How do you approach fishing pressured waters?

[papajoe222]

Dealing with fishing pressure is nothing new, but with the effects the pandemic has had on the working class, it has really increased.  Weekdays are nor longer for the vacationer, or retired anglers and week-ends on some waters are a nightmare for anglers. Night fishing is getting more and more common for those of us looking to avoid crowded waters.

One of the things I've always done is giving the fish something different than the majority of guys out there. Silent cranks, big or small worms, topwaters mid-day, etc. That tactic worked for years here on the pressured lakes around Chicago.  Lately, though, it seems the fish have wised up to those tactics.

I'm a hard bait junkie. I love to chuck and wind until my muscles tell me to head in. I use finesse tactics when called for and from what I see on the decks of other boats at the ramp, it's a trend many have taken up in an attempt to deal with the increased pressure.

I consider what I've come up with a power/finesse approach. Small hard baits presented differently than most anglers would.  My two favorites are crappie sized cranks fished deep and heavy compact spinnerbaits with small blades. Getting a small crank to run deep takes a little bit of imagination as far as rigging, but that little crank presented mid-depth all the way down to bottom bouncing in 25ft. of water shows fish something they rarely see. For spinners, StrikeKing's Rocket Shad fits the bill perfectly, but adding weight to a smaller spinner, or a heavier jig to a Beetle Spin is another option.

So,  what do you do to compete with everything being constantly thrown at the fish population?

[huZZah]

Well, as to how I approach pressured waters…I usually walk.  A couple places I drive right up to the water, but that’s rare. Sometimes I climb the rocks, but that feels like walking. So yeah, I walk. 

[scaleface]

A lake I fish the pressure has  doubled . But most of those anglers are relatively inexperienced   .  For the most part they are noisier , their cast are noisier, they  are  not very accurate    . I just try to make precise ,quiet, low trajectory  cast . I'm not the greatest caster but I'll put it where I aim most of the time. I'm  catching good numbers of 15 inch keepers, limiting out there every time this year but the big fish are not coming .

[Spankey]

I guess pressured to some and others are two different things. What I feel as pressured and it is where I fish my be nothing to what you guys see. I get out early. Real early. 
 

I know I can get anal about a lot of things but I don’t let it get in my head about the pressure. I just try to fish hard and hope my results pay off. 

[the reel ess]

I go places that aren't really pressured. IDK if you have any small rivers or streams you can wade, but most people won't go to that effort. Aside from that, I've asked permission to fish a bunch of private places where I know the fish are not pressured.

 

Fish early and late, or even at night. Big fish in pressured waters might not eat in the daytime. Throw something no one else is throwing. Show them something they haven't seen.

[Fishes in trees]

I approach pressured water by driving into the parking lot, unloading gear into the boat, putting in  parking trailer.  Then as I re-board the boat I ask myself the question, "What do I think is going to work today?"   Then like I generally do, then I take some time in the parking lot cove, throwing at various obvious objects, mostly to make sure that my bait casting gear is working right.  Then I cross the lake and fish the other parking lot tree line/shelf/deep drop off.  The reason that I do this is because I've caught more bigger fish in this one area than the rest of the lake combined & it is unreachable casting from the shore.  The majority of bass fishermen who fish this lake are drive around the lake and fish 6' of water or less with spinner baits and/or pitch soft plastic at obvious targets.   Not many guys fish tree lines in 10 to 20 feet of water.

[Bankc]

When approaching pressured waters, think about where that pressure is coming from.  In my local lakes, it's mainly going to be from the banks that are easily accessible and fishing piers.  And they're pretty much only going to be using live bait.  So I stay away from those areas, and don't use anything that just sits there on the line, like a drop shot or shaky head.  Drop shots look too much like a live minnow on a hook and shaky heads look like a live worm on a hook, which is where most of this pressure is coming from. 

 

So I go the opposite of what everyone says you're supposed to do in pressured water, and go full on power fishing.  Anything fast and loud.  I also try to look for areas that aren't obvious to the eye from the surface, using my fish finder.  And I look for areas that are hard to cast into or easy to get hung up on.  They tend to be more productive, as it limits the number of anglers who can fish it effectively.   

[greentrout]

downsize ...

 

soft plastics ... finesse worms and others ... 8 pound test with spinning gear ... presentations fast and slow and in between ... experiment ..

 

fish a couple of State lakes with lots of pressure ...

 

good fishing ...

[gunsinger]

I try to go where most are not and perfect my casts to be closer to the target with a quieter entry.   I slow down and go finesse.

