How do you catch fish?

Should this be in " Off topic"? Or in another category?

Well, IDK, there is probably no more PERTAINANT question!
However, it seems to be one of the FEWEST ASKED!

"Whatever do you mean , Poboy?" Here it is : " Where are you catching them " (Probably the best question, but a bit too non-specific).  WHERE? See, if the answer is: on the south end of the lake near DIPSTICK POINT...  Ummm, you now have the LEAST important information!

Because WAY MORE IMPORTANT!!!! Is depth, bait, and paticularly....( and most importantly), what structure they were relating to. Get an answer to THAT, and you know where the fish (that are biting.  Ummmm....YEAH!!!! kinda important maybe?....ARE!)

So what's the first thing people ask? " What are they biting on?"  Who cares????. SERIOUSLY, it's the LAST PIECE OF THE PUZZLE!!!!

Think of yourself as a restaurant entrepreneur, ( that's what we are doing, right?  In a sense...) Outside of LOCATION, what is most important?  Well, serving what the customers want. (The bait.)  At the proper depth:  PRICE RANGE.

NOW...just think about it.... You can have the right bait...say; PIZZA...  but, unless it's in an accessible location, at an acceptable price ( presentation), NOBODY IS BUYING IT!

Soooo..."What is your rambling point , Poboy?"

This, sometimes, the southend of the lake may be important, ( during seasonal changes...) but, otherwise, TOTALLY USELESS!  

Fish will inhabit the WHOLE lake, but only small parts of it. What that means is, if you catch a fish off a skinny stickup, if you can find a similar one, you will almost ASSUREDLY find a similar fish.  IT'S REALLY THAT SIMPLE.

OF course, they all like to eat the same thing the same day , (somewhat), so that helps (if you know and are throwing the "special of the day"....but just like people, ( say your buddy wants Chinese and you want Italian, if you wind up in a Chinese restaurant, you're probably gonna eat some Chinese, right?)

So again: " What are they biting?"......ummmm. Yeah...what they want to?

So...depth, stucture, bait, and presentation.....IN THAT ORDER!

Great points all!!
I have to say my first question is always what depth, and then bait. The presentation is usually self evident to the bait, and I think structure is whatever they find at that depth.

Thanks for sharing.

Or in another category?

I think "[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]" is for exactly this sort of post, but it's not a big deal.

I must confess I'm at a loss to see how a post about fishing could possibly be "off topic" for a place called the Float Tube Fishing Forum. House training a puppy, that's "off topic" but this is a post about fishing and fishing is obviously what we all do and what we all come here to talk about. So talk away, it's all good!

I'm also a bit confused about how "where are you catching them" (unimportant) is different from "location" (important).

...most importantly, what structure they were relating to.

I guess it depends on how you look at it and the water you're on. Haven't had the pleasure of fishing a bass lake yet (something I plan to remedy before the year is out!) but unless your structure is moving around, isn't the structure that fish are relating to in a particular location or locations?

If you tell me that South of Balboa Island is hot, all I have to do is go there and see that there are deep water moorings full of boats in that location and that's the obvious structure fish are relating to.

Newport Bay can be seen as a lake of sorts, with the added fun of tides as a major piece of the puzzle, but like a lake, some parts are deep and some are shallow. So if someone tells me "I killed them at the Coast Guard Station" I know he's talking about a relatively shallow area full off eel grass. Depth and structure, done and done.

You say "What are they biting on?"  Who cares???? but then you say that the proper bait is the third most important element. So I'm only allowed to ask about bait after I've determined depth and structure?

I'm not that picky. If I see a guy killing them and I ask what are you using and he says "spinner baits," or "squid" or "swim baits," I have a much better idea what's going on and of where to start than random guessing. I don't often use anything other than artificials, but if he's killing them on squid, I have squid imitations. Seems like a good place to start, but even if I didn't have squid imitations, I would know that he's fishing the bottom as opposed to spinner baits which you know he's not dragging across the bottom.

I definitely don't feel like a restaurateur; I feel like I'm playing head's up poker with the fish. I need to figure out what bet is going to get called. Any and all information I can get about my opponent is valuable. If somebody spots a "tell," I want to know about it. So give me all you got; I don't care about the order.

So even though I'm in a different orbit, I liked your rant. Made me think about fishing and that's why I come here, so thanks!

Yes Bob, I was speaking more to freshwater lakes and freshwater fish. Saltwater is a different animal altogether.

While many saltwater fish school, most freshwater fish most of the time are more solitary, but interestly, will relate to the same structures and baits on a given day. Sand bass, ( or white bass, ) if you will, are more like saltwater fish and relate more to bait schools in open water. In that instance, you just have to find a school, and load the boat.

All freshwater fish school too, but not all, and not all the time. The bigger crappie, bass, and catfish are stalking predators and work alone from ambush positions. This is why generally speaking, you fish into the wind and fish the shady sides of structures.

The only thing definitive about fishing though, is there are no absolutes!!!

And yes Bob, the proper bait cannot catch fish if you chunk it where there are none.