Back Seat Experiences

[thediscochef]

Curious to know what your back seat experiences are like. I am traditionally the back seat on my guided trips - guide up front, buddy in the middle, me in the back. Without fail, on four consecutive trips, I've had a rough day and moaned n groaned all morning while watching everyone else catch fish. Then, within the last hour or two - sometimes as little as 15 minutes left on a full day, so 3:45pm - I hook the biggest fish of the trip. Make everyone gasp, and go home with a great photo and on at least one occasion a PB. So, frustrating all day and then bragging rights. I can handle that of course, but there's times it gets hard to remember that I finish strong. wHaT dOeS iT mEaN?!?!?!?1

 

Also what's your back seat experience like?

[geo g]

I am a boat owner and have been for over 40 years.  I also have been a backseater in others boats.  Sometimes during challenging weather conditions it is easier as the back seater.  All you have to do is concentrate on high value targets.  The front guy has all the control to concentrate on, while picking targets.  Also if the back seater wants to fish slow while the front guy keeps moving, just keep letting out line while he moves.  There is a plus and minus for both positions.  Just a different mind set.

[thediscochef]

1 hour ago, geo g said:

I am a boat owner and have been for over 40 years.  I also have been a backseater in others boats.  Sometimes during challenging weather conditions it is easier as the back seater.  All you have to do is concentrate on high value targets.  The front guy has all the control to concentrate on, while picking targets.  Also if the back seater wants to fish slow while the front guy keeps moving, just keep letting out line while he moves.  There is a plus and minus for both positions.  Just a different mind set.

The four times have all been bluebird skies lol its more or less getting third crack at all the fish in that situation...but making the best of it

[papajoe222]

I was introduced to tournament fishing as a non boater. 

For the first few seasons, I threw whatever the guy on the front deck was throwing. Sometimes it worked, but the majority of times I’d get only one or two fish all day. After seeing the same guys finish at, or near the top, I approached an older one and we talked over a couple of beers. Long story short, he does just the opposite of what the boater does and on the few occasions he’s throwing the same thing, his presentation is different. That mentality worked for me then and continued to put me near the top even after I bought my first boat. THROW SOMETHING DIFFERENT  UNTIL IT STOPS WORKING and if you’re throwing the same thing, do something different with it. 

[Alex from GA]

Whenever I go with a certain buddy we always go in his boat and 80% of the time he front seats me.  I took to putting my bait where he threw and now gives me the first cast 1/2 the time.  I don't tournament fish so when I take someone I'll always give them the 1st cast and tell them where.

[WRB]

To the OP, a hired guide shouldn’t be fishing in front of you the client, his job is getting you to catch fish!
When I was a boater taking friends fishing I always put them on bass with instructions where to cast, what to use so they caught bass, same as any good guide should do.

Now I find myself in the back seat occasionally and learned to let the boater fish and keep out of my his way. If asked I will run the front of the boat for awhile to give the boater a break and relax, something  a back seater gets to do every trip.

Enjoy your time on the water…..it’s limited.

Tom

[K1500]

I’ve only been on one guided bass trip and it was so long ago I don’t remember how the searing worked. That being said, how does the guide run the boat from the back if they have to run the trolling motor with a foot pedal?
 

Perhaps the guide shouldn’t be fishing much, but they kind of need to be up there to handle the boat absent a wireless remote. I have a wireless remote and even with the remote it can sometimes be tough to run the boat from the back when you can’t see the trolling motor direction. 

[Catt]

Guess my fishing buddy's are different.

 

We never front end anybody & if you do you will be blacklisted!

 

Our goal is to put fish in the boat along with a couple Hawgs. We work as a team, many times we're both on the front deck. 

[gim]

Growing up, my Father often took me fishing in his boat (I called it the family boat).  He ran the bow mount and did most of the work, staying on structure, watching electronics, etc.  All I did was stand in the back and fish.  I often complained about having to fish "used waters" but when I got my own boat about 7 years ago, that role completely reversed itself.  Now we mostly fish in my boat and I'm up front.  Ironically, sometimes I'll hear him say that he's fishing "used waters" in the back.

