Biotope One A Study of Flora and Fauna The Art of Micro Fishing has tiny little hooks available for catching the smallest micro fish. Hook and line caught fish make great aquarium specimens. I have had great success catching Dace and many other small minnows on hook and line with the micro hooks. I got into micro fishing several years ago. It quickly grew into something of its own.
Wild Caught Native Fish Can Make Wonderful Tank Inhabitants
I’ve been fishing and keeping aquariums since I was a small child. Over the course of a few decades I’ve caught and kept a number of fish I caught on hook and line as well as traps. I most enjoy micro fishing, though. At first I was using small fly fishing hooks but those weren’t ideal. They are designed for bigger game, like trout which grow to many pounds. Not as well suited to a 20mm micro fish as it should be.
I met Tim Aldridge somehow through the maze of the internet. Tim was catching tiny little fish in North Carolina and I started asking questions. It wasn’t long before I found that there was a growing following of micro anglers. Tim showed me what Tanago fishing was and the micro fishing gear they use. It was better than the fly fishing hooks but it still wasn’t perfect. As Tim and I began to talk more we decided to try to build a better hook. Something that was designed for microfishing, not trout or small carp only.
We Developed the Aldridge #1 Hook for Micro Fishing
The Aldridge #1 micro hook was the hook design and snelled leader we came up with. We tested the hooks over the course of a few months both in the South Eastern United States and Australia. I fished mostly saltwater in Sydney Harbour and Tim fished mostly freshwater in the Southeast, US. We made notes and compared results. We changed hook shape, barb length, line weight, and point style until we were happy with a micro fishing hook.
The testing phase came and 35 species of fish were caught on the Aldridge #1 by The Art of Micro Fishing. Tim made a few trips for Florida freshwater micro fishing and his catches were amazing. Some of the best looking aquarium worthy invasive cichlids I’ve ever seen were added to his lifelist.
North America has More Than 800 Species of Freshwater Fish.
North America has more than 800 known freshwater fish and worldwide there are 10,000 or more. As I got more and more into micro fishing I started seeing tons of fish that were beautiful enough and hardy enough for tank life.
Many Pet Store Fish are Wild Caught!
Get started catching your own native fish species using the Aldridge #1 hooks. They work very well and you won’t destroy habitat by netting. Targetting species areas you will have a higher chance of targeting your desired species and less bycatch. Remember to quarantine your catch to avoid introducing disease or parasites. You do already quarantine your petstore fish, don’t you? After all, many of those are wild caught too!
