What's the better tactic . . . .

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Texas Transplant

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Okay, been thinking about this after fishing this weekend, and in preparation for this weekends trip.



Which is the better approach/tactic for fishing, whether it be for pleasure, or competitive fishing - such as in a tournament?



A) Develop 2 to 3 primary tactics (could be 1 or 2) that you are very good with, and have confidence in. Stick with them, come hell or high water, throughout the day. No real backup plan. This could involve just baits in general, or depths areas, or both.



B) Be a jack of all trades, master of none. In short, be somewhat of a junk fisherman (similar to Woo Daves) and ready for anything. If not in shallow with plastics, maybe mid range with cranks, or . . . (fill in your own favorite).



C) In conjunction (and I know that this has been asked before), whether it be A or B above, do you fish throughly in each area, or run and gun? How many areas do you attempt to utilize on a known lake?



After I put together my rigs yesterday for my upcomming tourney, I realized that right now, I'm a junk fisherman. No less than 8 rigs leaned in the corner ready to go. I'm now thinking that I need to concentrate on 1-2 main baits, and have no more than 1-2 fallbacks, if they aren't working.



Tex
 
Option D) comes to mine:



- Draw Trep as your partner. Between my Hat, my legs, and the extra small Bream that will hit my crankbaits - you'll be laughing SOO hard you'll forget you have those 8 "junk" rods and concentrate on the one in your hand!!! LOL



Waiting to hear how the rest of the site does what you're asking. Since I only go 1/week i'd like some ideas too!



Trep
 
Tex as always you bring up a good topic for discussion.



For me it would depend on where im fishing.

If im fishing a place like Winni in nh that I know real well and fish often I fall under type "A", I know what works for me there and I will stick to what I know. In this case I have no backup plan because one isnt needed, I know where i will be fishing and what I will be fishing with and I will catch fish. Its not uncommon for me on bodies of water like this to use only one rod all day long.



If im fishing a body of water that I dont know very well if at all I would fall under type "B" and be ready for anything and may well have 8 or 10 rods out and ready. Actually i fished a tourney last week on the Ct river, a place I have never fished before. I tried a bunch of stuff until I figured out what these fish wanted then stuck with that. I ended up with a 11# bag good enough for second on a very tough day for most of my club.



As far as run and gun goes that depends too. Last week I ran all over the place until I found out where the fish were holding then I slowed down and fished those areas more through. If im on a lake I know im more apt to not run around as much because I know where i should be fishing(depth/structure etc) and concentrate on those types of areas.
 
i am with Jim B.

i fish Bow lake in NH, i know the lake very well. there for i have a plan and stick with it.

i am fishing the Charles river next week in a club tourny and i will rig up every thing i can think of for stained water.

the run and gun is difficult to go with. i like to fish an area and change up on color or retrieve. then move to the deep water or shallows. i don't like to keep moving all over the place unless the bite is really off.

this is what makes us differant.
 
Jim - when you "run and gun" how long do you stay at a spot/point before "runing" to the next one? I always end up staying for line 30 minutes at a specific point/location and try a number of things (i.e. Top water buzz bait from all angles, deep water crank bait from all angles, tx or cr worming and then move on. But I don't consider that Run and Gun since i'm there 30 minutes or so.
 
Well... I changed up yesterday with 2 hours to go in a tournament, because we needed 3 more fish... needless to say, 1/2 hour after we left the bite picked up and the other boats there took home the checks. Thought I was doing the right thing, even knowing that the "B" spots we'ren't nearly as good as the "A" spot...



SO... I think I need to learn the "Come hell or High water" thing myself...



D
 
I would answer C. You have got to be ready for anything. Remember there are fish in different patterns. Cranks might be doing well, but worm is producing better fish. This is the value of pre fishing. Finding something that works and if the weather holds stay with it, but not afraid to try other things when the weather turns south. This is the mental challenge for all fisherman, do i stay with it or try something new. And you won't know until the day is over if it was the right decision.



I finished 6th this last week staying with a crankbait for most of the day. Had 4 bites on the crankbait, boated 3 of them. Of course the 5th would have been enough for 1st, as it always goes. Had one early morning on a spinner bait. Slow day but i got the reaction bites, as it turned out it was a good decision for me. The worm did not produce for us C-rig ot T-rig.



The winner was using a t-rig finesse worm. Go figure.

 
ALWAYS be ready for anything. As soon and you think you know what the fish are doing you will be taught a lesson. You may think you have them nailed, and some days you might, but more often than not the infinite variables will throw you a curve.



I have fished St Clair for 20 years and I cant go on the lake without at least 7 rods rigged with different baits. Some tournaments I have 12 rigged....



New water you have to be versatile. Keep an open mind.



I remember once talking with Mac about the way he approaches Clair and he said he usually runs the same "milk run" almost everytime out there. I asked him if he thought he "patterned" himself. He didnt know what I was talking about and lacking a better explaination I asked him if he ran his "milk run" in reverse.....think about it.