 

I won't allow anyone else on the front deck when I'm up there except the dog.  Too risky with lures flinging.  No reason when there's a whole back do be used.  I learned my lesson on that years when I took a crankbait to the head.

[Susky River Rat]

11 hours ago, K1500 said:

I’ve only been on one guided bass trip and it was so long ago I don’t remember how the searing worked. That being said, how does the guide run the boat from the back if they have to run the trolling motor with a foot pedal?
 

Perhaps the guide shouldn’t be fishing much, but they kind of need to be up there to handle the boat absent a wireless remote. I have a wireless remote and even with the remote it can sometimes be tough to run the boat from the back when you can’t see the trolling motor direction. 

I know some guides run the peddle to the back of their boat.

 

I haven’t been in the back of the boat in a long time. I don’t mind doing it. It can be a nice change of pace. I do however keep my mouth shut if I don’t like how they are fishing or positioning. Sometimes it’s nice to play “clean up” from the back of the boat though. 
 

I do try to give my co angler which is usually my dad the best chance at fish. I feel like I’m repaying him for things he’s done for me over the years.

Edited April 3, 2023 by Darnold335
Spelling

[Bass Rutten]

I get half the boat to myself? Heck yeah! Maybe I'm odd but I prefer fishing out of the back for the pure challenge of catching fish others missed. There are times this backfires though, then it's time for full contact fishing, elbows out! ?

[Functional]

for years my father drove me around and I got to just fish and have a good time. Now when I take him I feel bad having the good space all the time and offer it to him but all I get is "HELL NO! I've waited years to just sit here and peacefully fish!" Now I just do it for fun, dreading the day I cant make that offer. 

 

Its rare I'm ever in the back but when I am I try and throw the opposite of what the bow is doing. Top, im under water, if hes crawing on the bottom I'm with a spinner or top water, hes throwing spinner I'm crawling bottom. Once we find something that hits I'll at least offer it in a different flavor or a different sparkle. Makes it easy because you can cross lines to some extent doing that. and your available space to both is opened up. The family I fish with dont mind it, I dont think I'd try it with a stranger/semi-stranger fishing a tournament. 

[the reel ess]

I fished with a guide in So FL two days, just him and me. He sat in the boat and rigged up rods for me all day to keep me casting something they wanted. He ran the trolling motor by remote and had the spot lock feature. I had the front deck to myself. In that scenario you can both be on the front.

[the reel ess]

31 minutes ago, Functional said:

for years my father drove me around and I got to just fish and have a good time. Now when I take him I feel bad having the good space all the time and offer it to him but all I get is "HELL NO! I've waited years to just sit here and peacefully fish!" Now I just do it for fun, dreading the day I cant make that offer. 

 

My dad started me off fishing as if I was his equal. He showed me knots and left me to figure things out and didn't do everything for me because he was busy trying to catch fish. My most cherished moments were days spent fishing with him. He got to where he enjoyed me doing the work while he just cast from the back seat. He would get tired quickly. Eventually, I couldn't even drag him along. He went to a pond with me the fall before he passed away and he caught a couple. I had to rig his rod for him like I was the parent and he the child. I miss him every day. When I lost him it was like losing both my parents at once because he was the link to my mom, who passed 5 years prior.

[Catt]

8 hours ago, gimruis said:

Too risky with lures flinging.  No reason when there's a whole back do be used. 

 

The few times I've been hit with a lure hard enough to draw blood I was on the back deck.

 

It's about boat positioning, it is very possible to allow for both anglers opportunities to cast.

[gim]

6 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

The few times I've been hit with a lure hard enough to draw blood I was on the back deck.

 

It's about boat positioning, it is very possible to allow for both anglers opportunities to cast.

The time I got hit didn’t even draw blood. It just embedded in my skull. It felt like a rock hit me. Almost fainted.

 

Later on at the urgent care, the injection of lidocaine to numb up the area didn’t feel great either.

 

Sometimes it takes a traumatic experience to change someone’s mind on a subject.

