Defensive Fishing

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After taking a rain day, I was back on the water this morning with Neil & his son Ben. Due to another bad wind direction however, I was forced to go elsewhere. We would be trying water that I hadn’t fished in weeks and I hoped it would work out!

Our starting spot turned into plan “B” when I saw another boat fishing the area. It was going to be one of those days! I immediately headed elsewhere and set up offshore looking for our first bite. Both Neil & Ben were working a drop shot and it didn’t take long for Neil to hook into his first fish. Somehow during the fight, it came unpinned! I informed him not to apply as much pressure on the next one and apparently it worked. A few casts later he landed a real nice bass and things were looking up. Ben wasn’t far behind with one of his own and it was a true giant! He fought it perfectly and a few minutes later I had it in the net. As it turned out, this was by far his personal best smallmouth ever! A few pics later it was released and not livewelled all over the place like so many fisherman do lately!

Ben was definitely in the zone this morning with multiple good catches while Neil covered water, not so fortunate. He did manage to get into a few fish but it wasn’t until we relocated both location and presentation that he changed his luck. Now it was his turn to shine!

With both of them throwing pretty much the same thing, I held in an area that showed plenty of fish. Neil was hooked up frequently but Ben had a hard time getting bit.

I was taking my time in this area in hopes of getting into a spot nearby. Unfortunately it just seemed to fill up with another boat every time it became available! The waters were alive with bass boats today, as if they were all in a tournament! I guess nobody works anymore! Eventually the area became clear again and I skipped over all kinds of great water to go there.

I guess it was worth the wait as Neil was tight to a fish on his first cast. We were working it differently than all the other boats that had just fished it and about to see just how many fish they left! Apparently it was full so I guess they had left more than they expected! Neil was on fire hooking fish after fish and Ben eventually got in the game too. Now they were seeing why I had wanted to get over here so badly.

Playing defense is no stranger to how I have had to fish the last few years. With the numerous bass tournaments going on, everyone is always in tournament mode. I’m not too sure what happened to fishing etiquette, but it appears to have gone the way of the dinosaur! I had one boat try and go in front of me to fish where we were casting, while anchored up with the electric motor. I immediately released the hold and slid down just enough to block him out. He actually decided to go above us and fish instead! Still within casting distance, both Neil & Ben couldn’t believe what they were seeing. I told them of an incident that I had last season that saw a boat fish through between us and the shoreline, only a couple of boat lengths away. Shocked at what I had told them, they were about to see it in person as this guy did exactly the same thing! It’s unbelievable what the new generation has become! I’m sure this guy was the exception, but it’s really sad to see!

We never skipped a beat and continued to catch quality fish throughout the ordeal. Both Ben & his father managed to land many more bass in the remaining time here. We eventually decided to make another move when the action slowed and the winds built too big.

The next hour or so saw a mix of techniques being used to try and get into more fish. We hit several areas with limited success and decided to move further away in pursuit of a different species. Ben had wanted to try for walleye and I thought it would be a good idea with so many other boats around!

We made the best of the last couple of hours by hitting a few deep holes in hopes of some fish to take home. The first three spots saw only perch and a couple of bass and it wasn’t looking good! A last ditch effort with about 15 minutes remaining finally had Neil hooking a keeper. This apparently started everything! Fifteen minutes turned into about an hour as we remained on the spot and managed to put a couple of limits in the boat. I just couldn’t leave the fish now that I had found them!

Although longer than I had wanted to stay, it was all worth it in the end! They were bringing plenty of fish home and it was all done in the last hour of the day.

Today was a great one and probably the best day Neil had seen this season. Plenty of big smallies were landed throughout the day and he even had some great fish for dinner. The weather couldn’t have been better either as this was one of the nicest days I had fished in quite a while. Lately all I had seen was bad weather and cancellations! With the exception of all the other boats and one incident, this was by far the closest thing to a perfect fall fishing day!