Question for the hammers out there

[KSanford33]

For those of you who are very good at locating and catching fish, how did you become successful at it (other than time on the water)?

[gimruis]

Not sure I’d call myself a hammer. But I focus on about 3-4 lakes and fish them often every season. Learning specific patterns on specific lakes has helped me every season during certain times of the year.

 

@WRB is probably the best resource here. He lived the golden age of bass fishing at its peak.

 

 

[Pat Brown]

Intentional and productive time on the water. Not just time on the water.  😉😉😉😉

[Scott F]

For me, joining a non-tournament fishing club where I met and got to fish with other knowledgeable fishermen and time on the water, were the keys to becoming a better fisherman.

[Jig Man]

I’m not sure that I fit your definition, but paying attention is an absolute.  For example a few trips ago we couldn’t find anything.  After 5 hours I went through what all we had fished.  Pretty much all that was left was a long gravel runoff next to a channel.  I pulled up to one that had produced in the past and it was full of bass.  We went from nothing to 39 in an hour and a half.

[J Francho]

It's not really time on the water as much as its contiguous trips to the same water. Take a few weeks to figure out what is going on. Once you feel good about it, try another location or lake. 

[A-Jay]

Without quantifying my own skill level, or lack there of,

I've read a fair amount of the bass fishing articles on this site.

What follows comes from one of them.

I believe it to be a decent start to answering your question. @KSanford33

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/improve-bass-fishing.html

 

Listen more

You’ll have many questions as you progress as a bass angler. And it’s essential to ask them. But it’s more important to listen, not only to the answers but in general. Good anglers work hard, spending long hours developing and refining their patterns and approaches. So, with that amount of investment, most aren’t willing to give away everything. They’ll give you just enough to point you in the correct direction. Listen carefully for those details, then string them together. Before long, you’ll be fishing better and gaining confidence.

 

Concentrate on the details

When you first start fishing, you’ll focus on seasonal patterns, such as bass go shallow in spring to spawn, which are the most significant pieces of the fishing puzzle. Eventually, you’ll drill down to a day-to-day understanding of bass activity. Bass don’t contemplate where they are headed or what they are doing. They react to current conditions. Spawning, for example, takes place with more daylight, warming temperatures, and a full moon. But there are spots where they spawn first, such as the northwest corner of a lake, which receives the most warming sunshine in spring and protection from cold north winds. Knowing and acting on these tiny details is the difference between an average and a great angler.

 

Set reasonable expectations

It’s not every day that you’ll load the boat with bass. More often than not, you’ll define success with fewer bites. That’s the way it is for every angler. That understanding also is an excellent way to approach becoming a better bass angler. If each tip and trick you master results in an extra bite, you’ll start catching more bass each trip and more throughout a fishing season. And with each step forward, you’ll gain more confidence in your abilities.

Don’t downplay confidence's importance in your progression as a bass angler. It’ll keep you going through slow bites and learning new techniques. Eventually, it will allow you to trust your “gut” on the water. And plenty of fishing success will come when you start trusting that little voice inside.

 

Define your fishing fun

Maybe it’s catching the most. Maybe it’s catching the biggest. Maybe it’s exploring new waters. Fishing is great because there are so many ways to enjoy it. Decide how you like to fish. Define that passion, and your love for and knowledge of the sport will grow. If you enjoy hunting the biggest bass, for example, build your fishing around that, from the lures you collect, rods and reels you select, and the trips you orchestrate. And don’t be afraid of letting what you find fun change. Those new directions may take you to exciting places.

 

Fish for different species … sometimes

According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. anglers spend the most days chasing bass for good reasons: They’re almost everywhere and a blast to catch. But that doesn’t mean other fish aren’t worth your time. On the contrary, they can be fun to catch, too, and make you a better bass angler. Trout, for example, live and die by current. Chase them, and you’ll become better at reading water and develop a deeper understanding of how all fish use it to their advantage. If you need to work on your patience, try musky fishing. They always appear when you’re ready to give up on them. And if the bass in your local water suspend in summer, practice on walleye.

 

 Step from behind the screen

The internet is home to an endless source of quality bass-fishing information, but you already know that. Why else would you have visited Bassresource.com? But while reading and researching is a significant first step, there’s no substitute for practicing that knowledge on the water, such as developing the feel for a smallmouth subtly slurping your drop-shot bait or perfecting the rod angle skips a jig far under a dock or pontoon boat. So, schedule regular trips. They don’t all have to be a day- or weekend-long adventure. Even a few hours walking around a nearby pond will pay dividends.  

