There have been so many times when I was out on the water, and the fishing was horrible. I am talking about not getting anything that even resembled a bite. Then all of a sudden, I noticed something that ended up being the key to catching fish.
Sometimes what you think should work, based on every fishing article you have ever read, does not seem to be what the Bass are interested in. In times like this, noticing one important detail can make all the difference.
Slight Temperature Variations
Early one spring, I was out on a lake I grew up on. The water temperature was still in the upper 30s. After hitting all of the textbook areas where the fish were supposed to be, given the conditions, I still hadn’t had a bite. It was then that I decided to take one section of the lake and dissect it with precision.
Paying close attention to my electronics, I zigzagged back and for just looking for something to point me in the right direction. After going back and forth a few times, I realized there was one little area, about 10 yards square, where the water was 3/10th of a degree warmer than the rest of the area. So I spun my boat around and got in position.
With my boat sitting about 15 feet away from the warmer water, I grabbed a jig rod and went to work. Within just a couple of casts, I had my first Bass. After a few more casts, I had another and then another. Every fish I caught that day came from that one little area.
Finding a slightly cooler area can be the ticket in the summer months.
Water Clarity or lack thereof
On a windy summer afternoon, I was pounding the waters of a small Northern lake. The fishing was decent, and I caught Bass pitching jigs and Senkos around boat docks. After hitting all of the docks on a particular stretch, I kicked the trolling motor on high and headed to the next little area.
After passing an area that looked like dead water, I saw a big swirl. I reached down and grabbed a rod with a lipless crankbait on it. With all I had, I rifled that lure through the strong winds that were blowing in my face. As I was cranking the bait back to the boat, I noticed one area of water that was way dirtier than the rest of the lake. This area was approximately 10 feet wide and 30 feet long.
As my lipless crankbait entered the outside edge of the mud line, a Bass crushed it. After releasing that fish, I fired back towards that muddy water. Again, another Bass drilled it when that lure entered the dirty water.
I ended up pulling six or eight Bass out of that little area by the time the flurry was over. After everything had calmed down, I decided to investigate. After going back and forth through the area and watching my electronics, the only thing I could find was that water was 2 degrees warmer than the water on either side of the mud line. There was no structure or cover to speak of in the area. It was just a flat, muddy bottom.
To this day, I am still not sure why those Bass were stacking in that muddy water. They may have used the reduced visibility as an ambush point. The water temperature really should not have been a factor at that time of the year since the water was in the upper 70s to low 80s. Whatever had them in that warmer muddy water, I am glad I noticed it.
A glimmer of hope
While I was fishing a tournament near Chicago, Illinois, everybody was struggling to catch fish from the over-pressured waters of the lake we were battling. It seemed like no matter what anybody threw, the Bass were not interested in eating it.
After a couple of unsuccessful hours of fishing the ledges the Bass had been holding during practice, my mind started to wonder what was going on under the water. During this brainstorming and mild confusion, I noticed something that was an absolute game-changer.
While looking around at the other boats near me, the birds flying overhead, and the tall shoreline grass gently swaying in the breeze, I noticed a silver reflection near the shore. Over and over, I saw these tiny flashes of light. I was thinking to myself, “what in the heck is that” I moved closer to it. Once I was close enough that my eyes could understand what they were seeing, I realized it was tons of baitfish. Again I moved a little closer to the shoreline until these baitfish were within casting distance.
Once in range, I whipped a crankbait towards the little flickering lights and caught a keeper. A couple of casts later, I caught another keeper. Over and over again, I caught one keeper after another from the area around where are the shad were stacked up. When it would slow down with one bait, I would throw something else in there, and then it would get eaten.
When the day was over, I had another tournament win under my belt and two very sore thumbs from all of the fish I had caught. I am not sure how many fish I had that day, but I had 15 or 20 keepers. The most exciting part was that no other competitor caught a single limit in the tournament.
Whether it is water temperature, baitfish, watercolor, wind ripple, or current, paying attention to what is going in the water and around you will make you a better fisherman.
