Big Indiana Bass

People fish for different reasons, and I've always admired those that had a specific system or style to their fishing. It's actually kind of difficult to put into words, but I can give some examples to help get across what I mean. One of the easiest to classify would be those that fish pretty much exclusively for a certain type of fish, be they "walleye anglers", "bass anglers", "crappie guys", catfishermen, etc. Winter or summer, good bites or bad, these guys chase their fish year round with little deviation. I admire that.

Then, perhaps, there is another level. So with bass guys, you might have those that chase quality over quantity, big bass hunters if you will, willing to go days with few bites if necessary in order to catch a really nice fish. Of course, there is the opposite, the numbers guys. You also have the tourney guys, where even a "fun" trip is actually more like a practice day, always in preparation for the next challenge. You could break it down further even, into things like worm fishermen, or jig fishermen, and so on. You know the type, the "I'd rather not catch them on a --fill in the blank-- than fish a ..." Again, admiration for those who know who they are or what their purpose on the water is for.

When I pretty much quit tourney fishing, I sort of wandered around in the fishing fog, so to speak, trying to figure out my  purpose or reason, some direction to take my fishing. I had been fishing tourneys for nearly 25 years, joining my first bass club while still in high school. It was pretty much all I knew to do. But what came after?

One thing I did was start this website, because I knew I enjoyed the scientific side of all things fishing. That was a start, but still wasn't a real definer for me. Another was spending a lot of my fall days crappie fishing with a good friend, Lee Dilly. It made my fishing a bit multi-species; it was numbers, it was graphing, and it was learning - all cool stuff in my book. Then a couple years ago I started taking some river trips with Kevin (a.k.a., "Asshat"), and things started to fall into place. Kevin has a unique perspective on fishing life, being an ex-tourney guy himself. Kevin introduced me to "the sucker shot" mentality - and I liked. It was defining fishing on your own terms. Freedom, to go when you "want" to go, not when you "have" to go because you've already paid an entry fee or belong to a club. Weather sucks? Stay home if you want. Tired? Sleep in and go later. Lots of flexibility there.

Another big component of "sucker shot" fishing is timing your bite. It's a numbers game, which as I've mentioned before on the site is what I've come to learn I'm all about, because catching a lot of bass is, to me, a lot more fun than just catching a few. But you can also time quality at times, too. Timing takes into account a lot of the science, as well as past experience, to know when a bite should be going down and where. So you go when you want, or when conditions dictate a sucker shot is about to go down (which can be on very short notice - think immediately before or after a big storm, for example). With me, that means it also incorporates multi-species fishing. I'm still a bass fisherman at heart, to the tune of probably 75% of all my fishing time, but I've learned to time a lot of crappie, bluegill and white bass bites. It's the best numbers for a given day, kind of thing. Whatever keeps the pole bent constantly.

A lot of "sucker shot" fishing is close to home, say 30 miles or less. So if you show up and see that it's not happening in an hour or so, you can pick up and go elsewhere, or go home. There's no "fighting the bite" unless you choose to. There's a lot better things that you could be doing other than sitting on the water struggling in the heat or cold or rain or whatever, because things didn't quite pan out. "The bite" could also mean a local river, a reservoir or a pond. Again, going where you want because you think it offers the best crack at a good fishing day, not because the schedule says you have to be at Lake 'X'.

Part of my adaptation to this style of fishing included creating the "sucker shot meter", a way of numerically defining a 'good' or 'bad' bite. Whether I'm by myself or with a friend, there is going to be a defined catch rate for that trip. Some, like noted author Ned Kehde, have it spelled out specifically. One of Ned's goals for every trip he and his finesse buddies fish, which is quite often, is to fish for 4 hours, alway somewhere in the 11-4 time range, and to try and catch 101 bass per trip. Myself, I'm interested in the defined rate regardless of time spent. Any bite exceeding 7.5 fish per hour slides the meter into a 'great day' category- a well timed bite. That rate means at least 60 fish in an 8 hour day, which makes for a busy day of catching, but could equally apply to a 2 hr trip that produced more than 15 fish. There are classifications for any rate of bite, and it can be a great judge of when it's not worth putting in any more time on the water for a given day. You spend an hour and half on the water and only catch 3 fish, you might just call it a day because "it's" not happening. It works whether you're after crappie, white bass, largemouth or smallies - it applies universally. I tend do this type of quantifying with other aspects of my fishing, too.

So that's sucker shot fishing in a nutshell. For me, fishing is now go when I want, where I want, for however long depending on the bite. It's all based on where and when I think I can whack a bunch of fish, and it's multi-species. Its become fishing on my terms, and I'm starting to settle into the role more comfortably. It reminds me of a lot of a quote from a David Bowie interview I saw when he turned 50, on spending his time:

"So I think it all comes back to being very selfish as an artist. I mean, I really do just write and record what interests me and I do approach the stage shows in much the same way. It's the old adage — I mean, you can't please all the people all the time, so you just don't try. So I have to please myself first, and if I'm happy, my presumption is there's going to be a certain amount of people that will be happy too. That's my way of working now. It's all about me."

This Sunday was a perfect example. I've got a cold water bite dialed in on the local reservoir. It happens pretty much every spring and late fall when the water drops below 50 degrees and the water has decent visibility. So despite a rising barometer which was pressing 30.3", and a NNW breeze of 5-10 mph signifying the front had already set in well, I chased the sucker shot. Water temps were 44.5 degrees, give or take 1/2 a degree, and water clarity was running 12"-15". I made my way to a main lake point, picked up a jerkbait and threw it half a dozen times before setting it down. Next, I picked up a shallow crank, made another 3 or 4 casts, and decided it still didn't feel right. So I grabbed my cold water "go-to" and had a fish on my second cast. Sometimes fishing can be that simple. Needless to say, I almost never put that rod down the rest of the day. I ended up with 43 bass in just under 4 hrs of fishing, including one small area that produced 22 without hardly moving the boat. BTW, the sucker shot meter above was from this particular trip. The fish weren't giants (see pic), but it was fishing on my terms, and fun as hell on a 40 degree day.