Different Water, Different Patterns

As I looked back on this week, I realized that I had been fortunate enough to fish on three different bodies of water. Two lakes and one pond. Each body of water I fished seemed to have its own personality. What worked on the first didn't work on the second, and what worked on the second didn't work on the third. I guess the most satisfying part of this week wasn't that I got to fish a lot, but that I managed to catch fish everywhere I went.

The secret to my success this week wasn't some great stash of knowledge. If I had to credit anything in helping me it would have to have been patience. The bite was slow and it took time on the water to figure out what was going on at each place. The first place I fished was the toughest. It took me two hours to put the first bass in the boat. That was also the first bite I had. After that the bites came a little quicker. I simply looked for other spots that were similar to where I caught my first fish. This pattern didn't yield a fish every time I stopped, the bites per hour however went way up.



The second body of water was tricky as well. I fished down a bank throwing a jig around every fallen tree I came to. It wasn't long and I had a three pounder in the boat. I thought yes...figured this one out early. Boy, was I wrong. Seven or eight trees later without another bite made me start to re-think my strategy. It was then by accident that I figured out what I was doing wrong. I came up on a tree that was on a little secondary point. This tree was running straight out on a point laying in a grassbed. I threw my jig out off the end of that point and immediately caught a small bass. I happen to drift right over the spot where I had just caught the bass and realized that the tree didn't even run out into the water. The trees weren't holding the bass, the grass on the point was. While I only caught one more bass running these secondary points, I let one big bass get off and missed quite a few more.


The third place I fished was the pond. The trees in this pond seemed to be the only place to get a bite. I lost a lot of jigs and plastic worms fishing all the timber but I also caught lots of fish. Every place we fish is like a puzzle. It's up to us to put all the pieces in place.

You guys have a great day, I'll see ya out on the water.