As I spend time on the water, I see more and more fishermen not understanding the conditions that a body of water offers. This time of year, I fish for chain pickerel both in bay tributaries as well as ponds and lakes in Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia. Along with the pickerel are bass and panfish present.
In most cases, the ponds and brackish waters of the bay should be fished very differently. I said should be for reasons I will explain.
In general terms, most of the brackish waters in the bay have very little grass in their freshwater areas. There can be some, but it isn’t anywhere near as much found in fishing lakes and ponds with large grass beds as well as lily and sputter dock pad fields.
These conditions warrant a different approach to be successful. What can work in a brackish tributary, won’t work or is very limited in grass and pad-filled ponds. When in some ponds and lakes more than seventy-five percent of the lake has grass and pads. This is where the bait lives and this is where the predators go to eat them.
I was fishing recently and saw a couple of fishermen out in the middle of the lake and in the middle of the arms. I have fished this water many times and was surprised how they were fishing. I started to feel maybe they knew something I didn’t know that day. I was wrong on that notion.
There were a few days of warm weather in a row and this being a shallow, dark-bottom lake I felt the fish should be shallow. I was right, catching fish in a foot to 1 ½’ of water. This made sense considering these conditions.
Later that day I had an opportunity to talk to these two fishermen and they were complaining about how slow the fishing was. They only caught a couple of pickerel each for the whole day. I noticed what they were armed with… minnow-style plugs. Makes sense, pickerel eats minnows a plug looks like a minnow. But where they went wrong was the body of the water, they were fishing in water choked with stumps and grass that is even there in the colder months. This is why they were fishing in the middle of the water. It was the only area to fish a plug. They chose the wrong lures for this water.
That seventy-five percent of the water I mentioned could not be fished with their baits. As I stated predators go to the food source and that happened to be shallow, grass and stump fields. I hope they have been fishing where a plug can work. Brackish water is a place that can handle plugs. But I also feel they might think this lake is not a good lake for pickerel, which is totally wrong. I have had big numbers of pickerel on this water.
Should I have said something to them? Maybe. But, if I told them where and what I was using, it might have been taken as I was just showing off. Plus, it is hard to go through a teaching lesson on how to use the flies and baits I used, conditions, weather, and a bunch of other factors I take in consideration of how and where I’m going to concentrate my fishing effort that day. Believe it or not, they didn’t ask what I was fishing with.
When I’m fishing ponds and lakes, I fish flies and plastic swimming and super flukes, with plastic worms and frogs thrown in because of what’s in the water and the shallow depths. Fishing in large reservoirs that contain the grass and pads along with much deeper waters I also have with me jig and twister tails to get down deeper. I am a shallow-water fisherman, and when the temps get up in the late spring. I abandon the deep-water reservoirs. Catching bass in deep water isn’t my thing.
I do fish differently in the bay tributaries where I’m not concerned with grass or pads. I fish jigs with fluke or jigs with twister tails as my spin arsenal and streamers for the fly rod. Generally saltwater fish, even brackish water fish are always chasing down their prey, whereas in the ponds they are ambushers.
I have a hard time wrapping my head around using a bait or fly that is not versatile in all waters or conditions. I can’t understand using a bait the limits where and how I can fish. I have seen this many times when the lily pad fields are getting more matted in the late spring.
Fish are also seeking comfort as well as a food source. Early in the spring, the fish move onshore, so does the bait, as the water warms and the pads are filling in they will move into the pads. As the water temperature rises, they will stay in the pads. If you have no idea about temperature change from the outer edge of the pad fields into the middle, do yourself a favor and stick your hand in both spots. You will be amazed by the different temps.
My point is when a fisherman chooses his baits for the day, he needs to understand the water he is about to fish. He likes to use that bait and has had success with it, but spinnerbaits and plugs are limited as to where they can be fished. Early in the season, they can be worked in and around the pads, but this is short-lived. Pad fields grow at a quick rate. I like to refer to this as soon as the pads fill in, “They have exceeded their expiration date.” The fish are still there but they can’t get through the pads to get to your offering.
While I can still fish in the middle of the pads with worms and flukes, I have seen fishermen now working the outer edge of the pads because their choice of bait won’t let them fish in the area where the fish are. They might catch a small fish or two, but the larger fish and greater numbers are in the pads where it is comfortable, and the food is there also.
Understand the water you are about to fish and maybe to be successful you might need to get out of your comfort zone and try a new fly or lure.
joebruceflyfishing 