Question for the forum

Haywood and Fishnut’s replies in the other post got me thinking about this. Is it possible to have good discussions on techniques, etc. where learning can take place in the forum in the summer?

I don’t think it’s a secret that the guys who are the best fisherman here and have the best and most to offer are also the guys who fish tournaments every weekend and do well, so there fore they are alos the guys with the most to lose. Can a fine line be met with the giving of quality info without the devulging of too much info? I don’t think anyone here expects anyone to give out spots, or even areas, nor should they. But is even giving out advise like “try deeper breaks”, look for sand drops or points, switch from a crankbait to a tube” too much to expect in tournament season?

Just curious, I have no idea what the answer is.

what harm is there, in talking about techniques and lure choice/presentation that wins tourneys????

If there is a specific pattern that consitently puts fish in the boat, why not chat about it?

For example:
Open water walleyes on boards on Mille Lacs is a “new thing”. People are talking about “how” they are doing it, but not where (spots). However, you should talk about “where” to do this: Example: OPEN WATER. (not gps spot 42.924.1236/91.341.9889—-get it???)

Now,
If a green tube is taking quality fish on the tourneys: Why?? How are you presenting it? What type of structure are you working it? For what reason did you choose “green”?

If that is too much to ask, then I’m really confused as to the purpose of this forum.

For when it comes to walleyes, cats, panfish, whatever……techniques are always talked about and the type of locations to use these techniques. Also, gear is talked about (rods/reels/lines/etc).

Last weekend I spent some time bass fishing a lake. I don’t bass fish much anymore and I hardly ever fish the lake anymore. However, the guy I fished with, I watched what he was doing for his lure presentation. That is why I was able to go back and somewhat repeat what he did, that put some fish in the boat, when my presentations were not working……….

I don’t see a lot of this type of talk here, for the volume of people who post here.

Does that make any sense?

RIght now there is a serious problem with that. The are no real patters or structures that the bass are using. They are relating to forage or lack of it. Many of the fish I am catching have huge heads and skinny bodies. Thus the first instinctual response of the fish is to look for forage. Things like the the lake filling with Snot Weed and choking out the life of the ecosystem has fish either going deeper or moving towards current looking for forage. I suspect if the only thing you key in on this comming weekend is forage you will have good results. Is this a pattern, structure, or the other? I think not, its just whats happening. As for baits and such, most baits work most of the time. Fine tuing the attitude of the fish will doctate this. There are no magic techniques or areas or even spots. Summer pattern means grab a push pole or 2 and start searching. If this is not your cup of tea then look deep and find the available structures and fish those. Your typical “spots” will not be good unless they happen to be holding forage. There ya go, enough info to win Catfish days hands down.
jc

That was not my intent of the post at all.

I was just wondering if it was possible, in the overall scheme of the forum, to balance giving out info without giving up too much info. I was more looking for responses as to whether or not people feel like they can give out info in a public forum like this during tournament season or if they thought the risk was too high.

I wasn’t looking for a single bit of info in this post. I’m not in Catfish Days this weekend by the way, or any tourney this month.

Maybe a better way of posing the question would simply have been, do you feel comfortable posting info here during the “tournament season”, and how specific do you feel is too specific?

Jeremy;

Are you saying that ALL of the fish are not cooperating?

Maybe my questions were clear enough.

No I am not saying all of the fish are not cooperating but from pools 7-9 the backwaters are very short on available forage. This is different than in may past years. The water is still high intensifying the ordeal but all of the healthy fish I am catching are relating specifically to forage and not locations. Take for instance a good lily pad bite. What you are ideally looking for is some type of current sweeping or blowing into them. (1 pt) the next is that the pads are fairly clean underneath, (not having much grass or snotweed int them) (1pt) 3rd is depth, if you have 3 feet of water in them and deeper water in very close proximity. (1pt) 4th if these same pads are withing a couple miles of wintering areas which is often defining the deep water aspect (1pt) 5th the top edges of the pads are holding yearlings and other minnows, the next 10 yards is holding average to large panfish (1pt).
If you have all these elements you are in for a treat.

