Ahh!!! There is nothing like a day off work. What better way to spend it than going fishing on your home lake. Yu set your alarm way too early for the next day. It is still dark outside and you are already at the boat ramp. Like most all of us your time is precious considering your forty plus hour work week so there is no time to waste. You back the boat in and rush to park the truck. The boat engine fires right up and you speed off to your favorite spot. Let’s stop right there. How many of us do that exact same thing. Fish your favorite spot or spots all the time. There is nothing wrong with fishing your “favorite” spot but wouldn’t it be nice to have new favorite spots. Instead of fishing areas of the lake that are familiar, try something new.
A great fisherman who lives on Kentucky Lake once said, “There are places on this lake that the bass have never seen a single lure.” Imagine finding that spot! This is true on almost every body of water. The man with the most lures does not win the fishing tournament. The man who has the most spots that produce fish wins. If you think you know your home lake like the back of your hand, you are only fooling yourself. There are always places on the lake that can be explored.
For the last several years I have been exploring my home lakes and have found some really good spots. I have fished a lot of spots that have not produced fish to find those good spots, but that is the fun part of it. It is the anticipation of that one magical spot. The spot that is holding the mother load. These are places that I have never seen a single boat on. Places that people just drive by and never think about fishing it. My once good spots have become community holes so why bother with them anymore. Now I spend my days scouting like I would for deer. I rely on my electronics to locate subtle differences on the bottom or small pieces of structure that most fishermen would miss.
Once I find something on the graph, I mark it with a buoy. Once marked, I rely on my equipment to tell me what it is below that I am fishing. I depend on two basic rod set ups to start with. The first is a 7’ medium action All Star rod paired with a 5.3:1 Plfueger Trion reel spooled with 10 pound Cajun Red line. I will have a Strike King Series Five or Series Six crankbait tied on. That combo right there will let me feel what kind of structure I am fishing whether it is rocks, wood, or grass. The next set up is a 6’10” medium heavy Team All Star rod paired with a 6.3:1 Pflueger President reel spooled with the new Shakespeare Ugly Braid. Tied to that line is either a Strike King Premier Elite jig or a Denny Brauer Flippin Tube.
Once I have pin pointed the structure with the crankbait I will take several casts at different angles. If nothing bites, I will pick up the jig or tube. Sometimes it will be the first cast with something different that will trigger a strike. If the spot does not produce, I simply mark it on my GPS and will hit it again another day. Sometime spots are all about timing. This is especially true with summertime structure fishing. A spot may produce nothing the first time you hit it, but an hour later they can be loaded on it. That is why finding new spots on a lake is so critical. So instead of two or three good spots, you have twenty. Sooner or later one or more will start to produce fish.
In today’s world where time means everything, take the time to learn what you have been missing. It will pay off in a big way.
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