Anyone who fishes the North Landing River is more than a little familiar with fluctuating water levels, but we're not alone, either.
Saw an article from a pro here recently whose home lake is notorious for ruining what you might falsely believe to be a productive, fail-safe pattern. Turns out this fella also writes about fishing for a living.
As he noted, human nature gets the best of any angler once in a while.
"We'll poke out our chests after a few memorable days on the water," he said, "only to have it suddenly come to an end, which is true of all good things. The fish will move, and we'll fail to adjust. When that happens, we have two choices: Pout, kick and scream, or suck it up and take it on the chin."
After one particularly bad outing, the pro first spent a few days at home and left the boat in the driveway. Following a lot of thought, however, he realized that, although he was keeping his emotions and feelings completely internal to maintain a poised demeanor, his thoughts nevertheless were childish.
"I took my proverbial ball and went home because I wasn't getting my way," he said. "I vowed never to let it happen again.
"When you get beat, take it as a learning opportunity," he continued. "A black eye never hurt anyone, so don't go home and kick yourself all evening. Get on the water the next day and figure out what you did wrong. Remember, calm heads always prevail, both on and off the water. Suck it up, smile and get after it."
The pro went on to explain that it's easy to get ahead of yourself in this sport.
"You'll catch a good bass, take your photos, and post 'em to your bragging board, and before you know it, you've made your next cast without even checking your line for rough spots...a big no-no. Actually, it's a really big no-no."
The pro admitted this very thing happened to him in his first tournament of the year, when he was relatively rusty. And he admitted he really wanted to be in a deer stand instead of fishing some rocky bluff walls at daylight. As a result, he didn't check his line.
"I set the hook, and it sounded like a gunshot," he said. "Without speaking a word, I just reeled in my slack line, sat down on the rod locker and retied. As I was standing up to make my next cast, a 4-pounder came jumping on the surface, with my disconnected bait thrashing in its mouth. I would have rather taken a pitching wedge to the groin than to be subjected to that cruelty.
"The moral of this story is simple. Check your line religiously, and don't be lazy about retying. Whether you catch a 10-incher or a 10-pounder, take a few seconds to retie your knot. If you don't, I promise it will come back to haunt you sooner or later."
"Water temperature and clarity largely dictate how the bass position and react to lures," he said. "For instance, common knowledge usually tells us to seek warmer water in cold conditions this time of the year. So if you're catching shallow fish in the lower end of your fishery, they may not be as shallow up the river arms due to fresh runoff and cooler water temperatures.
"It's also important to consider how water clarity may change throughout a lake," he continued. "For example, I was catching fish during a tournament in clear, deep water when the pattern suddenly shut down. I was toast because I had failed to develop any back-up plans in practice. I should have explored muddier water in the upper end of the lake in hopes of finding a solid shallow pattern."
The pro also urged anglers to stick with their confidence techniques when it's tough fishing.
"Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try new baits and techniques," he said. "You'll never get better if you don't venture outside your comfort zone from time to time. But when the bite gets tough and you're having trouble putting something together, rely on the technique with which you're most comfortable."
A final piece of advice from the pro was to develop a reliable gut instinct.
"Be patient," he said, "because there's absolutely no substitute for time on the water. With that being said, don't ignore those tiny voices in your head throughout the day. You're not crazy. We all have 'em. That's your 'gut' talking to you."
The pro went on to offer the example of a tournament he had fished recently, in which he didn't take his own advice.
"I had about 13 pounds in my livewells," he said. "Based on the recent weather patterns, I knew I needed more weight to have any hope of a respectable finish. It was windy, we had some intermittent cloud cover in the area, and a voice in my head kept saying, 'Go throw a blade, you dummy. This is a spinnerbait lake, and you're going to get spanked by one if you don't throw it.'
"I didn't listen, and wouldn't you know that my buddy weighed in just shy of 25 pounds on a spinnerbait. To make matters worse, he caught 'em just a few hundred yards from my primary area.
"Trusting your gut also involves developing an instinct in regards to a fishery's output on a given date. Are the winning weights usually in the low teens in January? Are 20-pound bags common in March? Using this knowledge to your advantage can help you decide when to take calculated risks and gambles and avoid bombing a tournament that could've been won with a simple limit of 2-pounders. And again, this can only come from spending a lot of hours on the water."
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