Mini
 
Stick to basics, Ie. a pole rigged for topwater, a crank bait rigged for medium depths/ or spinner bat, and a worm or jig rigged for bottom bouncing. This will cover your water from top to bottom. How long if your running an gunning, long enough to fan cast that specific waters with each of those baits. No bites! move on to the next spot.

First time you get a bite, slow down and fish more precise looking for what ever was holding that fish.
 
Look at it this way, Tex. Zell Rowland has made a carrer with his knowledge of topwater baits and tactics but will switch to a TR worm or jig in a heartbeat if that's what it takes to win. Denny Brauer will certinly start throwing a spinnerbait if that's the ticket to success. I think we all have certian techniques that we are more comfortable with. I know I'm always more confident with a moving bait rather than a worm or jig where I have to decide if what I'm feeling is a strike or the bait bumping something. However, sometimes you just have to slow down or speed up go up, go down. I don't think I would say someone is a junk fisherman because he is proficiant with more than one or two techniques. I think most of the time we would call that guy a winner.



Harpo



Harpo
 
Ok, I don't fish tourneys yet but I like to catch fish everytime on the water. I kind of do what Bassin Fool does. I am fishing with 6 rods this year rigged with various baits. Senkos are my confidence baits for LM as grub/jigs are for SM. I start with these and then try something else if I get no bites. If all else fails, I pull out the map and check out new territory just for the learning experience since it's all for fun. Sometimes all it takes is to move deeper or shallower. Other times it doesn't matter what I do cause they ain't gonna bite!! That's when I sit down, drift a grub or Senko, and have a snack!



Bob G.
 
my $.02:

#1. Most importantly...never lose the fun in fishing...even if you are competative with it



#2. I have a couple of "go-to" tactics in case the going is rough.



#3. Fish with whatever you think they will be hitting...I don't think it's wrong to have 8 rods ready to go-I call it being prepared...just don't be wishy-washy on 'em.



#4. Never go with Mikel's instincts as I have yet to win a tourney.. (0 for 12 so far even though i've been fishing almost my entire life; for fun until recently)

:)
 
I pretty much like to stick with what i know and am comfortable with but am open minded enough to make minor adaptations such as weight and color. If you're fishin a lake you are real familiar with it seems you get a good feel for the activity level of the fish and get a better sense of what might be working. when i fish a new lake, i find it hard to have much confidence and generally fish a spinnerbait or a tube as these are my confidence baits. I'm not experienced enough to go throwin the whole tacklebox at them in one day and seem to do better fishing one or two different ways in the same day and trying to determine what it is that they want (fast or slow or deep or shallow or vertical or horizontal or light or dark colors. i feel sorry for you experienced bass fisherman as there are so many options and ways of fishing different baits. i figure in another year or two, i won't be able to make up my mind what to do when i go bassin. when all else fails, tie on one of soonerfans black buzz baits and have fun. yesterday, i fished for 4 hours and caught 3 with the largest going 5 1/2lbs. man o man are those buzzbaits fun! thanks soonerfan! (i'll race ya back to academy ! :^) now i'm going to have to get another rod n reel and keep a buzzbait tied on too. it is a good question tex and as you can probably tell from my post - i really don't know! ha!







jd
 
Pattern, pattern, pattern. Once you pattern the fish for that body of water and for that day/week then you have them beat. You can apply that same pattern anywhere on the lake to get bigger/more fish. That being said, you can't pattern unless you have a lot of different rigs. Here's what happened to my client on Saturday, we went out and ran up a feeder river to Lake Anna. Stained and "sloppy" threw everything and were just not getting the bite I wanted...Soooooo, I ditched the river pattern and went main lake summer pattern deep with tubes and we boated 4 nice fish off of deep docks. Never be one dimensional. I also do not like the run and gun. You will only pick up agressive fish and that may not always be the quality fish. I trust my instincts and use "search" baits. When they start hitting, I slow down and "work" the area if I feel there are fish there.



TOXIC
 
Thanks guys, good discussion and good points brought out.



I know that I always have slower bottom baits (worms and such for vertical presentations) plus faster baits (spinners/cranks for horizontal presentation) tied on. I don't think that I'm cut out for the run/gun tactics, but I also need to remind myself to move if the action is slow. I'll sit on an area for too long sometimes.



Tex
 
OK My turn, When fishing for fun, I always fish for fun. I have found that I can not play pool,fish,street race unless it's fun. When I get to wrapped up in the game I forget what got me there. When going out on local water I will bring 2 rigs that I know will work (most times) and 3 I want 2 learn more about. I spent 1 year with SBS,1 With plastics and last year was crankbaits. This year it's jigs I fish it for a few hours and then go back to what works for me. When it comes down to the nitty gritty in my opinion fast moving baits will catch you more fish but slower larger baits will catch better fish. With 1 exception my big fish have always been on a t-rigged worm or lizzard.

BF
 

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