Alan Reed

I caught a fish in every month of 2017. I missed January of 18 because the water wasn’t open.

The fishing was pretty tough for everyone. No one found anything huge. It wasn’t nearly as cold as what they predicted so that was certainly welcoming in the morning. Certainly way better than being stuck inside.

Thanks for the info!

Fishing a fun tournament Sunday morning up on Geist. Looks like it’s going to be a chilly start.

We had three of us that went out today. The fishing wasn’t great but certainly better than sitting at home.

Stil fishing here and we have another tournament scheduled for the weekend before thanksgiving. Try to hold out as long as we can before we pack it up for the year. What I think is the toughest time is after the first of the year when all the shows are happening, you are talking fishing, equipment is prepared and ready but the water is completely iced over.

It was 29 degrees at the start of our tournament this morning. It also seemed to take along time to warm up.

What are you referencing?

Welcome from Columbus Indiana

I would second the Micro Power Pole for shallow anchoring. I would also second the low pro anchor wizard for deeper anchoring.

Yes, I have a few times. It is a bit of a drive for me but I have several friends in the area.

I and several others I regularly fish with have found the past 2-3 weeks challenging. Lots of dinks and very little size. What’s been your experience?

I have a lot of good take aways from a great discussion. Some of which I knew but good to get some confirmation. Certainly other things I hadn’t thought about. Thanks to everyone for all the thoughts and conversation.

I have caught the same bass with the same lure within 30 minutes. I knew it was the same bass because it broke me off right at the boat and still had the other lure in its mouth. I had the same thing happen recently with a 5 lbs bass however this one I did get in the boat and all the marking were the same. We’ve all caught the fish that is missing most of one or more of its cheeks because. It has been hooked so many times.

Why shake them off if they don’t learn?

I don’t know, just seems to be widespread through out all levels and fishing communities. Maybe everyone is wrong.

Do you believe the day before a tournament we should not continue catching fish on our prime spots for the tournament? I certainly don’t know the answer to these questions and there is a lot of conflicting information out there.

I have never seen a large bass coming up to explore my kayak in a lake. However regularly I have smaller younger bass coming up to check out my kayak. On some of our heavily floated rivers the bass don’t seem to be phased by tuber and kayakers that pass through seemly in a constant stream on the weekend throughout the summer. Have the larger bass also learned to be cautious when one of our boats comes into the area because we are likely trying trying to catch them but on the river they have been conditioned to not be concerned?

I believe Catt has already covered that. I was asking for your constructive conversation if you believe different.

How is it harder?

It seems there are two different thoughts on this subject I hope I am not over simplifying these to much: 1. It is an art, a mystical unexplainable difference in what makes any angler better than another at catching bigger fish consistently. 2. It is scientific method that says study and understand the waters, how fish move seasonally, what they eat and then you will find catch the bigger fish. Is that a fair assessment of what has been said?

Thanks for sharing, and I agree whole heartedly in developing your own style and technique that works for you. Sometimes your style, the way you twitch a bait and the length you wait to move your lure is the difference. But consider this, in every sport when we look at all the greats they all had something in common, the best quarterbacks could all read the defense prior to the snap and knew how to make an adjustment to the play to counteract that. Maybe that was a different play or to quicken the release. MJ and Lebron knew how to use their body and ball movements to create separation between them and their defender. How does that translate to fishing? First I think they all have the great ability to locate big fish. Second once they locate the big fish they go to their bag of tricks and find a way to make them bite. Yes it isn’t the same way for each angler because they each have a technique or two they have “mastered” as their own. Would you agree with this?

@Catt I fish many different bodies of water. I have done national tournaments on Kentucky lake in the early spring, as they were moving up to spawn and once they were out on the ledges. My local tournaments in Indiana, one day tournaments winning weights are on average in the upper teens. Most public water in Indiana has a 14” minimum with some of the state owned property as high as 18” keepers. A 20” around 5 pound bass on most lakes here are considered a kicker fish. The rivers are an entirely different subject. I need to get better at those as well but I have seen the smaller lures in the rivers perform very well.

This is getting back to the point main topic which is targeting the bigger fish in a way that works in a tournament. That is obviously different than some one that is going out seeking the fish of a lifetime every time they go out knowing many times that means they are not going to get a single bite. What is the strategy difference you employ to target the bigger tournament fish?

Sure everyone even the best in the world have bad days, weeks and tournaments. But there is something that the best have learned that the rest of strive to have. Which is what sparks my question.