One Fish Spots

[Captain Phil]

I don't normally watch TV fishing shows.   I am currently recovering from back surgery. Marooned in my house, I happened to watch the latest Elite Series.  On the show, Zona spoke about "one fish spots".  This is something I have known about for years, but is hardly ever discussed. One fish spots give local anglers a tremendous advantage.  Fishing the Harris Chain can be challenging at times. Right now, you can spinnerbait the weed lines and catch fish all day.   In a few months, the action will slow substantially.  Our best anglers have developed a milk run of "one fish spots".   These spots could be sunken docks, stumps, rocks, tiny weed islands or anything out of the ordinary.  A fish will set up on these spots.  Catch that fish and move on the the next spot.  At the end of the day, you have a nice limit when most other anglers can't get a bite.  Fishing pressure being what it is these days, one fish spots are replacing patterns.

[Deleted account]

11 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

I don't normally watch TV fishing shows.   I am currently recovering from back surgery. Marooned in my house, I happened to watch the latest Elite Series.  On the show, Zona spoke about "one fish spots".  This is something I have known about for years, but it is hardly ever is discussed. One fish spots give local anglers a tremendous advantage.  Fishing the Harris Chain can be challenging at times. Right now, you can spinnerbait the weed lines and catch fish all day.   In a few months, the action will slow substantially.  Our best anglers have developed a milk run of "one fish spots".   These spots could be sunken docks, stumps, rocks, tiny weed islands or anything out of the ordinary.  A fish will set up on these spots.  Catch that fish and move on the the next spot.  At the end of the day, you have a nice limit when most other anglers can't get a bite.  Fishing pressure being what it is these days, one fish spots are replacing patterns.

So the best "pattern" is to find where the fish are at?  There may be hope for bass guys yet.

Whether a spot (we call them drops) holds one, some, several, or a boatload of fish, You ain't gonna catch any until you find them. I don't think knowing where there are fish is an unfair advantage.

[A-Jay]

This is a part of my approach hunting down the local brown bass a few times a year but especially early season. This one's just about 'wood'.

In fact, I might be doing this very thing in about 2 hours . . . 

 

An excerpt from Chapter III of Brown Bass Tools . . . 

 

"Now let’s talk about Wood.  Trees, timber, branches, logs, call it what you want, I referring to sunken dead trees on the bottom of the lake.  I will look for and hunt this cover down tirelessly; especially in lakes that do not have much cover to begin with. At some point, Smallies here will be on this stuff regardless of the bottom composition.  The bigger the better – the better.   Like most any cover adult smb will use, deep water access needs to be readily available, it cannot be getting hammered by anglers all day and the harder it is to find – the better.   Wood that’s super visible and or connected to the bank can be good.  But out of the way, deeper than the visibility allows without electronics type stuff, is almost always better.  And in the early season, and I mean super early season - very soon after ice out, once the sun has had even a day or two to warm some of this wood up – half the smallies in the lake will be gravitating to it - like stink on a monkey.  I’ve had some killer days & weeks in the early spring, fishing ‘The Wood Pattern’.   Depending on its depth, it can be better at different times of the year in accordance to where the fish & their preferred food are at.  Basically, the shallower wood is good early & later in the season and the deeper stuff often comes into its own mid-season and then again very late season.  What ‘shallow & deep’ is, depends on the body of water. "

 

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/211811-brown-bass-tools-~-questions-answers/?do=findComment&comment=2382098

 

A-Jay

[Captain Phil]

Unfair advantage?  I don't see it that way either.  For years fishing experts have been talking about patterns.  This gets interpreted by some to mean you can catch fish all over the lake the same way you caught one fish.  Fishing pressure is much greater now than it was in the sixties.  It's much greater now than it was three years ago. A successful milk run now may include a specific boat dock, a downed tree, a rock pile and a canal.  If you show up here in a tournament, you may wonder if the winners are fishing in some other lake?

[Catt]

Is that not what we're supposed to be doing?

 

I hear anglers talking about Plan A & Plan B, I've got Plan A through Plan L. On any given day I have 10-12 "spots" in mind. Some days all 12 are needed.

 

I think what Zona was referring to is resident bass, ones that live on or in close proximity to a particular piece of cover. 

[Captain Phil]

3 minutes ago, Catt said:

I think what Zona was referring to is resident bass, ones that live on or in close proximity to a particular piece of cover. 

Exactly.  Could be miles apart.  I have hear this referred to as "junk fishing".  

[jimmyjoe]

7 minutes ago, Catt said:

I think what Zona was referring to is resident bass, ones that live on or in close proximity to a particular piece of cover. 

 

   And is it not true that these "resident bass" tend to be bigger?  IOW, doesn't prime real estate go to the dominant fish?             Jim

[crypt]

it is the best way to fish sometimes when you got nothing to go on when you get to a lake you don't know very well.

