANSWERS
1. C. When trout get excited - like during a feeding frenzy - they often regurgitate their food, which forms an oily slick that calms the water and gives off an odor resembling watermelon or mown grass.
2. A. Surprisingly, black and dark purple are the most visible in muddy water. If you don't believe it, next time you're in murky water, drop various colors down and you'll discover that black wins easily.
3. A. Amazingly, the dolphin has a life span of only 5 years, making it one of the fastest growing fish in the sea. A 10-pounder is only a yearling. So far, efforts to grow them commercially have failed.
4. D. Last year, a Mekong catfish was caught in Thailand that weighed 646 pounds. The world record blue catfish, weighing 124 pounds, was caught on the Mississippi River near Alton, Illinois, in 2005. It beat the state record by nearly 40 pounds.
5. D. Recently, marine biologists have found that Snook have a membrane over their eyes that amplifies ambient light, like a military-issue starlight scope. The snook's pronounced lateral line can sense vibrations, which also helps.
6. B. According to the IGFA, these are the oldest world records on the books: yellow perch (1865), brook trout (1916), tiger musky (1919), cutthroat trout (1925), Atlantic salmon (1928), and largemouth bass (1932). All are older than the oldest saltwater record (Pacific sailfish 1947). Answer D is also correct ... mmmm (let the musky go, however).
7. A. Representatives from DOA say to reel it in slowly with no movement, because this is how an unwary shrimp in the wild behaves. Besides, most predators are lazier than a teen with mono, and they like to eat without expending energy.
8. C. High-speed trolling for wahoo is now the norm, ever since an enterprising captain (several have claimed to be the originator) noticed that the wahoo's prey, the flying fish, travels at approximately this speed.
9. A. Noodling is the art of wading and probing holes in a river/lake bank with the hands or feet to find large catfish (upwards of 100 pounds) and wrestling them out with your bare hands. Doodling, a much tamer activity, consists of dropping a jig down in clear water and shaking the rod tip, then holding it still.
10. C. Since the current is giving the bait action, you don't need to reel. Most predators face into the current and look for easy prey to come sweeping past. Lively bait that's standing still is a predator's dream.
11. C. As crazy as it sounds, you should flip the bail open or put it into free spool, because when you release the tension off the line, the fish is likely to think the hook has come free, and they tend to stop dead in their tracks and go back to what they were doing.
12. B. Unless the wind has been blowing hard in the same direction for days, the best place is the windward side, where baitfish are likely to be pinned against the bank. If you answered D, you probably weren't going to get to go fishing anyway.
13. D. Ever notice that when people fish from boats, they cast toward shore, and people on shore always cast as far from it as they can? Most rookie surf fishermen cast their baits right over the fish. Look for washes near shore where baitfish are likely to be confused.
14. A. Like love, a stainless-steel hook is forever. Circle hooks are the best choice because almost all the fish will be jaw-hooked. Bronzed J-hooks will eventually rust out (mash the barb down too). It's still better to try to remove the hook, but if you can't, recent studies recommend that if you cut the line, leave 18 inches of line attached.
15. A. Seagrass is a great indicator to show you which way the tide is going, which is also the direction the fish go. Baitfish get swept along with the tides and are at their most vulnerable when they get funneled into narrow channels. Predators face into the current and wait for bait to come to them as they exit.
16. D. Remove the reel, gently rinse everything off, then dry with a clean cloth. You don't want to get water where you can't dry it, which rules out A and C. WD-40 makes a good solvent to remove old oil and grease, but lubricate gears with grease and use light machine oil for other moving parts (except drag components).
17. B. Carp are omnivores and will eat a wide range of things like dough balls, corn, breakfast cereals (like Sugar Puffs) and the other items mentioned, like tiger nuts, which come from trees. The answers in D are foods eaten by folks in France, where carp is the number one gamefish.
18. B. The American Sportfishing Association says more Great Lakes anglers target yellow perch as their primary species, whereas saltwater anglers said they were happy to catch any species, which either means they're flexible or just desperate to catch a fish - any fish. In 2001, 44 million Americans over the age of 6 went fishing. They spent more than $42 billion on equipment and contributed $116 billion to the economy.
19. A. Live spiny lobster (the kind you find in the Keys that don't have claws) are the equivalent of a snapper ice cream cone. And if you don't catch any fish, you still have dinner.
20. B. Drop it back in and wait before gently moving it. You know it's near a bass that's willing to strike and lots of times they'll make an exploratory pass at it before eating it. In the wild, worms seldom make a run for it. If you're using a minnow-type lure, reel faster because a baitfish will try to escape.
If you answered:
17-20 correct: You're no doubt slacking off at work, but you know your stuff.
13-16 correct: You won't make it as a pro angler, but you can probably out-fish most of your buddies.
9-12 correct: You at least appear to know which end of the pole to hold onto.
0-8 correct: Your spouse must be very proud of you for never skipping your chores to go fishing.
related articles:
Truth Or Consequences: If the "truth in advertising" laws were actually enforced, fishing camp brochures would probably look a lot different.20 Questions: Think you're an angling expert? Take Boating World's fishing quiz and find out if you're dialed in or tuned out.
