Fishing From Memories
By Don Applegarth
"Fishing from Memories"…that is what my friend
Alan Rusk says whenever we are fishing the same holes where we
have caught some big bass at one point or another in the past.
I think we all tend to do that, or at least I know that I
do. I find that I usually do much better on a strange lake where
I really haven't got a lot of so called "Honey Holes".
I am forced to use my brain, and my knowledge of the fish's behavioral
patterns to locate and then hopefully catch some nice bass.
I have also tried to make myself do more of this on my own
" Home " lake as well.
That does not mean that I don't fish my favorite places any
more…instead, it means that I pay more attention to little
details like "what was the weather like? Or "what time
of year was it?" That sometimes makes a HUGE difference.
I have so many holes here on the lake, that I know I can
always catch at least a few bass no matter what the conditions.
I have holes that will produce in mid winter, and some that are
great in summer months as well. Fall, and spring, are fairly
easy, and you just follow the baitfish up into the backs of the
creeks.
I have found over the years, that some of these holes will
produce at least a few bass year round, while others may only
produce during a very small window of time during a certain season.
We as anglers tend to be lazy, and want to do more fishing
in areas we know, rather than put forth the extra effort to look
for new patterns and areas on the lakes we regularly fish.
For years, I have fished on West Point Lake, and always spent
the entire trip on the southern end near the dam. Why? Because
I always caught fish there, and many times, they were big fish.
On the past two trips there, I have fished with my partner
Dave, and he wanted to fish up in the rivers and some of the
main lake pockets. He had never seen the lake before, and thought
those areas looked good.
I found so many new places to fish, simply because we tried
new waters, and caught some good bass in these areas too. I would
not have done that normally, because my confidence level is so
high on the other end of the lake. Whenever I am fishing new
areas, I really don't have that same level of confidence, but
over the past few years, I have learned to change that. Now I
have confidence in patterns, and lures, rather than certain areas
that produced for me before.
Being able to fish any area that you are forced to fish with
confidence, will definitely make you a more successful angler.
During our last tournament, we had boat problems, and were
forced to fish the area near the host marina all day. It would
have been easy to get frustrated, but instead we knew that the
areas there would hold some bass, We had never fished them before,
but knew that since the water temps were in the 58 - 63 range,
there would be fish in these pockets.
We spent the entire day fishing, and never cranked the boat.
We ended up in 14th place out of 78 teams.
Plan each trip carefully, using a topographic map as your
guide. I know many people now use GPS units for navigation, and
don't carry maps, but trust me, you can find things on them that
you would never find without, such as roadbeds, humps, creek
channels, etc.
By forcing yourself to do more thinking, and fish where they
fish should be, rather than just going to those same holes each
trip, will help you to land more, and bigger bass. It has sure
helped me!
Good fishin'…
Don
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