Should Have Been Here Yesterday!
Do you have this issue like I do? Always showing up to fish a body of water the day after it is hot. Starting your “fish-cation” immediately following a massive cold front. Listening to the chatter at the bait shop only to find out you missed the best fishing of your life by one day.
I seem to be on one of those streaks right now. My timing has been just a day off in most cases. Spring fishing of course can be a little fickle in this regard. Not only can the weather play tricks with your fishing but so can the fish with their spring spawning rituals. The good thing about spring fishing is that there is always a reason for hope, if you time it right you can have some of the hottest fishing of the year for any species during the spring.
A buddy and I had a great “should have been here yesterday” day on the water last week. Temperatures were warm and in the 80s leading up to our trip, then on the day of the trip the winds flipped to the north and the temps dropped 10 degrees. We also had cloud cover which prevented the sun from warming the back bays we were hoping to target. We fished hard and tried to find them shallow and deep and just never really got on them. It was a challenging day but not a complete wash as we spent time learning more about a new fishery.
The trick with being a weekend warrior angler is that in most cases we can’t go fishing when the timing is just right. We are destined to fish when our schedules allow it. I don’t know about you but 9 times out of 10 I am going to hit the water no matter what the weather is doing. It is times like this when the research and knowledge you have been saving up come in handy. Of course putting that knowledge into practice is the challenge… I spend time constantly reminding myself, “this is making you better fisherman in the long run!” It helps me keep a positive attitude and reminds me to enjoy my time on the water no matter what. There will be some days when you leave the lake and need to say, “Well, the next time I fish in these conditions, I won’t do anything that I did today.” You spent the whole day ruling out areas and techniques for next time, and hopefully you learned a lot!
I believe that staying positive on the water is incredibly important. There is almost always a way to catch fish, sometimes it just takes a little more effort to find those fish. I am excited about a trip planned for this coming weekend. Looking at the forecast and some of the fishing reports it looks really good! Here is hoping I can break the slump, and we can find some hungry fish!
Good luck on the water!
