There are lots of anglers who believe...and rightfully so...that, if you stay tuned in to the signs from Mother Nature when you're out fishing, you can turn an otherwise dismal trip into a productive one. Picking up clues from various terrestrial or aquatic sources can help you determine what the bass are doing on your favorite waters.
Consider, for example, what this angler with 68 years of fishing experience had to say about the matter.
"Whether bass activity will be higher or lower than normal," he said, "seems to correlate with other wildlife. On some days/mornings/afternoons/evenings, there's not much moving. No birds, no frogs croaking, lack of insects, no surface activity; in other words, it's just plain dead. This seems to indicate poor fishing.
"On the other hand, when you see above-normal surface activity (e.g., fish breaking and baitfish moving), take it as a good indication that activity is positive. Add birds moving, particularly fish-hunting birds, such as eagles, osprey, kingfishers, and shore-stalking birds, and you have another positive indication. The same is true of frogs croaking, snakes swimming, and a variety of insects flying.
"In short, this is the kind of day when you will see and/or hear bass busting frogs or baitfish up near the shore, and small fish will continually hit your line where it enters the water. It's the kind of day when you will catch six or seven bass off that log where you usually only catch one.
"These are the times we all would like to be on the water...when things are 'hot.' Unfortunately, these kinds of days seem to be the exception, not the norm.
"When I was younger," said this veteran angler, "people used to ask me and my fishin' buddy how we caught so many bass. The answer was, because we fish every day. We would go fishing before we went to work. We would fish when we got off from work. And we would fish on weekends, rainy days, hot days, and sometimes at night. When you're spending that much time on the water, you just have to get into 'em at times."
Continued this old-timer, "I particularly remember when we would be speed-cranking Big-Os off a point and catch 25 to 30 nice bass, averaging 4 to 6 pounds...sometimes 7 pounds...one right after the other. Being at the right place at the right time...that's what it's all about."
While you're keeping an eye on Mother Nature, make sure you don't overlook two particularly good indicators of "live" water. When you pull into a cove and hear frogs croaking, it's a good sign that the area holds active bass.
Scanning the water's surface for turtles will help you find brush piles that usually are bass magnets. The turtles usually rise from the brush piles and then dive back down into the cover to feed. Some pros have said they rely on rising turtles to help them find underwater logs and brush in a hurry when fishing vast flats on reservoirs.
Concentrating on your line will help you detect more strikes, but there are times when nature-watching becomes a key to catching more bass.
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