Glenn: Hey folks, Glenn May here with BassResource.com, and today I'm asking the elite pros questions
that you submitted on our forums. Let's see what they have to say.
Bob from Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. He would like to know that during the tournament, when
do you know you should give up fishing a pattern or lure and try something else, and what factors
do you consider when you're making that change?
Chris Zaldain: Yeah, that's a good...that's a really good question because we're faced
with that all the time and we're gonna be faced with it this week. You know, when do
you decide to pull the chute and say, "Man this pattern isn't working anymore"?
You gotta try. I mean you gotta always...you got, I mean...the deal is, I tell people all
the time, is you wanna make as many casts as possible, as many presentations as possible
to get that feedback, okay? Whether it will be positive feedback catching a fish or nothing
going on, no fish catches, you're always getting feedback. So whether it be positive or negative,
you want that information coming in, so the more casts you make, the more presentations
you make chasing that particular pattern, the better off you are. So you...I always
like to keep moving, but it's hard to tell...it's hard to say, "Hey no give it 30 minutes, give
it 20 minutes," because it's all dependent. Lotta times it's intuition and the way you
feel how that pattern's going or where the fish are moving to and that just comes with
experience.
Glenn: Really? What are some of the key things to say to someone who doesn't have that experience?
What kinda things should they look for to realize like, "Hey, this isn't working"?
Chris: Yeah, so let's say we're on a spring time spinnerbait bite in the back of a creek
with overhanging trees or something like that when the wind's blowing. Something as simple
as changing from a moving spinnerbait that's real flashy and gaudy, when the wind's blowing,
let's say, you know, and this happens all the time, the wind stops blowing, when they
stop biting that spinnerbait, what do you do? Lotta times I go to a worm, you know?
Every bass lake in the country, fish eat worms, they love it, worm or a jig. So something
slow and low along the bottom.
Lotta times it's just changing a color or changing a simple bait presentation. Fish
are still there in that same area you've established. Just a simple switch up like that, going from
spinnerbait to a shaky headed worm, or drop shot, or wacky rig, something like that will
oftentimes get me another bite.
Glenn: So not necessarily picking up and moving, but just changing techniques a little bit.
Chris: I will always do that before I leave, you know, before I pick up and say, "Oh we
gotta start over." I always change techniques thinking, "Okay the fish were here yesterday,
they can't...they haven't gone far, so let's try a different technique or even a different
angle," and try to get those fish to bite.
Glenn: Bob from Mahanoy. Whoa, see if I can't say that name real quick.
Swindle: Mahanna, yeah.
Glenn: Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. I'm sorry, Bob, if I got that wrong. He wants to know...would
like to know, during a tournament, when do you know when you should give up a pattern
or a lure and try something else and what factors do you consider when making that change?
Gerald Swindle: I look...I'm only look...considering one factor when I make a change like that
and this is simple as this, the instant I start to doubt it, that split second when
I think that first gut instinct, "This ain't gonna work", I'm done. I'm not gonna sit there
for 45 minutes or an hour and labor over my gut instinct when you, no matter...and I couldn't
say this different. Sometimes that could be 3 hours, sometimes it could be 30 minutes,
sometimes it could be 6 hours. But when I start to doubt myself and that pattern, then
immediately I just throw it all down and leave.
Glenn: So what another way to put that might be, you know, just don't try to force something
to happen?
Gerald: You can't, you can't. If you don't believe in it, it's not gonna work. I don't
care what the fish are doing, if you don't believe in it, it ain't gonna work. So when
that self-doubt comes in or you lose your confidence in that technique, do something
different, go.
Glenn: Now how do you get confidence in those techniques?
Gerald: You just...I think you get 'em in practice. So we practice, we had bites on
a jig, flipping docks. We go back there the next day, we flip docks for hour or so, and
all of a sudden I turn and say, "Hey man, it's cloudy and windy, I don't think they're
on the docks, my confidence is not here." Immediately I'll pick something up and start
fishing in between the docks, you know? I'm looking for something in that the fish is
telling me to do, but I'm not gonna sit and just rot on a place and wait for something
to happen.