[GetFishorDieTryin]

Quietly

[MAN]

I approach with live bait

[WVU-SCPA]

Be there before daylight.  Leave when they stop feeding.

[Cgolf]

I have always had a rough time on my local lake that receives both a lot of fishing pressure and recreational pressure. We went out last Friday with the boat and I saw some big bass cruising a shallow flat that I ended up not being able to fish because someone cut me off and anchored, so we moved elsewhere and stumbled on a pike fest getting hits on almost every cast. We then took the kayaks out Sunday and no bass cruising the shallows, and no hits back where the pike fest happened. Did get some hits in the thick slop no boats could get in but none landed. 

 

I honestly other than maybe night fishing, weekends are kind of out on this lake, just amazing what a difference two days made. 

[TOXIC]

2 kinds of pressure.  Fishing pressure and recreational pressure.  I can take fishing pressure but recreational pressure will drive me off the water PDQ.   I have no problem fishing in a crowd.  I like my sunrise solo runs and unmolested top water casts but I have full confidence I can catch fish in a crowd and have done it many times.?

[Cgolf]

18 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

2 kinds of pressure.  Fishing pressure and recreational pressure.  I can take fishing pressure but recreational pressure will drive me off the water PDQ.   I have no problem fishing in a crowd.  I like my sunrise solo runs and unmolested top water casts but I have full confidence I can catch fish in a crowd and have done it many times.?

 

Catching fish in a crowd when that crowd is blanking is a lot of fun too:)

[WRB]

SoCal lakes are small and crowded with over 100 bass boats from various clubs and trails fishing every weekend and pre fishing every day. Summer night is your friend, our lakes are open 1 Night a month for tournaments. It’s tough fishing and the reason finesse and big swimbaits were developed here. 

90% of the bass anglers are using green pumpkin or black & blue what are your odds of catching bass....a lot better when using something else!

Tom

[gim]

I try to avoid it.  There are certain lakes that have a ridiculous amount of pressure due to tournaments and popularity here.  Plus in the summer months when its warm and sunny the recreational riff raff gets old quick too.

 

I fish at night time or in inclement weather if I'm able to.  You'd be surprised how many people avoid the lake when its rainy or even just cloudy out.  I will also go to a smaller lake that has less pressure.  Luckily this is the land of 10,000 lakes and many more miles of river.

[Deephaven]

I never see boat traffic here.  Took this the last time I was out fishing.

...and yes, those bas$#&*(s are parked right on some of my spots.

[MN Fisher]

26 minutes ago, Deephaven said:

I never see boat traffic here.  Took this the last time I was out fishing.

...and yes, those bas$#&*(s are parked right on some of my spots.

Is that Carson's or St Louis Bay?

[CrankFate]

All I’m going to say is the fish come to the commotion because they no they won’t be seen. Or if they are forced off of a spot, they are often hanging back waiting to return as soon as it’s clear. 

[Bankbeater]

The first thing I do is try and see what baits the other anglers are fishing with.  After that I find a bait that is different, and then go down in size.

 

[Columbia Craw]

Take my mask off.  That should assure me at least six feet from the next boat.

[Bluebasser86]

I'll fish marginal areas instead of the prime spots to try and get away from the crowds or fish the harder to get to areas. I have a kayak tournament this weekend where we can fish 2 lakes. One is the better lake and much easier to fish. The other is a maze of trees and doesn't have as many bigger fish, but I'm going to the lesser lake in hopes that the other lake will get pounded hard enough by tournament guys and weekend warriors that they'll not have enough fish left for 1 person to put a solid 5 together. It's worked for me in a couple other tournaments this year, hopefully it works again. 

[MGF]

Crowds make me just want to do something else. A couple weeks ago my wife had to be out of town and I wanted to go down the river. We scheduled it so she'd be back in time to meet me down river. What a mistake!

 

I was so covered up by large groups of loud, drunk, ugly, half naked and inconsiderate groups of tubers that there was no way to fish and no way to get away from it. I was just stuck. I will NEVER allow myself to be in a situation like that again.

 

We have one lake near by that's become a popular musky lake where it's almost impossible to get there on a day when there's parking space left. I managed to get in one day early this spring and it was a cold windy fishless day that wasn't any fun at all.

 

It has not been a good fishing year so far.

[lo n slo]

thankfully, the weekday crowds around my neck of the woods are alot less this year as opposed to last year. most of them were primarily bank beaters anyway.  i still try to avoid the weekends and afternoons regardless. i will usually hit the water earlier and try to be off before noon.