How many times have you given up on one of your favorite fishing spots and simply mentally crossed it off as they just weren’t biting today? Did you concentrate on presenting your favorite baits in different ways and trying some new baits, or did you simply fish it the way you always do for a few minutes, then quit or move?
If you answered yes to the second part of that last question, you’re the person this column is targeting. If you answered yes to the first part, you probably know where this is heading, but read it anyway. There might be something to help you in some way.
Much like the fish they pursue, anglers are creatures of habit and can get locked into doing things certain ways and not being open to new ideas and techniques. If a technique works, questions aren’t likely. But when what you’re doing doesn’t work, the first person to ask what you can do differently should be you.
If you don’t really mull over less successful fishing outings, you’re either just looking to be away from work or some other less-pleasant situation or are so locked into your regimen, you aren’t thinking.
Even if fishing is simply a favorite escape, there are things an angler can do to make it better, more successful and more relaxing.
One of the first considerations is approaching an inshore fishing spot. Whenever possible, the best approach is from downcurrent, easing within casting range and slipping the anchor over the side.
If I can’t approach from downcurrent, I maneuver to the opposite side of the creek or at least until I drift by well away from the spot, cut my motor, drift by, then return upcurrent and anchor as if I had approached from downcurrent.
Capt. Stuart Caulder of Gold Leader Guide Service in Wrightsville Beach (www.GoldLeaderFishing.com, 910-264-2674) is so concerned with not spooking the fish while approaching and anchoring, he shuts off his outboard (a quiet Suzuki four-stroke) and maneuvers into place with his trolling motor. I don’t know that most anglers need to be that careful, but we usually have good days when I fish with him.
Positioning a boat also is important. I prefer to anchor parallel to a fishing spot and slightly upcurrent. The best distance from the spot is a long cast, but anglers should be close enough to cover an entire hole.
Once the boat is anchored and stable, it’s time to fish.
The ideal cast would land just upcurrent of the desired spot and drift back into and through the hole with the moving tide.
Perhaps now you understand why I used the terms upcurrent and downcurrent rather than upstream and downstream. Upstream and downstream are always the same, but the upcurrent and downcurrent sides vary with rising and falling tides.
Much of my fishing is done with grubs and other soft plastics, and I begin by using the lightest jighead that will take my lure to the bottom. Most soft plastics have their most natural movements with lighter jig heads.
Heavier jigheads overweigh that end of the bait and make it fall and drift with a less natural attitude. They also cause the bait to sink faster and alter its tail movements.
If using live bait, the sinker works as the jig head, even though the bait may be a foot or more away. If a bait reaches the bottom, you’ll feel the sinker tapping the bottom as the current bumps it along.
In areas I’ve fished previously, I rely upon past experience to select a starting weight for the jighead. At other shallow areas, I begin with a 1/8-ounce jighead.
If I can’t feel the jig bumping along the bottom as it drifts through the target zone, I switch to a 1/4-ounce jighead. If I can’t feel this either, the tackle bag reopens and I switch to a 3/8-ounce.
Occasionally conditions require a 1/2-ounce jighead to reach the bottom, but usually only in swiftly running current or deeper water.
Occasionally fish will prefer the action of a bait with a different jighead.
My most recent experience occurred this spring when I was working a trough just off a bank between the bank and a shallower sand flat. I was using curly-tail grubs and had caught a couple of fish, but it wasn’t a hot bite. There wasn’t much current, so my 1/8-ounce jighead was easily reaching the bottom.
After a while my jighead was hung and, in trying to get it free without moving the boat over the fish and possibly spooking them, I broke it off.
I had a couple of 1/4-ounce jigheads on my console, so rather than getting my tackle bag and digging out another 1/8-ounce jighhead, I simply tied on one of the 1/4-ounce heads, slipped on another grub and got back to fishing.
I don’t remember if I caught a fish on the first cast with the heavier jig head, but I immediately went on a little run and caught several drum in a row, a pair of trout, a flounder as the fishing heated up.
All I did was switch to the heavier jighead; I could feel it bumping the bottom a little more regularly. Apparently there was something about the heavier jig the fish liked.
There is a reference to this phenomena in this month’s drum feature with Capt. Chris Bellamy. He had rigged rods with different weight jigheads that morning and while both were bumping the bottom, the heavier one initially got more strikes.
I wish we could talk to the fish and see what they preferred. That day we were in shallow water with a pretty strong current. The fish could have preferred the attitude or different action of the weightier bait or the slower movement of the bait with the heavier head as it drifted with the current. I don’t know for sure.
The good thing is the captain was aware there might be a difference and was prepared to find the fish’s preference that day.
I have a pattern of working a spot from shallow to deep, first making a few casts near the bank and bringing the baits/lures back through and across the fishing spot in different ways.
They can drift with a nearly slack line, drift with a tight line in an arc across the hole, be retrieved at different speeds and with different patterns, be retrieved with the rod tip at different levels or a combination of these techniques. All of these approaches will give slightly different actions to a bait and may be the subtle difference that works that day.
Note that small-diameter, no-stretch, superbraid lines have excellent feel and will send the sensation of bumping the bottom or a strike up the line even when the line is not perfectly tight. I really prefer that type of line and characteristic for this kind of fishing. Anglers using braid often detect strikes they’d miss with monofilament line.
After working the shallow part of a spot for several casts and with several different techniques, I/ll move my cast a few feet and work a section of the hole that’s a little deeper. I continue this variation until I locate fish or cover an entire area and it’s time to try another place.
Like many anglers, I have favorite colors and use them first, but I rarely give up at a spot that has been productive in the past without giving it a good effort. This includes changing bait colors and trying different body shapes and tail types.
At my home area, many of the creeks have heavy oyster rocks or oyster strewn bottoms. Sometimes it’s nearly impossible to work bottom baits across these without losing them.
When you can’t fish an area from the bottom, consider fishing it from the top.
I carry an assortment of floats and don’t hesitate to use them. I usually always have one outfit rigged with a rattle or popping cork and many times it’s the best producer. I’ll set up a cork line so the bait is barely above the bottom and use the current to drift it across a spot in various ways.
This is just like when fishing a bait along the bottom except the bait is suspended just above the bottom and doesn’t hang up on the oyster shells.
I also experiment with popping or rattling the cork and see if it will call fish. Some days a rattling cork is better, some days the hot set-up is a popping cork. Sometimes quiet is the better way.
Most anglers think of floats as something to use when fishing live bait, but they work well with artificial lures. I usually begin with a shrimp shape underneath the float but have seen several days when the little bit of extra action of a curly-tail grub was the hottest ticket.
Some times hard-plastic lures outshine soft plastics, but I find them a little more difficult to present correctly.
I have enjoyed success with several of the suspending MirrOlures and several of their floaters. Other hard lures I favor are the MirrOlure Top Dog Series, the Berkley Frenzy Poppers and Walkers, the Rapala Skitterwalks and the old reliable, Zara Spooks.
It takes some practice to learn to “walk the dog” with the Top Dogs, Spooks, Walkers and Skitterwalks but watching the strike makes it worthwhile. When a gator trout smacks at MirrOlure and blows up the water or a big red rolls up and slurps one down, it’s something special to behold.
Simply put, don’t give up on a fishing hole that’s been a consistent fish producer until you’ve tried a variety of ways to entice fish you think are holding there. Sometimes you find new lures that will become favorites in the future and sometimes you simply give a spot enough time for the tide to get right and hungry fish position themselves.
For a number of reasons, anglers more often than not will be pleased if they don’t give up at one of their hot spots, working until they find what baits, lures or presentation the fish prefer that day.
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