Here yesterday, gone today

Here yesterday, gone today

Have you ever fished two consecutive days in a row on the same body of water, and had the experience of loading up the live well the first day and finding the same location void of fish the next day?

This common phenomenon drives anglers insane.  Many times, some anglers just pack up and go home, stating the fish just were not biting.  Others will try to determine why the fish have moved on to other locations.

In many cases, inexperienced fishermen will move from place to place until they either fail, or accidently find fish.  Others will “read the water” to determine what is happening below the boat.

Some of the key elements I use when reading the water include wind, changes in food sources, water clarity changes, and water temperatures.

Wind tends to be the key element.  A wind speed variance or change in direction will move fish in almost every case. Frequently, the fish have not moved far from the previous day, sometimes just several hundred yards.  Far enough away that yesterday’s location holds zero fish, and your longest cast cannot reach the new spot now holding the fish.

The wind-blown side of the same structure is a quick and easy check of conditions.  As the wind blows on a reef, rock bar or hump, it tends to push plankton and other small organisms into the structure.  The bait fish will follow the plankton as it is a primary food source.  Once the bait fish, like shiners, move in (or in heavy winds get pushed in the structure); the predator fish will soon follow.   Again they are following their food source.  This is similar to a Packer fan looking for a tailgate party during football season.

One extremely tough “reading” condition is flat calm.  Under this circumstance, a check of the weed lines might be your best bet.  The weed line edges will hold the most actively feeding fish, as they wait in the weeds to attack unsuspecting targets which move in the open water. By moving your presentation a little quicker under these conditions, it can create reaction strikes from negative feeding fish.

There is no exact science to reading water.  It takes time, knowledge, and deductive reasoning to become proficient at reading conditions.  There is still a high failure rate using this system, but it does improve your odds over guesswork.