It's Easier than You Think

Monday being a reasonably nice day, though I was "hiked" to the part of the lake I'd see no on, I had a view of the drive up and what could fairly be called, "The public fishing grounds." I'm astounded at the lack of time and effort that a majority put into their fishing. Arguably, a certain number just want to get outdoors. Around water. Fishing may be just a by product. I'll exclude those.

I've referred to my rule of fives, before. This method of fishing I use for times that I don't have precise ideas or facts as to where the fish are. Or even what their "mood" is, for the day. Simply stated, rule of fives is being efficient with time and the process of finding catchable fish. Five casts fanned over the area from your left to right, and you move 50 feet. Rinse and repeat. There's more advanced concepts of this five cast rule, but start here. I've covered in a day, every inch of water on double digit acre lakes using this method.

In those rare circumstances when you find reliable fish that seem to be in an area multiple trips, a new strategy plays. And so it was on Sunday and Monday. I fished an area that's as reliable for crappie in February and March, as is knowing where Uncle Wilbur is an hour after a five burrito lunch. Two hours in on Sunday and cast after cast fanning the area-nothing. I did expand my rule of fives to "going to try up to five colors...and five sizes (of jigs)." And this is point number one how you can improve your, even become a successful fisherman, in one trip. Do you have the patience for two hours, or more, of what seems to be mindless motion and casting into a bathtub?

Eventually something began popping the jig under my slip rig. So consistently I counted-22 "pops". "These have to be crappie", I thought! Location, how the slip bobber moved sometimes, more. So in one of my size moves, I downsized from my homemade weedless jig, to practically a fly rod jig. The first cast from the major downsize and I caught this, a bluegill of better than average size. I'll be fine catching bluegill-since I can't catch crappie. A few casts later and frequently thereafter, I was catching yuuuuge crappie. Spoiler alert, next day I started small and moved up to the larger weedless jig-and the bite stopped. "Are you kidding me?! Suddenly and first time in 60 years crappie suddenly pick apart my weedless jig?" Head too big. We're suspicious. Weed guard. We're suspicious. Just a little too much hook. We're suspicious. Or was it something else? Point number two-don't get stuck trying to catch fish the way YOU want to catch them. Or the way that looks romantic on YouTube videos or fishing shows. No, I wasn't too thrilled about dragging an exposed hook through 1/2 acre of underwater brush.

Point number three. If your walk to water's edge doesn't look like this, you may be reducing your chances substantially, of catching fish. I don't know why I get secretly "bristly" when vehicles/people arrive at the smaller lakes that I fish. Often and sometimes without much effort on their part, it's easy to see I'm slayin' fish. But they won't come where I'm at. While I'm there. After I leave. Another day. (I pay close attention to foot tracks.) Why? Because if it's not well groomed grass and requires enough distance that one may have to breathe deeper or faster, "They ain't a comin'".

I returned to this "farthest place to go-and stand in the water-and the cattails-and the weeds", the day following (Monday). High expectations led to getting really itchy to move after just 30 minutes of no action. High expectations will make 30 minutes of crickets seem like two hours... Again, I started rotating through colors and though color #1 and #2 yielded two yuuuuge crappie, #3 had epic results.

Sure, there was more to catching these behemoths than just patience, rule of fives, and crashing through the woods. But you can't do the advanced stuff until you learn and get conditioned to the basics.

I've thought several times since Sunday/Monday, "I may not be that good a fisherman. I just have patience in the wild that's beyond stupid, and the determination of a raccoon chewing its foot off to get out of a trap!"