[Captain Phil]

7 minutes ago, jimmyjoe said:

 

   And is it not true that these "resident bass" tend to be bigger?  IOW, doesn't prime real estate go to the dominant fish?             Jim

It seems that way.   Funny thing is when you remove a fish from a spot like that another fish moves in to take it's place.  I have caught the same bass on the same sunken boat dock four times.   Each time she gets bigger. 

 

 

[BigAngus752]

I only know one lake this well.  It's spectacularly handy to know where several "one fish" locations are when the bite is slow or the lake is packed.  I have had numerous especially tough days on that lake and when engaging in dock talk while loading the boat on the trailer other fisherman tell me they got skunked and I tell them I got three keepers.  The secret is that I hit five "one fish" spots and three had good fish on them.  One is a stump that is literally the only thing on the bottom of a large, gravel flat and it's five feet under the water.  I found it totally by accident.  I'm hell bent on making sure that if anyone else finds it, it's by accident also.  The only other human being that I am aware knows about that stump is an older gentleman who's dock is 40 yards away.  A few years ago he shouted at me, "You found it, didn't you?"  I said, "Yes sir, and I won't be telling anyone".  He gave me the "attaboy" nod.  

 

This year I have committed to fishing at least one, preferably two, other lakes MORE than I fish this lake in the hopes that I can become as adept at catching on more lakes, but it's really, really tough to finally get a day to fish and NOT go to the lake that I already excel on.  

[DitchPanda]

This is honestly how most of the ponds around me set up. Certain times of year...prespawn when they move up or when they are schooling on shad late summer...you can find them bunched up. But most of the year around me...because of small cover objects and not having huge populations of bass...most spots only hold a fish or two. This I believe is how the term junk fishing got started. Bryan Thrift has made millions fishing like this-roll up to a brush pile, make 2-3 casts,move to the next one, rinse repeat 85 times a day.

[A-Jay]

This is a good example of it for me ~

Local knowledge

A-Jay

[Mike L]

I’ve been fishing Okeechobee for over 35 yrs and in that time I’ve found dozens of places where I’ve caught them on a specific bait with a specific presentation in certain “areas” more than once. 

In certain times of the year Ive learned where not to go as much as I’ve learned where to go. 
Want to frog fishing in the winter?

Got it!

Want to Carolina rig in the summer?

Got it!

How about which spawning flat is better in early December and which is better in late March?

Yep, got that too!
 

If you learn your lake and you know what they do and when they do it, your chances of success go up for sure,

But you still gotta put the line in water. 

 

Point is the fish are targeting a specific piece of something spread out in a specific area at specific times..

I’m not targeting a specific piece of anything. 


 

 

 

Mike

 

[813basstard]

5 minutes ago, Mike L said:

I’ve been fishing Okeechobee for over 35 yrs and in that time I’ve found dozens of places where I’ve caught them on a specific bait with a specific presentation in certain “areas” more than once. 

In certain times of the year Ive learned where not to go as much as I’ve learned where to go. 
Want to frog fishing in the winter?

Got it!

Want to Carolina rig in the summer?

Got it!

How about which spawning flat is better in early December and which is better in late March?

Yep, got that too!
 

If you learn your lake and you know what they do and when they do it, your chances of success go up for sure,

But you still gotta put the line in water. 

 

Point is the fish are targeting a specific piece of something spread out in a specific area at specific times..

I’m not targeting a specific piece of anything. 


 

 

 

Mike

 

I need to DM you...I’ll be there next Saturday ?

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, Captain Phil said:

Exactly.  Could be miles apart.  I have hear this referred to as "junk fishing".  

Every time I see the term Junk Fishing, it seems to mean something different. I think the first time I saw it it referred to fishing different baits to different targets and not doing one thing. I call this fishing. Don't get me wrong, if I can pick up one rod and never put it down, then that is plan A, the fish usually have a different idea, and they are the majority share holders, so...

[Captain Phil]

I fished South Florida and Okeechobee for years.  I rarely had trouble finding fish.  When I moved to Central Florida in 1996, I quickly discovered I was no match for the locals.  South Florida bass fishing is much easier than fishing these lakes.  The number of Harris Chain bass per acre is less and there is practically no cover.  We do have seasonal patterns, but they don't always hold up.   Add in tournament after tournament and you have some really tough fishing.  That's when "one fish spots" become valuable.

 

I don't believe the Harris Chain is unique in this. I suspect many forum members struggle on challenging lakes.  It takes time and effort to put together a successful milk run. These days, it's essential.

[RDB]

When I hear people talk about spots, I think about specific coordinates.  When I hear patterns, I think about specific conditions/behaviors.  I would consider a random isolated pile of rocks a spot.  I would consider things like bass holding on the deeper outside edges of boat docks or bass relating to wood in less that 3 feet a pattern.  A pattern is something you can run across the lake based on conditions/behaviors that day.

