Key to pros landing fish is in details

[Spiel]

Key to pros landing fish is in details

 

August 3, 2008

Rod Watson / buffalonews.com

 

 

 

When it comes to catching smallmouth and largemouth on a consistent basis, there’s more that separates the pros from weekend anglers than just the endorsements, the sponsors and the $50,000 bass boats.

 

Attention to detail, the willingness to skip favorite spots and try new water, and practice before getting to the lake are some of the reasons Bassmaster Elite Series anglers are competing for a $100,000 top prize on Lake Erie today while the weekend angler is just praying for a bite.

 

What do the weekend anglers do wrong?

 

“A lot of times they don’t pay attention to the area they’re fishing, the subtleties of it,” said Elite Series pro Matthew Sphar of Pavilion.

 

For instance, he said, anglers may catch fish on a point, but not notice that it was the clump of submerged weeds on the point — not the entire point — that was holding the bass. They’ll waste an hour fishing the rest of the point and not get another hit.

 

“There’s so much that our eyes will pick out that the average weekend angler wouldn’t pick out as key targets,” said Sphar.

 

Watching your electronics to pick up what’s on the lake bottom is a key part of that.

 

“If we drive over a boulder, a light bulb is going to click and we’re going to turn around and throw on it,” Sphar said, while the weekend angler will just keep driving.

 

Pennsylvania pro Paul Hirosky said most amateur anglers need to slow down.

 

“Usually, they fish too fast,” he said.

 

Hirosky notes that top-ranked pro Kevin VanDam is regarded as a “power fisherman” who typically has his trolling motor on high speed. But VanDam himself has said that even though his boat may be moving fast to cover water, his lure is often moving slowly — or even sitting still — while in the strike zone.

 

“For every time I’ve seen Kevin fish fast, I’ve seen him fish slow, too,” Hirosky says.

 

Hirosky also advises giving up the psychological security of shallow water and its visible targets.

 

“Spend more time fishing deeper water. A lot of time, going out a little deeper can pay huge dividends,” said Hirosky. “It’s a little harder, you have to rely on your electronics fishing deeper. But the rewards can be greater.”

 

So can the rewards of not being wed to a spot simply because “this is where I caught them last year, or this is where I caught them five years ago,” said pro and TV show host Shaw Grigsby.

 

“A lot of times [weekend anglers] continually fish the same spots,” Grigsby said.

 

While a spot may produce at the same time of the season year after year if conditions stay the same, conditions rarely do. Water levels change, weed beds that were there one year may get cut down the following year — or the following week — or sheer fishing pressure may cause the bass to move. That’s why the pros spend a lot of time motoring around looking for new spots.

 

And one of the best things weekend anglers can do is practice to improve “their casting accuracy and their presentation,” said VanDam.

 

While pinpoint accuracy and a splashless entry aren’t as critical when jigging at 40 feet on Lake Erie, they can make the difference when fishing the docks or shallow weeds in the Niagara River or any inland lake.

 

Big fish don’t get big by falling for sloppy presentations. You have to be able to drop the lure “on top of his nose and get it in the water quietly without a big splash,” said VanDam, the two-time Bassmaster Classic winner.

 

How do you do that? By going out in the backyard and practicing the underhand roll cast, which gives the lure a low trajectory for getting under docks and also minimizes splash.

 

If you can learn to do that, “you’re going to catch a lot more fish,” said VanDam.