Some more thoughts

[John Bales]

We all live in our own little fishing world. Reservoirs, natural lakes and all those inbetween. Dark water colors, gin clear waters, lakes with no weeds, lakes full of deep weeds. Lakes with the dragon (pike and musky), lakes with stripers, wipers and other species that might dominate where the bass might have to take second fiddle. Anyways........ we all take time to think where we are in our fishing (at least those that fish). How do you gauge this? For me, I always remember Mr. Perry holding up both hands like he is holding up a stringer of fish and he said this is how you measure your success, by the catching of the fish. I have always preached that in our clear natural lakes with weeds and those full of northerns or musky, if you want to catch the bass, you must cast the weeds with different types of lures to control your depths and speeds. I stick to that comment. Take the guy who catches 60 northerns and had a great day and you aske him how many bass he caught. When his answer is none, the question should be so where were the bass? You cannot blame this person for not stopping to cast. He is catching more fish than ever, why would he want to change anything? For years, there has been discussion about bass living in the weeds. I remember the Infisherman when owned by Al and Ron having articles that mentioned that in many natural lakes, the bass live in the weeds. For the first time, I have a tool that allows me to visually look into the water and see fish swimming around on the spots and areas I have been fishing for years. Sometimes, I can actually see a fish, cast to him and watch him eat my offering but that's not my point. Like every other tool that has come along, there is always talk of how this new stuff will wipe out the fish populations. So far, none of it has done that, and I do not think that livescope or any of the other like units will destroy fish populations. We as spoonpluggers are different than everyone else because we are the only group of fishermen who have a set of guidelines which is supposed to give us the knowledge we need and go about our fishing in a way that keeps us not having to think too much and out of trouble. I am sure Mr. Perry did not want us to ever stop thinking on our own. He did say near the beginning of the green book that here is the knowledge you need for successful fishing but there is so much more out there to learn. For me, its all about the learning. It's really about the catching and the daily thinking after a day on the water to wonder if I did enough. How do you gauge your fishing?
What my fish do in the lakes I fish is not the same as what you may deal with in your own little fishing world. You must do your own thinking of what your fish are doing daily and seasonally. You must adapt to what you are faced with. You and I have two choices, we can troll or we can cast or we can do both and do it as well as we can to put fish in the boat.
Back to Livescope. I rate myself at about a 250 series and might not be that good just yet but here is what I think about it. For the first time I can look around and see how fish are related to what I am fishing. The crappies and bluegil are many but not everywhere. They seem to know where the structure is also. Each species shows up bigger or smaller and have a certain look which you can pretty much guess what you are looking at after a while. Can you catch everything you see? Now we have to go back to the study material which in our minds, we do it all the time every day we are on the water. The fish become active once or twice a day and during that time of the activity period is when we have our best chance to make a catch. Can we see a fish and drop something down to it and maybe catch that fish? Yes you can. Back to the study again. Mr. Perry says if you stick a lure in front of a fish at zero speed, he might suck it in. So there you go. One thing I am shocked at is the lack of the bass at the base of the weedline. I thought I would see more at that area , especially in the heat of the summer. I am not seeing that many. I purposely went to a deep clear lake with a 26 ft weedline and no pike to see if there were more bass on the outside weedline. There were very few and when I did see and catch a few of them, I only saw one or two at a time. Again, that shocks me. You do not see the fish when they are buried in the weeds. You can see them if they are above the weeds, or along side the weeds but not buried in them. Here is what livescope does for me. It tells me if any fish are in the area I am casting to if they show up at all, with all the tall thick weeds in our lakes. This is always a casting thing. I had a vision of putting the trolling motor down, sitting in the back seat and following the outside weedline on all my spots and loading the boat with the fish I locate. My units are shared so I can have the same view of livescope from sitting in the tiller seat. This did not happen because of the lack of fish that are in that position available to me, or in this case, not available. Are all the fish in and around the weeds? Answer that! Maybe livescope is like any other unit. Maybe when the fish are so close to the bottom, you cannot see them anyways till they get a little active and move up a little. Maybe the thermocline is keeping them shallow. I would assume that this fall, I will be able to see and catch a lot more fish out towards the deeper holes where we catch them in the late part of the season. I am actually looking forward to that more then what I have been looking at lately. So here is what I do. After spending a lot of time looking and not fishing, I have come to a middle ground to what is best to learn and still put the same amount of fish in the boat we always do. Do the work as normal, presenting lures both trolling and casting and when casting, use the livescope at the same time you are doing the mechanics of depth and speed so as to not take away anything from what is needed to be done, but at the same time have an opportunity fo learn more. We are all different in what we like to do. My situation and my love for the bass forces me to do a lot more casting than most. So what!!! Who cares how we catch the fish, as long as we are satisfied with our catches and learn every time we are on the water. There are a lot of fisherman out there that are pretty good and catch a lot of fish without Buck Perry's guidelines. They have their own ideas on what fish do and have their favorite lures to use. But......... you and I have been handed the opportunity to have a pretty good understanding of the truth about fishing and what you and I must do to catch them consistently. We also have the choice to take in the part where Mr. Perry says there is so much more to learn. That is up to the individual to do with it what they want after they get to where they can catch fish consistently. A while back someone made a statement to me about keeping count of my fish as a goal. I really cannot remember how it was said for sure. I stopped keeping track of my catches after that. Only a daily count on my counter in the boat and that is erased each day. I dont keep track of bass over 3 lbs either. Somehow that took a load off my shoulders not to care anymore. Then I baled on the club and then the national and now I just have the pressure of if I want to go fishing and where I might do it and maybe learn something. I got over heated last week on the water. Didn't drink enough water. Sore throat started , then runny nose and cough. Taking a few days off to rest so sharing some of my stupid thoughts. I am having a really good time fishing right now. Thank you Buck. Take Care. John

