Thursday, April 25, 2024
ON FISHING
Observing boat traffic can help you make better fishing decisions
MICHAEL ACOSTA
As a licensed professional fishing guide, Michael Acosta shows you how to find them. He has been a licensed guide since 1998. michael.acosta@att.net
We anglers have to consider and process a lot of information when trying to locate and catch fish — such as the weather, depth, temperature etc. It’s fairly routine to avid anglers, but do we always consider everything that we need to?
How many of us consider the impact of other boaters on the water? Many of us striped bass anglers know the impact that can occur on surface feeding fish, but what about the impact elsewhere?
As our area grows, us anglers are forced to share our public waters with many different kinds of watercraft. This kind of boat activity should be considered not just for anglers but for other boaters trying to find a safe time to enjoy the waters.
On summer weekends this can have more of an impact to your fishing than you are aware of. Even if your graph tells you that the fish are there, it may be time to move as the fish may be shut down by all the activity. Some days it may not matter. If the fish are extremely active, the bite may be on despite any and all traffic. More often than not, this traffic will upset the bite.
I like fishing as many spots early as possible before the recreational boaters crawl out of bed. However, it is not just the recreational boaters that can turn off the bite. It can also affected by other anglers’ curiosity and getting too close, or a rude boater jumping from hole to hole and running too close. Some tournament anglers forget about courtesy on the water, and some anglers just don’t realize that they are upsetting the fishing.
At times, I will have folks coming in close to where I am fishing. I generally don’t mind if they come in on their trolling motor. Some trollers using their big motors should try to avoid other anglers. There are restrictions to maintaining a safe distance from other boaters. Besides affecting the fishing, large wakes can be disruptive. Some of the larger craft on the water can create wakes big enough to swamp some smaller craft.
A little simple courtesy and keeping your safe distances from other boaters goes a long way. It keeps you safe and it allows all of us to enjoy our public waters.
Keep a mental note of where most of the recreational boaters are located. They will generally be in the same areas on most weekends. You may be able to fish these locations early before they get there, or you may just want to avoid those areas all together.
Black bass anglers can move shallow or work structure along the shoreline during certain times of the day. This will usually keep you away from the recreational boaters but may not keep you away from the incoming waves/wakes from the main lake. Other times when the fish are out deeper on humps or other structure, you may be even more prone to more interfaces with other boaters. This is usually the case with local white bass/striped bass anglers fishing deeper waters a large part of the year.
I have found on occasion that during a busy recreational boater day on the lake, the bait fish will be driven and congregated into less-traveled sloughs and shallows to avoid the boating traffic. Using this knowledge, you can make an educated guess on the location of baitfish.
If you don’t mind fishing in the cold, winter fishing for striped bass is one of the best times of the year and you generally will not have to worry about recreational boaters except for an isolated dedicated skier in a wet suit.
With a little planning, fishing a congested lake on a weekend can be successful and safe. Enjoy your time on the water when you can.
FISHING REPORT
Fall fishing is improving on all our area lakes. Water temperatures had cooled and then rebounded some with the warmer days. Water temperatures are in the low 80s, and will start to fall again slowly on most local reservoirs.
Lake Granbury largemouth bass are good in the shallows and on main lake points early. Soft plastics and crankbaits are still producing. Crappie limits are common on small jigs and minnow fished near bridge piers and submerged timber mid-lake. Small striped bass and white bass are schooling early and can be caught on most any shad imitation bait. Keeper striped bass are best on live shad fished on the lower ends. Catfish action continues to be best in the evenings on cut bait on many areas of the lake.