[WIGuide]

I don't mind fishing out of the back for a team tournament or fun fishing. A lot of times you have different angles on the same cover or angles the boater didn't. I don't feel disadvantaged fishing back there and most of the friends I fish with won't intentionally front end you. Fishing as a co-angler in tournaments I've had a few good experiences and one that was pretty terrible. The terrible one was a tournament where fish were keyed on very small specific targets on a river that was primarily blown out from big rains. The boater would stay completely down current leaving me without any sort of casting angle. 

 

When I'm guiding I'm up front running the trolling motor pretty much all the time. The exception to that is if I'm running down a stretch of docks, where I'll occasionally sit down at the console and run the TM with the remote to make it easier for my clients to cast.

Aside from that scenario, I am generally fishing to some extent, not like I would if I was by myself, but still fishing. I'll pass on high priority targets and point them out to my clients in order to give them the best possible chance to catch'em. 

[Bankbeater]

Growing up fishing with my dad, he would be running the trolling motor and I would be fishing in the back.  Back then we just had a trolling motor and an anchor.  Later on, we got a fish finder.  There were a lot of times we would go down the shore, or be going along a creekbed at an angle because of the wind. 

[looking45]

On 4/1/2023 at 7:00 PM, thediscochef said:

Curious to know what your back seat experiences are like. I am traditionally the back seat on my guided trips - guide up front, buddy in the middle, me in the back. Without fail, on four consecutive trips, I've had a rough day and moaned n groaned all morning while watching everyone else catch fish. Then, within the last hour or two - sometimes as little as 15 minutes left on a full day, so 3:45pm - I hook the biggest fish of the trip. Make everyone gasp, and go home with a great photo and on at least one occasion a PB. So, frustrating all day and then bragging rights. I can handle that of course, but there's times it gets hard to remember that I finish strong. wHaT dOeS iT mEaN?!?!?!?1

 

Also what's your back seat experience like?

When you’re fishing behind one or even two guys, pay attention to where they’re casting. Unless they fish like I do, barely using the trolling motor,‘there’s no way they can hit every spot as they move down the bank. Think positive, don’t make it hard on yourself by being negative

[Bird]

Fishing from bass boats for over 40 years, the guy in front catches more fish 90% of the time, just the way it is.

 

If I take someone with little experience I get more enjoyment putting them on fish then catching them myself.

 

When I'm in the back I make sure to throw something totally different than my buddy up front.

If he's throwing a Senko, I'll throw a fluke ?

[the reel ess]

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

The time I got hit didn’t even draw blood. It just embedded in my skull. It felt like a rock hit me. Almost fainted.

 

Later on at the urgent care, the injection of lidocaine to numb up the area didn’t feel great either.

 

Sometimes it takes a traumatic experience to change someone’s mind on a subject.

The best lessons are the ones that hurt, either physically or financially.

[Way north bass guy]

When I used to fish team tournaments with my cousin years ago, we usually both stood at the front, never had any issues with hooking anyone. Sometimes while prefishing, especially in the spring for a pike tournament, my uncle would come along too. He’d always stay at the back, and we’d all be throwing different coloured jerkbaits to fallen trees for big post spawn pike. Pretty much every time he came with us, he’d outfish us 2-1. We’d toss our lures to a laydown several times, then he’d throw his in there after the laydown already seeing about 6 casts, and they’d hammer his jerkbait. Guess we just had to irritate the pike enough with our baits that they finally couldn’t take it and crushed his?. 

[Finessegenics]

What kind of guide fishes the front of the boat? 

[thediscochef]

1 hour ago, Finessegenics said:

What kind of guide fishes the front of the boat? 

Good question. I'm not sure any of us have asked to be up front lol

He's gonna want to control his boat but we should be up there more 

[WIGuide]

10 hours ago, thediscochef said:

Good question. I'm not sure any of us have asked to be up front lol

He's gonna want to control his boat but we should be up there more 

Anyone guiding from a bass boat rather than a tiller will most likely be up front. Even though I can control my boat with a remote, I don't have the same control that I do with my foot on the pedal so being up front allows me to put clients in a better position than I could otherwise.