 

Stay organized

Success is where opportunity and preparation meet. So, take time to put your gear in order before every fishing trip. This starts with ensuring the line on your reels is in good shape and includes going through your tackle, whether stored in a box, bag, or boat. Check the hooks on your frequently used lures, swapping out rusted or bent ones. Put all your lures back in their correct tackle box, so you can quickly find them when you need them. Sort through your bags of soft-plastic lures, combing half-used bags of the same color and shape. Take note of lures that are missing or getting low, so you can pull more from your excess stock or make a shopping list. And give your boat, outboard, and trailer a once over, making sure wires are connected, screws and bolts are tight, and everything is fueled, charged, and lubricated. Take care of this now, and you’ll be ready when the bass are.

A-Jay

 

 

 

 

 

[Susky River Rat]

The only thing I hammer is beers and my head against the wall.

[WRB]

A-Jay nailed it 👍

There is an old saying that 90% of the bass live in 10%of the water. That leaves finding that 10% of the water!

I start by elimination areas with poor habitat too deep or too shallow. I don’t bass fish deeper then 40’ so that can eliminate a lot water and locations.

With little research we know where bass like to spawn. Let’s use that knowledge and locate those areas to start with.

Factoring in proffered seasonal periods like the spawning area we can determine the bass are in deeper water in the cold water seasonal period where the warmest water is.

Now draw a mental line from the cold water locations nearby the Spawning areas. Somewhere along that path the bass will find what it needs...prey and a safe place to rest a sanctuary.

Bass like to travel along break lines at a comfortable depth and water temperature.

My 1st piece of the puzzle is to determine the depth the majority of bass are using, call this depth the life zone.

Now we can eliminate a lot of water that is deeper then the life zone and start looking for areas that provide prey and sanctuary.

For sake of discussion let’s say the life zone is about 17’ to 15’ during the Pre Spawn seasonal period. Look at your lake map and follow the life zone depth fairly close to where the bass will end up during the spawn. Structure elements like points, islands or humps and creek channels that intersect the pathway the bass are using will hold bass at sometime.

So now we have a good idea where the bass should be but only time in the water surveying the areas and fishing those places can we determine when the best time is. Weather affects timing and constantly changing. So it’s important to fish often to get the rhythm of a specific or area when bass are active feeding. It’s a simple matter of trial and error targeting those higher percentage areas found.

Winter is the cold water period

Pre Spawn  is the period before bass are on beds.

Spawn is bedding egg laying and bed protection period.

Post Spawn follows the spawn.

Summer is the warmest water period.

Fall is cooling water period.

Those areas you located between winter and pre spawn will hold bass during summer and fall at some time period.

Get out your map and start studying it!

Tom

PS, Google search my Cosmic Clock and Bass Calendar for more details. Keep in mind Bass have individual behavior, all I can do is generalize.

[LrgmouthShad]

Ain’t many on here that should answer this question and I sure as heck ain’t one
 

Anyways we can cheers over that

[PaulVE64]

I'm as humble as the next guy. I catch a few river smallies when I fish but I have no idea how many I miss. Probably dont want to know that.

 

But I can say that observing the weather, conditions and wildlife within the season is paramount to understanding the savage nomads that are smallmouth bass.

 

Applying their simple impulses and knowing the river at different water levels means finding them. 

 

NO FFS NEEDED

[TnRiver46]

I hammer my lower unit into enough stumps and rocks and eventually a fish finds me 

[Smokinal]

I'll echo joining a club and fishing with different partners helps for sure. You see different baits, different techniques, styles etc...

Also, for me, keeping a log helped tremendously. I didn't keep anything fancy; just date, air temp, water temp, sky condition, where I caught them, where I didn't, and baits I caught them on.

Then, before every trip, I'd go look at the same time of year on previously logged trips, and got info before heading out. It's not gospel, but it's a starting point. Then when I saw the patterns being the same for the same water temp, sky condition etc...I could go out and catch em pretty consistantly.

I can't recommend this strongly enough.

 

[herder]

Well I got nothing to add, being as I'm more the nail then hammer.

There is a lot of great info here, maybe that team 99 guy will add some too.

[king fisher]

I fish for uneducated fish, in lightly fished remote waters, collect obscene  amounts of tackle, my math skills are horrible, so correct numbers, can be a problem, hold fish very close to camera, I fish by myself which guarantees I will always have the most and biggest fish of the day and most of all I depend on luck.

 

I may not be hammer, but I have as much fun bass fishing as any one who is.

[Pat Brown]

Disclaimer: I was and am answering this thread not intending to label myself a 'hammer', lol, just trying to be helpful.

 

Let me clarify what I wrote earlier a little:

 

The more time on the water where you're deeply focused on every cast' and what your bait is doing and how fish are reacting, is a day that makes you a little better.

 

Intentional time on the water.  If you find yourself casting and not really knowing why or you find yourself just casting and retrieving the bait and staring off into space, you're not absorbing much or getting better.

