When on the river, keep bait handling to a minimum. The best way to do this is by curing baits at home, with gloved hands. Make an effort to wear rubber gloves when curing eggs, so you don’t contaminate them. I like cutting the eggs to fishing-size at the time of curing, not once I’m on the river. Not only does this save time, it prevents excessive handling later.

At the same time, wrapping plugs with fillets -- again, with gloved hands -- can be done the night before you hit the water. This will maximize fishing time and allow you to dedicate more attention to the task at hand. You’ll handle bait more efficiently and eliminate the transfer of unwanted odors.

If you cut the baits to size beforehand, all you have to do is grab them and slap them on. For plugs, having them pre-wrapped means handling only the plug, not the bait, once you’re on the river.

If you don’t like wearing rubber gloves all day long, or don’t like applying odor-masking soaps to your hands, there is an alternative. Xtreme Scents has a disposable scent wipe that comes in a small container. The container itself is compact, and the wipes are easy to pull out.

Wipe off your hands before handling any baits, plugs or lures, then do your thing. You can get multiple uses with one wipe. When you’re done, you can use the same wipe to clean your hands off; and you can also use it to wipe down plugs, lures and rod handles. Good investment! Very convenient, and it might help you catch more fish.

NO. 4: TRIGGER BITES
I don’t know how many times over the years I’ve awakened early in the morning to get a prime spot on the river, but not touched a fish until midday.

Sometimes I could see the springers, or at least feel them with my line as they swam about in deep holes. I knew they were there. The trouble was, they simply were not biting.

Varying bait selection, changing weight, adding longer leaders and trying different approaches didn’t work. There are times when a bite simply won’t happen. In this case, the only thing left is persistence.

Often, incessant casting can trigger a reactionary bite. The question is, how long are you willing to wait? And how many fish do you care to catch? But once the bite does turn on, land that fish and get your line back in the water as quickly as possible.

A high percentage of the time, it seems that once one fish bites, others in the school start biting.

You might have had this happen to you. You’ve been fishing a hole for hours. Nothing’s biting your offering, and the other guys aren’t getting nibbles either. Finally, someone hooks a fish. Then it’s like a chain reaction. More anglers start getting strikes.

Who really knows what triggered the bite? But there’s no doubting that persistence played a factor. Without continued casting, nothing would have happened.