Order Of Importance

[dmac14]

I was reading another thread and a few mentioned which order dictated whether you had fish or not.

A few factors I was thinking are location, cover, structure, bait, color, presentation, time of day ect. I would like to see how everyone stacks up their order of importance.

Mine would be:

1. Time of day

2. Location

3. Cover or Structure (depending on location)

4. Bait + Line type

5. Presentation

6. Color

[Lund Explorer]

Do a search for the old In-Fisherman formula for success and study it. I think you'll find that once you learn the basis for that theory, things will be much easier to understand.

[Fat-G]

I changed mine a bit. Presentation, bait, color.

[Midnight Splash2]

If your not in the right location none of the other options matter.

[trevor]

I would think presentation would be really high on the list.

[Midnight Splash2]

No matter how good of a presentation you have it wont matter if your fishing in a location without fish.

[Bass_Fanatic]

1. Location

2. Bait

3. Presentation

4. Color

5. Time of Day

Location has to be first because if there are no fish where you are fishing, you aint catching anything, no matter what else you do. Then I chose bait over presentation because I feel I need the right bait selection before presenting it to the fish. I think if fish are suspended at 20 ft in 60 fow then a Manns Baby 1- probably aint gonna cut it. First you must select a bait that will get into the strike zone, then present it in such a way that they will bite it. Lastly, Color and Time of Day. Neither matter too much. Color is about 5% of the equation most of the time. Sometimes they can be picky, but the difference between red flake and purple flake is minor. Obviously, dawn and dusk produce better than high noon consistantly (not saying always), but whatever Time of Day it is, you cant change it so adjust everything else to catch fish whenever you are on the water.

[1234567]

Just wondering, would time of day dictate location. Or on a broader scale time of year and time of day?

[Wayne P.]

Number one factor is the seasonal pattern. Everything else is a tie of last place.

[Bass_Fanatic]

Seasonal pattern and time of day would factor into location. I dont care what time of day or seasonal pattern it is, just put me in a place that the fish are and I will figure it out from there.

[Jigfishn10]

No matter how good of a presentation you have it wont matter if your fishing in a location without fish.

How do you know if you're not in the right location? Ever pull up to a real "bassy" spot and think that they are there? You would start with a lure and present it the best way possible only to switch to other lures and presentations only to figure out that they're not there.

[Fishing Rhino]

Time of day isn't even on my radar screen. By nature, I'm a very early morning person. Love being on the water at the crack of dawn with a light mist wafting along the glassy surface. For years I thought early morning was the preferred time. It is quiet. Light levels are low. Nothing external to disturb the fish. It was preferred all right, by me, but not necessarily the fish.

I've fished enough the past few years to learn my theory was all wet. I've seen the bite turn on in the middle of the day with a glassy surface and a cloudless sky. I've seen it turn on mid-afternoon and mid-morning as well. I've had poor days when all the book indicators say the fishing should be great, and great days when all of the stars (again, according to the book) are out of alignment.

Fish a small productive body of water, such as the one near my home, often enough, and you'll find out the fish do not read those books.

Now, if you want to talk about seasons and how they affect the movements of bass/fish, that's a different matter. Time of year is important to understand the movements of fish, and their level of activity. Time of day is, to me anyway, meaningless.

Took a fellow with me this past Monday. He was absolutely set in his belief that the fish would be in the shallows, since they moved up there during the night when the shallows cooled. I've been fishing this pond at least three times a week for the past few weeks, and I knew where I had been catching them. It sure wasn't the shallows.

While he dropped his baits up against the weedlines in the shallows, catching the occasional small bass, I was happily catching them right where they had been since moving from the shallows after spawning. At nine o'clock after three hours of thrashing the shallows, he decided to fish deeper, and switched to what I had been using. Suddenly, he began catching some nice fish. One on each of his first three casts, right where I told him to cast.

He said he was kicking himself for not listening to someone with a lot of experience on the pond.

My credo. There is never a bad time to go fishing, other than during extreme weather.

[Fishing Rhino]

How do you know if you're not in the right location? Ever pull up to a real "bassy" spot and think that they are there? You would start with a lure and present it the best way possible only to switch to other lures and presentations only to figure out that they're not there.

I was thinking of something along those lines.

When you're catching fish, you know they are there. When you're not, it doesn't mean they aren't there. Wrong bait, wrong presentation, not interested? Any of those three can account for not catching fish that are there. There is a fourth possibity, they aren't there.

Only catching them conclusively proves anything.

[flippin and pitchin]

Location is key. It may change throughout the day, days or week. Time of day impacts light penetration and temperature which impacts location(s). Picking a lure or lures that effectively cover the location's specifics is next. Refining the presentation(s) is next and color further refines the preentation. That's my 2 cents worth.

[RoLo]

1) LOCATION................(bottom contour + ambient cover)

2) DEPTH......................(water depth + fish depth)

3) PRESENTATION...... (lure depth, lure speed, lure action, lure shape, lure size, lure color)

Not catching bass doesn't mean they are not there, it means you are not catching them

Roger

[Gatorbassman]

Great question. This really got me thinking.

