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Posts: 568
| maybe I've missed it before but at least this topic may be fresh to most folks but anyway -- Say you are fishing your fav lake in the summer and you have 12-14 hours daily to fish, everyone has a handful of "hotspots" that are fished several times a day so my ? is how often do you fish you best 2,3,4 spots per day, if you fish 14 hours a day and it takes 15-30 minutes to fish a spot technically you could fish it 5-6 times a day -- so is this beating a spot to death and decreasing your chance of a hook up or do you increase your chances by hitting a known honey hole every 2-3 hours. I'm not talking going to prime spots during weather/light changes I'm talking during a normal day how often do you hit your top spots ?? what I currently do is fish the best spots once in the am ,midday and dark, but if I cut out fishing great looking spots that have produced sporadically I could fish the other spots with greater frequency. what do you guys do ? ManitouDan | |
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Posts: 366
| I apologize, because I don't really know how to say this without it coming off a little condescending, but I would go crazy if I spent 14 hours on a lake where I could fish one particular spot six times. Maybe I don't fish spots fast enough. I would think that two or three times through it would be plenty, unless your catching fish on every pass. I guess I've gotten a little spoiled and am not as gung-ho as I used to be, but of course I'm more likely to spend well over an hour on one spot than run back and forth.
Ryan
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | Dan,
Instead of only fishing the spot for 15-30 minutes, I would try staying on the spot longer. If these spots are proven fish spots, and you know the fish are there due to fish being caught there, I would be more likely to stay on a spot for a longer period of time.
There are many, many times that I have caught fish on my 3rd or 4th pass through a spot without leaving. Fish it one way, on the way back maybe pull back a little, turn around, maybe switch baits, get closer to the structure, ect... You can fish the same spot several different ways making 3-4 passes thought it at a time.
This kind of fishing is not for all. But this is the way I fish 85% of the time. If I know the fish are there, and big fish are around. I want to be there when they decide to eat. Hit the spot several times a day, and make 3-4 passes each time.
Talk to you soon Dan! Give me a call sometime! 419-553-6570 | |
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Posts: 2361
| I make specifici presentations to very specific "fish rich" areas, and may change lures and make a second pass if I feel I have not stepped all over my fish when going through the first time. However I do not like sitting in one spot. On a target rich environment like the Chippewa flowage I may fish all day and never return to a spot, unless I see a big fish, but I am always fishing areas I know fish live. On lakes with limited casting spots, and these can be both big or small, just depends on the structure, I may make a round of all the spots two times a day, and fish borderline areas once per day to fill out my time. But I will hit my best spots 4 times a day every day, maybe more depending how central they are, and how much I am moving that day. Some spots just seem to pick fish out of the lake especially in early season, and during the transition from summer to fall. They deserve to be fished more often. Windy days are also times I would hit my best spots more often.
I would also consider pressure when doing this and the size of the area, and the contours. A weedy flat over several acres lends itself to sitting, a small narrow bar between two islands doesn't. A long cover laden drop takes time. A distinct weedbed on the lip of a bare bar, well fish is there or it's not. With pressure, if every spot gets fished well 10 times or 100 times during the day, probably doesn't matter if you sit on it, and if it is a good area it probably increases your chance of a fish. BUT, if you are fishing unpressured or relatively unpressured water it makes a lot more sense to keep moving looking for undisturbed hot fish than to sit on one area that may only hold a few sedentary fish that day, hoping you will be there when they decide to feed, if they decide to feed.
example of a lake that lends itself to sitting, Lost Land Lake, a few spots, and most tend to be large and weedy, and could support several moves through the same area.
example of a lake that lends itself to moving, Teal Lake, has about 15 distinct spots that I would fish, structure is very classic, and tends to hold more than 1 fish on even small spots, fish everything 3-4 times a day, get bored, hit some of the more expansive weed beds and weedlines for a while. | |
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Posts: 1243
Location: Musky Tackle Online, MN | Usually, I will hit my best spots twice during a 12 to 14 hour day. But depending on any patterns, it could effect what I do. I was on a lake last fall where I was fishing multiple spots. But the only action I was getting is when I fished one particular spot. And EVERY time I fished this spot, I caught at least one musky. I couldn't figure out why this was happening. But it had me going back to this spot time and time again.
This actually happened on back to back days that I fished the lake, and on the same piece of structure. The first time I fished for 9 hours and I fished that one spot 3 different times, putting 6 fish in the boat. The second day I was out again for 9 hours and fished this spot 6 times, each time getting a musky, for a total of 6 more. So in two days and 18 hours and 9 times fishing this one spot, I put 12 muskies in the boat.
So it really depends on what's going on. With the pattern I was on here, I probably should have spent even more time on this spot. Typically I don't like camping on a spot like that. But it can pay big rewards at times.
AWH | |
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| I would work the spot just once unless I saw a fish, in which case I would immediately work it again. Once you know fish are in a spot however, I would try to come back during the day whenever something environmentally changes like the pressure drops, the wind shifts, the clouds come in, it starts to rain....  | |
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Posts: 96
Location: Eden Prairie, Mn. |
Usually three times if I saw a fish, lazy follow, 'finning' or missed strike. If time is tight, no action at the spots or
been pressured most of the day by others - twice. The second stop would be in the evening but, not at dusk or dark.
My night fishing is a different animal. I will hit the action only spots almost exclusively or try 'dead' spots/search if no
action ws found during the day.
Mother
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Posts: 57
Location: Racine WI | I will confess to "fishing memories." If I don't fight the tendency, I keep returning to spots that have produced before, and gradually eliminate other, promising spots that have not produced for me personally. This tendency is reinforced by having a slow, small boat, and digestive problems, so I never get too far from home. I truly believe that being overly conservative is the worst quality a fisherman -- especially a muskie fisherman -- can have. But I still fall prey to it.  | |
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Posts: 32958
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I have a 'milk run' set up on every lake I fish regularly. The order in which I hit the areas I fish depends on wind direction and sky cover, but if I am not on Pelican or another structure laden body of water, I may hit my go-to producers sometimes as many as three or four times in a day. If the fish are not active or not there, there is no effect in my opinion. If they are, I catch them, see them, or lose them, not necessarily in that order.
There is a spot on the Goon I might hit as many as 6 or 7 times in a single 14 hour day. I KNOW the big girls are there, just a matter of being there when they move. I can remember many times I covered the area, reversed the direction and recovered it because it 'smelled right to me' without seeing anything, then reversed again and caught as many as 4 on the third time through.
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Question I don't recall being ask --( really no kidding)