what led the angler to the spot, the lure choice and the presentation. if the response is, “So-and-so won it here two years ago on a square-bill” you have to make your own assessments about the area—that for some reason it has sufficient cover and forage at a depth of less than four feet (typical square-bill) to produce. But to be really helpful, wouldn’t it be great if you could identify a half a dozen other areas that match the criteria?
The reason we can’t use all theory or all observation, is they can produce conflicts. a few years back, former U.S. open winner John Kerr told me about an early season tournament at el Capitan lake in San diego County. With the lake rising, he knew the theoretical approach would have him run all the way to the end of the lake where the river entered. However, as he reached an area of flooded trees, he encountered a water change. Not only was it muddy, it was colder than the main lake.
assessing these conditions,
he and his partner pulled up
short and stayed in the
“better” water. But as Kerr
related, “all the teams that
finished ahead of us
went all the way to
the back.”
Since i already mentioned it, let me talk surface temperature. i am guilty of this, so i don’t mind bringing it up. We know that as water temperatures drop, bass metabolism slows down. Yet most who monitor water temperature operate on the idea that there is a discernible change in behavior for each reading—and some even get caught up in measurements of a tenth of a degree. The idea of “cold-blooded” creatures being less active when it’s cold and more active when it’s warm is a tough one to let go of. The reason: we really would like a for a reliable measurement that certifies our angling choices match the fish.
does temperature matter? of course it does. in fact, tenths of a degree difference can be clues to conditions in an area, especially early in the year coming out of winter. But for most Western reservoirs and waterways, the water temperature rarely gets so cold it is debilitating to the fish, so sometime and occasionally, several times a day, even cold water bass are still reactive.
The bigger issues then are location (if known) or when searching, what lure types and presentation speeds are more likely to draw strikes for the water conditions. That’s when the fisherman makes the fact-finding personal and real.
Issue 5 December 2011
Dean rojas showed me one of the secrets to catching more is always looking for clues to the next bite.
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