Took my mother out fishing last Thursday. We went to the upper Bay and only caught a few fish and none were over 23 inches. Figured it would be my last fishing until this week due to the weekend crowds.
Sunday afternoon I had my family all lined up to go see fireworks on the water. Then found out I had the dates wrong and everyone made different plans, leaving me all alone. I had no interest in fishing and called my friend Matt to see if he wanted to go get something to eat. He said we should go fishing. I pointed out that we were facing heavy boat traffic, low water, slow current, heat and every other condition for poor fishing. Somehow, we decided to go anyway.
We headed out and get near our first shallow water fishing hole and notice no one is in there. For the first 15 years I fished this spot I literally never remember a single other person fishing there. That has changed to the point that there is nearly always someone fishing there now. But as we passed by it (I don't think I have fished there twice this year due to the crowds), I noticed no one was in there. I said we should try it but my expectations were so low I would not even bother trying to set up the perfect drift. Just rolled right on in there and started casting. Nothing for the first few minutes but then wham, I caught a 26 incher. Seconds later, Matt caught this
![Water Sky Vertebrate Boat Shorts]()
We proceeded to catch fish at every stop. Nice fish. We caught about 30 fish between 25 and 30 inches. People were everywhere. Flying by us every minute. No one seemed to care that we were hauling in fish. We were chuckling how crazy it was because it seemed hopeless and yet the bite was on.
Skip talks about tide and wind all the time for getting the boat positioned right when anchoring. It is equally important for shallow fishing. The objective being to get the longest and QUIETEST drift over the targeted water. You may catch fish being noisy but you will NEVER catch the biggest fish there. The big fish ALWAYS come after many minutes of silence.
Pat
Sunday afternoon I had my family all lined up to go see fireworks on the water. Then found out I had the dates wrong and everyone made different plans, leaving me all alone. I had no interest in fishing and called my friend Matt to see if he wanted to go get something to eat. He said we should go fishing. I pointed out that we were facing heavy boat traffic, low water, slow current, heat and every other condition for poor fishing. Somehow, we decided to go anyway.
We headed out and get near our first shallow water fishing hole and notice no one is in there. For the first 15 years I fished this spot I literally never remember a single other person fishing there. That has changed to the point that there is nearly always someone fishing there now. But as we passed by it (I don't think I have fished there twice this year due to the crowds), I noticed no one was in there. I said we should try it but my expectations were so low I would not even bother trying to set up the perfect drift. Just rolled right on in there and started casting. Nothing for the first few minutes but then wham, I caught a 26 incher. Seconds later, Matt caught this
We proceeded to catch fish at every stop. Nice fish. We caught about 30 fish between 25 and 30 inches. People were everywhere. Flying by us every minute. No one seemed to care that we were hauling in fish. We were chuckling how crazy it was because it seemed hopeless and yet the bite was on.
Skip talks about tide and wind all the time for getting the boat positioned right when anchoring. It is equally important for shallow fishing. The objective being to get the longest and QUIETEST drift over the targeted water. You may catch fish being noisy but you will NEVER catch the biggest fish there. The big fish ALWAYS come after many minutes of silence.
Pat
