How fast things can change!

[keithdog]

One thing about fishing that everyone who has spent any time on the water can attest is how fast things can change. And that is why it is critical not to get into a stuck pattern that you feel too comfortable with. Which is so easy to do, especially if the same approach has been working for you time after time. Case in point. I have been on vacation this week and have been able to spend the last three days on the water. The first two days were basically the same. Mostly sunny skies, wind out of the north at 5-10mph, water temps in the upper 60's. The patern which worked best was working spinnerbaits in the mid depth weedbeds, say around 6-8 feet. And a crankbait in about 10 foot of water. All within about 50 feet from shore. However, as I ventured out onto the lake today, I noticed weather conditions had changed ever so slightly. The skies were now cloudless. Not mostly sunny, but rather nothing but sun. Not a cloud to be had. The wind had not changed in velosity. It stayed about 5-10 mph all three days. But the past two days it was comming out of the north. Today it changed around to comming out of the south. I didn't find the weather changes to be much different from the past two days really, other than a change in wind dirrection, and a little more sunshine. However, the bass must have taken notice big time. For today, there wasn't a bass to be taken anywhere near shore. The tactics that had worked so well the past two days were a waste of time. Today, I found all my bass well off shore. About 150 yards off shore in deeper weedbeds. The water depth varied around 15-20 foot deep. I was able to take 2 bass off slowly worked single blade spinnerbaits. However the rest of the bass I took today were taken off of deep diving cranks worked slowly around the submerged weedbeds. I was very suprised at how drastically the pattern had changed when the weather conditons had only changed marginally. The lesson to be learned today was never take anything for granted when fishing. The slightest change in weather can make a huge difference as to where you will find fish.