Intuition

[Mobasser]

Some folks call it a gut feeling, a hunch, or a sixth sense, but, it's all intuition. Most fisherman, after they fish a number of years, seem to develop this, and may not even realize it.                                        Something tells you to change baits, color, or retrieve style, and it works. It could be casting to a certain area. Sometimes, it's an area that other fisherman pass by. I've seen it work in my own fishing, and, saw an older friend win third place in a club tournament years ago, stopping to cast at a spot that others zoomed past, on the way back to weigh in.                                  But, he was much more experienced than I was at the time, and I later realized he based this gut feeling on years of experience. With access to many spots, he chose this one, and it worked.                                                           With all the high tech  gear we have these days, many anglers probably wouldn't want to admit that they caught they're PB, or did well based on intuition alone, because this is counter to the way we fish now.                                 It would be impossible for us to know how many big fish, or tournaments have been won based on a gut feeling, and many would dismiss this as superstitious nonsense.                            But I think it works, because a keen intuition is based on experience, and time on the water, and eliminates the luck factor.                                                            Intuition in fishing is not something you can buy. It can't come from the best tackle, boat, or electronics.  It's just something you know, after years of fishing.                                                      Any thoughts or opinions on this topic?  Have you ever used your intuition to help you catch more fish?                                                                                                                                        

[J Francho]

I think you can accumulate confidence in what you are doing is right through all the successes.

[Team9nine]

One of my old favorites on the subject:

 

 

 

[David 7]

I think blind fishing on intuition is part of the joy of fishing. It’s why I don’t use electronics. I’m not against it or anything, but it takes the sport out of it a bit IMO. 

[flatcreek]

Pass a spot, back down on the throttle,turn around and fish the hole ,catch a good keeper.now that’s what it’s all about

[J Francho]

3 minutes ago, David 7 said:

I think blind fishing on intuition is part of the joy of fishing. It’s why I don’t use electronics. I’m not against it or anything, but it takes the sport out of it a bit IMO. 

Nah man, go back to a soda can and string if you really want to be sporting.  

[gunsinger]

I'll be honest, I have a SI, DI, Sonar unit at the bow and about all I use it for is depth and structure location.  Whether it's intuition, gut-feeling, or experience, I rarely catch the fish I see on the scope.  My success comes from fishing visible structure. 

 

Now, I have seen guys using livescope to target fish and that is certainly a game changer.  Hard to justify $3k for that advantage though unless you're tournament fishing.

[Spankey]

GREAT POST ?. I generally use the phrase gut feeling. 
 

My recent gut feeling fishing wise was ( not that it was a big deal or all that great ), but I took three of my favorite river Bombers and sanded down the tail finish and painted them Chartreuse tipped. Nothing monumental. 
 

But this one section of the river has been staying fairly stained and not producing really all that well regardless of what I threw. I had that gut feeling they were there. Should have done well with those baits. 
 

My grandson and I our last time out went through there and caught some on all three baits. No giants but Smallies. 
 

Was just that gut feeling to do that and try it. Switching to another pattern of baits I had may have done the trick also but just had in my mind to do this and try it. 
 

[A-Jay]

I'm a big proponent of Right place, Right time, Right deal.

This style offers many forks in the road. 

I've made far more 'wrong turns' over the years than the other.

But I think going down a one way every once in a while

can set me up for a few sweet cruises Right Down Broadway !

And that's what keeps me coming back ~

#Ijusthadafeeling

Fish Hard

A-Jay

[Big Hands]

Never up, never in. You miss catching 100% of the fish you don't cast at.

 

My good friend is an excellent angler, but I think his confidence is one of the things that makes him as successful as he is. 

 

"There's got to be some fish in here" is a phrase I have heard from him often. And sometimes he is right and sometimes he isn't. That's fishing. 

[LrgmouthShad]

Idk man I just focus on seasonal things, temperature, if I’m seeing baitfish, and if something isn’t working or I’m not catching the size I want, I try something different. 
 

edit: unless it’s smallmouth. Then I’m just clueless and try to force feed spinnerbaits

[DitchPanda]

 Being bank bound the only time I use electronics in fishing is thru the ice. So I guess you could say all my decisions are based on experience, what the fish are telling me and what I can visibly see above the water with my eyes. Also having extensive knowledge about the body of water is obviously a huge advantage. I can't tell you how many times I've fished my local pond where I get stopped by a dude in a nice bass boat with lots of electronics asking me how its going. Often they say they skunked while I usually had at least a somewhat productive outing.