 

As far as “1 fish spots”, I think people typically mean a spot where they feel confident that they can pick off at least one fish.  I don’t think it necessarily means there is only 1 fish there (though there could be).  The challenge with fishing today is that there are not many secrets anymore.  With modern electronics, it doesn’t take long for many of the spots to become community holes.  Local knowledge is still an advantage but not to the degree it used to be.

45 minutes ago, Mike L said:

Want to frog fishing in the winter?

Got it!

Winter frog fishing in Florida...add that to the plus side for retirement destinations.

[Mike L]

15 minutes ago, RDB said:

When I hear people talk about spots, I think about specific coordinates.  When I hear patterns, I think about specific conditions/behaviors.  I would consider a random isolated pile of rocks a spot.  I would consider things like bass holding on the deeper outside edges of boat docks or bass relating to wood in less that 3 feet a pattern.  A pattern is something you can run across the lake based on conditions/behaviors that day.

 

As far as “1 fish spots”, I think people typically mean a spot where they feel confident that they can pick off at least one fish.  

Exactly

I feel That “1 fish spot” in a large body of water (not a small pond) with ever changing conditions isn’t just a so called ““resident” living there all year by herself. 
She doesn’t know something that her sisters don’t know.

To just head for that piece of whatever she’s relating to and think to yourself

“ok I got it, time to move” is limiting your ability to cover that area throughly. 
 

The angler who does that is leaving fish to find fish, which most times than not can come back and bite you. 
 

 

 

Mike
 

[Mike L]

49 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

I fished South Florida and Okeechobee for years.  I rarely had trouble finding fish.  When I moved to Central Florida in 1996, I quickly discovered I was no match for the locals.  South Florida bass fishing is much easier than fishing these lakes.  The number of Harris Chain bass per acre is less and there is practically no cover.  We do have seasonal patterns, but they don't always hold up.   Add in tournament after tournament and you have some really tough fishing.  That's when "one fish spots" become valuable.

 

I don't believe the Harris Chain is unique in this. I suspect many forum members struggle on challenging lakes.  It takes time and effort to put together a successful milk run. These days, it's essential.

You think so Huh?  Ok

 

Most folks are no match for the locals regardless of where you’re at. 

I just don’t believe in that “1 spot / 1 fish...It’s time to leave” thinking. 
You may get a fish every time on that one rock, but to believe there are no more in that area is just to limiting. 
 

For me anyway 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

1 hour ago, 813basstard said:

I need to DM you...I’ll be there next Saturday ?

Be glad to help you in any way. 
 

 

 

Mike

[river-rat]

Many years ago I was fishing a bayou in the Atchafalaya Basin and was within about 100 yards before it entered a large lake. The last piece of cover before entering the lake is a large solitary stump in about 4 feet of water. I have caught numerous 3-5 lb. largemouths off that single stump over the years. Sometimes the following day another will move in and take up residence. 

 

Another example is Lake Verrett which I fish quite a bit. The lake is completely surrounded be cypress trees. There are some of stretches of trees where the water depth on the outside tree line will go from 2'-3' to 4'-5'  for about 50-60 yards and then go back to 2'-3'. The deeper areas consistently will produce fish year after year. 

 

 

 

[Jaderose]

I know the little lake I fish most like the back of my hand.  I bet I have 20 of these spots all over the lake.  Those spots you KNOW hold fish.  Might be a large brush pile you can sit at for an hour and pull them in or it might be one twig sticking out of the water that holds a single.  Just gotta find em.

[Catt]

Todd Driscoll is doing a radio telemetry study on Toledo Bend, one fish he's tracking is an 8# that has been located on a single log on 8' of water on a non dscript flat that has no other cover & the nearest creek channel/drain is 100 yes away. She has been on that log for 6+ months, moving only to feed. 

 

Knowing where they're at doesn't necessarily equate to a sure catch. Todd has idled directly over that bass without her moving, but when he backed off & cast to her with a Texas Rig she spooked.

[Mobasser]

What might be going on is if you catch a good bass on a one fish spot, catching him could spook other bass holding there. They won't hit, so you move on. A decent size fish hooked and thrashing around while you play him, could easily spook other fish holding in the same area.

[Deleted account]

37 minutes ago, Mike L said:

Most folks are no match for the locals regardless of where you’re at.

How does one translate this from fishing to LMB. A "pattern" (were I to accept such a thing exists) is a way to try to figure out where they are when you don't know. 

FLW found this out when they tried to put together a striped bass tournament. The same teams kept taking all the money in each area. Being LMB guys, they couldn't figure out why.

[Catt]

@Mobasser or fire em up ?