A thought

[ikeslayer]

here is an article from bassmasters just wondering how many of you can relate.

WEEKEND VS. WEEKDAY

It's Wednesday morning at a well-known bass lake as you launch at a practically deserted boat ramp. You glide over slick water to a nearby cove and approach a fallen tree, the most obvious piece of cover along the entire bank. Your first cast of the morning goes astray; your spinnerbait sails 6 feet wide of the tree's trunk. You briskly wind in with the intention of making a better cast, but a respectable bass pounces on the lure.

You chuckle, release the suicidal fish and lay the next cast right along the trunk. Pow! Bass No. 2 nails your spinnerbait. Throughout the morning, your spinnerbait dances past windfalls, brushpiles, boat docks and other visible targets and coaxes strikes with satisfying regularity. You later head home, reassured that you are one heck of a fisherman, and that your favorite lake supports a bounty of bass.

The following Saturday, you impatiently wait in a long line at the same boat ramp. You finally get on the water and bounce over boat wakes to the cove you fished the previous weekday, heart set on starting at the same fallen tree. When you get there, a pair of anglers in another boat is already working over your tree.

The rest of the day is equally frustrating. Many spots that produced during midweek refuse to give up bass to your trusty spinnerbait. At day's end, you find yourself arm-weary despite catching few fish. You leave, doubting your skills and wondering if this could possibly be the same lake you fished only days before.

Bass fishing ranks have swelled to the point that popular lakes exhibit dual personalities, one for weekdays and another for weekends. As a result, we must deal with schizoid bass that often strike with abandon Monday through Friday, yet grow tightlipped when fishing's working masses venture out on Saturday.

This phenomenon is something professional tournament anglers and fishing guides have coped with for years — some more successfully than others. Now that bass anglers, as a whole, grow increasingly capable, it's more important than ever that you adjust your fishing according to the day of the week

I had never given it much thought before but looking through my logs i do much better on weekdays then weekends. this could have something to do with it. What do the rest of you think? ike

[ocf1]

i know what you mean, when i go to a pier on weekends their are alot of people their and can only catch 1" sunnies, monday-friday i go to the same pier catch bass in 1 hour with some pigs.

[Ray Esboldt]

There is some truth in that on the metro lakes. The ways I combat it:

1) Get there early. It's plenty light at 5:00 AM in June and July.

2) Stay off the bank. It's true, every lake has shallow fish and they are some good fish. But, there's more opportunity off-shore.

[bronzeback01]

Thats kind of my philosophy. There are always shallow fish, go a little deeper. Not even really deep, just move off the bank to that first weed line or to some stumps that the avarage rum dum doesn't think of. Also sometimes fishing the extremely obvious pays off. I can't tell you how many times I've taken a ton of fish off of boat launches and docks. Just wait for the morning rush to end and have at er'. Tonight for example I hit one of the biggest landings around and took two fish off the landing itself and probably 5 or 6 more within 20 feet of it, and one of them was a pig!

[Redline]

At our place on the Whitefish Chain, the docks are loaded with Bass. Always a good spot to go in the summer.

[RK]

Hiya -

I spend a lot of my time writing about and thinking about muskie fishing. I've spent the last several years spending a *lot* of time thinking about this very subject. A couple years ago I wrote a two part piece for the In-Fisherman about fishing pressure that made me really put my thoughts in order about it. I realize muskies are a little different, but not as different as you might think. The way I think about and handle fishing pressure for muskie is exactly the same as what I do for bass on pressured water. It works for bass too. Grab a cup of coffee, because this is one of my favrote subjects, and this could be a long ramble...heh.

Whether it's bass or muskies, my first question when I get on the water is "what are the other guys up to?" I want to know so I can figure out what I'm going to do differently. "What the other guy is up to" has a scope that's both day to day, and over time. Over time, I think of it as being aware of what the 'conventional wisdom' is on fishing a particular lake - what the popular techniques are, and to a lesser extent, what the local favorite colors are. Knowing what the conventional wisdom is on a body of water does a couple things for me. Conventional wisdom becomes conventional wisdom because it's historically proven to work. So it tells me something about what the fish do in that body of water.

Given enough pressure though, the 'conventional wisdom' methods become less and less effective. Pressure on classic or community spots with the same techniques as everyone else inevitably means diminishing returns once pressure gets intense enough. Doing what you always did does not mean you get what you always got once enough pressure is applied.

I think there are two reasons for this. One is just math. The more anglers fishing for the same fish, the smaller the pie gets sliced. The other reason is how fish react to pressure. I'm thoroughly convinced that fish just don't like being fished for. Angling is a form of predation, and fish react to it like the do any other predator. The react in a lot of different ways. By moving away from obvious, classic spots to nearby secondary structure that may not be as appealing in other respects, but be free of pressure. They may change their routines in terms of activity periods or feeding behavior. Or, by just flat not reacting any more to presentations they see constantly, or only racting when conditions (weather, time of day, etc., ) are ideal.

Being aware of not just how much but what kind of pressure fish are getting gives you the information to counter that pressure. That might mean seeking out populations of fish that aren't using the same kinds of locations as the majority of the fish. An example someone already gave is looking for weedline fish on lakes where everyone focuses on the shallows. It can also mean finding secondary spots - small, isloated weedbeds, or hard-bottomed spots most anglers ignore because they don't look 'bassy.' A lot of the time these overlooked fish are ones that are too hard to get at for the average angler. Fish way back in slop, or along deep breaks where a lot of guys don't have the touch necessary to jig fish for them. Targeting fish like this is a conscious trade-off between the number of fish that see your lure and how easy they are to fool. You're fishing to fewer fish in a lot of cases. But which would you rather fish for? 80% of the fish that can spell "Rapala" by the end of June, or 20% of the fish that are utterly unpressured and uneducated?

You can also counter pressure by fishing the community spots using techniques that are different from everyone else. If everyone's fishing spinnerbaits over a weed flat, slow down and pitch the clumps with a tube. Or vice versa. Change lure size, speed, depth, color... We've all had it happen - fish a spot, don't do much, then have someone come in right behind us and clean house. A lot of the time it's guys doing something a little other than textbook for that kind of spot.

Timing, as the article cited implies, is a big one too. For me anymore, if I'm on pressured water, unless conditions are absolutely ideal, if I'm not the first one fishing a 'community spot' in the morning, I don't bother - I'll go fish secondary water that I know hasn't been fished. Muskie fishing, I'll get up at 3:30 AM to get on the water by 4. Amazing how many guys will stay out till 11 fishing, but won't get up at 3 instead.

Bottom line for me is I completely buy the idea that predictable pressure periods like weekends affect fish behavior. If you're a weekend warrior like most of us are, you have to account for it. I try to do so by doing things differently, but it's not enough just to be contrary. You have to think about what you're doing and why...

Just some random thoughts on the subject...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[RickyBobby]

Definitely good Stuff Rob

[Deitz Dittrich]

Masterfull wording Mr.Kimm, very well put!