My Fishing Style is Changing

[LrgmouthShad]

Hey ya’ll,

 

Used to be, I’d pick a bait and run through several locations before changing baits. Now I pick a spot, and run through several baits before changing locations. Now I anchor more than anything else. 
 

So far so good, but don’t ask me where the bigguns are cuz I still ain’t found them ?. 

[Darth-Baiter]

it is all a moving target for me.  

[Mike L]

I gotta keep moving and cover water changing baits as I go. 
If I get bit, I’ll either slow way down or stop and work that area throughly before starting up again. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[TOXIC]

It does you no good to anchor and pick apart a spot that has no fish.? I will work until I find fish then slow down and pick the spot apart.  Often times if I fish a 100ft bank for example and I feel there are fish there but I didn’t get bit, I will double back with a different bait.  If no takers, I move on.  

[LrgmouthShad]

11 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

It does you no good to anchor and pick apart a spot that has no fish.? I will work until I find fish then slow down and pick the spot apart.  Often times if I fish a 100ft bank for example and I feel there are fish there but I didn’t get bit, I will double back with a different bait.  If no takers, I move on.  

I like it, my trouble is kayak. Wind drift often causes me to fish too fast over a location or lose it entirely. My choices often are to fish quicker than I’d like, fish while drifting which I don’t often like, or anchor. Recently, I’ve been opting for anchoring, but I try and choose where I anchor very carefully. I’ll get better at it, I’m sure. 

[Cbump]

Pedal drive is what you need. 

[LrgmouthShad]

5 minutes ago, Cbump said:

Pedal drive is what you need. 

Yup…. You right. I know it is, just not there yet

[PhishLI]

4 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Now I pick a spot, and run through several baits before changing locations.

This is me. Before I learned to relax, there were times where I'd worked an area over with a go-to bait or two, and came up short, then tied on an unlikely candidate for why-not, then killed them, or landed a really good fish. Once I figured out that this wasn't a flukey thing, I changed. I'm still often amazed at how my last choice in a bait often turns them on right before I'm ready to bail on an area. This has happened a lot, especially after I'd convinced myself I was fishing dead water, but they were there.

[LrgmouthShad]

17 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

especially after I'd convinced myself I was fishing dead water, but they were there.

I struggle sometimes with convincing myself that I can trust what I see on the fish finder, but getting better. I’m not going to waste too much time fishing unproductive water because if they ain’t biting they ain’t biting but at the same time, I ain’t gonna waste an anchor and something did draw me to that spot in the first place, often structure, baitfish, etc. 

 

As an aside, I also feel like I can find a “spot” but I need to get better at finding the “spot within a spot”. That is the type of stuff I need to anchor on. Just some thoughts I have

[DitchPanda]

I've been accused of camping on a spot and being too thorough. Of course I'm fishing from shore so that limits your access to productive areas.

[PhishLI]

18 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I struggle sometimes with convincing myself that I can trust what I see on the fish finder

Sometimes this doesn't matter. They might be stuck to the bottom, hard to detect, but willing to eat if you present a bait the right way. Then, if you're ever on a boat with SOTA electronics, FFS, etc, at some point you'll undoubtedly find yourself watching a ton of fish ignoring every bait you and your buddies drop on their noses. Talk about fun.. Wrong baits? Negative mood? Just gorged? Venus is in retrograde? You'll never know. One of the best skills you can have is a short memory for these types of head scratchers. Being there when they're willing to eat is all you can really do.

[steve carpenter]

I fish ponds up to 100 acres  most often. Have found I seem to catch more fish when I anchor in what I think are productive areas. I try to minimize use of the trolling motor and often drift with the wind or use a kayak paddle to move along weed edges or drop offs. Fish out of a 14 foot fiberglass boat

[Bird]

Early in the morning I'll burn around a smaller lake with top water, casting horizontal to the bank.

Mid morning I'll slow down focusing on cover with plastic.

In the afternoon, heat has this ole' guy running for cover.

[LrgmouthShad]

5 minutes ago, Bird said:

Early in the morning I'll burn around a smaller lake with top water

I’m a little jealous. This has not been a topwater year for me. I think I have the “first cast curse”. My first fish of the year, little over 4lbs, I caught on a buzzbait (Was in NC in March) after NY. I literally cannot recall catching a topwater fish since then. Maybe somewhere I forgot about one.

 

[Bird]

1 minute ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I’m a little jealous. This has not been a topwater year for me. I think I have the “first cast curse”. My first fish of the year I caught on a buzzbait (Was in NC in March) after NY. I literally cannot recall catching a topwater fish since then. Maybe somewhere I forgot about one.

 

Give a WP a try if fishing clear water and pause it. 

My best top water this year has been on a WP 75 on the pause.

[slonezp]

You're smart enough to know you're not smart enough. If I had 6 extra arms, I'd outfish everyone of you. 

[Fallser]

Generally, that's what  we do.  Find a good spot, anchor up, work it over with various lures, or in my case, flies.  One of my friends, fishes with his son, who is definitely into bass fishing.  He hates doing it.

His son will pull up to a spot, make a half-dozen or a dozen casts and is ready to move on to the next one.  His dad is like, "Wait a minute, we just got here."  He's always happy when one of us "old farts", like him can head up to his place in the Poconos and fish with him.

[GRiver]

I’ll work an area I think have fish… you know that area you just know gotta have a big one hiding along this section of shore. Change baits, slow down, speed up, top water, bladed jig. Not always right but that’s fishing.

[Boomstick]

This year mine has changed a bit too. Aside from targeting obvious locations like lay downs, in the past I would throw search baits in active areas like points looking for fish that would bite. This year I have spent more time sitting on the same area with a drop shot. It’s caught me more fish this year than any other presentation. If I don’t get a bite in a couple of minutes I cast to a different spot and after 15 or so I will move to a different spot.

[Mobasser]

I've been spending time slowly working over one of four areas I've staked out. I can always catch some fish. But, I'm looking for a big fish. She hasn't appeared so far.

[scaleface]

Fishing styles should change , constantly evolving . You will find the waters and bass bite change too . Ive seen lakes go through stages where crankbaits dominate ,then  spinnerbait ,then worm...