Skunked Again? Read This!
A fisherman is a jerk on one end of the line, waiting for a jerk on the other end. Funny stuff, but if you are waiting, then you are doing something wrong. Catching a fish is a lot more than putting your baited hook in the water and hoping for a strike. Reading water, proper presentation and lure selection are vital to successful fishing. 90% of the fish are caught by 10% of the fishermen. Getting skunked is a bad thing and if you take the time to fish properly, you will be in the 10% who catch fish regularly.
Reading water merely involves knowing fish habits and understanding where the fish will be located. The first thing a fish needs is security from predators, the second thing they need is a good food source that takes a minimal effort to catch. If you can find a spot in the water where both security and food can be easily found, you have hit the honey hole and will undoubtedly score.
Security can be found in underwater structure. That's the whole secret. Whether the structure is an underwater obstruction, a low spot in the surrounding bottom or a floating pile of weed, if a fish feels secure in it, then it will be inhabited.
Presentation means fooling the fish into hitting your lure or bait. The essential part is putting the bait(lure) near the fish and making it appear natural, as if it belonged there. Too fast a retrieval of the lure will keep your lure high above and out of a strike zone, slow the lure retrieval down to increase your hit ratio. If you don't hang up on the structure occasionally while you are fishing, you are too high in the water column and will miss a lot of the fish in the area. A proper presentation means you can sometimes feel the lure bumping the bottom or tapping pieces of the structure where you are fishing. Adjust your retrieval speed until you think you are near the bottom, the weedline, or the underwater obstruction where the fish hang out.
Lure selection means choosing something to present which you think will entice the fish to hit. Whether it is a bait on a hook or an artificial lure, it should try to mimic something that occurs naturally. There are a myriad of choices to make, but usually you will end up with a handful of favorites which have worked in the past and most likely will work again and again. My favorite lure? It's a toss-up between a smoke colored grub on a lead head jig or a black roostertail spinner. Both of these lures can be made to act like almost anything from a minnow to an insect. I like the grub for deeper fishing than the roostertail spinner. Try your own selections, don't be afraid to experiment.
Good luck out there, and remember to keep your lines tight!
A fisherman is a jerk on one end of the line, waiting for a jerk on the other end. Funny stuff, but if you are waiting, then you are doing something wrong. Catching a fish is a lot more than putting your baited hook in the water and hoping for a strike. Reading water, proper presentation and lure selection are vital to successful fishing. 90% of the fish are caught by 10% of the fishermen. Getting skunked is a bad thing and if you take the time to fish properly, you will be in the 10% who catch fish regularly.
Reading water merely involves knowing fish habits and understanding where the fish will be located. The first thing a fish needs is security from predators, the second thing they need is a good food source that takes a minimal effort to catch. If you can find a spot in the water where both security and food can be easily found, you have hit the honey hole and will undoubtedly score.
Security can be found in underwater structure. That's the whole secret. Whether the structure is an underwater obstruction, a low spot in the surrounding bottom or a floating pile of weed, if a fish feels secure in it, then it will be inhabited.
Presentation means fooling the fish into hitting your lure or bait. The essential part is putting the bait(lure) near the fish and making it appear natural, as if it belonged there. Too fast a retrieval of the lure will keep your lure high above and out of a strike zone, slow the lure retrieval down to increase your hit ratio. If you don't hang up on the structure occasionally while you are fishing, you are too high in the water column and will miss a lot of the fish in the area. A proper presentation means you can sometimes feel the lure bumping the bottom or tapping pieces of the structure where you are fishing. Adjust your retrieval speed until you think you are near the bottom, the weedline, or the underwater obstruction where the fish hang out.
Lure selection means choosing something to present which you think will entice the fish to hit. Whether it is a bait on a hook or an artificial lure, it should try to mimic something that occurs naturally. There are a myriad of choices to make, but usually you will end up with a handful of favorites which have worked in the past and most likely will work again and again. My favorite lure? It's a toss-up between a smoke colored grub on a lead head jig or a black roostertail spinner. Both of these lures can be made to act like almost anything from a minnow to an insect. I like the grub for deeper fishing than the roostertail spinner. Try your own selections, don't be afraid to experiment.
Good luck out there, and remember to keep your lines tight!
posted by TTB at 2:09 PM
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