Anyone else do this?
 

I enjoy catching fish just as much as the next guy. But, the thing I enjoy most about fishing is figuring out HOW to catch fish.

I was just thinking and I hardly ever enjoy the fruits of my labor. If I find a good spot then usually I'll catch a few and then pick the trolling motor up and try to find another spot like it. When I could just sit on that spot and milk it for a while.

Another example would be when I go to a lake and it's tough to get a bite. I'll spend all day trying to figure it out and by then end of the day I've usually found a solid pattern. The next day I will head off to a different lake and start over instead of going back to the lake from the day before and already know the pattern.

I never even realized I did this until it crossed my mind. It's like I'm always practicing for a tournament. Does anyone else do this?

Years ago, when on vacation I would fish a different lake/river a day...JPP, Normandy, Duck River, Tims Ford and Center Hill and then return to the lake/river that was most productive for me. It would often come down to Normandy or JPP. The Duck River in Columbia always produced small and abundant fish for me but was/is a hazard in low light, as I would usually arrive and depart during those times.

No. You can consider yourself rather unique in this respect. Just kidding of course, if I could ever figure out a "pattern" on Old Hickory I guess I would declare victory. What I have found this year is the fish have been scattered causing a run and gun approach with limited opportunity to sit on one spot or area to catch a good limit. It has been tough.

OH is an exception to me. Except for the spawn and early post-spawn, it's hard for me to consistently find a pattern that holds up for more than a day. I used to fish some nightly tournaments on OH and it would amaze me how many times that I would find an area holding fish the day before and never get a bite there in the tournament. I feel your pain on that one. The only other time that I feel very confident on running a pattern on OH is when I can catch them in the grass.

I do not find it fun driving around the whole lake looking for fish. If I am on the water I want to catch fish. If I am on fish I am not leaving until I know they have shut off.

To some degree, we have all done that at some point or another.
Over years of fishing the same species i know with tactics i excell at you develope a knowledge base of similar bodies of water. Its impossible to compare apples to apples any of the lakes around middle TN in my opinion.
My golden rule is : Never Leave Fish to Find Fish. They WILL bite something at some point, you just need to figure out what.
Many years ago, In-Fisherman was taping a show up on the Detroit River during the massive walleye spawn....millions of walleyes flood that river to spawn. Well there was pouring rain just before the tourney and the river turned to chocolate milk. The guys that won the tournament got all thier fish jigging 6"-8" chartruse plastic lizards you would use for bass. It was a big, bulky, brite bait the fish could hone in on easier. Same concept of vertical jigging, just a different bait.
The section of river i jig for sauger is TINY in comparison to the main area but i will drift that 50 yard section from sun up to sun down and keep putting fish in the boat all day long....shift over 10' or so and do another drift, change colors and do another drift. Ive seen 4 other boats in 5 years in that stretch they all do one pass, get nothing and move on.
I know they are there....they always are.....i just need to adjust baits, jig cadence, ect.
Never leave fish to find fish. Lol

I do the opposite, when I do well at a spot on a lake or even a particular lure I tend to stick to it too much when I should be learning more areas of the lake and using different baits

I have a version of that. On a single trip, I always try to catch every fish I can, and I nearly never leave biting fish.

I do like to master seasonal patterns on a number of rivers and lakes, and once I’ve proven I’ve got it, it gets pushed to the back burner, and I’m off to try a new spot. Case in point, I started fishing a new lake day before yesterday. I’d been there with friends a couple of times, but now I’m trying to unlock it myself.

I do the same, but I fish 2 tournaments sometimes on the weekends so any time on the the water is practice time for me.

What tournaments do you fish?? I’m wanting to get into a few of them in 2018! I’m looking at the USA bassin series on old hickory. And I know there’s a good tournament on sundays out of Saunders ferry.


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