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Being on the “X”
Flounder fishermen like Lauren Pickard will no doubt enjoy the fall months ahead on Sabine.
I guess Al Pacino said it best in the movie Any Given Sunday "Life is a game of inches."
The difference between being a hero or a goat on the water can often be measured in those same critical inches. Being off by just a fraction can spell defeat where victory was once believed to be an absolute certainty. Being "off the mark" in anything is obviously an undesirable position to be in and fishing is certainly no different. How many times have we all listened to other fishermen, as well as ourselves, recount stories of fishing trips when we "caught 'em on every cast" or "couldn't keep our bait away from them."
What are often lost in those stories are perhaps the most important pieces of the puzzle; like why were those fish in that location, what made that location so attractive to the fish, and so on. With all the water out there to choose from, why do certain spots produce so much better than others?
Now I'll be the first guy to admit that there are plenty of fishermen out there who are far more detail oriented than I am and that's what makes them as good as they are. Right here in Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine there are some of the best in the business at deciphering the code and unlocking the answers. Guys like Jay Watkins, Mike McBride, and Kevin Cochran are some of the best you will find at detecting subtleties that translate into more and better fish. By truly studying the factors and understanding how different things affect fish at different times, these guys have honed their craft to a point that most of us can only strive to imitate. Their attention to detail is probably what impresses most, each day on the water is somewhat calculated and already planned out well in advance of reaching the location. Solving the problem or figuring out the puzzle is basically what we do when we go fishing and the grand prize is finding the "X" that marks the spot where stories and heroes are made.
I'm sure if you sit down and think about your fishing career, each one of us can come up with an "A-Ha" moment when the light comes on and suddenly it all makes sense. I can remember mine as plain as day and more vividly than any high dollar HD TV screen. Nearly 20 years ago as an aspiring fishing guide I somehow had the good fortune of becoming friends with TSF's Dickie Colburn and he had decided to share his knowledge of the Sabine River with me. Very few folks have logged the hours on this body of water that Dickie has, so it was a real education to spend time in the boat with him.
As we probed the river and Intracoastal Canal, Dickie was always very particular about how we set up on a spot and eventually I learned why. One particular area that we pulled up on showed me exactly why it was so important to understand your setup. As we slid the anchor over the side and got into position I could see a submerged point that ran out perpendicular to the shore toward the deeper channel. Dickie explained that the fish were relating to the point and their position would change with the tide movement.
Our initial set up proved to be wrong as we failed to draw a strike. After 20 minutes of probing the area we pulled the anchor and moved 20 yards in order to reach the other side of the point. Our first casts were met with vicious strikes as a pair of redfish began doing their best to stretch our string. After landing the fish we proceeded to sit in that one spot and catch redfish until we were tired of them. That one move to reach a slightly different zone had been the difference between a busted trip and a lifetime memory.
Another example that comes immediately to mind happened on Lake Calcasieu several summers back. Calcasieu is a much different body of water than Sabine due to the amount of structure; in fact it's very similar Trinity Bay and the Galveston complex in general. After having spent most all of my time on Sabine not really fishing structure such as oyster reefs and such, it took me a while to understand the significance of these structures when I fished Calcasieu.
During one particular stretch I had come to find a great bunch of fish that were hanging on an open water patch of shell about the size of a swimming pool, which made it a very small target. Due to the small size of the reef it was crucial to be in just the exact spot in order to take advantage of the fish that were there. For a week straight I had an ongoing duel with another guide to see who would be in the best position. Sometimes we would arrive and set up on opposite sides of the shell in hopes that you had picked the right side for the day. It usually didn't take long to figure it out, one boat started catching fish and the other boat was relegated to spectator status, or just flat out leaving.
I guess I wound up in the right spot about half the time and the other half found me watching as the guys in the other boat would catch fish nearly non-stop, four rods at a time. In fact I watched a couple of those days when the boat I had the ongoing duel with would finish their limit, untie from the anchor, back away, and then let their other guides tie up to the anchor already there, and start catching their fish. Talk about being on the X, they were exactly on it.
Now what both of these stories have in common is the fact that there are certain places where fish want to be and it's our job to figure out why they want to be there. Putting together a formula or pattern and using it to determine the most productive method takes time and patience; it's not something that is discovered easily. Be thorough in your approach when you feel like you have a pattern put together, and do not abandon it too soon. It may be a matter of a small adjustment that separates a bad day from one that could possibly be epic.
In the coming weeks and months we will see a huge transition from our summer patterns as each progressive front will dump more and more bait into the open water from the marshes. The areas near drains and tributaries will become magnets for both predator and prey as each one clings to the structure for different reasons. Flounder fishermen in particular will pay close attention to these spots as big numbers of flat fish will congregate there in hopes of an easy meal. A patient angler who sets up correctly can often be rewarded with good numbers fish from one small spot.
