Define "Pattern" As It Applies Here

[Big Hands]

It's been a strange Spring for me. I usually stumble on the "same ol'-same ol" that others have, and I can generally find more areas that fish similarly. . . A "pattern". Not really the same so far this Spring. The things that have worked for me have been one-off spots and baits that are not normally what one might expect. Of course, Spring can be a great time to throw oddball baits in oddball places too.

 

If it only is working reliably in one spot (but definitely working well), with one unique bait, fished one unique way. . . is it still a "pattern"?

 

Asking for a friend.

[12poundbass]

I’m sure it wasn’t only Ike who said, “one fish is luck, two you’re developing a pattern”. 

[gulfcaptain]

Catch 2 doing something go look for something that looks the same. Start looking deeper into it. Also what worked before just because it's the same time of year things may be different.  What was your water temp, water level up or down? Little things make huge differences on where fish position. 

[Big Hands]

1 hour ago, 12poundbass said:

I’m sure it wasn’t only Ike who said, “one fish is luck, two you’re developing a pattern”. 

 

Fair enough, but it has also been said that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. I'm a little stuck on the idea that if it is a pattern, it would be repeatable in other areas of the lake, like for example throwing weightless wacky Senkos up against steep shaded bluffs.

 

1 hour ago, gulfcaptain said:

Catch 2 doing something go look for something that looks the same. Start looking deeper into it. Also what worked before just because it's the same time of year things may be different.  What was your water temp, water level up or down? Little things make huge differences on where fish position. 

 

One of them, I did find a second place that replicated the conditions that I have figured were most important, and it produced bites on the same baits (that are kind of unusual for this body of water in my experience). There is a third place where there might be similar conditions, but it's roped off until some time in June.

 

The other one, I have hit every spot that appeared similar and had VERY limited success, but in the one spot have had a very good bite from a very small area. I found it late Sunday, and replicated it again yesterday evening immediately as soon as I threw in there. On this one, maybe the similarities I was looking for aren't the key similarities I should be paying attention to. . . Off to the laboratory!

[scaleface]

 I would say no , its not a pattern if its not repeatable .

[Susky River Rat]

To me a pattern is catching multiple fish doing the same thing in similar areas.

 

I haven’t been spending much time on the water this spring due to working so much.  I do know the same areas I always fish this time of year have not been working. It seems that is the general consensus of most this spring. People are getting them no doubt but, it’s been off.

[Big Hands]

15 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I would say no , its not a pattern if its not repeatable .

 

It's only been repeatable in the same 20' x 20' area on different days, which to me, also doesn't make me think of it as a pattern. Maybe I just haven't really figured out what brought them there and made them hungry.

 

6 minutes ago, Darnold335 said:

To me a pattern is catching multiple fish doing the same thing in similar areas.

 

I haven’t been spending much time on the water this spring due to working so much.  I do know the same areas I always fish this time of year have not been working. It seems that is the general consensus of most this spring. People are getting them no doubt but, it’s been off.

 

The upper lake (where the first pattern I spoke of is) is 100 vertical feet higher than it was five months ago, and has been mostly way down for the past two years. It's fishing completely different than it was IMHO.

[Ski]

A "pattern" is the exact set of water conditions such as depth, cover, structure, temperature, clarity, currents, etc., which have produced bass at similar locations all over the same body of water. It was first defined by the legendary Roland Martin in 1969.

[Susky River Rat]

31 minutes ago, Ski said:

It was first defined by the legendary Roland Martin in 1969.

As much as I respect him. Way too much has changed in fishing since 1969. It’s over half a century ago. I think everything is based more on similarities than exact. I would also say people fish the “bite” now. 

[12poundbass]

7 hours ago, Big Hands said:

Fair enough, but it has also been said that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. I'm a little stuck on the idea that if it is a pattern, it would be repeatable in other areas of the lake, like for example throwing weightless wacky Senkos up against steep shaded bluffs.

@gulfcaptain explained in more detail what I was getting at. Going back to what Ike said, he used the word developing. If you catch 2-3 fish in one spot and can’t replicate that in another area doing the same thing then chances are you got lucky. All is not lost though. I still take that information from those couple of lucky fish and tweak the presentation (color, size, speed) and see what happens. If it produces you’re on to something, if it doesn’t then I’m probably back to square one. 

[WRB]

The more isolated a pattern the more difficult it is to repeat the same conditions in other areas. If it’s a isolated area then I would call it a spot not a pattern, 2 or is pattern.

The lake you are fishing is in horrible water quality condition, so bad the last weeks tournament produced 7 bass total and won with 2.76 lb wth 2 bass, the next 6 teams caught 1 bass and the rest of the field blanked. They didn’t find your “pattern” it was so isolated.

Tom

[Team9nine]

5 hours ago, Big Hands said:

It's only been repeatable in the same 20' x 20' area on different days, which to me, also doesn't make me think of it as a pattern. Maybe I just haven't really figured out what brought them there and made them hungry.

Yep, not a pattern  lol

[Tennessee Boy]

13 hours ago, Big Hands said:

If it only is working reliably in one spot (but definitely working well), with one unique bait, fished one unique way. . . is it still a "pattern"?