Location and Depth - Time of year mostly dictates where they are "supposed" to be. Minor adjustment can be made due to weather, wind, current, water temp, bottom structure, bait and so on.

Presentation - What is the best way to fish the location that I'm at right now? What mood are the fish in? Do they want to chase or do they want an easy, slow moving meal?

Lure choice - This goes hand-in-hand with presentation. Size depends on what the bass are eating and/or how I want the lure to fall. (fast/slow) Action depends on the mood of the fish. Color choice depends on water color and clarity. Sometimes the color of the bottom or the color of the submerged weeds dictate what color I'm going to try first.

My #1 rule is that if I don't have or loose confidence in a spot I move. If I loose confidence in the lure I have on the end of my line I try something else. If I loose confidence all together I go home.

[GruntVet]

Absolutely!!! You loose your confidence you loose the ability to land good fish... Among other things, that is why the pro's excell when others fail, they are using 10 times the confidence level than the weekend guy like myself! :-)

Good input!

[OHIO]

Location has to be number one. You can't catch fish if there aren't any.

I would say bait is second and then presentation.

Cover and structure is the same as location basically and color doesn't play as much as a role as people think IMO.

[K_Mac]

I am in the seasonal pattern camp. The time of year sets the parameters. Everything else is just details. Experience and confidence come into play when the fish don't act right.

[Sam]

If your not in the right location none of the other options matter.

X2

[Blue Streak]

Can we add luck to this? I mean there are so many factors to consider, just look at Rolo's post,

1) LOCATION................(bottom contour + ambient cover)

2) DEPTH......................(water depth + fish depth)

3) PRESENTATION...... (lure depth, lure speed, lure action, lure shape, lure size, lure color)

Now how many of those do we have to get right to be on the bite? And what are our chances of getting even three of these correct day after day? Of course we all get it right part of the time and some (Vandam) get it right more often. Having said that, experience, knowledge, and preparation are key elements of luck.

I can factor in the season, weather, water conditions and whatever else I think I need to consider and still it all comes down to the HASK (half arsed scientific guess) method.

[RoLo]

Can we add luck to this? I mean there are so many factors to consider, just look at Rolo's post,

1) LOCATION................(bottom contour + ambient cover)

2) DEPTH......................(water depth + fish depth)

3) PRESENTATION...... (lure depth, lure speed, lure action, lure shape, lure size, lure color)

Now how many of those do we have to get right to be on the bite? And what are our chances of getting even three of these correct day after day? Of course we all get it right part of the time and some (Vandam) get it right more often. Having said that, experience, knowledge, and preparation are key elements of luck.

Good point.

As we all know, some of the world's greatest inventions were the result of an accident.

With that in mind, the next time we get lucky and really hammer the bass, we always have two choices:

1) We can chalk it all up to "luck", thereby dismissing the need for junk science.

2) We can dissect that lucky day to determine which pieces of the puzzle contributed to our success.

As KVD has shown, knowledge is more repeatable than luck, and the more we know, the luckier we get

Roger

[Jigfishn10]

This was an excellant thread and a good read, but my only complaint is, why do we have to prioritize all these things?

The OP had a list of 6 items he thought or thinks are his list of importance. That's like saying that he has to be excellant at his number 1 item and by the time you get to #6 that would be mediocre. I don't think that's a great formula for success or even a great way of thinking about it. Wouldn't you want strive to be good at all facets of the fishing game and not prioritize it?

RoLo broke those 6 items down to 3 and made a list base off of that. For the most part I agree, but I don't think it's 1, 2, 3 but more like 1a, 1b, 1c. If you don't have one of those items he listed, then it's a long fishng day, IMO.

[trevor]

1. Location

2. Presentation

3a. Bait/Time of Day

3b. Time of Day/ Bait

4. Color

[RoLo]

This was an excellant thread and a good read, but my only complaint is, why do we have to prioritize all these things?

The OP had a list of 6 items he thought or thinks are his list of importance. That's like saying that he has to be excellant at his number 1 item and by the time you get to #6 that would be mediocre. I don't think that's a great formula for success or even a great way of thinking about it. Wouldn't you want strive to be good at all facets of the fishing game and not prioritize it?

RoLo broke those 6 items down to 3 and made a list base off of that. For the most part I agree, but I don't think it's 1, 2, 3 but more like 1a, 1b, 1c. If you don't have one of those items he listed, then it's a long fishng day, IMO.

1, 2, 3 is like counting fingers and doesn't imply that finger 1 is more important than finger 3.

Out of all the possible variables, one missing link can stop the show, so the criteria cannot be prioritized.

It really boils down to the "Priority of Poverty", which is to say, no matter how insignificant the flaw,

it becomes the most important thing of all.

Actually, there's no need for any numbers or letters

=> LOCATION................(bottom contour - ambient cover)

=> DEPTH......................(water depth - fish depth)

=> PRESENTATION....... (lure depth - lure speed - lure action - lure shape - lure size - lure color)

Roger