Learning From Our Mistakes

[Uncle_MC]

I'll be going out in a few days for my seventh trip on open water since March 27 this year. Have been targeting smallmouth each trip, but have only been catching incidental crappie, pickerel, and yellow perch. Yesterday, I was out for 6 hours. Water temp was 45* when I got to the lake at 11AM, and by the time I left a little after 4 it was up to just under 49*. I was hoping that with the water pushing 50*, smallmouths would have begun filtering up into their eventual spawning grounds. I tried fancasting with a Rat-L-Trap three different bays where I know fish spawn. When that didn't work, I slowed down a bit and tried dragging a ballhead jig with a curly-grub, hopping a tube, a suspending jerkbait, and soaking a bucktail jig throughout the bays. Nada! 

 

Mistakes I learned from to hopefully make my seventh trip, lucky number seven:

• I'm going to start later. The water was continuously warming up and I imagine would have continued, but by 4:00, my morale was just too low and my back and knees hurt too much. I'll probably begin my trip around 1 or 2 instead. 
• Slow way down with the jerkbait. I was definitely fishing too fast in anticipation for the "aggressive" prespawn bite, but I don't think we were quite at that point yet. 
• Most importantly, stop fishing the way I wanted to fish! I really expected the fish to be way up cruising the shallows and I focused nearly 100% of my energy in less than 5FOW. It took me way too long to figure out that the fish just weren't there yet, and I should have been out a little deeper focusing on the transition areas between the wintering areas and the spawning areas. I need to be more aware and let the fish tell me what they want sooner and stop forcing it. 

 

Here's to improving and learning from our mistakes. Hopefully, #7 will be the one!

[jimmyjoe]

   I feel your pain. The hardest part of productivity is understanding where the fish are and why they're there. Once you've got that, everything else just kinda falls into place.                        jj

  

[Deleted account]

34 minutes ago, Uncle_MC said:

stop fishing the way I wanted to fish!

This.

22 minutes ago, jimmyjoe said:

 where the fish are

And this.

 

cue the credits.

[GreenPig]

Been there. I had a bad habit of trying to fish the seasons to early because I didn't want to miss any of certain bites/phases such as our shad spawn which is phenomenal. Thats why I started documenting the weather, water temp, every fish no matter size or species,  lure, and location. 5 years of info on my phone has greatly ruduced my urge to push the fish. Good luck.

[Miabucman]

Great advice.  Looking forward to finally getting out myself.

[Uncle_MC]

8 minutes ago, GreenPig said:

Been there. I had a bad habit of trying to fish the seasons to early because I didn't want to miss any of certain bites/phases such as our shad spawn which is phenomenal. Thats why I started documenting the weather, water temp, every fish no matter size or species,  lure, and location. 5 years of info on my phone has greatly ruduced my urge to push the fish. Good luck.

This is my first year keeping a detailed log. I’ve tried in the past but always gave up on it a few weeks in. 

[Jaderose]

We're ALL guilty of this.  and by all, I mean me!  Some days you get locked into old familiar ways even when the fish aren't interested and we keep fighting.  Those are the days you gotta pull out that stuff you never use and try something new.  Easy to say...harder to do.   Especially for the more stubborn among us.  *looks in mirror*

[GreenPig]

3 hours ago, Uncle_MC said:

This is my first year keeping a detailed log. I’ve tried in the past but always gave up on it a few weeks in. 

Using your phone makes it easy. If you get a pic of your fish finder(temperature) first thing & every fish with the lure. Your phone logs location and date. You can also screen shot the current weather( I don't). I'll just page back through my gallery and see what I caught them on last year, year before, etc. When your get home it's already done. 

[E-rude dude]

Zona always says I spend more time looking than actually fishing. I need to learn this too.?

[gim]

Definitely on the right track starting later in the day when its early spring and morning air/water temps are cold.  Long pauses with the jerk bait are a good idea too.