Reading the water & conditions

[cjac]

I had the opportunity to jump in the boat with a couple very seasoned anglers this past weekend for a morning, so my intent was to be a sponge and soak up as much knowledge as I could.

3 main takeaways:

1) Fun.....first and foremost. Simple as that. Lots of laughs and story telling, and if it's not fun, why do it?

2) Read the water and conditions. Thier heads were constantly moving, reading the water, looking for any forage movement, weeds moving, bubbles, ripples, boils, etc. Watch for the slightest line movement, feel the lure pop or stop, what the lure is doing, water behind the lure, etc.

3) In regards to the "Water Ethics" post and other posts going.... We did a 50 yard J-hook pattern around a boat pan fishing. Set a good example and lead by example.

Sounds simple enough, but have fun, focus, and be nice.

[urban cowboy]

Good post cjac...

Those good anglers are always in tune with the souroundings. Did they ever mention when there was wild life activity, birds, loons.... I had a guide once that was really into that, like it ment the fish were turning on.

[bronzeback]

If you don't mind me piggy backing on this topic cjac, I have a few questions I'd like to ask.

I know a lot of people like the big blades after dark, probably no matter what the conditions are, but I'm curious if anyone has any reccomendation for a night bait for cloudy/stained water, with cloudy skies at night.

I've had minimal success on cloudy nights and this could just be that the fish were on earlier in the day and shut off at night, but I was wondering if anyone had any experience that could point me in a good direction.

and I figured I would stick this in here because it relates to reading the water/condtions and optimizing your bait selection.

[Scoot]

Excellent post cjac. Seems like the top anglers not only read the conditions around them well, but also know how to respond given the conditions. Observing something doesn't help much if you don't know what to do to take advantage of it...

[50inchpig]

BB - Change shallow vs. deep and slow vs. fast before you change baits, just my opinion. Can't argue with big blades after dark, there is no equal, dark water or not, they'll find them.

Surface baits take 2nd place but follow the same pattern - change your presentation first.

[bronzeback]

Thanks 50, it seems like there is definitely a correlation between me catching/seeing fish and there being clouds or no clouds at night, I just can't seem to put together a cloudy night pattern yet.

[JRedig]

Cloudy water, my pick is a chatterbait.

[bronzeback]

really?

I have an ugly chatterbait in my box that's seen the water for maybe a total of 20 minutes. Never really liked chatterbaits for any species though I guess, not confident with them at all.

[MUSKY18]

You hit the nail on the head Cjac. It is simply amazing at how much I learned from the guides I fished with on LOTW the past two years. One well known guy in particular knew more about the history of the spots than the lake (or so it seemed), like a real live history lesson while fishing. Great experience and from a man that is nothing short of a class act.