Access, time on water, viable populations of your target species.
Access, time on water, viable populations of your target species.
you didn't specify just panfish waters sir , bream are dumb fish and rarely get people wise , they get smaller though under lot's of keep em pressure for sure :RoflQuote:
Originally Posted by Spoonminnow
No fish is people-wise IMO. A pickerel I caught last week still had the lure in its mouth when it broke off. The next cast to the same spot, I hooked it on another lure and got it to the boat before it straightened the jig hook out with the other lure still hooked. The torn mouths of panfish and bass are proof they don't wise up. Some anglers fall into the same category - except without the torn mouth.:dono
When it comes to fish size, location is everything and fish usually congregate by size or are loners too big to pal around with midgets. Catch one in a school and more of the same are hooked. Again, seen last week with white and yellow perch caught from schools in different areas of the lake.
It was explained to me like this. Go to a school yard or playground and just sit and watch. The little ones are full of energy and curiosity, runnin around and getting into everything. The older folks like us are sitting off to the side, but not too far off in case something really cool comes up. Point I took away was that if you’re getting the littles, move a little away from em and you might just find some good ones.
I agree 99% of the times the big girls aren't hanging with the kids but may not be far away. Scott
It is often about where the perimeter is on a school of fish , in some instances big fish are aggressive, but more often than not they tend to be less than energetic and hang around on the perimeter of the festivalQuote:
Originally Posted by ultraslab
The percentage is very high in my area. Guys get to know of your reputation for finding and catching fish and watch where you’re fishing, then mark the spot where they saw you. With the electronics we have now, it doesn’t take them long to pinpoint that exact spot. They’ll come back and fish it every time they visit the lake. They bring their buddy then their buddy brings his buddy and the spot turns into a community hole. A really good fisherman will still visit this spot, catch as many as he can, then know when it’s time to move on to a new spot. They will have numerous spots marked that have produced at different times of the year and visit many of them a day. A seasoned fisherman will know not to sit in one spot too long. Numerous reasons for that. Just remember that you’re not the only one fishing that spot anymore and take what it gives and move on.
I fish bream waters that are always heavily bream fished and are well known as hot spots in Mississippi . I once was a die hard crappie guy but no longer . Age , cost , travel time has made red ear move up the ladder . Tippah , Trace , Elvis Presley , Lamar Bruce , and Monroe are fairly close to me . Since folks watch , I rarely sit anywhere . I am always moving if people are near . I have also found many deep beds due to continuous moving . Attachment 473621Attachment 473622Attachment 473623
You must have an army of cleaners! Do you eat fish more than 3x a day or use a foot locker freezer?!!
Not sure about percentage of good anglers fishing the waters I fish but the percentage of people fishing since Covid is way up and many are keeping what they catch resulting in very few adult fish left. My favorite crappie lake got wiped out last year by meat head minnow dunkers. Small 5 acre lake that nobody fished hardly suddenly had 40 or 50 people with minnow's and lake was wiped out in a couple weeks. Conservation did a survey and not one adult crappie but hundreds of little ones. These small lakes just can't handle that kind of fishing pressure.