tHeorY vs. obserVatIon
BEliEvE what you sEE
after 40 years or so of chasing bass, one thing has become ever clearer to me and that is i need to be more observant, not less. late this summer i had the privilege of fishing for three days with Bassmaster elite pro dean rojas on lake Mead, and only after taking dozens of photos from the back seat did i recognize why i couldn’t get that classic shot of bass fisherman poised and intently watching his line as his bait came through the water.
The fact is dean was hardly ever locked into a cast. rather, once he started his retrieve his head was on a swivel looking for any nuance or clue to bass or bait presence. in fact, on several occasions, he asked me if i saw something he had noted that was more directly in my field of vision. We can argue merits of sight fishing as a 12-month endeavor, but the fact is, it’s very hard to dismiss what you actually see. Noting location, positioning or some related issue such as cover type or shadow length, it doesn’t matter if the fish are supposed to be deep, too sluggish to bite, or that they’re all on the other side of the lake. You’re a witness that’s not entirely true.
What’s interesting to me is how science appears to overturn some theories. and if that’s the case, how much should we change our approach? electro-shock surveys are typically done at night, yet outside of the spring months, it has always amazed me how shallow the fish might be even in the dead of winter. Past winter surveys at lake Castaic, a typical deepwater reservoir that usually features a deep spoon bite, the dFG at times, has turned good numbers of fish from less than 12 to 15 feet (where the voltage had an impact.) While night fishing is the smaller percentage of all bass fishing hours, the reality does not always line up with the theoretical—they apparently can be just as shallow or just as deep as conditions warrant.
That merely tells me, as it does in all those situations where what we have come to expect does not match up with what we have actually encountered, don’t let it interfere with your primary mission—to catch the fish. and continue to utilize both theory and observation to your advantage on every trip.
Tahnedgoobaslerrevmataiionnsctaoncabtocthhtphleayfisahr.oTleh.eory
The best info usually
comes from what we actually catch, after we have put ourselves in a
likely spot.
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