Glenn: That makes total sense. You don't have that kinda time in the day, right?
Gerald: I just, you know, do what the fish want you to do. And when you have doubt or
self-confidence starts to fade, fade out with it, leave.
Brandon Palaniuk: You know, it's really those building blocks, you know, that I talked about
of having that information and that background of all of your homework and your hard work
that you put in before that tournament comes around, because that's gonna give you the
confidence to make those decisions, whether you need to change a bait, and spending as
much time on the water and understanding how the fish in that particular body of water
relate to different conditions, and the covers that they're around. And that's how I'm gonna
choose, you know, when to switch baits, when to switch areas.
Kind of a rule of thumb is, you know, I will generally change my baits first before I change
an area, unless it's a complete blowout, you know? If the water's just completely changed
where you have a major drop, say 10 to 15 degrees in water temperature or you have a
water clarity situation where it goes from 5 foot of visibility to 5 inches, you know,
then you're probably gonna have to change areas because those fish are gonna be in a
shock factor.
But any mild changes, I'm gonna go with a bait change first and then make a location
change if I have to, because the bait change I already know fish were in that location,
maybe I just need to switch up baits, and that's gonna be a lot more effective than
just starting to run around.
Glenn: So don't leave fish to find fish?
Brandon: Exactly, exactly. But if you feel like the conditions have changed to an extreme
where those fish may have vacated, then you're also gonna have to vacate and move.
Glenn: That works for me. Guys play that part over and over again. That makes so much sense,
trust me on this one.
Brandon: It is. It's simple but it makes sense. That's...I mean, that's what we do all the
time.
Glenn: It's hard to do.
Brandon: It is. It's really hard to do. It's such a simple concept that is very...probably
one of the hardest things for people to grasp and one of the hardest things to do and what
separates the 52 guys in the Classic versus the other guys that aren't.
Justin Lucas: It's really just has the weather changed, what, you know, if you show up in
tournament day and night getting bit where you thought you'd get bait, what has changed,
why is it happening that way? And, you know, or if it's a timing thing, maybe you need
to experiment with something else in the morning and you know that what you were...what you
found is better in the afternoon, you know, save that for the afternoon, so. See that
happen a lotta times where guys might find a bite in the afternoon, go back the next
morning and think it's done and it's just a timing thing, you know?
So the fish are definitely timing feeders, predators. I believe in those lunar tables
and stuff like that, that as fish, they have certain feeding times throughout the day that
are higher than other times, you know? So I I try and pay attention to that a little
bit, try and be in my best areas when I think the bite's gonna be the best.
Glenn: Mm-hmm. So what goes in against, say for example your fishing the best time, you're
on your best spot, you're there for...I'm not gonna put a time limit because there never
really is one, but you get to a point where you realize this isn't happening. How do you...like,
what's that inflection point, right? What's that inflection point and what's the decision
process right there?
Justin: I mean, if I'm not getting bit on my best stuff when I think I should be getting
bit, I'm pulling the plug and I'm gone. I'm going somewhere else. I'm not gonna sit there
and sink with the ship, you know? I've done that before. You learn really quickly not
to do that, and that's what really makes a great angler, is somebody who can go out there,
pull the plug on what they were doing, and go practice during the tournament and find
new fish, you know? They're an animal, they're constantly changing, and you gotta change
with them. Very rarely can you stay and do the same thing several days in a row and expect
to catch the same fish.
Jason Christie: Well, I don't mean to ramble on here, but I have a new watch, and I used
to tell myself practice a tournament, you know, every 30 minutes or an hour, you look
at...you look...because you can get on a bank and just take off. And all the sudden you've
lost two hours. Well every 30 minutes or an hour, you kinda lose track of time. You need
to say, "Okay, I've been here 45 minutes, is this a place that I wanna spend another
45 minutes in?"
