Doing better on lakes I've never been to, than on lakes I know

[Reel Northern Bass]

I've been struggling damn near all season long here in New Hampshire. Started the year hitting my usual round robin of lakes I like to fish, and just couldn't get into any sort of groove on them. So I started going back to ponds I used to fish a lot, but haven't touched in the last 5 years or so...and still struggled. Finally kind of threw the towel in and let my friends talk me into going to other bodies of water I've never fished...and those have been the best days I've had all year long. We hit up Waukeewan Lake in the lakes region of NH last month, and had a pretty good day. Got to put that relatively new Megabass Okashira screwhead to work, also with the Megabass Spark Shad on the back, and my buddy pulled up the two biggest bass of the day on it with a solid 3+ lb smallmouth and a 4+ lb largemouth. The rest fell victim to a drop shot with the Beast Coast Magic Flick. Felt good to bend the rod on a bunch of bass for the day, even if most of mine were rats (the majority of which are not shown).

[mean_dean]

Fishing history rather than current conditions? Had that happen to me on my favorite lake in Southern Michigan, one year just could not get bit using the same techniques that always worked. Had to do something completely different that year, next year back to the old patterns.

[Reel Northern Bass]

Fishing history rather than current conditions? Had that happen to me on my favorite lake in Southern Michigan, one year just could not get bit using the same techniques that always worked. Had to do something completely different that year, next year back to the old patterns.

To start the season, yup, that was my problem. Middle of the season I drastically changed my approach to a lot of those ponds, and it still didn't help. Just started going to places I've never been, and it was a pretty evenly mixed bag of what worked. Half the time, what SHOULD be working for those conditions worked. The other half the time, just making some changes here and there was enough to work well.

I honestly do believe that most of the places I was fishing (which are all in the same area of the state) were just off for some reason this season...but I've also been extremely stressed with my current job, and that absolutely had an impact on my ability to remain focused, and really think about what I was doing. Tail end of this season, I was able to get out of my own head a bit and relax a bit more, and that probably made just as much of a difference as fishing new water did.

[mattmann7]

I had my best tournaments on lakes I had never been to. I think it requires getting back to primitive instincts. You are faced with having to go by gut instincts based on learned experiences that you develope over time. That and you have no prejudice of fishing new spots. Once a place becomes familiar you out smart yourself sometimes and also become prejudiced.

[Reel Northern Bass]

I had my best tournaments on lakes I had never been to. I think it requires getting back to primitive instincts. You are faced with having to go by gut instincts based on learned experiences that you develope over time. That and you have no prejudice of fishing new spots. Once a place becomes familiar you out smart yourself sometimes and also become prejudiced.

That's a great point!

[BP in ME]

Can you fish everywhere until ice-up in NH or just certain ponds?

[Reel Northern Bass]

Can you fish everywhere until ice-up in NH or just certain ponds?

Mixed bag. Designated trout ponds are closed to ALL forms of fishing starting on October 15th, through to the 4th Saturday in April. Lake trout ponds/lakes can be fished open water until December 31, then ONLY THROUGH ICE from January 1 - March 31, regardless of whether or not there's ice or open water. No ice, no fishing.

That last one is a real kick in the pants, because all of the big lakes are lake trout lakes, and they're the only ones that usually have open water into January. Usually only for about a week or so, but that's one less week of waiting for spring.

[BP in ME]

Similar to here then. You gotta consult your law book and then hire an attorney before wetting a line

[NitroVanDam]

Mixed bag. Designated trout ponds are closed to ALL forms of fishing starting on October 15th, through to the 4th Saturday in April. Lake trout ponds/lakes can be fished open water until December 31, then ONLY THROUGH ICE from January 1 - March 31, regardless of whether or not there's ice or open water. No ice, no fishing.

That last one is a real kick in the pants, because all of the big lakes are lake trout lakes, and they're the only ones that usually have open water into January. Usually only for about a week or so, but that's one less week of waiting for spring.

I have been On Winni On Dec 24th one year, and on Winni on March 24th one year. And YEP it's closed according to SGT Juno of the NH F&G Dept. LOL. Now he's a LIEUTENANT. The man just didn't have a sense of humor.

[JerryT]

You look different with a beard lol

[Reel Northern Bass]

I have been On Winni On Dec 24th one year, and on Winni on March 24th one year. And YEP it's closed according to SGT Juno of the NH F&G Dept. LOL. Now he's a LIEUTENANT. The man just didn't have a sense of humor.

lol that must have been one of those 2 consecutive years where we barely got any snow up here, and we had back to back record setting ice outs on Winni? Those years were crazy, I was finding bedding smallies in mid-April in southern NH.

You look different with a beard lol

You mean because those are real beards, and not my patchy wannabe beard?

[bassboat1]

I'm sure I fish a number of the same small waters that you do. One thing that I had to adapt to this year was the general lack of development in the offshore grass. I've been leaning on that for the past few summers, and it never got going this season (Pleasant in Frannietown comes to mind). I also dicked around with a lot of unfamiliar techniques, and a bunch of new equipment early this season, and I'm sure that accounted for some of the slow days.