Help out those new to fishing.
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Still Chasing
- Participant
- Posts: 39
- Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 3:31 pm
- Location: Ottawa
Help out those new to fishing.
Not every one spends more than 20 days a year on the water. Perhaps those more experienced could provide information that would help others up their game. Perhaps the experienced fisherman/woman could share their approach/routine when they leave the dock. As bass is usually the predominate species we hunt let's focus on it. Please include things like when you rely on your electronics to indicate fish, or do you start casting shallows, weed beds, humps in the morning before fish go deeper, Do you fish structure only when you see fish on your graph or do you fish it any way. Do you just drive around looking for fish on your electronics before casting any bait. Helping others is the key to supporting this site. Children like to catch fish but if the adults are not good at finding them then kids get bored and don't want to go out again. Too often I hear people say they don't like fishing because they don't catch anything. Please include anything else you think would be helpful Thank you.
Re: Help out those new to fishing.
There is no magic bullet. I HATE the saying but time on the water is a major part of it.
Electronics. For some yes, for most they are highly overrated IMO. I use 2 screens, Mapping and Sonar. Now before the advocates of forward facing sonar scoff I bet ya 90% barely use it and even then they don't use it all the time. It is a tool, like most tools they are expensive and get used sparingly. The amount of guys I saw this spring spending literally THOUSANDS of dollars on stuff they'll never use was astounding. In under 20 feet of water the ONLY thing I use it for is to see weedbeds and hard bottom. In over 20 fow I'll look for fish on structure.
Any time I'm Largie fishing, I always think back to watching Izumi. He broke it down so simple. The fish are either dirt shallow, in the mid range depth of 6 to 10 fow or deeper in 12 to 16 feet. Yes the odd Largie is caught deeper but 95% of them live in those ranges. I typically start in mid range while guiding.
Smallies, different animal depending on water temp. Early season they will hang mid range til water hits mid 70's then they move on. Depending on your lake that could mean 20 fow to up to 40 fow or even over 100 feet suspended chasing baitfish.
This notion that fish move deeper as the day warms up is nonsense. Simply not true. A Bass' range is not big at all.
Bait wise, I urge people to keep it simple. Pick one or two moving baits and one of two finesse baits. Stick to them.
RJ
Electronics. For some yes, for most they are highly overrated IMO. I use 2 screens, Mapping and Sonar. Now before the advocates of forward facing sonar scoff I bet ya 90% barely use it and even then they don't use it all the time. It is a tool, like most tools they are expensive and get used sparingly. The amount of guys I saw this spring spending literally THOUSANDS of dollars on stuff they'll never use was astounding. In under 20 feet of water the ONLY thing I use it for is to see weedbeds and hard bottom. In over 20 fow I'll look for fish on structure.
Any time I'm Largie fishing, I always think back to watching Izumi. He broke it down so simple. The fish are either dirt shallow, in the mid range depth of 6 to 10 fow or deeper in 12 to 16 feet. Yes the odd Largie is caught deeper but 95% of them live in those ranges. I typically start in mid range while guiding.
Smallies, different animal depending on water temp. Early season they will hang mid range til water hits mid 70's then they move on. Depending on your lake that could mean 20 fow to up to 40 fow or even over 100 feet suspended chasing baitfish.
This notion that fish move deeper as the day warms up is nonsense. Simply not true. A Bass' range is not big at all.
Bait wise, I urge people to keep it simple. Pick one or two moving baits and one of two finesse baits. Stick to them.
RJ