If I've seen it once, I've seen it a hundred times, an angler pulls up to his secret fishing hole to find someone else robbing its contents. With confidence at an all time low, plan "B" is put into action, hurry to the next secret spot just down the lake a few miles. Total devastation has now set in as the angler finds someone else spread out like dinner on the ground, fanning loud surface lures through an area that's been producing in the past. Most anglers at this point would consider their entry fee a donation to the winners bank account a give up all hopes of filling the livewell.
Catching quality bass in congested waters isn't easy, but it can be done. What I've learned over the years is that no one can catch all the fish all the time and not everyone knows how to use a bait to trigger a bite. Now when I see someone in my favorite area, I wait for them to leave, then I catch the bass they left behind.
Just recently I met two anglers fishing a shallow water bay. They were going in one direction, and I was going in the other. We both would be fishing waters that had already been fished. We exchanged hello's and good lucks, then proceeded to fish each others used waters. Still within talking range of the other anglers, I was able to catch a nice 5lb. bass. So...why couldn't the other anglers have put the same fish in their boat?
Here are a few tips for making someone's leftovers your main course:
1. Slow Down and give the fish a chance to see what you have to offer. Cruising bass often get left behind because you've pulled your bait out of the water before they've ever had a chance to see it. Keep your bait in the water.
2. Expect to catch a fish on every cast. Make you time and effort "Value Added". Work each cast as if you could see the bass following your bait.
3. Many anglers still won't put their bait anywhere there's a chance they might get hung up. You've got to cast like Roger Clemens pitches. If you can put your bait in the tight spots, you'll be rewarded with what someone else left behind.
photo by: Darrell Schuster
Photo of Author Andy Afflick
