One such fella who quickly comes to mind is my Dewey's partner for the past two seasons. Wayne Hayes is pictured here holding the 7.18-pounder he caught back on July 1 this year.
However, there are some days when even the best of these weekend warriors have a bad day on the water. For that matter, so do fellas in the pro ranks. Read just the other day about a couple of pros who fished a team tournament on Kentucky Lake. They ended up throwing back the one keeper they had boated, put the boat on the trailer, and went home with their tails tucked 'tween their legs.
In that particular tournament, 8 pounds got a check, and 23 pounds won. But the one thing that bothered these two fellas most was the fact the winner fished the same pattern they did...just in completely different water.
As one of them lamented, "We got our teeth kicked in basically doing the same thing the winner did."
This case shows you can know the bite, the winning bait, presentation, cover, and pattern but still lose...all because you weren't in the right spot. What worked the last week or two can evaporate overnight. Conditions change. Every angler knows you have to adapt and fish the current conditions. Even then, though, how do you assess quickly on the fly when to stay and when to go, or when to stick with a presentation and when to abandon it.
Decisions like that mark the fine line in fishing. On one side of that line is the exhilaration of having a memorable day of fishing, catching a big bass, winning a tournament and all the adrenaline, relief and sense of achievement that come with those accomplishments. On the other side of that line is what makes many anglers consider selling all their gear and taking up another sport.
It isn't until you start getting some bites that you can learn much about the bass and figure out what it's likely to take to fall on the positive side of that fragile line between fishing success and failure.
Consider the following suggestions from pros:
Don't lay off. Many anglers will tell you they don't like to hook fish in practice. However, laying off fish in practice can be equally counterproductive. The two pros cited earlier, for example, were still doing what they had done the previous week. They laid off cause they didn't want to chance catching a fish they might need on an off day. The fish, though, didn't remain in those areas, and those two anglers didn't have a clue.
Go with what is working, not what worked. Maybe those two fellas' fish got up and roamed more in the area. The pair used precise presentations that had worked a week earlier. They perhaps should have gone with more search baits that covered larger areas. They got two good bites on one pattern and then went back to what they thought should work. If they had stayed with the first pattern, they might have scraped together enough bites to secure a good finish. When fishing the same event a few years prior, they had just fished the conditions and what worked early after abandoning their original plan in the first hour.
Bounce back and forth with scattered fish. When the two anglers got a few bites early on one pattern, they opted to go with their original plan. In hindsight, they probably would have been better off if they had bounced back and forth between what worked that morning and what they thought should have been the pattern from prior weeks. As you bounce back and forth between types of areas and presentations, one usually will present itself as the way to catch better quality fish or to generate more strikes. Bouncing back and forth helps you not to get set in preconceived notions.
Don't assume fish won't change. One bait might catch them better today in the same area that another bait did yesterday. Their mood, the conditions, and the bait can all affect how they react from one day to the next. Knowing the general place the fish have been holding is just part of it. Knowing that there might be a better way to catch them today than yesterday can yield big catches.
Don't assume the fish are gone. Don't assume the fish get fished out. Adding water is a big part of fishing success, but so is generating more out of good areas. When the fish are scattered, fishing big areas can yield catches from hour to hour or day to day. The fish are meandering, wandering and feeding. You can cycle through areas multiple days and multiple times a day and catch fish that just weren't there before.
Don't assume there will be a steady flow of bites. The biggest thing is don't assume because you've had one bite that you're going to keep having bites. The sting of not figuring out the fish is painful immediately, but when the pain dulls, the lessons learned seem to fuel a desire to get back out there and figure out the fishing better for the next time.
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