Preparation in life, just as in fishing, will bring home success more often than not. While you cannot prepare for some circumstances in life, fishing preparation we have pretty much nailed down. Here are some techniques both new and old that will put more fish in the boat.
Figure Fish Location: Maps & Seasons
First thing is to conjur a general idea of where the fish will be. If you are reading this I assume you know a thing or two about the fish you will be pursuing. But if you don’t know your target species, research the seasonal movement of the fish, as it is integral to predicting fish location. Once you know the fish’s seasonal tendencies the next step is to study a detailed map of the lake. Try to isolate 100-200 yard patches of water that should be holding fish given the time of year and species. Pick 3-4 spots you would like to check out. If you don’t have a topographical map, Google Maps is a great tool to geographically dissect lakes. The satellites provide surprisingly high resolution detail. Be very observant of the water seen via Google maps—some obvious structures seen on Google Maps will be invisible on the water! Google will pick up things like underwater humps and shallow reefs when the naked eye will miss them.
Weather is important when fishing. Pretend you are at home and it is freezing cold or god awful hot outside—you are not going outside unless you have to. If you went outside, you only would want back to comfortable temperatures as soon as possible. Fish behave this way too. Fish move very little when the water is too hot or cold–they stay ‘inside their homes.’ Remember water takes longer to heat and cool than does air. A bad cold front at night will drag water temperatures down well into the following day no matter how sunny it may be. So when the day is sunny and warm the fish may still be in “cold mode” where they are chilled and inactive deep in the weed beds. Best practice is to pay attention to the previous couple days weather, and, to put it briefly, cold slows the fish down, sun speeds up activity (cold-blooded animals roll with the punches). In Washington, three consistently warm days is my trigger to hit the water.
Get a Pulse on the Fish: Fishing Sites and Reports
Fish behave a certain way in theory according to the weather and season. Theory will often fail because of extraneous factors. These extraneous factors like baitfish, migratory birds, or even spawning of other fish can sometimes be figured out through fishing sites and posted fishing reports which give you an idea of how fish are actually behaving now! These sites offer free information and usually pictures! I think fishing report aggregator tools online are so powerful I am making one myself!
Don’t be out Tying Knots of the Water
I know it is a luxury to own as many as ten rods, but if you own even two rods I advise outfitting them with different lures. Make your rods diverse. Here’s an example to make my point clear. What happens when a bass strikes your top water bait but misses and won’t bite it anymore? (You are going to throw a worm or finesse bait at it—Quick!). Easy if you setup a rod ahead of time. But wait, you didn’t setup your rods ahead of time so you have to tie on a new worm to another rod, throbbing in adrenaline you pull the knot too tight, break the line, and have to start over! After three frustrating minutes you tie the knot again and cast back towards the hungry bass. By then she’s gone. Sound fun? Quickly changing lure presentations puts more bass in the boat and calls for pre-tied rods. Tie on a few different lures, and have some method to the madness. I like to have a few rods dedicated to fast moving lures and a few rods dedicated to slower moving lures. I will always have a flipping stick on board for those thick brush bass.
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