The one hit coves?

[done]

So here is a thought that has always perplexed me.

I have 3 or 4 of these places in my home lake. You stumble upon them by accident. At least 2 of them are PERFECT LMB habitat, you fish them and have a heck of a day. Catching your pb and a mess of others. Just hitting them like crazy. You MAY get 1 or 2 more days like that then, you cannot ever catch a fish there again.

I have these places I have had this happen have tried every angle I can think of. Time of year, weather, etc. Still they never seem to produce again.

Anyone else see this where you fish? Any biologic, behavior thought to what gives on these areas? Is it just I got lucky and hit it that one day when everything lines up? I would not think I could alter their patterns by fishing it once or twice. These areas I am talking about were fished VERY lightly. Probably because other guys saw the same thing.

[simplejoe]

Last year I found this little cove on the river. Any other time I fly right by it, But one day I just stop to fish it and found out it was a nice spot. There were trees laying all over the place and like you said a perfect habitat for LMB. We stopped and fish for little while with no takers so we left and returned later in the evening. I'm glad we did, when I pitched the first cast to the tree  BAM fish on. We ended up catching around 15 fish out of this cove and it was maybe 10 ft. wide  by 30 ft. long. and about 6 ft deep. We fished 2 days after that and caught a couple fish, not like that previous day though.

This year I stopped at that cove a few times with no luck. It was just that on day and it's a perfect spot for them. I thought it might be the river got high and pulled some of the trees out of the cove, But this year when the river was low I checked to see and ther's still alot of trees in there.

                                  joe

[Tanker4lyfe]

Your probably dealing with what is called resident fish. Due to this.. you are catching them and then it takes a few days for them to recover. My Tourney director who is a very Knowledgeable fisherman told me that its be shown that it takes the average bass approx 2-3 days to fully recover after being hooked due to stress.

[steezy]

I have a place like that, its back up in the corner of a pond, theres 2 patches of veg with about 3 sqft of open space behind the veg.  I can throw a buzzbait in there every other day and always catch a fish and I know Ive caught the same fish several times.  Its a 3 #'der (weighed it twice) so its fun to hook'em.

[Lund Explorer]

I found a small cove somewhat like this on our local river in the backwaters of one of the dams.  Small cove, outside bend of the river, far enough upstream to still have decent current.  Fished it a few times without much, and then one day it was like I was in a stocked pond.

Thinking about the day, it came to me back then that we had just gotten a fairly heavy rain a day or so before I had been there.  Trips after that day were mostly unsuccessful except for those days following a fairly good rain that brought in a good deal of runoff.

I think in my case, the runoff was the key that brought food into that cove.  This might be what you experienced.

[tnhiker44]

Based on your description, my guess is that the fish are there all the time. The difference being that most of the time you go there you are fishing... and then for a few visits you are catching.

I got lucky and hit it that one day when everything lines up

I witnessed a really cool fish shocking event on Watts Bar Lake many years a go. The DNR closed off a small cove with nets and invited a few fisherman (one group at a time) to fish inside the nets. I think they were given 20 minutes each group. We were not chosen, but we watched nonetheless. They weighed and measured all the fish that the fishermen caught, which wasn't many. A group or two got skunked. They then went in there with the shocking equipment and the amount of bass that were in there was simply amazing. The whole experience did not make me feel like a better fisherman, probably just the opposite, but it taught me to not be so quick to give up on a fishy spot.

[Paul Roberts]

Based on your description, my guess is that the fish are there all the time. The difference being that most of the time you go there you are fishing... and then for a few visits you are catching.

I got lucky and hit it that one day when everything lines up

I witnessed a really cool fish shocking event on Watts Bar Lake many years a go. The DNR closed off a small cove with nets and invited a few fisherman (one group at a time) to fish inside the nets. I think they were given 20 minutes each group. We were not chosen, but we watched nonetheless. They weighed and measured all the fish that the fishermen caught, which wasn't many. A group or two got skunked. They then went in there with the shocking equipment and the amount of bass that were in there was simply amazing. The whole experience did not make me feel like a better fisherman, probably just the opposite, but it taught me to not be so quick to give up on a fishy spot.

Ditto.

REALLY cool observation.

[SWH]

this sounds like my pond to a T. I cant wait to find the next one!

[slider head]

I have several like that on SML. Certain times of the year you can hit em and load the boat. The rest of the time it a complete waste of time. I do however have 2-3 spots thats good for a fish everytime. No rhyme nor reason to any of them.......just glad to get what I can when I can. :-?

[6pointbuck2003]

some of it couuld also be lure choice and presentation. i have been in situations where my partner and i were using the same color spinnerbait, same company, and weight. both Slow roling. He was in the back of the boat catching fish and i wasnt. the only difference was the real speed (we had the same rod). i beleive there will always be a few fish in an area that will bite its just a matter of finding the right combo.

Wouldnt it just be sickining to know how many bass your lure passes over in a given day!!!

[done]

some of it couuld also be lure choice and presentation. i have been in situations where my partner and i were using the same color spinnerbait, same company, and weight. both Slow roling. He was in the back of the boat catching fish and i wasnt. the only difference was the real speed (we had the same rod). i beleive there will always be a few fish in an area that will bite its just a matter of finding the right combo.

Wouldnt it just be sickining to know how many bass your lure passes over in a given day!!!

Tell me about it. I had one, had to be at least 7#, maybe more, it swam right up to the side of the boat about maybe 3-4 inches under the surface and sat there. I threw every lure I had at it, live bait, I nearly got my knife and jumped in after it. Would follow some of them, but would not bit. Then it just slowly swam off.

Made me really think. How many times have I thrown a line in and had half a dozen nice bass watch it maybe even follow without a bite.

[bigtimfish]

I have a cove on Toledo Bend that I have fished since I could hold a rod, and to this day I still catch at least one out of there everytime I go.

[90x]

perhaps your dealing with a school of fish. maybe you just happened to catch them a the right time. they may have moved causing you to catch little to no fish

[Chris]

There is a possibility that when you hit the cove the wind or current brought the baitfish into that cove along with the bass. The baitfish turned on the bass and the day became productive. It could be a cove that becomes productive only during a particular season because of bass movement. It could be that the bass have moved deeper because of fishing pressure or the cove has low numbers of bait to bass ratio and moved. It can be a number of things but you get the idea.

[.dsaavedra.]

this is fishing. :

[Big Bait Fishing]

Your probably dealing with what is called resident fish. Due to this.. you are catching them and then it takes a few days for them to recover. My Tourney director who is a very Knowledgeable fisherman told me that its be shown that it takes the average bass approx 2-3 days to fully recover after being hooked due to stress.

i don't know about that , i have , a few times , caught the same fish in the same day , only hours between time . a couple times on the same lure !!!  :-/

[done]

LOL, perhaps, like people...some bass take longer to learn.

I have done the same, in the spring I nailed one about 7-10# on a spinner pulled him right up to the boat reached for the net so I could release him, and he saved me the time, dove under the boat and broke the line. 10 minutes later threw same kind of spinner, same size, just different color (silver since he stole my gold), and caught the same fish (still had spinner in his mouth).