An angler can never stop learning, especially in this era when fisheries are ever-changing.
That’s something I’ve really noticed the past few years, and it came to light again last week during the Elite Series tourney on the St. Lawrence River.
The Thousand Islands area is a tremendous smallmouth fishery and a really cool place. And while I know quite a bit about smallmouth bass fishing, I learned that things never remain the same.
With a summer tournament, one could expect the bass to be deep – and they were. But there were just as many fish shallow; I caught fish as deep as 30 feet and as shallow as 2 feet.
I also discovered that you can’t rely upon one pattern and only a couple of lures. To be successful last week, an angler had to mix up his presentations. One fish might attack a wacky rig aggressively, while another would ignore it but might bite a swimbait or a spinnerbait. You really had to mix up your lures and presentations in both deep and shallow water to find one that each individual fish might bite.
It reminds me of sight fishing for spring bass; no two fish act the same so you have to show them everything and keep an open mind.
We saw a similar thing on Kentucky Lake earlier this year. Years ago, you could tie on a crankbait and fish the ledges and catch a good limit. Today, you have to show them a mixed bag of jigs, spoons, hair jigs and swimbaits to get one to bite.
In this era, you have to be open to try different presentations, techniques and even lure colors more so than we did 10 years ago.
My hunch is that it’s due to the increase in fishing pressure. Modern-day anglers are more knowledgeable and are utilizing their electronics to find offshore fish. Those pressured bass get finicky, so you have to keep experimenting to get them to bite.
Red fish act similarly to the St. Lawrence smallmouth in that they use the tide-driven current to get positioned on structure. And just like the St. Lawrence smallmouth, the reds could be on deep structure or shallow sand flats.
With the help of our redfish guide, we discovered that the fish set up differently on each spot. Also, we had to offer a different bait presentation on each spot to get them to bite.
It was a blast. Our group, which included brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews and my parents, caught around 15 reds that day while fishing with guides. My boys got into the action as well, battling brutish reds and landing them.
I also visited a Bass Pro Shops that specialized in saltwater gear while I was there. It was cool to walk through the saltwater lure department and see how that tackle is evolving similar to the bass market. In fact, I found some saltwater baits that I’m certain are going to work well in our freshwater big bass lakes.
The point to all of this is how important it is to stay open-minded in your fishing. You can no longer pull up on a popular bass spot and fish it the same way every time or rely on favorite lures alone.
Believe me; it’s easy to get set in your ways. But, if you want to become more successful, you have to embrace a more open-minded approach each time you go on the water.
Head over to Bass Pro Shop to get the top-quality fishing tools I rely on
And remember – It’s all about the attitude!