The big, colorful ski boat ripping across the water pulling two skiers caused my bass boat to bobble on the wake while I mumbled that I sure wished that they would not get that close when I am fishing. For a moment, I had to stop and remember that these holiday boaters had just as much right to enjoy the lake as I did. They were not the only boat on the water running wide open. There were lots of others who had come to enjoy the Memorial weekend. I, like most other fishermen, longed for a beautiful, scenic, isolated fishing hole of my own that I didn't have to share with the holiday boaters. There were hundreds of boats, which had kept the surface water rocking and churning all day long. Not a good day to fish, you say? Wrong! The turbulent wave action on most of the shores of the lake had caused there to be muddy water along the edges, with the dirty water spreading out into the clear lake water. The wave action had washed bugs, worms, and other debris into the water. The bugs and worms had attracted the attention of the minnows and other baitfish. The baitfish had attracted the undivided attention of the bass population. The bass were cruising just inside the mudline, using the stained water for a cover while they went into the predator mode. On the deeper banks, the bass were holding near the bottom of the clouded water, because the stained water did not go all the way to the bottom of the lake.
Now, would you dare to take a guess of where I was fishing? Well, you guessed right! I was fishing the stained water along the banks, especially those that I could find that were a little deeper than the others were. I caught fish on crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and soft plastics. It was a matter of choice of what I wanted to throw, and in the deeper water, I chose to chunk a weedless jighead with a soft plastic finesse worm. In the more shallow water, where I was throwing a chartreuse crankbait, I had a double on and lost one of the fish right at the boat.
I love fishing, but most of the time when I am fishing, I am working hard to catch fish. It is all part of the chase, trying to figure out where the fish are, what they are doing, and what may entice them to bite. Watching for the subtle clues that will create a hotspot is part of the equation, like the boat traffic creating the muddy areas along the shoreline. Most fishermen love the still, beautiful, tranquil days, but unless everything works just right, the more enjoyable days to be on the water are not the best days for catching fish. I guess that most fishermen hate to fish in a strong wind, just about as much as I do. I fish the wind a lot, because the wind creates great fishing conditions. Like the holiday boat traffic, the wind causes the waves to chop the shoreline, causing exactly the same scenario.
I have caught some of my best stringers of fish on days when the wind was blowing so hard that I had to fish with my outboard motor running so I could hit the spot where the fish were concentrated and get out without getting marooned on the rocks. What was good about that situation was the fact that most of the time when I had to make a mad dash for the console of the boat, I had a fish flopping on the carpet. One of the guides that I know who fishes for a living told me that he can fish the same place with the same bait on two different days, and on the bluebird days, he may catch nothing, but on days when the wind is so strong that the waves are white-capping, he will get a hookup on almost every cast.
So, the next time you have your bass boat rocked by someone having a good time skiing, keep your eyes open for the fishing hot spot they are creating, and instead of fussing about them, just remember they could be making your fishing better! Good Fishing.