By taking the time to truly explore and analyze the areas you fish instead of rushing through them on the way to the next spot, your knowledge and skill level will continue to grow as will your success rate.
The difference between being a hero or a goat on the water can often be measured in those same critical inches. Being off by just a fraction can spell defeat where victory was once believed to be an absolute certainty. Being "off the mark" in anything is obviously an undesirable position to be in and fishing is certainly no different. How many times have we all listened to other fishermen, as well as ourselves, recount stories of fishing trips when we "caught 'em on every cast" or "couldn't keep our bait away from them."
What are often lost in those stories are perhaps the most important pieces of the puzzle; like why were those fish in that location, what made that location so attractive to the fish, and so on. With all the water out there to choose from, why do certain spots produce so much better than others?
Now I'll be the first guy to admit that there are plenty of fishermen out there who are far more detail oriented than I am and that's what makes them as good as they are. Right here in Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine there are some of the best in the business at deciphering the code and unlocking the answers. Guys like Jay Watkins, Mike McBride, and Kevin Cochran are some of the best you will find at detecting subtleties that translate into more and better fish. By truly studying the factors and understanding how different things affect fish at different times, these guys have honed their craft to a point that most of us can only strive to imitate. Their attention to detail is probably what impresses most, each day on the water is somewhat calculated and already planned out well in advance of reaching the location. Solving the problem or figuring out the puzzle is basically what we do when we go fishing and the grand prize is finding the "X" that marks the spot where stories and heroes are made.
I'm sure if you sit down and think about your fishing career, each one of us can come up with an "A-Ha" moment when the light comes on and suddenly it all makes sense. I can remember mine as plain as day and more vividly than any high dollar HD TV screen. Nearly 20 years ago as an aspiring fishing guide I somehow had the good fortune of becoming friends with TSF's Dickie Colburn and he had decided to share his knowledge of the Sabine River with me. Very few folks have logged the hours on this body of water that Dickie has, so it was a real education to spend time in the boat with him.
As we probed the river and Intracoastal Canal, Dickie was always very particular about how we set up on a spot and eventually I learned why. One particular area that we pulled up on showed me exactly why it was so important to understand your setup. As we slid the anchor over the side and got into position I could see a submerged point that ran out perpendicular to the shore toward the deeper channel. Dickie explained that the fish were relating to the point and their position would change with the tide movement.
Our initial set up proved to be wrong as we failed to draw a strike. After 20 minutes of probing the area we pulled the anchor and moved 20 yards in order to reach the other side of the point. Our first casts were met with vicious strikes as a pair of redfish began doing their best to stretch our string. After landing the fish we proceeded to sit in that one spot and catch redfish until we were tired of them. That one move to reach a slightly different zone had been the difference between a busted trip and a lifetime memory.
Another example that comes immediately to mind happened on Lake Calcasieu several summers back. Calcasieu is a much different body of water than Sabine due to the amount of structure; in fact it's very similar Trinity Bay and the Galveston complex in general. After having spent most all of my time on Sabine not really fishing structure such as oyster reefs and such, it took me a while to understand the significance of these structures when I fished Calcasieu.
During one particular stretch I had come to find a great bunch of fish that were hanging on an open water patch of shell about the size of a swimming pool, which made it a very small target. Due to the small size of the reef it was crucial to be in just the exact spot in order to take advantage of the fish that were there. For a week straight I had an ongoing duel with another guide to see who would be in the best position. Sometimes we would arrive and set up on opposite sides of the shell in hopes that you had picked the right side for the day. It usually didn't take long to figure it out, one boat started catching fish and the other boat was relegated to spectator status, or just flat out leaving.
I guess I wound up in the right spot about half the time and the other half found me watching as the guys in the other boat would catch fish nearly non-stop, four rods at a time. In fact I watched a couple of those days when the boat I had the ongoing duel with would finish their limit, untie from the anchor, back away, and then let their other guides tie up to the anchor already there, and start catching their fish. Talk about being on the X, they were exactly on it.
Now what both of these stories have in common is the fact that there are certain places where fish want to be and it's our job to figure out why they want to be there. Putting together a formula or pattern and using it to determine the most productive method takes time and patience; it's not something that is discovered easily. Be thorough in your approach when you feel like you have a pattern put together, and do not abandon it too soon. It may be a matter of a small adjustment that separates a bad day from one that could possibly be epic.
In the coming weeks and months we will see a huge transition from our summer patterns as each progressive front will dump more and more bait into the open water from the marshes. The areas near drains and tributaries will become magnets for both predator and prey as each one clings to the structure for different reasons. Flounder fishermen in particular will pay close attention to these spots as big numbers of flat fish will congregate there in hopes of an easy meal. A patient angler who sets up correctly can often be rewarded with good numbers fish from one small spot.
By taking the time to truly explore and analyze the areas you fish instead of rushing through them on the way to the next spot, your knowledge and skill level will continue to grow as will your success rate.