Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Little known secret

Well, not exactly a secret, but typically if I am in "big fish" mode I am after water that looks like this:

Worth noting is the gravel, not sand or mud. Also worth noting is the steep drop off into deeper water. What you can't see, is that I am standing waist deep, and three steps farther into the river and I might have to swim. Big fish don't like to spend time in shallow water unless they are feeding or spawning, so places like this are great. They have shallows in which to root and feed, but the safety of the deep is really close by. The trouble is you have to spend a lot of time looking, and very little time casting. You move...walk, and look and hope that you happen to be in the right spot when that big carp decides to duck in there for a quick bit to eat. When you get the timing right, and manage to avoid blowing the shot, the results can be pretty good.

Be prepared to give up some numbers...water like the above quickly becomes a game of quality of fish over quantity of fish.

 

6 comments:

Mr. P. said...

Yup, the big girls like to be able to get to deep water quickly.

Brent Wilson said...

Good stuff, John.

Anonymous said...

My biggest fish this summer was found under these exact circumstances. Materialized out of the depths with two smaller fish playing cleanup. Quickly went to the gravel and instantly surounded itself in a cloud of vacuumed debris. I was lucky enough to have my fly on the drop right as it emerged from its cloud, instant inhale.

Gregg said...

I would agree if those components are available in your own local water. I will find the largest fish of a pond of mine on wide flats, muddy, exposed, but usually on the margins. That is, margins of the day, and margins of the season. Early and late, and Spring and Fall.

Ty said...

Been thinking a lot about this post, John. Wondering if I should abandon the flats for awhile and start focusing on areas like you describe here. I catch a lot of 3-4 lb. carp on the flats, but I know there are bigger fish in this reservoir.

John Montana said...

Can't hurt to look Ty!