Most Underused Fishing Resource?

[Unknownwaters]

What would u guys say is the most underused or unknown fishing resource that is available to the average angler?

[CPBassFishing]

Edit: misunderstood the post. I concur with the guy below me. a pond I fish has several carp 6+ feet long that nobody fishes for because they are grass carp......I have tried to snag them but they are so hard to hook.

[ww2farmer]

Confusing (to me) question. So I will address it in two ways.

 

If your talking about species of fish as a "resource", I would have to say in my area................carp. Every body of water around here has them in abundance, big ones too. Yet no one ever seems to target them regularly. Other than a very small number of guys I know that bow fish them in the spring, they largely go un-fished for. I can't say that I personally care for them, or even care to target them, but the few I have caught by accident have been exciting. I have landed a 36lber, a 25lber, and a couple over ten pounds, and on bass tackle it was a fight and a half.

 

 If your talking about something that will help you learn to catch more bass, the most underused resource I see is (to quote Ike) learning to "fish the moment". I see a ton of dudes who get stuck in fishing memories (truth be told I am guilty of it myself from time to time, and I think we all are) and go down in flames because they are not listening to what the fish are telling them.

[motodmast]

Water temp or weather. These two are often overlooked yet play a big roll in whats gonna happen that day

[PondHunter]

I'm going to say that the most underused resource is Rivers and Streams. There are alot of misconceptions about fishing Rivers, like the only thing in them are Carp and Catfish.

 

Most are afraid of losing all their crankbaits to snags, and learning to read the water takes some time. You also need a different boat than the typical bass boat.

[slonezp]

The fisherman's eyes and ears

[Topwaterspook]

In the past few years I have learned to trust my "gut instinct".  I'm not sure if my mind is just subconsciously feeding learned data to my brain or not. I just sometimes seem to get into a "zone".

[jhoffman]

Most under used resource.... Google Earth with USGS Topo Layers

[Hanover_Yakker]

Fishing journals - how many times have you tried to recall all the variables that accounted for your catches or lack there of in the past?  If you had logged that information over the course of a few years, you would start to see a pattern of behaviors not only by you but also by the fish relative to the conditions at hand on a given day.  We do it here in VA for the salt species where water temps and currents play a huge factor on when different species "turn on" and "off" like summer flounder, tautog, spadefish, sheepsheads, etc.  I also do it for LMB but not as detailed which is my own downfall.

[flyfisher]

Edit: misunderstood the post. I concur with the guy below me. a pond I fish has several carp 6+ feet long that nobody fishes for because they are grass carp......I have tried to snag them but they are so hard to hook.

 

If they are really 6+ plus then you need to target them because that sounds like world record category....And carp are a blast to catch and probably the hardest fighting freshwater fish out there....

 

As far as underused fishing resource goes i will go with the knowledge from others that have been fishing longer than you.  There is so much to learn and, speaking for myself too, we all have a tendency to think we know what is happening and the best approach. 

[RoachDad]

Most under used resource.... Google Earth with USGS Topo Layers

I've tried looking at a couple of local lakes with Google earth but it doesn't tell me anything.  What are you looking for?  it does not show underwater contours, or am I not using it correctly?  I'll search for some USGS Topo maps. 

[jhoffman]

Small natural lakes likely wont tell you much. I use them on man made reservoirs which show me things like old ponds, roads, creek channels, river channels, humps....
 

If you cant use it for that you can use things like time of day where you can see what little pockets are getting sun first or getting dark last. Sometimes you can see where mud lines form, if they draw them down you can see stuff that you cant see at normal pool.

[Nitrofreak]

The fisherman's eyes and ears

 

Right here !!!

 

The most underused resource is ones self, not knowing when or how to adapt to adverse conditions, not understanding the body of water one is fishing, giving up instead of learning, locating fish first before starting to fish, any number of things we could pick and choose from but the end result is always how well you understand when, where, what, why and how.

[MichBassMan]

Bass fishing forums,Bassresource.com for example. No where else you can tap into so many years of knowledge and experiance from other likeminded fisherman; who are so eager to help each other learn.

[Sam]

Old people who used to fish the waters you are inquiring about.

 

It is difficult to find them but they have some fantastic information that they are willing to share with you.

 

You have to find them and when you do you will have a treasure of information that no one else has. You have to ask guides, tackle shops, ramp and marina store operators and friends for their names.

 

For example, I saw two guys pull up about 50 yards off a lake bank a few summers ago  and start to fish. My fishing partner and I plu the rest of the gang were beating the banks with plastics.

 

These two guys 50 yards in the middle of no where pulled three beautiful bass out of open water! In the summer. With air temperatures in the 90s and water temps in the 80s.

 

So I asked an old timer and he told me about a boat that had sunk in that vicenity. I had never heard about any boat sinking and neither had my friends.

 

I will look for the sunken boat on the bottom this summer with my sonar and mark it as a waypoint.

 

Go figure?

[mjseverson24]

The most underutailozed resource in bass fishing is the brain! The difference between a good angler and a great one is knowing when and how to use knowledge. knowledge is not found in a book or in a video, but in the exceptional understanding of anglers on the ecosystem, and seasonal patterns of their target species. the key is knowing when to stay and when to go, when to finnesse and when to power fish. fishing the past might help you get a starting point but relying on yesterdays success is a recipie for failure today.

 

Mitch

[_bassmaster_]

Anglers dont know what resources are out there, that could help them. I prefish in my living room using Angling Technologies. This interactive mapper allows me to scan any lake using aerial views and digital overlays, create waypoints and export to my unit. Best homework ive ever done. Saves me the trouble of hauling my boat to the lake, wasting fuel in my boat and fouling out my plus running at idle. Best $15 ive spent

[Nashua Nev]

talk to the old guys,    The old guys have the secrets ,  but many times you will find they are not secrets... They want to talk , but we are too busy not listening and the wise old men dont waste if we are not listening.  Befriend them and when i say befriend them i dont just mean 1 time and and ask questions.  truly get to know some some of the old folk.  People dont talk enough these days.

[JT Bagwell]

I honestly think the most underused resource is the fishing forum.

 

Many people just scan websites and don't take full advantage of what is there.

 

There are probably not any circumstances or issues that you can come across

now days that someone on this forum hasn't seen before and can help you with.

 

Here is an article I wrote a month or so ago about that same thing.

 

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/Bagwell/internet-fishing.html

[LApanic]

Eagle Claw Bobber Stops...hands down

[WRB]

Right here !!!

The most underused resource is ones self, not knowing when or how to adapt to adverse conditions, not understanding the body of water one is fishing, giving up instead of learning, locating fish first before starting to fish, any number of things we could pick and choose from but the end result is always how well you understand when, where, what, why and how.

I agree most anglers under utilize the eye sight and hearing when bass fishing from a bass boat. Most bass anglers rarely look beyond the lure. The angler looks for good targets to cast at, watches their lure action a little and miss totally any bass following the lure or movement as the lure hits the water, unless they are sight fishing for bed bass. They have no idea that several bass looked at the lure during the retrieve, then turned away...simply put; blind fishing.

Some angler will hear a big splash from a jumping fish, often believe the fish to be a bass without seeing it. The hear a sound but don't see what made it, they see water movement and have no idea what made the water or aquatic plants move.

Musky anglers pride themselves with the number of rises or follows they had, because they now know where the musky lives. Few bass anglers bother to look into the water and see what is below the surface.

Tom