You’ve dialed in a bait,  and how to fish the bait,  at a location that works.   You just haven’t determined what’s special about the location that you need to find other similar locations.  It’s also possible that there are no similar locations.  
 

Let’s just call it a “template” instead of a pattern.

[Big Hands]

39 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

You’ve dialed in a bait,  and how to fish the bait,  at a location that works. 

 

Definitely.

 

42 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

You just haven’t determined what’s special about the location that you need to find other similar locations.

 

Quite possibly.

 

41 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

It’s also possible that there are no similar locations.

 

If I had to wager a guess, I would go with this. I have found other locations that have some similarities, but not all of the similarities that are possible, and I suspect that although the bait may work in other places on this 180 acre body of water, there just isn't any other location quite like it.

 

 

[Fishin Dad]

I just call it fishing.  

[contium]

So Cal lakes are too small to pattern IMO. Mainly fishing spots.

[casts_by_fly]

On 4/29/2023 at 7:39 PM, Big Hands said:

 

Definitely.

 

 

Quite possibly.

 

 

If I had to wager a guess, I would go with this. I have found other locations that have some similarities, but not all of the similarities that are possible, and I suspect that although the bait may work in other places on this 180 acre body of water, there just isn't any other location quite like it.

 

 

180 acres is tough to make a pattern as such. There often isn’t enough variety and repetition of things on a lake that size. The more specific of a thing you’re trying to find the fewer of them there will be. I fish a lot of 100-300 acre lakes and you can get about as specific as fish are concentrating where two types of vegetation meet or fish are holding on any ‘odd’ cover like any piece of wood in a grass dominant lake. Lakes this size, when you find a couple fish, slow down and just keep working it through with different stuff. Where there’s two bass there’s probably five. 

[Ktho]

57 minutes ago, contium said:

So Cal lakes are too small to pattern IMO. Mainly fishing spots.

 

Meh even at small lakes like Dixon or Murray patterns still develop

[WRB]

Most of the local lakes pattern at specific depths and soil transitions in lieu of cover. Wind plays a roll and seasonal periods. Soft plastic colors can often be the pattern maker or breaker, but depth is primary.

This year do to extreme rain run off water quality is a major factor because of debris, ash and fire retardants. The lakes are deep and the junk will sink in time returning the bite to be more predictable.

The 2nd tournament was won with 7 lbs, 7 boats caught bass mostly 1 fish and rest of the field blanked again. Shocking considering it’s pre spawn/spawn seasonal period when weight are in the 20+ lb and very few ever blank.

Tough early season.

Tom

[Big Hands]

9 hours ago, Ktho said:

Meh even at small lakes like Dixon or Murray patterns still develop.

 

And, there are definitely times when 'patterns' are more widespread, even on the lagoon. That's what has stood out to me, is that this seems unusual to me to have these different types of 'hot spots' that are all a little odd rather than the usual popular stuff that works in a larger set of circumstances. I am more accustomed to being the guy that reads the reports from other anglers and says, "yep, that's what has been working for me too."

 

9 hours ago, WRB said:

This year do to extreme rain run off water quality is a major factor because of debris, ash and fire retardants. The lakes are deep and the junk will sink in time returning the bite to be more predictable.

 

The water quality improved markedly after looking like toilet water for several months. It's like quite a bit of it sank all at once. 

 

9 hours ago, WRB said:

The 2nd tournament was won with 7 lbs, 7 boats caught bass mostly 1 fish and rest of the field blanked again. Shocking considering it’s pre spawn/spawn seasonal period when weight are in the 20+ lb and very few ever blank.

 

That is kind of shocking to me as well, and that was a team tournament too, right?

 

I also know that there are a few locals that are doing well on the usual stuff. 

[gulfcaptain]

On 4/29/2023 at 7:22 AM, WRB said:

 

The lake you are fishing is in horrible 

What lake is he fishing?

[Big Hands]

2 hours ago, gulfcaptain said:

What lake is he fishing?

 

If I am fishing a lake in California, there is a 97.9 % probability that it's Castaic. Between the Quagga Mussel debacle (quarantines) and the fact that I can literally see the dam from my backyard, it doesn't make much sense for me to go anywhere else. 

[casts_by_fly]

11 hours ago, Big Hands said:

The water quality improved markedly after looking like toilet water for several months. It's like quite a bit of it sank all at once. 

 

It will still take a while to get it all down.  The heavier stuff, sand, silt, etc will drop out quickly.  The finer stuff though takes a while to settle and will be getting stirred up in the shallows by the wind for quite a while.  Given how recently you had the flood waters, I'd expect the 10-20' depths to still be fairly silty. Its going to be the end of summer before you are back to where you were before the floods.

 

[Big Hands]

Got to do a heat check on the spot that isn't a pattern for about 45 minutes before heading into work this morning. It's O-Fish-L, some bass like soft plastic swimbaits with 8/0 flashy swimmers.

 

 

[gulfcaptain]

On 5/1/2023 at 11:48 PM, Big Hands said:

 

If I am fishing a lake in California, there is a 97.9 % probability that it's Castaic. Between the Quagga Mussel debacle (quarantines) and the fact that I can literally see the dam from my backyard, it doesn't make much sense for me to go anywhere else. 

I like pyramid better. But I get it.