Too much water!

Group: rec.outdoors.fishing.bass Date: Wed, Sep 29, 2004, 3:07am (CDT+5)
From: (Chris=A0Rennert)
John,
I fish the Winnebago system (which includes Lake Winnebago, Lake Poygan,
Lake butte des morts, Lake Winneconne, the Fox River, and the Wolf
River) as well as various creeks that come off of each body of water.
This system is HUGE. Bottom line is, and this may be an over
simplification, knowing the habits of the fish is the only way I find
fish. We have mid lake humps (rock), points, slop, flats, bridges, (not
much wood), and tons of Rip Rap. One thing I did once I finally got a
decent boat was take my topo, highlight areas where I felt fish would
be, or near and spent a day or 2 discovering those areas, using my
electronics. The beauty of it is 90% of the spots have held fish
consistently, granted the quality is not always there, but the areas do
sustain life. One problem I have is that I am always in tournament mode,
and not in recreational mode, so maybe catching 20 smallies in an
outting would be a good time in recreational mode, but if they are all
12", it is worthless to me, except for the fact that there is life in
that area.
I know I don't have to tell you to trust your instincts, but I break
this system (and every lake I fish) into parts, almost segment it out,
and concentrate on that area. To me viewing a lake as a whole it to
intimidating, you need to find areas that you feel will hold fish by
asking yourself all the standard questions.. spawning access, cover,
food, deep water escape.
The nice thing about living on this system is that I get used to big
water, I have a plan for every wind that blows , and every significant
weather shift. When my dad views this lake he rolls into the fetal
position in a dark corner somewhere and cries for hours. That is not how
I wanted to be :-). Something I read in a computer programming book
sometime ago told me to break things down further and further until I
could easily understand it all, that is how I approach things now.
I don't want to come across like I am so pro, and have it all figured
out, but this is just how I disected the Winnebago system, and have had
a lot of success catching the fish I target.
Chris Rennert
http://www.chrisrennert.com
"=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
Chris, thanks for the input....good advice!
Guess I am too impatient...want instant gratification . Think I should
just start enjoying the "hunt" more, and not worry about having a bass
on the line all the time.
JK