Many times when the “bite is hot”, you aren’t the first to find out about it. Often times we pull into the “hot lake” and find we are not the only ones excited to hit the water. Whether you are fishing this “hot lake”, a well-known spot or one of the many small reservoirs around large cities like Sioux Falls or Omaha you may be faced with what many term a “pressured” lake. Today, let’s take a look at the approach I take to stand out from the crowd and find success!
Utilize the Bullpen
When I’m faced with a pressured lake, I find the most success reaching into my bullpen. In baseball, the bullpen is your relief pitchers. In fishing, my bullpen is my tackle box full of other baits. In today’s age, many baseball managers are reaching into their bullpen earlier and earlier. The reasoning is simple, analytics show that the more times a batter faces a pitcher, the more success the batter will have. They “figure out” the pitcher and often the third time through the batting order is the ultimate test for a starting pitcher. This is when managers call in their reliever and give the batter something new to look at.
In fishing, the same can be said. Before I hit the water, I tie up my confidence baits to start the day with. These are the baits I expect to catch the most fish on, much like how starting pitchers are expected to get the most outs. If I am struggling to mark fish, I stick with my confidence baits. However, this is often not the biggest issue I’ll face on these pressured lakes.
Generally, the really pressured lakes are smaller and have only a handful of pieces of structure that can concentrate fish. The large expansive lakes you may struggle to find and mark fish you will often be able to catch them when you find them. Lakes like Bitter, Waubay, Poinsett, Thompson and Whitewood if you can get yourself on fish you’ll often catch them. Yes, these are very popular lakes and will face a significant amount of angling pressure, but the size and amount of structure (or lack thereof-Whitewood, Thompson, the south end of Poinsett) gives you plenty of different territories you can cover.
By contrast, on these smaller waterbodies you will be fishing areas with other anglers or where other anglers have been. You will probably be marking fish on a somewhat consistent basis, but they often will either show no interest or not be willing to seal the deal. The script of a day fishing often goes like the script of a baseball game. You’ll often catch fish on the first bait you drop down, this is your starter getting the first outs. Your catching may slow down a bit, but it will still be happening. This is similar to a pitcher struggling through the middle innings. Not long after, your catching will go cold and it will be time to pull your pitcher.
Be Confident In Your Decisions
I often preach, “fish your confidence baits”, but in this situation it is the opposite. Don’t try to scratch out fish, it is time to switch baits to something completely different. Many times, when I drop down something different I quickly coax a mark into a bite. If that bait goes cold, I switch again and can often go through the same routine. It may be a different color, it may be a different profile or it may be a completely different style bait. Those are the decisions you need to make based on the clues you are given. After finding success using this method, you won’t view it as “confidence baits”, but rather a “confidence tactic”.
What is your Favorite Food?
Some anglers believe fish can associate a bait with being caught, but I don’t believe that. My belief is fish have different personalities and for various reasons may not prefer the same bait as others. I like burgers, but don’t like pasta. You might love pasta. We have different preferences. We both might like wings, but my favorite sauce is parmesan garlic and you prefer buffalo. The different sauces can be compared to different colors, though we both like the same bait.
If we ask 100 people on the street what their favorite food is, we’re going to get a variety of answers. Overall, there will be certain foods that many deem their favorite. Maybe 40 people say their answer is pizza and 30 say their answers is steak. These are the “popular baits”. They are fairly generic and work on a wide variety of waters and in a wide variety of situations.
However, the remaining 30% of the population may have different opinions. Some people may say pancakes, some may say chicken wings. There will be your pasta lovers and there will be sandwich enthusiasts. This is why we have such a wide variety of baits on the shelves, because so many options can work! Then there will of course be some of the more unique answers, which are the baits we look at and go “what?” But someone, somewhere will buy it, because it will be “awesome”. In the world of baseball, this is your knuckleball pitcher.
Throw the Knuckleball
If the “hot bait” is a gold spoon, this means the “starting pitcher” for many anglers is this gold spoon. Don’t tie on a gold spoon, because that is what the fish are getting accustomed to or the fish that prefer the gold spoon are getting caught by others. Tie on a hair jig, be the different angler that stands apart from the others. If all starting pitchers throw fastballs, batters will get accustomed to it. It will be the knuckleball pitcher that confuses them and gets them out of rhythm. If you’re faced with a situation like this, don’t be another fastball pitcher. Throw them the knuckleball.
When you find yourself on a lake that you are surrounded by old holes, anglers and/or marks that don’t want to close the deal it is time to throw your confidence baits to the side. Rig all your rods up with something different so you can quickly cycle through different options. On these pressured lakes, you often won’t find the “hot lure”, but rather a sequence that can consistently scratch out fish. Warm your knuckleball pitcher up, make sure all your bullpen relievers are ready to go and keep trying new things and keep those hitters (and fish) confused. Good fishing!
