By Steve Graf
Tournament bass fishing is sometimes about as predictable as the weather. Every single day is
different, even when the weather doesn’t want to cooperate. This is why anglers must be
flexible and willing to adjust.
The anglers who can pivot at the right time are usually the guys who win. Just because you
caught bass one way on Thursday, does not mean you’ll be able to catch them the same way on
Friday. So many factors come in to play when it comes to bass biting.
The weather is probably the biggest factor in how bass react daily. Of course, they bite best
during low or falling barometric pressure days and if there’s one thing I’ve learned over my
many years of tournament fishing, it’s that timing is everything. No matter what body of water
it is, bass are biting somewhere! You just have to be in the right place at the right time.
This is where practice pays off, but you as an angler must pay attention. If you caught fish in a
certain area on Friday at 10 a.m., there’s a good chance those same fish will bite about an hour
later the next day.
But almost every tournament day, anglers must adjust on the fly. Conditions can change hourly,
especially during the spring, as cold fronts come through more often than any other time of the
year. During the summer months, bass are more predictable as weather patterns tend to be
more consistent and stable for days at a time.
There are days, however, when anglers are left scratching their heads and questioning the bait
and technique they are using. It’s a running joke with anglers that memos are sent out to all
bass on the morning the tournament starts.
It’s like they’ve been notified to be aware that there are bass fishermen on the water today
looking to jerk them into a bass boat. Therefore, bass should avoid all artificial lures and be
alert for anything that resembles live bait and approach all food sources with caution.
While we all know bass can’t read, there are times when it seems someone has made them
aware that anglers are on the water.
Sometimes, I think we as anglers give bass way too much intellectual credit, but with so much
fishing pressure on our lakes today, bass are becoming more educated and can be difficult to
catch. Day after day, hour after hour, bass are seeing so many lures that they have become
warry of anything that doesn’t look like natural forage.
This is the challenge that I absolutely love about bass fishing! How can I put together a recipe to
catch these little green creatures we call bass. Because the ultimate goal is to put a heavy five-
fish limit in the boat that will allow me to either win or cash a check.
But so many times, the tournament never goes the way you planned. There comes a point
during the day that you must rethink your strategy and approach. This is when the word
“adjustment” comes into play.
Like so many professional anglers will tell you, bass fishing is all about decision making. Anglers
that make the right adjustments at the right time are usually the ones holding up the trophy at
the end of the day.
Bass fishing is becoming more and more difficult even with all the great lures and equipment
we have as anglers. The days of going out and catching a hundred bass in a day are pretty much
gone. Why? I feel it’s all because of one word, “pressure.”
Boat ramps that used to be empty Monday through Thursday, are now full seven days a week.
The bass never get a break from the pressure with so many anglers on the water every single
day. Also, we now have Livescope, a tool that allows anglers to go after every bass.
Today, there’s no longer a safe haven for bass to retreat to and get a break from all the fishing
pressure. Daily, bass are chased and pursued all over the lake with no time to recover.
This is why so many tournaments today are won by anglers who make the right decisions and
adjustments in order to put themselves in position for the win or cash a check.
‘Til next time, good luck, good fishing and don’t forget to wear your life jacket every time your
big engine is running.
Contact Steve at sgraf26@yahoo.com