The primary patterns usually attract the most attention.
Some days, there isn’t much attention to attract in
the sense that there aren’t many boats on the water.
There are other times where there is significant pressure
and there are no secrets. Fish location can be obvious especially
this time of year and there might be plenty of boats bobbing
around the area. Most of the time if the goal is just catching
fish, we are better off joining the pack and either hope the
fishing is so good that everyone catches fish or try to do
things better than the boats around you.
Come mid spring on most bodies of water, the fish are concentrated
and water temperature plays a big role. During stable weather
especially when the sun is out, fish seem to be shallow or
high in the water column. The warmth of the sun feels good
to the fish as well. On Devils Lake, where I have made my
living as a guide for several years, during the week is relatively
quiet. I can generally go wherever I want and not have to
deal with other boats unless the other boats are some of my
guides. During the weekend however can be a different story.
On the weekends, I get followed a lot or if people see me
sitting somewhere, I soon have company. When boats cut in
front of me and behind me, the fish I am targeting are going
to be shared with the other boats. There is no way around
it.
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When I am out on the water however, I am
not into confrontations or name-calling. I would prefer
to take the high road and not say anything to people.
Sometimes, the other boat that is right next to you might
have fished the spot sometime the day before when you
weren’t there or they could be on top of you for
a number of reasons. But I do know this… my customers
are out on the water to enjoy a relaxing and productive
day of walleye fishing and aren’t impressed with
screaming fits with other boats. My simple goal is for
every customer in my boat to catch his or her limit of
walleye. When I can do this every day, I am making a living.
This is my only focus when surrounded by a mob of boats.
In a twisted sort of way, boats following or looking for
a particular boat is a compliment because there are many
boats that people don’t look for. This event intrigues
my customers as well as they feel pretty confident about
being in the boat getting tailed all day. Nobody owns
the lake and I try and use this to my advantage if possible |
There are a few things that I believe can help a person fish
in the pack and there are also some advantages you can capitalize
on. I don’t want to come off as arrogant because fishing
has humbled me just too many times but it does help to believe
that you are a better angler than the boats bumping up around
you. Believe in your abilities and believe that your abilities
are better than the boats next to you. This psychological
game is crucial in the sense that you can’t believe
you are going to catch nothing because all of these boats
are going to catch all of the fish before you. Be methodical
and slow the gears down, pay attention to details and be thorough
on the basic fundamentals. Don’t let fish getting caught
around you rattle your cage. Keep you head in the game and
wait for your turn.
One advantage to being in a pack is that you can see many
presentations working at once. If nobody is catching fish
and you know there are fish below you, you now know that the
timing is off. Some spots take a little while to fire and
don’t produce right away in the morning for example.
Other boats can tell you a lot if one boat starts catching
fish and they are fishing the same depth and pattern, you
know you are on the right track. Also if nobody is catching
anything and you can see what everybody is doing, you can
quickly eliminate those presentations and experiment with
something else. You can also come to the conclusion on whether
the fish have slid in or out if there are enough boats around.
Often the pressure itself can cool a spot off. Say for example
that you are fishing a shallow flat or shoreline. The aggressive
biting fish move up on this to eat. These fish are obviously
coming from somewhere perhaps deeper water or perhaps they
are shallow the whole time but just move around and turn on
for short periods of time throughout the day. I honestly believe
that you can go in and check a spot, catch a few fish and
come back an hour or two later and catch a few more fish and
you will have the same number of fish as if you had sat their
the whole time. When a crowd of boats gathers around and the
hot fish have already been pulled off the spot. My best strategy
is to leave. This obviously allows me to check another spot
on my milk run but this also serves another purpose. When
I leave and the other boats sit for an additional 15 to 20
minutes without catching anything, I have found that most
of the other boats leave as well.
Your average anglers are fairly high strung and run around
the lake like chickens with their heads cut off. After hitting
a few spots and hopefully picking up a few more fish, I go
back to the spot that was crowded and usually, the boats have
cleared out and I can pull a few more fish out of there. Leave
and come back is a very effective strategy that has worked
well for me. There are some spots that I am very confident
in where I might hit those spots a half dozen times in a day.
As boats arrive on the scene, nothing pulls boats off the
spot like leaving for another spot. The people in the other
boats often assume that there are no fish to be caught because
they see you leaving. This strategy sometimes backfires but
more often than not, works.
The key for this to work is to spend some time in these spots
so that you can learn the spots well. This allows you to cover
the spot quickly yet thoroughly while maximizing your time
so that you can either spend additional time in the spot waiting
for the next pod of hot fish or hitting more spots. When you
are not fishing these spots, it is crucial that these spots
are getting rested so they can replenish or recycle. If every
spot you go to on your milk run has boats sitting right on
the sweet spots and they have been sitting there all day,
your day has just become much more difficult.
You can obviously rest these spots yourself but you can also
manipulate the crowd to some extent by trying to pull the
crowd off the spot when you leave. If you can’t do either,
you have a few options. Find new spots, hope there is enough
fish in the crowded spots for everybody or fish the spots
better than the boats around you. Often, a particular presentation,
speed, retrieve or lure will be hot while nothing else seems
to work. When the crowd figures out what the hot ticket is,
the hot can sometimes turn cold and than catching fish might
boil down to doing or showing the fish something different.
Using minnows when everybody else is using crawlers or trolling
at two and a half miles per hour when everybody else is trolling
at two miles per hour. Most of all, plain fundamentals become
so important in the sense that you might have to make every
bite count. A little bit of luck doesn’t hurt either.
Editors Note: The author, Jason Mitchell is a legendary guide,
www.fishdevilslake.net on North Dakota’s Devils Lake.
This article has been brought to you by: Yar-Craft Boats,
www.yarcraft.com and Jason Mitchell Guide Series Walleye Rods,
www.jasonmitchellrods.com.
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