But now I have a new watch and it's one of the exercise watches, so if you...after 30
or 45 minutes, if you haven't moved, it's gonna tell you. And that...you know, it's
weird because I'll be fishing and all of a sudden my watch'll beep and I'll look at it,
and it says "Move". And I ask myself. And, you know, it's made for running or something
like that, it's telling you to get off your butt and do something. But I ask myself when
I say that...when I see that, "Do I wanna stay here and do this another 30 or 45 minutes?"
And what's funny is a lotta times when that happens, I'll pull up the trolling motor and
leave because I don't like what I see.
But it's been funny, I've just put a six pounder in the live well, and this thing's telling
me to move, and I'm like, "No dude, I am not moving. I'm gonna stay here and fish." But,
you know, that's something that there's no...you know, I said in the previous question, don't
make it a science. That's something that just...that's gonna have to come from you, and it's gonna
have to come from experience, and it's gonna have to...you're gonna have to have some trial
and error in that to make those decisions. I mean, I can't just give you, "This is when
you move," but the best thing is after you spend that much...enough time there, or a
lotta time there, just ask yourself, "Do I wanna spend more?" I mean, and that's simple.
But do I wanna stay here or do I need to move on?
And it all depends on how many places I have to fish. If I'm at a lake and I only got two
confidence areas, and it's 11:00 and I haven't caught a lot but I don't have anything else
to go to, I don't leave fish to go find fish. But of course if I'm in an area and I got
15 just like it, I'm probably gonna move on and get outta there.
Glenn: That actually makes a lotta sense because yeah, you don't leave fish to find fish, but
a lotta guys are like, "I don't know where to go." That's exactly when it comes...if
you've done your research, and you've done a lotta work on your pre-fishing and you got
those areas, that's what I'm hearing, is have a lot of options available so you can make
those decisions are easier.
Jason: I have a really good story behind that. I have an uncle who's taught me a lot about
fishing who's not alive anymore, but I had pre-fished for an event, I'd caught one fish
in pre-fish, and it was a five pounder, in a pocket that had boat docks. And we started
that morning, he asked me where we were starting, and I said, "We're starting in this pocket,"
because that's the only place...only confidence place, only place I had a bite. We go all
the way around that pocket, the last dock he catches a five pounder.
I pull the trolling motor up, and he sets it down on the seat and he says, "Where you
going?" I said, "We fished the whole thing and we're done," you know? He said, "Have
you caught any fish anywhere else?" And I said, "No." He goes, "Well you caught a five
pounder here," and he goes, "we just caught a five pounder." He goes, "This is where we
need to stay at." And I was like, "All right." I mean, I didn't have anything else to go
to.
And we literally just went back and forth all day long and won the tournament. Now we
only got six bites, but they were all, you know, I think we had 21, 22 pounds. But that
was one of the times that worked out. I'm sure I could...I got stories that if you woulda
stayed there all day, you probably wouldn't have caught anything. But that was one of
the stories behind if there's fish around and you ain't got nowhere else to go, you
probably ought to set up a teepee and hang out.
Glenn: When do you know when you should give up a fishing pattern, or lure, or try something
else? And what are the factors that determine that?
Kevin VanDam: The million dollar question. When to go and when to stay. You know, it's
one of those things again that I think through experience just judging based on the conditions,
if the area or the spot that you're sitting on is gonna be an area where the fish are
funneling to or, you know, gonna be replenishing on, is something that it's a guess. But, you
know, it's something that you have to just kinda trust your gut on.
But if I'm in an area for more than, you know, 30 or 40 minutes without getting a bite or
some kind of idea that things are gonna change, I generally move. You know, a lotta lakes
that you go to, you know, they're big lakes and you have the ability to move around and
cover water and and run a pattern. Some places are smaller and they just have a key spot,
you know, that one perfect point or a creek channel ditch or something like that and you
have to guard it otherwise somebody's gonna be there. So that's one of the things you
kinda gotta assess based on where you're at.
Glenn: And there you have it, great questions from the pros answering your questions that
were submitted on the forums on BassResource.com. For more videos like this, check out our YouTube
channel or visit BassResource.com.