Where do you spend your time Fishing?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jordan Doucet on December 29, 2014 at 4:50pm

I see two trains of thought on this. For tournament situations, going into a tournament it is mostly an advantage to both know the water and how different areas lay out as well as how the bass will react based upon conditions. For example, say you are catching them on a spinnerbait on the edge of a spawning flat where it drops from 4' to 10'. If you know 4 more areas like that you are able to run that pattern. 

On the other hand, when you start taking some of the experiences that you have encountered from lakes you know well and apply them to new lakes or those that you don't fish often, you might have similar success based on the conditions and time of year. Each lake seems to be a bit different for colors and sizes, but the chances are the same type of presentations will apply with some subtle difference. For example, if you have an overcast day with some wind chop in the spring and you know you smacked them on Lake Washington on a Chartreuse/White spinnerbait with a colorado/willow combo blades in brass/silver, you can probably throw a spinnerbait around at Lake Sammamish as well, but it might have to be white skirt double silver willow blades. 

Most importantly in bass fishing I find that it is important to try to be OK at everything and great at a few things. As long as you are comfortable and willing to adapt than you should be able to put together some kind of pattern on most days on most lakes. 

Permalink Reply by Jake Anderson on December 29, 2014 at 10:32pm

Practicing puzzles will make you better at it regardless of venue. That said, Jordan makes a good point. If you can figure out something, but don't have the spots to run what you've figured out...well, that is a bummer.

Permalink Reply by Jeff Fancher on December 30, 2014 at 9:56am

I like to spend most of my time on one small lake near my home and add in the closest tournament venue (Lake Wa). I find that what Jordan says about most techniques working the same (with some tweaks) is right on. When I fish a large lake, I will treat a section of it as a small lake and try and master that area. That way the big water doesn't intimidate or make you miss areas you may overlook due to having so much to choose from. So for me lake Wa is like fishing 20 small lakes. I also like to take trips to other great bodies of water like Banks, Riffe etc.. But time and $$$ dictates and I end up staying on the small lake close to home most of the time. If you fish all winter and catch fish in the small lake, you will get them in the big lake. Not only will the technique work, but you are able to handle the wind, cold etc because you are used to it. 

Permalink Reply by Jerry on December 30, 2014 at 5:46pm

I like everyone's answers...good question. I don't fish tournaments so I can't chime in on that, but the responses made sense. I think knowing a few lakes very well can be very productive because you know areas that produce and that helps with confidence. There's a few lakes that I fish that I am certain I will catch fish in a given spot or area. A bass is a bass has merit too. I've fished Guntersville a couple of times and caught some nice fish as well as lakes in Arizona this past April. Having never fished those places, knowing bass behaviors, seasons, and baits I have confidence in helped.

Permalink Reply by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on January 4, 2015 at 9:12am

I pick the lake that I fish dictated upon what technique I want to use, or get better at. I would not go to Lake Washington to hone my skills flipping heavy brush. I wouldn't pick Duck Lake to fine tune my drop shotting techniques either.
So pick techniques that aren't a confidence find a body of water that caters to that technique, and learn.

Permalink Reply by Sparkles on January 7, 2015 at 7:59pm

Flipping 30' Washington smallmouth is key Ron! It's best to use a 9'7 flyrod though, it helps with line management.

Permalink Reply by Josh Potter on January 8, 2015 at 10:56am

More time fishing will make you a better fisherman. More time fishing Potholes will make you a better fisherman on Potholes. The only thing left to determine; where do you want to be a good fisherman?

It's that simple.

If your goal is to become a competitive tournament bass fisherman then fishing the lakes you are going to compete on is going to be the best way to compete.

Permalink Reply by Jake Anderson on January 10, 2015 at 9:47am

The results dont disagree with mr. Potter. Typically divisional tournaments are won or at least heavily contended by the home state.

When flw came to the river the leader board was something like:

1.Neil Russell (pnw)
2. Cody King (pnw)
3. Ron Mace (pnw)
4. Marc Lippincott (pnw)
5. Caporuscio (CA)
6. Ron Hobbs (pnw)

Ish Monroe 10th
Mike Folksted 28th
Chris Zaldain 34th
Brent Ehler 39th
Gary Dobyns 41rst
Brett Hite 53rd
Troy Lindner 54th
Charlie Weyer 83rd.

Dont get me wrong, some locals struggled as well, but the leader board was filled with guys who have extensive history on the river, and guys who now fish the highest levels but whose exposure to that fishery was limited... Were well down the board.

