History Lesson

[Catt]

One of my pet peeves is the phrase, "avoid fishing memories".

 

I disagree strongly with that statement!

 

Memories, history, experience, defines who we are as an angler.

 

I ain't talking about trying recreate days gone by 

 

I'm still catching bass on Toledo Bend off structure that I learned 50 years ago. Prime structure will hold bass unless a catistrofic event takes place to change it. A creek channel bend is still there, I just gotta find where the bass are today.

 

I look at current conditions & my history tells me heres a starting point. 

[MN Fisher]

Truer word were never spoken.

 

If you don't remember your 'fishing history', it's like you're picking up the rod and reel for the very first time.

[ironbjorn]

Yes, but be willing to move when the place you caught them yesterday and perhaps many times over isn't panning out. A good way to have a bad day is staying put because of history.

[A-Jay]

16 minutes ago, Catt said:

One of my pet peeves is the phrase, "avoid fishing memories".

 

I disagree strongly with that statement!

 

Memories, history, experience, defines who we are as an angler.

 

I ain't talking about trying recreate days gone by 

 

I'm still catching bass on Toledo Bend off structure that I learned 50 years ago. Prime structure will hold bass unless a catistrofic event takes place to change it. A creek channel bend is still there, I just gotta find where the bass are today.

 

I look at current conditions & my history tells me heres a starting point. 

No Doubt @Catt

Sort of defines how & why we use "Way Points" effectively.

A-Jay

 

[Captain Phil]

Every fishing trip is a fishing lesson.  After 60 years of fishing, I am still learning.  You can't learn to fish from a book or a YouTube video.  Those things can help you to get started in the right direction.  They can't replace time on the water.

[Catt]

1 minute ago, Captain Phil said:

They can't replace time on the water.

 

Time in the water is your "history" or experience if you will.

[WRB]

The lakes I fish are down to 30% capacity which means 70% of the water is gone. Castiac is down 150 vertical feet, Casitas down 70 vertical feet. Everything anyone fished the past 50 years is high and dry. 

Winter at both Casitas and Castiac was trout planting time and using trout swimbaits around underwater structure like long points, humps etc. No trout plants, very little underwater structure that holds bass. Casitas the crawdad population is nearly gone, very very slow jig bite if any. No underwater wood or vegetation in Casitas. The bait fish are Threadfin Shad and young of the fish. Carp populations are exploding.

I know every prime bass location in both lakes. I don’t ned memory or history I can see it 1/4 mile up on dry ground.

Any history in both lakes is only related to water temps. 

When I say avoid fishing memories and fish current conditions I am not saying forget what you know, apply it to going on now and don’t repeat what worked last summer.

Tom

[scaleface]

1 hour ago, ironbjorn said:

 . A good way to have a bad day is staying put because of history.

I dont have to worry about that . Camping out on a spot waiting for bass has never worked for me . I'll give it a Laurel and Hardy effort then move on .

[PressuredFishing]

^^^^^^^^^ this is true, here in socal one of the water districts is even completely draining one of my favorite lakes behind closed doors because they are not getting enough rainwater and have to keep relocating pumps and boat ramps Lower and lower. Other lakes are only a shadow of their former self. Agricultural prosperity in bakersfield has become ever increasingly expensive being in the Agricultural field, now relying on plastic mulches and drip systems to produce some form of produce, even if water was not the issue the hybrid plants we use are not surviving the hot summer days and are taking tremendous damage, now having to switch to more heat and drought resistant variants that yield less produce. 

[A-Jay]

2 hours ago, ironbjorn said:

 A good way to have a bad day is staying put because of history.

 

44 minutes ago, scaleface said:

 Camping out on a spot waiting for bass has never worked for me . I'll give it a Laurel and Hardy effort then move on .

 I am totally staked out in the polar opposite camp.

IME, when the bites over or off where I'm at, many times it's off most everywhere.

At least for the plus size fish I'm targeting. 

I have had little to no success running all over the place 'looking for bites'.

Burned plenty of petrol trying. 

But positioning myself somewhat near or slightly away from, 

where I believe she'll eventually be, has paid off handsomely.

Might not fish the whole time, might even have a sandwich.