Now this year… Any pads, rock, or current edges with any bait will be holding fish of some sort. There are no real keys to fish size other than jut looking. The biggest bass will releate to the biggest panfish and such if given the oppertunity. This year they are just trying to get by.
jc

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Jeremy;

Are you saying that ALL of the fish are not cooperating?

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I think it’s safe to say on pool 7 all the fish over 2.5lbs are not cooperating. It has been a very, very poor year on pool 7.

Moss,

I’d like to see more talk in this forum about general patterns that seem to be working, but I don’t want to take anyone’s hot spot or deprive them of having success in a tournament. I don’t fish tournaments, but would like to put a few more fish in the boat when I get a chance to get out there. For those of us who don’t get a chance to be on the water several days per week, it takes a little time to find fish and learn what is working.

I appreciate those folks who post what is working for them and those folks who’ve answered PM’s I’ve sent to them about finding some fish (thanks Fishaholik, Kooty, Jeremy Crawford, Redneck and Redneck Jr.). We certainly can’t expect everyone to post every detail from every fishing trip, so for those of us who want to know more, WE NEED TO ASK!

I’ve enjoyed taking the general information I’ve been given and applying it to the water I fish and the techniques I enjoy using.

CR

I don’t mind talking about technique, and even giving
general information about cover and structure, fish are
using during the seasonal periods. I don’t often talk about
presentation specifics like lure type, and color. I firmly
believe fish are easily conditioned to bait types, and
colors. There is much scientific, and empherical, data
to support this belief. So I don’t say things like I am
catching good fish on deep weed lines, with 5″ watermelon
red flake Senkos, deadsticked. I might say something
like I am fishing sticks on weed lines, slow. I don’t want the
fish to be seeing my specific presentation, so I just don’t
talk about those details. Even when I am on fish, I don’t
work the same combinations through the fish, more than
a time or two. I make sublte changes like a different
color, a different size, or a different weight, to overcome
lure conditioning. So you won’t hear me saying, I am
taking good smallies off closing dams, with a 100 series
Bandit, in yellow brown back, cranking it with the current.
What you might hear from me, I am taking some decent
brown fish off wingdams, with shallow crankbaits. As one can
see, this is really not that useful of information, when it
is sanitized like this. I expect other fishermen do the
same, so I have learned to just not ask.

I do appreciate those that are looking for good info on these
these types of forums, and occasionally there is good info
to be had, but I have learned mountains of good info, from
time on the water, either with my own experiments, or
with quality fishermen. Jeremy, in two short fishing
trips, taught me more about river fishing, that I could
have ever learned reading forums. I did learn a ton on
my own, fishing 5 different trips, in preperation for the
2000 Wis BASS Fed. state tournament on Pools 7-9, but
in all of those 5 trips, I only probably learn about half
as much as I learned fishing with JC, in two trips. So,
my advice about learning is, Young Man get your butt
on the water, and start fishing. If you can talk an experience
fisher into fishing with you, you can expect to significantly
shorten your learning curve. Nothing cements fishing
knowledge like a 4 lb bass going airborne.

Big Bass Bane

BB Bane,
Glad to see you actually took a few minutes away from your building escapades. Fishing this year is odd at best. The fish are not looking healthy in the 100 miles I fish and it is cause for concern. The forage base vs bass population I feel is trying to equalize and I fear we will see poor fishing as a result unless something comes around. 3 years ago the baitfish on the main river and backwaters were so thick that you couldn’t cast a crankbait without hooking one. This year we are lucky to find them at all. When the water receeds I will be able to better guage what is happening but until then I am just hoping for the best.
Hope all is well with you and yours. And thanks for the kudo’s
jc

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So, my advice about learning is, Young Man get your butt on the water, and start fishing.

Big Bass Bane

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BBB,

I agree with you that time on the water is the best way to become a better fisherman. Now, if someone (other than me) would just talk my wife into that…

Thanks all for the information.

CR

I use dynamite but heard that isn’t legal in tourneys???

From what I saw at the North Star[4-5] event today,J.C is makeing some very great points,alot of the fish had very thin bodies, in my opion alot of the fish were thinner than the post spawn fish caught on the same pools,the weights droped and many anglers reported lots of small fish being caught.