tamiron wrote:[quote="C-Hawk Having confidence in your lure, especially after hours of no bites on any lure. Sometimes the active pattern may be changed out and miss the bite entirely.
Whenever I "find" a hot lure, I put it in small box with other hot lures. Some anglers call this their tournament box. But it certainly helps the confidence on a slower day!
1.Wrong speed
2.Wrong temperature
3.No bait
4.No structure
5.Unknown Current
6.Wrong direction
7.Not knowing where thermocline is
8.Not paying attention to Light conditions, wave actions, water turbidity
The above
all trump color. Especially no log books with history of successes and failures
to help you from reliving history and mistakes![/quote]
Jim, you hit the nail on the head with this one too....Too many people will fish an area just because they always do...I have advised ChessieMan to try "new waters" and change presentation if the fish aren't in his normal haunts. Too many get in a rut, do the same runs, same depths, same color/type/weight lures and expect the same results every time just because it worked one time...it's not going to happen.
On your points Jim I'd like to add:
# 3, # 4 & # 8 are many times related....bait will feed open water SOMETIMES but many times they are relating to structure (including water clarity or lack of) or WIND/WAVES or the water turbidity & clarity because they got blown into a piece of water....pay attention to the direction the wind is blowing, seek bait in the direction the wind is blowing (ie: wind blowing from west seek bait on the east shore or if it's a north/south look for possible "scum lines" ).
# 6 is related to # 5 & # 1... in many cases, unseen or unknown currents effect SPEED at the "ball" and in turn effects speed of the lure and IT'S presentation. That's where you should check your "Fish Hawk" for speeds AT THE LURE, not the surface, especially IF YOU HOOK UP (ie: note the speed you hooked at with a PARTICULAR lure in the direction your were going, even if you don't have a fish hawk). Many lures are speed sensitive and could be corrected with attaching to the line in various ways (See Jim's past posts on that) or change the WEIGHT of the spoon/lure to compensate for faster/slower speeds if you have no choice to travel in that direction do to wind/waves.
#7 & # 2 will be a points that many will contest...During the little bit warmer months, just because you dropped your probe and hit 55 degrees does mean you reached the thermocline...sometimes you have to find that water where the BIG break in temp is in COLDER water. This where the lighter water hits the heavy water because it effects the amount of OXYGEN that is contained in that water, not just the temp they normally prefer.... It could be 45 degrees before you hit the actual thermocline. The fish will tell you where it is, use your electronics and if the fish aren't in the 55 degree water, search until you find fish on your electronics and drop a probe or lure to that depth and see what the temp is or if you hook up. Both salmon and trout will come out of "temp" to feed but will return to their "comfort zone" shortly there after.... Not all "deep fish" are necessarily "Lakers"....