And then move in & out as needed, quietly of course.

If a couple of good spots are close to each other,

I will often go back & forth.

Works especially well for me early/late season.

Takes patience, but . . . . . .

A-Jay

 

 

 

[scaleface]

15 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

I am totally staked out in the polar opposite camp.

IME, when the bites over or off where I'm at, many times it's off most everywhere.

At least for the plus size fish I'm targeting. 

I have had little to no success running all over the place 'looking for bites'.

Burned plenty of petrol trying. 

But positioning myself somewhat near or slightly away from, 

where I believe she'll eventually be, has paid off handsomely.

Might not fish the whole time, might even have a sandwich.

And then move in & out as needed, quietly of course.

If a couple of good spots are close to each other,

I will often go back & forth.

Works especially well for me early/late season.

Takes patience, but . . . . . .

I might take that approach too if I was after   lunker brown bass where you fish  . It hasnt worked for me with green bass .

[J Francho]

Bill Murphy teaches that experience leads us to spots where big fish should be, and it may takes days to wait them out for a bite.  Unfortunately, not many of us have that kind of time.  I like to have a milk run, and test a few new spots that have features similar to my good milk run spots. This way, my milk run is constantly evolving as I fish.

[Mike L]

I fished with a guy one time we called “Stay put Fred”. 
He wouldn’t move more than 100 yards all day. When my turn came to fish with him we sat over a hump in one of the smaller lakes in Central Fla all morning. 

After sitting there for about 2 hrs I finally said “Fred, don’t you think we ought to try someplace else fir a little while”?

He said, “Nah, don’t worry, they’ll be here”! And they finally showed up. 

We all at some point fish our history, usually before we try someplace new. 

Over the years I’ve fished Okeechobee more than any other lake….Hard. 
I like to think I know that lake pretty well even with all its seasonal, monthly and even weekly changes but that only comes from my history there. 
When fishing water that no matter where you look you’d swear every place holds fish, it can become a guessing game at first.
But without knowing what you did where and when your just setting yourself up for a long day. 
 

As @Catt said.. points, humps channels, rivers, cuts etc. don’t change. 
 

To me the thing I rely more on than even those is their feeding, spawning and yes, even their roaming cycle and how it changes throughout the year depending on weather, temperature, depth and location. 
In that regard it can get fairly predictable

In my opinion, On large natural lakes if you don’t really know your history, you’ll just be spinning your wheels wishin and hopin. 

 

 

 

Mike

[WRB]

Take a lesson from the guides who fish everyday, they go to where the bass are and camp out. Catching bass is everything for a guide.

You can learn the same lesson from trophy bass anglers using live bait, they all camp out on high % spots….all day.

Today the guides are few and far between, moved to greener pastures where I fish. They will return during the spawn cycle for easy pickings unfortunately.

Tom

[A-Jay]

21 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I might take that approach too if I was after   lunker brown bass where you fish  . It hasnt worked for me with green bass .

Yup ~

And I never said that I didn't have my fair share (or maybe more than my share) 

of total crash & burns playing waiting game.

In 2020 - I wait from Aug -Oct on the same flat.

I think I got two plus size fish.

That was pretty rugged.

I'm still trying to get over that one. 

A-Jay

[ironbjorn]

55 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

 

 I am totally staked out in the polar opposite camp.

IME, when the bites over or off where I'm at, many times it's off most everywhere.

At least for the plus size fish I'm targeting. 

I have had little to no success running all over the place 'looking for bites'.

Burned plenty of petrol trying. 

But positioning myself somewhat near or slightly away from, 

where I believe she'll eventually be, has paid off handsomely.

Might not fish the whole time, might even have a sandwich.

And then move in & out as needed, quietly of course.

If a couple of good spots are close to each other,

I will often go back & forth.

Works especially well for me early/late season.

Takes patience, but . . . . . .

A-Jay

 

 

 

Crazy how different fishing situations are for different people in different places. I've had massive days by just moving. Of course this is after too many hours upon hours spent being stubborn and honestly lazy about it. I just had one of the best Novembers of my life by leaving where I've caught them, where they "should" be but aren't cooperating, by going where the books say I shouldn't and using what the books say won't work.

