Just watch the fish and learn..

[buzzbaiter]

So after fishing a river the other day, I sat down on a log in the shade and watched. Its interesting what you see when you sit still and watch. A few things I observed about smallmouths:

1) They tend to hunt in groups of 2 or more. I saw very few alone and the ones that were alone were the larger "alpha" fish.

2) They hunt very near shore in mere inches of water. Some were so shallow their backs nearly broke the water.

3) They seem to be looking up for food. Saw numerous futile attempts by the bass to grab dragonflies and/or damselflies. 'A' for effort but none that I saw connected. If any emerging mayflies struggled to get airborne, bass were on them. Inchworms/caterpillars also appeared to be on the menu as I saw one fall and it was quickly devoured.

4) Bass that were not looking up for food were chasing killifish in the shallows. I could see them - again in groups of 2 or 3 - charge in sending the killifish airborne trying to escape.

So next time you fish, take some time out to just look and see what's happening. Might help you catch more fish...or not

[bigfishy]

Much agreed and gr8 topic.....
I do this VERY often while fly fishing and waiting for the hatch to materialize....
Not ALL time but sometimes its not about the numbers fer me, it about the memories...

[logs22]

Often when I fish at night I shine a high powered spotlight in the water before I leave when no longer concerned with spooking the fish just to see what I can see. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how many times I will discover that a nice fish has been sitting just a foot in front of me, usually so close to the bank that I would never have have thought to toss my lure there or would have lifted it out on my retrieve before getting to where the fish was at.

I also notice that fish seem to often be in the last place I would have suspected, either in inches of water next to the bank or suspended nowhere near any structure. Makes me think I should stop casting where I think the fish are and instead try fishing where I think they arent....its like the George Costanza philospy applied to fishing - "If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right"

[JDTuna]

Great advice!

[icebadger]

you can watch all the videos and read all the articles you can, but nothing beats learning from just simply watching the fish in their natural habitat. great post.

[Esox Luciano]

This was a pretty cool post Buzz! I've definitely witnessed some out of the ordinary behavior from the larger predators as well. Even just seeing CRAZY HERDS of carp is still cool to me. Turtles that look like dinosaurs, fish that technically you shouldn't see in certain waters but still do. I've seen a wild mink family, otter, beaver, various birds from the small finches or whatever to bald eagles and different hawks & vultures & all the egrets & great blue heron that fish our spots before we do...The list can just keep on going as long as you take some time to soak up your surroundings sometimes.
I feel like I go hard when I fish so I'll often take a few breaks while fishing to smoke, hydrate, relax and observe. Sure enough, there's definitely some interesting things to experience once we put our gear down!!

[NJSquatch]

I need to do more of this. I tend to go into robot mode when the bite is slow and just keep throwing the same thing that isn't working. Need to sit back, watch and listen.