I had the opportunity to go fishing again Friday night. Around here, night fishing can be one of the most productive times due to the fact that there can be so much day time pressure put on the fish. Besides the fact that I really enjoy the solitude and serenity that fishing after dark provides.
Anyway, on to the day. I got to the lake about 5:30 in the afternoon with the intent of fishing a lot of lily pads to see if the bass were buried in there yet. At this point I saw something that I had to just sit there and watch for a few minutes. There was a ball of fry about ten feet off shore with a male under it protecting the fry from two other bass who had decided to make appetizers of the newly hatched bass. All I could do was sit there and watch this male going bonkers trying to protect his brood from the other two marauders.
I am relating this story because there are times when you really have to work to figure out what the bass are doing and what they are feeding on and then there are times like that night that the fish will make it perfectly clear if you just pay attention. We talk quite a bit about learning to read a body of water and being aware of what is going on in the water as you’re fishing and this was a perfect example.
The bass were behaving in a manner that was screaming at me to change lures to a small, very shallow running crankbait to take advantage of the fact that their attention was focused primarily on fish that were no more than two inches in length. They didn’t have to twist my arm twice. I did indeed change to a bait that was appropriate in size and color. The rest, as they say is history.
At this point I’ve gotta be honest with ya’ll. I really enjoy taking pictures of the fish that I catch and putting them up in these articles to show you how things worked out. I know that this may sound like the old,” the dog ate my homework excuse”, but the truth is that I plain forgot to bring my camera and the battery on my phone died shortly after I started fishing. So I wasn’t able to get any pictures of any of the fish. Because of this, I’m gonna wait to do some in-depth reviews on the specific lures that I was using that night for that pattern.
I continued to fish after the sun went down and changed to one of my favorite night time baits, a swimbait. To me there just isn’t much that compares to using this lure after sunset. You throw it out there, count it down and begin your retrieve. It just seems to really get you focused when you’re doing this in the dark. And I gotta tell you, when the strike comes, it’s one of the best feelings in fishing that I know.
The main thing that us anglers have to keep in mind is that there are going to be times when there seems to be little going on to the naked eye to help us in choosing our plan of attack. However, there are lots of times when, if we just tune into what is going on, the fish will tell us exactly what they will hit.
I know that I still get the shakes when I get ready to make the first cast of the day in anticipation of that first strike. But I have learned over the years to temper that with really focusing on everything that is going on around me so that when there are clues, I’m able to pick them up and use them to my advantage. This is arguably one of the foremost tools in an anglers arsenal. Never discount what you see and always be ready to take advantage of what the fish are telling you.
See ya’ on the water …