[jwt]

Thanks John. Good advice and your thoughts and guidance are always welcome. Good information regarding the Livescope. Interesting that it seems pretty useless if bass are back in the weeds. Fortunately we don't have to depend entirely on an aid that all the marketing hype says we need to catch fish. We have something better: Buck Perry's' guidelines and mantra "Knowledge is the key".

Take care of that sore throat, runny nose, cough, etc. Have you had COVID shots?

[Steve Craig]

Wow John!!!

Several mouthfulls there!

Where to start?
""" How do you gauge your fishing?""""
Early on, it was always by how many fish we caught. Most all Spoonpluggers always strived for that. Then it was how many BIG fish we could catch.
Then for some of us, we look for that ONE really BIG gal! That 10 pound plus LM Bass. The 6+ Pound SM Bass
It seems the older I get the more mellowed out I have become. So many Goals have been reached over the years. Ive done all of the above except for the 10 # LM. She will come, I have no doubt. I know now, how to go to any lake and figure it out. Buck Perry gave me the confidence to do just that.
So it seems that over the years, our gauge can change somewhat.
I can only speak for me here.
Im almost 70, and what was a driving force is simply not there anymore. Has that lessened my desire? NO!
This coming November 1, for a bout 3 months or so, I will be taking time off from my Company to spend more time fishing, and also teach my Grandsons how to call in a Mountain Lion, Bobcat, or a bear.(coyote and fox are easy) Mellowed goals if you will.
Time on the water has eluded me over the past several months. Thats going to change.
I intend to use my Active Target and do what you are doing, and LEARN all I can with the time and good health the Good Lord has given me.
So how do I gauge my fishing? Ill let you know later on!
Steve

[Team9nine]

We all live in our own little fishing world.

What my fish do in the lakes I fish is not the same as what you may deal with in your own little fishing world. You must do your own thinking of what your fish are doing daily and seasonally. You must adapt to what you are faced with.

...Now I just have the pressure of if I want to go fishing and where I might do it and maybe learn something.

This is pretty much where I'm at, too. It kind of ties in with the piece Walt posted in the National last month. I had a moment that drove this home recently when I posted a diagram from one of Buck's articles. It got reposted to a Spoonplug audience, and interestingly enough, half a dozen people commented about how it wasn't a good spot, the fish wouldn't move or use it, etc. I just had to chuckle and think back to the above comments you made and Walt wrote about. A bunch of Internet Spoonpluggers essentially correcting Buck, who created the diagram and wrote the details of the situation, and all commenting on how the fish wouldn't use it. Buck said otherwise in the article.

As Spoonpluggers, we will often interpret situations differently. Maybe my interpretation is right, maybe its wrong. Some Spoonpluggers will even interpret it contrary to how Buck did - but I'm learning not to care. I can only offer my opinion and perspective, and sometimes that even seems like its not worth it. You live in your fishing world, I live in mine. Same goes for all of us. Like you, and since I retired, my gauge and my issues are now deciding if and when to go fishing, which species to fish for, where to go to catch them, and did I end up making a catch I'm happy with. And if I didn't, did I at least come off the water knowing more than before I started. If so, I'm good...

Brian

[MuskyAddict]

Interesting comments from John. The question of bass in the weeds versus at the base of a weedline has haunted me. As a new Spoonplugger I am struggling to find any consistency. I knew it would be this way at first so I’m not discouraged. But my observations so far seem to contradict what I was expecting (or hoping for). I fish (as some of you know) Lake Minnetonka in MN. It is labeled as one of the best bass lakes in the country. Minnetonka is a natural lake. It is actually a chain of lakes with connecting channels that were either made by man or “improved” by man. Prior to this year I focused on Muskie so I didn’t know (or care) what bass were doing. Maybe that’s part of the reason of why I’m a lousy Muskie fisherman. I discovered Buck Perry and Don Dickson this winter, read the green book and home study guides, watched every video I could find and bought the spoonplugs, etc on the website. I have two rods and No Bo line being shipped as I write this. I’ve INCONSISTENTLY caught bass this summer but almost always in or above the weeds. As I’ve tried to troll outside the weedlines and along the deeper breaklines I find the only fish I connect with are pike. I’m guessing a Muskie took my lure last weekend since my fluorocarbon leader was bit through. I’m struggling to find that school of bass in 15’+ water. I believe they are there because both Buck and the regulars on this forum say they are. I will admit that I’m catching more fish this summer than I’m used to and I’m having fun. But…….I have a lot to learn!

[John Bales]

This is your first year. We all struggled at first. You are not supposed to get it fast. It will only come from years of experience. Hang in there and it will come. John