 

Fishing has to be intentional to be a skill you improve.

 

But basically yeah, there are volumes upon volumes that could be (and have been) written on this topic and it continues to evolve as does our understanding of big bass behavior.

 

I think focusing on one body of water you know has a good population of bass is the best place to start and fishing there often and intentionally will produce results.

 

As for building confidence and achieving your first success, pick the method that sounds the most fun to you because most methods work if you commit to them and learn their nuances.

[Columbia Craw]

I’m not a hammer. What success I have has been influenced by my view of bass fishing. I look at it in a holistic approach.

 

I commit time to understanding the biological aspects of bass and their habitat.  I look a the four seasonal patterns and how bass relate to their environment, and the environmental factors that impact bass behavior and how they locate themselves.

 

i look at maps, google earth or any other data that defines the environment.  Being able to define structure, depth, cover and features help the process of illuminating water and ares that don’t fit the seasonal behaviors and those that do.

 

i w  as my to know habitat, hard cover, soft cover, current, tidal influences and more.

 

The final piece is to know what lures and techiques to apply in the situations befor me and to have the skills to execute the techniques.  I’m constantly evaluating and making adjustments.  Doing the little things right.  This all adds to success over time.

[Tennessee Boy]

I’ve always wanted to be an air nailer. 🙂

[scaleface]

Everybody knows the type of places bass like to hang out, The better I cast to those places  , the more fish I catch. That means a lot of under hand pitching and roll casting .

[Craig P]

If I had to attribute success to just one thing, it would be casting accuracy.  I practiced for a year daily casting to a bucket across the garage or outside and I still practice on the down times.  Both spinning and casting.  Hit the spot many anglers can’t hit and success will quickly follow.

[Reel]

You would have to define HAMMER first !  But I like the question so I'll have a go at it. 

I think most of the ways mentionned will make you a better fisherman, but some don't hold up for me.

The bass were my best teachers.  Like you I live North and most of the water I fish is very clear. If I want, every day of the season ( yes, we have a closed season) I can go and find visible fish in 4 to 6 feet of water and even deeper.   These are not bass on nest, these are free roaming fish.  Seeing were they hang out, how they group, how they react to a bait will dramatically shorten the learning curve.  

 

From doing that I have learned that the saying 90% of the fish hold in 10% of the water doesn't apply where I fish.  There are fish everywhere, more in certain places, less in others.  And where there are less fish, more often than not they are bigger.  

I have also learned the need to concentrate.  When you see the strikes, you know that you don't feel more than 50% of them using slow moving baits.  Most days, the bass will strike a jig and spit it out and you won't even know it.  You've got to be a line watcher.  For the other 50% of the strikes , like it was said, fishing for other species will help with that.  Crappies in shallow water, walleyes for deep water tactics will help you improve your sensitivity and strike detection.

I learned that smallmouth and largemouth are really different species.

I learned that precision casting is important. 

I learned that in rivers, current is important.

 

And I'm still learning.

 

Maybe there is only one way to know if you are really a hammer and that is fishing tournaments.  If you do it for a couple of years and,  among 100 participants, can stay in the top ten most of the time, that's a good sign.

 

 

 

 

[rangerjockey]

I'm a rubber mallet at best but honestly electronics usually tells the story. 

A wise man once told me that you will find shad without bass but you will never find bass without shad.

Watch for them busting bait.

[Catt]

18 hours ago, KSanford33 said:

how did you become successful at it (other than time on the water)?

 

Do your home work

 

Learn what structure is, how to truly identify it, interpret it, and then fish it effectively. Use every means available, paper maps & electronics. I spent hours walking the banks of the bodies of water I fish. What you see above the waterline, is usually what's under it.

 

Understand what the predominate prey species in your lake and how that species relates to structure with each season...morning, noon, and night.

 

Spend time on the water from pre-spawn to pre-spawn.

[PaulVE64]

I spend a lot of time looking at my river at low water levels, especially the areas that held smallies previously.

I guess that would be like mapping a lake.

[Zcoker]

I’ve only been seriously bass fishing since 2020 and one thing that started clogging me up in my hay day from hammering the fish was information overload. Unbelievable. I was like, geez! everywhere I turned, it was this way, that way, listen to me, listen to him, right way, wrong way, watch this, watch that, watch me, use this, use that, or use the other … everyone has a very animated say in the matter. Reminds me of one of those globe balls, the ones with the pretty ornament scene inside, the ones you shake up until all glittery and agitated. That was inside my head, filled to the hilt with so much information and animation! What has helped me out a LOT is to ease it down a bit to let all things settle so that the scene inside becomes crystal clear. Only in that way did I realize that it’s more about the fisherman than it is about the fish.