Permalink Reply by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on January 26, 2015 at 5:28am

If you were to look at the same results you will see that in the bottom 50% there are 11 Anglers who reside in OR I'D or WA, in the top 50% there are 14 anglers who reside in OR WA or ID, not a huge difference, I really don't know if you would count Idaho guys or Southern Oregon guys as having an advantage the guys that fished, you never see them fishing the river, but you do see other guys like Clint Johnson (Benton City) and Mitch Ratchford (Kennewick) who both finished in the bottom half and both fish about every event that takes place on the Columbia. As far as knowing the river extensively, I would not include myself or Neil Russell in that comment, Lippincott Mace and King live a hell of alot closer to Umatilla than I and Honestly only fished my 4th tournament there last year, and FLW hasn't been there since 2009.
I think alot of times it is better to not know a lake so well so that you can have an open mind when things go haywire, which happens alot during a tournament.
Fishing tournament lakes only gets you so far it's kind of like playing basketball and only practicing shooting all day every day and never working on dribbling, cardiovascular, or defense, you might be good through the 5th grade but after that the rest of the field is gonna pass you.


Jake "The Snake" Anderson said:

The results dont disagree with mr. Potter. Typically divisional tournaments are won or at least heavily contended by the home state.

When flw came to the river the leader board was something like:

1.Neil Russell (pnw)
2. Cody King (pnw)
3. Ron Mace (pnw)
4. Marc Lippincott (pnw)
5. Caporuscio (CA)
6. Ron Hobbs (pnw)

Ish Monroe 10th
Mike Folksted 28th
Chris Zaldain 34th
Brent Ehler 39th
Gary Dobyns 41rst
Brett Hite 53rd
Troy Lindner 54th
Charlie Weyer 83rd.

Dont get me wrong, some locals struggled as well, but the leader board was filled with guys who have extensive history on the river, and guys who now fish the highest levels but whose exposure to that fishery was limited... Were well down the board.

Permalink Reply by Jeff Grimes on January 26, 2015 at 9:59pm

Good question....All I can add is that when I moved here from Texas ( also fishing most of my life in Kansas and Missouri) I had no idea what to do or where to go.  I joined a Bass club after I got bought a boat and literally just went fishing.  The first tournament I fished up here was on the River at Boardman Or.  I had never seen it and did not have time to pre fish for it .  ( after all, I was hoping to just learn from the guys around me as I went by camp talk and post award speeches)  I remember showing up the night before and setting up my tent and basically sitting alone since nobody knew me and I was too shy and quiet to approach others....partially because I didn't want to seem like I was begging for information.  

First day ever on the River, I was in the top 7 I think....competing against 30-40 people that all had previous experience on the water probably.  

All I did was go bass fishing.  Bass fishing is the same in Texas and Kansas and Missouri as it is here.  The equipment might vary, but the thought processes are the same.  I try to fish to my strengths or comfort zones wherever I am.  I also try to learn something every time I hit the water.  Some guys only fish one body of water, and are successful....because of the knowledge they retain from repetition.  Those guys can use that information on other bodies of water and probably have some success, but a lot of those guys are not comfortable branching out.  I am not just talking about tournaments either.  Tournaments are not for everyone.  Bass behave pretty much the same no matter where they are, but the conditions and habitat and forage may be different.  

Look at some of the shows on TV, such as MLF.  Those guys get thrown onto bodies of water that they are mostly unfamiliar with and a good percentage of them catch fish because they go bass fishing.....looking for a pattern.  If you can develop pattern fishing skills, you can catch bass anywhere.  The guys who are " spot " fishermen, may have harder times.

As for me, I love to fish tough lakes, such as Potholes.....because I try to put the boat on the trailer with more knowledge every time and I try to learn something knew each trip.  I do not enjoy going to a lake and fishing the same lures on the same dock.....or same rock pile....or same bank every time I go there.  It is still fishing, but I try to branch out and do my own thing as much as I can.  New lakes or new water are always fun for me especially when I am fun fishing

Permalink Reply by Josh Potter on January 29, 2015 at 10:45am

Ron's advice is unintentionally tainted. Some people are simply born with a gift to do certain things. I'm not saying Ron or any other top angler hasn't worked hard along the way but there is no doubt that certain aspects of this game have come easier to them than others. Ron will probably argue to the death with me about that and it's an unwinnable argument either way because there is no pure evidence to back either side.

However, think about this....it is very rare that a "hall of fame" caliber player in any sport becomes a "hall of fame" coach. If you can name me 5 from any sport I will stand corrected. Go through the list of the best players in any sport and then tell me what their success rate has been in the coaching game. Most who try wash out quickly. Hell, Michael Jordan can't even draft a decent squad let alone coach one.

The reason is pretty simple. There was so much of the game that came naturally to them they didn't have to work on it. If you don't have to work on it you don't have to think about it, if you don't have to think about it you don't know how to teach it.

I'm not saying to ignore advice from the best but sometimes you have to take that advice with a "grain of salt" and realize some things can't be taught or learned and you might have to get creative in order to compete.

Permalink Reply by Phil Mehrtens on January 29, 2015 at 5:51pm

You are still a moron

Sparkles said:

Flipping 30' Washington smallmouth is key Ron! It's best to use a 9'7 flyrod though, it helps with line management.

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