 One misconception about electronics is as long as you find the fish they are just gonna jump in the boat. Sure electronics help in finding the fish...which is a huge help...but once you find em you still gotta get em to eat. Jacob Wheeler is a great example..everybody has the same electronics as him but he still beats everybody all the time.

 Then there are guys that buck the trend and are still very successful. John Cox is the first one that comes to my mind. He is flying purely on shallow water instinct. He's won several million bucks and his boat is never in more then 6-8ft of water. To me that's as or more impressive then guys dominating offshore.

[Black Hawk Basser]

I often fight a battle in my mind between fishing based on intuition and fishing based on memories.

[flatcreek]

20 minutes ago, Black Hawk Basser said:

I often fight a battle in my mind between fishing based on intuition and fishing based on memories.

Me too, and when I find myself losing this battle I head for new water

[813basstard]

Ah yes…it’s a thing. 
The big boys at the top have both intuition+ electronics + time to get good at both.

 

I will always say the best fishermen I’ve been in the boat with use the least amount of baits/techniques..they just use the right ones

[WRB]

Discussed intuitive strike jig detection as being focused and awareness what is happening at the end of your line.

Awareness of your environment as to what is going on around you, what you see and hear goes into intuitive thoughts.

Everything gets processed but connecting to your inner thoughts take practice, Rick Clunn The Zin Master used his ability to stay focused to make intuitive decisions tops the list pro bass anglers.

My PB bass were intuitive decisions based on seasonal periods and bass behavior knowledge, I knew after launching the boat where to fish and what to use.

My best day ever on the water was a intuitive moment driving down the lake to another area. I glanced over to a point and noticed 3 Blue Herron's standing in the water and instantly knew what was going on, bass were feeding on trout. Turned around and my epic hour was the result catching none stop DD bass.

Listen to your gut feelings.

Tom

[TnRiver46]

I would agree that intuition is far more important than anything else on the boat. Electronics won’t make up for it one bit. 

[Tatsu Dave]

Believe changing course last day of a tournament earned Larry Nixon the nickname the general. 

 

No way to know when you develop a gut feeling how much is based on past experiences and how much is intuitive and simply spontaneous. My son will stick with a lure and or color going steady on with no change, I use five rods all rigged with different type and color plastic's. Sooner or later I will get on to a pattern and it starts clicking, sometimes that will work for the rest of the day sometimes it takes more experimenting to kick things off again. I think its some kind of combination of both that can spell success.   

[Nitrofreak]

There are many voices in my head that at any given time none of them make any sense whatsoever.

 

I also believe as others that it is an attribute to the amount of time you spend on the water as well as the amount of confidence one builds, this too is a hit or miss game, at least for me it is still a 50/50 shot at paying off.

 

Spending hours behind the graphs really plays a big role in the form of if a spot or an area will linger in my thoughts especially on tournament day, then again, if it’s a body of water I am familiar with then a little history may have significant influence on driving my instinct to fish differing areas or switch techniques all together.

 

Good subject and thanks for the post !!

[Tatsu Dave]

I think pretty much all agree that in some form it is capable of getting anglers to certain spots they should be. Or maybe its simply the super wild guess method in action ?

[Bankbeater]

I think some is past fishing experience, and some of it is how well you know the water you're currently fishing.  

[Darth-Baiter]

I think it’s information you’ve gathered over the years.  Like you know in the fall in the rain, you remember one particular cove that held dumber fish.  It may be subconsciously remembered. 
 

my intuition kinda sucks.  I bet I’ll be a awesome fisherman if I kept a notebook but I’m also not a great note keeper.

[The Bassman]

6 hours ago, WRB said:

 

Listen to your gut feelings.

 

One reason I fish alone so no one else has to.

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, Darth-Baiter said:

I think it’s information you’ve gathered over the years.  Like you know in the fall in the rain, you remember one particular cove that held dumber fish.  It may be subconsciously remembered. 
 

my intuition kinda sucks.  I bet I’ll be a awesome fisherman if I kept a notebook but I’m also not a great note keeper.

Many members have shared their results after years of notekeeping. From what I recall, it was useful yet cumbersome. You might be able to run it down with the search function somehow. Most of these guys catch so many that if they wrote them all down, they would need a storage unit for all the papers 

[papajoe222]

I would be a much better fisherman if I could access all the information I've accumulated that pertains to the here and now when I'm on the water.  I get tunnel vision once I drop the T/M and grab a rod. I'm lucky to remember to explore the entire water column, or change retrieve speeds when searching for that first fish. My 'intuition' and logic doesn't kick in until I do and sometimes that takes up all my time on the water that day.