Time Management

[lbkbassin]

How long should stay on a given fishing spot or area? One of the issues I have I'll give a spot or shoreline 30 - 45 min. Sometimes I'll get bit after 25 min, then I'll stay another 30 - 45, to no avail. I'm thinking the extra time is not necessary and should have moved on quicker. How do you guys manage your time on the water?

[pete 1]

well i guess i will start good question levi thinking
i will hit a bank more than once if has produced some hits and fish.
but the most i iwll sit on any one spot is all day and thats when i usually suck. but i don't like long runs and i don't like running and gunning. so i will chose an area that has the most different types of structure and try and fish it all to see what is going on. but on the average 30 min should tell you waht you need to know. but that depends on were you are fishing. rivers change more often than lakes in my opinion. what may not have fish now can turn on 30 min from now just from the water movement, cloud cover etc.

[tuckerabbi]

I am by no means an expert. and fishing the rivers are much differant than fishing the lakes. I fish the rivers. I get on a shore line and stay just about all day. Eventually I'll find a fish. Most of the time it is not very effective. But sometimes it is. Sort of like the guys that go from spot to spot. Sometime its effective, sometimes its not,,,the way i do it is alot cheaper on gas.

If I know that there are fish in an area I will fish that area for a good while before moving.

[Original TrickWorm]

Levi there are a lot more factors invloved in your question than you listed.
1) How large is the spot/area?
2) How large are the fish that are usually there?
3) When was the last time you fished it?
4) Have you that day caught them off your other spots?
5) Do you have a better area?
6) Are you comfortable/happy with how you must fish to catch them?
7) Do you really believe in where you are?
8) Do you think if you sit there all day and get 5 bites they will be the needed tourney winners?

I have spent most of a day on one spot and have also fished as many as 40ish in a day.

[Bass Commander]

Over the years, the large tournaments that Ive won or done well in (Region, Pro-Am teams, etc) were spent in one general area/shoreline. This was after massive time on the water and I would usually spend the entire week on the body of water leading up to the tournament.

Ive won some small club tournaments by running and gunning but for me, and given my past history, I do better when Ive isolated the fish in a small area.

I just dont have the free time anymore to invest on finding that right spot or pattern anymore...

[lbkbassin]

Yea, trick I've asked myself alot of those Q's, I usually go where I've caught the best fish first at the same time of the day and stay for a while, but one thing I don't do is return to the same spot on the same day. If I haven't got a limit or quality fish half way through the tx I start moving alot, don't really want to, like pete I don't like a lot of running and gunning, but with 4 hrs to go I feel the need to force the issue?

[pete 1]

my big problem is i never have a plan till i get there
the voices tell me what to do

[Original TrickWorm]

I always try to give the fish the foirst opportunity to answer the question for me Levi, if I am unable to figure out whether they are catchable quickly or not then I will settle in and beat em on the head to see if that works, they key is to have one or two key areas where you can stop to find out the mood of the fish then carry that info with you as you continue on in the day.

Another factor for you is you MUST watch out for a 21x screaming at you if you are in the wrong spot

[tuckerabbi]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Original TrickWorm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">fished as many as 40ish in a day. </TD></TR></TABLE>

THose are some good questions to ask trick.

40 spots in a day

[lbkbassin]

Keep listening to those voices their working for you this year.

[lbkbassin]

No worries trick I always look out for screamin 21x w/ shinny new seats coming at me.

[Big Johnson]

I used to spend allot of time going from spot-to-spot where I had historically caught fish before. This was a hit-and-miss prospect that worked sometimes, but most often not.

When I started fishing with Pete I learned to take a section of shorline and pick it apart. This worked good allot of the times. Then I started to take note of exactly what kind of structure/conditions on that shoreline produced the most and/or biggest fish.

So now, what I'm currently trying to do is to fish particular structure/conditions until the fish tell me what they want and where they're at. I'll run from where I know one type is to the another. Then I beat those particular types of structure to death.

When I find them it works well. If I can't seem to get anything going then it's back to square one and I just start beating the shoreline with what little time I have left.

Trick....those are very good questions!!! Thanks.

[Just_add_water]

Awesome post! I ask myself this freaking question every week. I feel I spend entirely too long in a certain spot. When i was fishing the suffolk lakes...I could spend almost the whole day in one spot and slay them. Last year was my first time on the river...needless to say it kicked my you know what! I watch alot of other bass boats continuously pass me by..back and forth...and i ask myself...do these guys actually stop to fish?

Anyways...great question and loving the comments!

[BassCatnVa]

Great question! Conditions change so much on the water as your day progresses. My favorite saying i've heard is (fish the moment). Sounds like a simple thing but you got to go with what you have as the day changes and go with instincts. Just got cloudy ...wind just started blowing...... i still suck LOL!

[Hump]

The fun part of fishing tournaments is when one partner perfers to run and gun and the other will sit in an area waiting for the fish to bite (all day if neeeded). Then about one hour before the TX is over the Monday quarterbacking comes into play. One partner feels, "we should not have moved, we could have stayed in one spot and at least done this well". Or, if we beat one area to death with no luck, the R&G'r feels, "see, we should have moved an hour ago". This can make for a long afternoon when nothing works. I guess sometimes either method can work, not knowing exactly when to move or stay is my problem also. If I caught them in that area previously in simular conditions (time of year, tide, temps, wind, water clarity, etc......) I prefer to slow way down and have the patience to wait it out.....however, most of the time it does not work and my record reflects this! On the flip side, if there is some history with other locations taking into account that days conditions, I'll move in a second. Dang, I am confusing myself....