[WRB]

My old arkie friends advice was “if they ain’t where they are go where they ani’t”. 
Tom

[king fisher]

A good argument can be made for both philosophies.  

Of course nothing is better than years of local knowledge, if that knowledge doesn't put binders on a fisherman.  Without local knowledge, or memories a person is basically fishing a new lake every day.

        Where memories become a problem, is when they help limit a persons ability to find or recognize a pattern.  I fish a lake where I have caught many nice bass in the back of a bay.  I always fish that spot, even if the fish I am catching are on windy points.  I just have to try a few casts there because I have had luck there in the past.  I need to be more observant and figure out what conditions are when the fish are in that bay, and leave it alone if those conditions are not present.   I fish the spot so much, I'm sure to catch some just because I put so much time in to the spot.  If I didn't have those memories, I would be spending more time looking for more windy points on that day which I should have recognized as a pattern.

    Combining local knowledge with an observant open mind, and recognizing similarities in locations that are producing makes for more memories to be used as knowledge on another day.

 

[Tennessee Boy]

Many years ago one of my fishing mentors and I had planned to fish a club tournament together.  It was on a lake two hours away and neither of us had much experience fishing it.  He was an excellent angler and had some success in the BASS opens.  I was looking forward to seeing how he would approach fishing water that he new little about.   What I learned surprised me.  He called every tackle shop near the lake and ask them for some tips on fishing the lake.  A couple of them told him to fish mid lake points with a Carolina rig.  That's all we did and we placed in the tournament.  You can read all you want about how to breakdown a lake.  Local knowledge is hard to beat and has to be earned.  The bottom line is you can spend a lifetime learning all that a lake has to teach you.  The most valuable things you learn can't be learned from a book.

 

 

 

 

[Mobasser]

I tend to think that part of the reason we all love fishing so much, is to build memories. Weve all got many of them.

[Mobasser]

Here in Missouri, guys used to say" you can't catch em where they ain't". Simple but true. Our job as fisherman is to find where they are. Then , figure out how to catch them. That's what makes our sport so enjoyable.

[Team9nine]

6 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

Here in Missouri, guys used to say" you can't catch em where they ain't". Simple but true. Our job as fisherman is to find where they are. Then , figure out how to catch them. That's what makes our sport so enjoyable.

 

Speaking of history, it's always difficult, if not impossible to figure out where and when things originated, but that quote ("You just can't catch fish where they ain't") might have been started by Buck Perry as it appears 5 times, either directly or paraphrased similarly, in his 1973 book, "Spoonplugging." 

[OldManLure]

13 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

 

Speaking of history, it's always difficult, if not impossible to figure out where and when things originated, but that quote ("You just can't catch fish where they ain't") might have been started by Buck Perry as it appears 5 times, either directly or paraphrased similarly, in his 1973 book, "Spoonplugging." 

Buck Perry may have ‘popularized’ it (if you believe it is popular) by including it in his book, but by no means did he coin it.  I heard that phrase as a child in the 60s.

[WRB]

4 hours ago, J Francho said:

Bill Murphy teaches that experience leads us to spots where big fish should be, and it may takes days to wait them out for a bite.  Unfortunately, not many of us have that kind of time.  I like to have a milk run, and test a few new spots that have features similar to my good milk run spots. This way, my milk run is constantly evolving as I fish.

Since I was a Pieces Bass club member with Bill Murphy and knew him, Murphy rarely camped out on the same spot very long if it wasn’t productive. Bill not only moved around from milk run to milk run spots he trollled deep swimbaits and crank baits a lot looking for potential spots. Murphy used every tool in the box.

Tom

 

[WRB]

17 minutes ago, OldManLure said:

Buck Perry may have ‘popularized’ it (if you believe it is popular) by including it in his book, but by no means did he coin it.  I heard that phrase as a child in the 60s.

I know from discussing the use of sonar with Buck Perry in 1968 that he didn’t believe in sonar or flashers at that time.

Buck Perry was 1st and foremost a “promoter” of his Spoon Plugs. He gets credit for promoting structure fishing, he didn’t mention “Structure” fishing when spoke to him. Perry was a pioneer regarding depth control to stay in the zone.

Tom