Somebody once said that fishing was a solitary sport;
A sport where you can get away from the hussle and bussle of everyday living,
commune with nature and collect your thoughts. Boy, that really
sounds great doesn't it? More often than not, unless you are
going on a huge lake, or a fly-in somewhere, you will not be alone.
Everyone has experienced a large number of fishermen on the water or fishing
arm-in-arm along the shore line. Often finding a spot to fish
is a challenge, much less a good spot. There is a constant barrage
of fisherman firing lures at the same structure time and time again through-out
the day. One group right after another, one group leaves another
takes its place. Think about it, how often isn't there one or
more boats fishing the better spots on your lake? How often does
that spot not have a fishermen on it? When isn't there fisherman?
Have you every looked at what the other fisherman are fishing, i.e. the
bait or lures they are using? I would venture a guess that virtually
every boat is almost identical to the next. They are throwing
the same types of lures, same colors, and probably about the same sizes.
So where is all of this leading?
There are two problems that I just mentioned, too many fisherman and the
conditioning of fish that result from it. I don't believe that
fish are intelligent, but I know that fish can be conditioned. It
has been proven with colored sections in a fish tank. When a
colored panel was put into the tank, they were fed. It didn't
take to long before the fish congregated at the panel when no food was present. They
became conditioned. So it is with the continous exposure to fisherman
and their lures. think of it from a fish's perspective. Fishermen
motor into an area where you are living creating commotion. They
cut up the weedbeds, pull up sticks, tree limbs, etc. They throw
lures which you have seen countless times before. You may have
even tried to eat some in the past, only to be man handled and taken out
of the water. Is it to difficult to believe that large fish,
that have been around for awhile, could get conditioned to what I describe
in a negative way? Making the assumption that they do get conditioned,
what would you do if you were a fish? Again, common sense goes
a long way to figuring out what takes place. First of all, the
fish avoid the areas that are being bombarded with fisherman and/or boat
traffic. They will either be in very, very thick cover where a lot
of fisherman won't go, or they will go deep where again the disturbance
is minimized and where most fisherman don't fish. They are then
conditioned to eat when fisherman aren't around, and to eat things that
fisherman aren't throwing.
So what do you do to overcome this situation? Fish when most fisherman don't, fish where they don't, and fish with something the fish hasn't seen or haven't seen often. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that most boat activity happens on week-ends, and typically when the no-wake zone is not in effect. Also, based on my observations, a large percentage of the fisherman, aren't dedicated to fishing. That means that they will fish occasionally, when it is convenient and pleasant to do so, but aren't willing to put up with a little adversity to catch fish. Fishing when it is overcast, rainy, windy, at night, or during the week (non-weekend non-holiday), will eliminate a large portion of the fisherman. Yes, there is a growing population of educated, dedicated anglers, and there numbers are increasing. I use to fish in the fall where I was literally the only boat on the lake, not any more.
Others ways of contending with other fisherman and conditioned fish is to look for deeper, overlooked structure where fish haven't been exposed to a large number of fisherman. Furthermore, try lures which a lot of other fisherman aren't fishing, or use larger or smaller sizes. Fish either shallower in the water column or deeper than your competition. Don't kid yourself, it is a competition. You are pitting your knowledge and talents against other fisherman to catch the few larger fish consistently. You want something that is different to what they are seeing. Example, top water may not be fished as much as spinnerbaits, or use a jig combination where a lot of fisherman aren't using them. Experiment with rubber, pork, and other attractants on your lures. Do something different, so your lure isn't just another one the fish has seen a million times.
Click the mailbox to e-mail. Last updated on ... June 3, 2003