When All Else Fails, Try Junk Fishing

Pattern fishing is the practice of identifying those water conditions (e.g., depth, cover, structure, clarity, currents, etc.) that produce successful fishing and repeating them all over that body of water over the course of several hours, days, or on rare occasions, weeks.

When conditions are stable, a successful pattern can last a longer time. When conditions are changing rapidly, a successful pattern may evaporate in hours or even minutes.

Back in early June of 2017, bass pro Todd Faircloth (top left), like many other Elite Series pros fishing a tournament on Lake Dardanelle, was feeling frustrated. The problem: They hadn't been able to establish a pattern of any kind.

Faircloth had entered the event 4th in the Angler of the Year race and was sitting in 97th place after Day 1, with four keepers weighing 5-13. Fortunately, he was able to turn those numbers around on Day 2, catching a 13-5 limit that moved him up into 66th place. He did it with what he referred to as a "junk fishing to the extreme" pattern. In other words, he'd catch one, put that rod down, go do something else, somewhere else.

In Faircloth's own words, "I just went fishing on Day 2...on water I hadn't even practiced in. I caught one on a vibrating jig, and I'm like, OK. I pushed that for awhile but never got another bite. I picked up a squarebill crankbait, threw it on some rocks, caught a keeper, pushed that for awhile but never got another bite. I picked up a flipping bait, pitched some grass and caught a keeper. I did this for an hour-and-a-half but never got another bite on it either."

His Day 2 five keepers came on four different baits. That's some tough fishing, but it beats taking a skunk.