Even the pros get in a rut and sometimes its just a good idea to try something totally different. You will be surprised at what you can learn. Yesterday a fellow guide and I both had the day off. We wanted to check a few spots up one of the Savannah river tributaries to see if the fish were showing up where they should. Once the tide got too high for that area, we started thinking of places to go mid-tide so we could keep playing on our day off. The spot we came up with was quite a run from where we were, and that got us thinking some more. What was it about that spot, besides that it was beautiful, that made it such a consistent producer. Depth change? Current? Bottom Composition? Temperature? Structure? Food source? We decided on some combination of those and began pick out a few locations close by that seemed to have the same set-up. Only problem was that some of them were in the main river with big ship traffic and right in the shadow of the city. Certainly they wouldn't be nearly as pretty as our normal honey holes and it might be a tough sell to clients, but would the fish be there? Suddenly we were more than curious. After about a 10 minute run we idled up into our first spot. We looked at each other, at the concrete bulkhead, at the tug boats passing behind us in the dark stained water and laughed at ourselves like we were crazy. We got to fish some of the most beautiful places in the world on a daily basis, and we're here? But, what the hell? We had already stopped, might as well make a cast or two.
Turns out it only took one. The jig head tapped the bottom, bounced once and the rod doubled over as the fish turned into the current. A few astonished looks, and a nice fight later, there was a beautiful over slot red in the net. We released her and caught a few more fish in quick order. After that we had to try another spot. After all, that one had to be just a stroke of luck. Nope. Stop after stop, using the pattern we chose held fish. And good ones. Reds, trout, striper, black drum.
It's certainly not always going to work like that for you. Hell, we've had many scouting days were we wound up with nothing but sunburnt necks and wounded pride. But I'd say its worth trying something new as often as possible, because sometimes...
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