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Fishing
Techniques :: Destinations :: General
Pattern
cast!...
"I
believe most fishermen miss or spook more fish by just casting
to get their lure out where they hope a fish may be."
First
make short casts - take up slack line- allow the lure to
settle nearer bottom, vary your retrieve, slow fast stop,
let the lure settle again, slow fast, slow, twitch, settle
and fish it right up to the boat or shore!
Still
with short casts, spot cast, left or right 6 feet or so
from the last spot. Cover all the available water area you
can reach in this
manner. No go? Cast your lure another 10 feet beyond the
first range and repeat all around your area. Gradually increase
the distance until you reach maximum accurate range.
Generally
use the interrupted retrieve to keep your lure at a fair
depth. The experience behind this pattern will point out
the productivity. If there are fish available in close,
and you cast your lure out as far as it will go, by the
time you have passed over this fish, your lure is probably
too close to the surface. The fish may follow and then spook
at the boat!
With
short casts you could have picked up this one because you
were in his preferred depth range. If it didn't hit the
short casts, the next one passing near him may have enraged
him into striking. The trick is to get the fish to strike,
not to follow and spook. The pattern method turns the trick!
Try
a lure with special wobble action for smallmouth and trout.
Or add a piece of a night crawler to them and fish slow
- slow. But do not overload it with bait and spoil its action.
These are wild on big pan fish, all bass and smaller trout.
If the fish are deep, pattern cast and work these lures
deep. If they are working surface minnow schools, fish them
shallow but use the same pattern. As a personal observation,
I have noticed the big ones usually usurp the deeper strata
of water and the smaller class above them. The big ones
also take over the best feeding and cover
spots. If you take a good pike or bass from one of these
spots, work it again, the next time out. The next best fish
in the area will have taken over this spot.
Remember,
hot spots in a lake are limited, so keep track of yours!.
Use a size as close to the size of the minnows the fish
are feeding on.
On
surface feeders like trout or bass, retrieve the lure quite
fast, all the way in. On deeper feeders, use the interrupted
retrieve and intersperse very light twitches of the rod
tip for best jig action.
Try sizes
#3, 4,5,6. This gives you a size variation and weight from
1/5 to ½ ounce. Start with the nickel finish lure and switch
to gold, white pearl or copper in the bright sun or evening.
Often a change of color or lure size will fill your limit.
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