Forage Finder

[tch2391]

Hi all. 

As we have all heard and done before, I am trying to "match the hatch" in a new area that im fishing in soon. I wanted to ask around and see if anybody has specific tips or techniques on doing this... Obviously catching a bass and harvesting it and seeing what it's been eating is the difficult way of doing this (which I would not do, just an example), but I want to know short of asking around and/or visibly seeing baitfish in your fishing area what is everyone on here doing to help determine what types of forage are available, in effort to match the hatch?

Thanks!

[casts_by_fly]

Biologist surveys are usually posted on the state fish and game websites. If not for your specific lake, then others nearby. 

[gim]

I check the lake’s survey reports. It’s done every few years here by the state regulatory agency. It’s posted online and you can a pretty good idea of what the main forage will be. Not sure if Florida does it by you or not.

[fishingtx]

Is this a large body of water? Based off of the yes or no from that, that would determine my first move. If all else fails given your location in the country I would assume that every body of freshwater has at least bluegill and crawfish. If you can't determine a forage, which I don't know how you wouldn't be able to, throw soft plastic swimbaits in neutral/natural colors or throw creature baits in the same type colors. This covers basically anything the forage could be. Change the baits/colors up until you find one that produces the best results then figure out what that bait best resembles, but by that time you will have already "matched the hatch" so it doesn't really matter what you think the bait resembles.

[tch2391]

Thanks y’all.

My main waters are the St. Marks and Wakulla rivers, Lake Talquin and Lake Miccosukkee.

 

I’ll check for biological surveys. I appreciate the help!

[papajoe222]

I don't do anything because I don't attempt to match the hatch. I fish plastic worms, jigs, cranks (some do imitate bluegill), topwaters, etc.  Bass fishing isn't like trout fishing, (thank you Lord) 'matching the hatch' is a phrase straight from those guys.  It helps to know the movements of the primary forage of a lake, but my take on this is that the bass see more than enough of the predominate forage, so, similar to not throwing the same bait the majority of anglers are using, I show them something different.  It's worked for 60 years for me