Fishing the seasons

[John Bales]

The guys I grew up with went fishing as soon as we found out the lakes were ice free. Making the move to the lakes where I could keep an eye on when the boat could be launched made it a whole lot less of a guessing game. Back in those days, early or late, there were very few other fishermen even out there. I remember when I thought I was the only one fishing a blade bait but found that there were a couple more guys that knew that the blade bait was a great cold water tool(speed control). As the years passed, a few more fishermen were around and the word always gets out and now we have to share a lake with one or two more fishermen. Man have things changed!!! I don't think there is a single spot that is not known, due to electronics and there are a lot more fisherman these days. To this day, I have not seen but one or two livescope guys that have been in a great position and actually catching the fish. Every season, when I hear the first jet ski, my shoulders start tightening up and it's realized that the nuts are about to come out of the woodwork. Still we have just had about three months of not much competition on our spots but I will start to fish the smaller off the beaten path most of the summer. For sure not on a weekend. The July 4th really shows how everyone wants to be at the lake and they let it all out in the few days of vacation they get and this boy might go out on my own lake early in the morning for a few hours and lock myself in the house the rest of the whole holiday weekend. We are now in the heat of the summer when the population around here is maxed out for the whole season. I remember moving away from the city to get away from them and now more and more people are wanting to be here too. The 60 grand I paid for my home has now turned into 3-4 hundred thousand. If you saw a car or two 30 years ago come down our road, that would be it but now it can be grand central station it seems. Covid made the lake more popular and that has not went away. They came to get away and must have liked it. For me, the best time of the year to fish is from right at ice out till late April and then again when the kids go back to school, the piers start coming out and better yet thanksgiving till ice up. Some of my idea is less people but I love it when the fish go deeper, the choice of lures is much simpler and in most cases, you have them to yourself. Some seasonal location patterns a couple of us are seeing with FFS has changed my thoughts in fish dying after a hard spray. There have been times that a lake is hammered by the weed sprayers and the adult fish just seem to be gone. Nothing caught but small fish that seem to be skinny and not doing well at all. And then maybe later in the season, a few adult fish show back up and are in pristine condition without a hook mark in their mouth. It is obvious that fish survived and has done well but not coming to the standard structures to be caught by a fisherman. In some lakes we are finding pretty good schools of fish that are no where near any weedline but are out in the middle of the lake suspended 5-20 feet down over 40-60 feet of water. Not in all lakes but in some. It seems like every lake is different. It may take some time to figure out a pattern if it's even possible to live long enough to check it out well and spend some time with it. Buck said that a fish is very adaptable and if it's possible, it will get away from a changing condition and adapt to it and survive. I think most of our guidelines were written not accounting for man to move in and change a fish's environment to an extent to actually kill them. So now I find bass taking up sanctuary out on a big flat away from traditional structures and also out suspended out in the middle of nowhere where he said not to go without guidelines. He was right on saying that. But now with FFS, this gives the fisherman a view that can tell the whole story and show if they are out there or not. We have an idea of where a lot of these suspended fish are and much of finding them is with Buck's guidelines. Sanctuaries are picked by the fish because it offers them stability in bad weather and water conditions. A major change when a large part of a lake has the weeds dying and taking up oxygen , those fish are not going to hang around that stuff but will look to find a more stable place. And this is part of what we are trying to figure out . It will take some time to look around before we can figure it out, if that's possible. Anyways, sometimes what we all hate is change and when it effects what you love, if you don't adapt, you just miss out. We can never know it all but we can still try to learn. John

[Hal Standish]

The guys I grew up with went fishing as soon as we found out the lakes were ice free. Making the move to the lakes where I could keep an eye on when the boat could be launched made it a whole lot less of a guessing game. Back in those days, early or late, there were very few other fishermen even out there. I remember when I thought I was the only one fishing a blade bait but found that there were a couple more guys that knew that the blade bait was a great cold water tool(speed control). As the years passed, a few more fishermen were around and the word always gets out and now we have to share a lake with one or two more fishermen. Man have things changed!!! I don't think there is a single spot that is not known, due to electronics and there are a lot more fisherman these days. To this day, I have not seen but one or two livescope guys that have been in a great position and actually catching the fish. Every season, when I hear the first jet ski, my shoulders start tightening up and it's realized that the nuts are about to come out of the woodwork. Still we have just had about three months of not much competition on our spots but I will start to fish the smaller off the beaten path most of the summer. For sure not on a weekend. The July 4th really shows how everyone wants to be at the lake and they let it all out in the few days of vacation they get and this boy might go out on my own lake early in the morning for a few hours and lock myself in the house the rest of the whole holiday weekend. We are now in the heat of the summer when the population around here is maxed out for the whole season. I remember moving away from the city to get away from them and now more and more people are wanting to be here too. The 60 grand I paid for my home has now turned into 3-4 hundred thousand. If you saw a car or two 30 years ago come down our road, that would be it but now it can be grand central station it seems. Covid made the lake more popular and that has not went away. They came to get away and must have liked it. For me, the best time of the year to fish is from right at ice out till late April and then again when the kids go back to school, the piers start coming out and better yet thanksgiving till ice up. Some of my idea is less people but I love it when the fish go deeper, the choice of lures is much simpler and in most cases, you have them to yourself. Some seasonal location patterns a couple of us are seeing with FFS has changed my thoughts in fish dying after a hard spray. There have been times that a lake is hammered by the weed sprayers and the adult fish just seem to be gone. Nothing caught but small fish that seem to be skinny and not doing well at all. And then maybe later in the season, a few adult fish show back up and are in pristine condition without a hook mark in their mouth. It is obvious that fish survived and has done well but not coming to the standard structures to be caught by a fisherman. In some lakes we are finding pretty good schools of fish that are no where near any weedline but are out in the middle of the lake suspended 5-20 feet down over 40-60 feet of water. Not in all lakes but in some. It seems like every lake is different. It may take some time to figure out a pattern if it's even possible to live long enough to check it out well and spend some time with it. Buck said that a fish is very adaptable and if it's possible, it will get away from a changing condition and adapt to it and survive. I think most of our guidelines were written not accounting for man to move in and change a fish's environment to an extent to actually kill them. So now I find bass taking up sanctuary out on a big flat away from traditional structures and also out suspended out in the middle of nowhere where he said not to go without guidelines. He was right on saying that. But now with FFS, this gives the fisherman a view that can tell the whole story and show if they are out there or not. We have an idea of where a lot of these suspended fish are and much of finding them is with Buck's guidelines. Sanctuaries are picked by the fish because it offers them stability in bad weather and water conditions. A major change when a large part of a lake has the weeds dying and taking up [/i]oxygen , those fish are not going to hang around that stuff but will look to find a more stable place. And this is part of what we are trying to figure out . It will take some time to look around before we can figure it out, if that's possible. Anyways, sometimes what we all hate is change and when it effects what you love, if you don't adapt, you just miss out. We can never know it all but we can still try to learn. John

+1 Love the way you think great message for sure!

Hal