Fishing Success and the Opportunity

My fishing success this year has really been a mix of good results and going home without catching a single fished; “skunked” is a common way of describing it.  Fishing for trout early in the season which is normally productive had me leaving without a single fish two times in a row, fishing at spots that I had caught fish before. It had me thinking about what had changed and what I could do to correct it.

I am doing mainly catch and release

Talking to other people I found that some people have had good success but also talking to land owner next to the water I had been fishing he told me lately he never sees anyone leaving with fish. From talking to people that know about the habitat that trout prefer I found out that some stream areas were filling in with sand which is bad for the eco system. When I tried fishing in stream areas that had a rocky bottom I started to catch fish again.

Brown Trout

When bass fishing season opened I tried casting a couple of times from shore of the small lake  a few blocks from my house just before sunset and again was skunked, same results from a pond that I normally catch bass in too.  Fishing there later into the evening at the pond I did have some luck. 

I find that success in many endeavors in life is dependent on finding the better opportunities. Google definition is “a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something”.  A few days ago I was again fishing for largemouth bass in the evening at a lake close to my house with no luck at all. At the point when I was feeling a little frustrated I was about ready to go home but saw a young man fishing in the same general area and inquired about his fishing success. He told me it had been slow today but a few days ago he had caught a 5 pound bass in another area of the lake. I decided to try spots along the way to the area he had mentioned.

Big Bass

When I arrived at the mentioned spot I noticed a bunch of movement in the water just below the surface, I had never seen the fish this active before. Just down from this I noticed I noticed a blue heron in the water, no doubt doing some fishing also. I threw out my HooDoo lure just purchased from Hogline Baitshop and caught a fish on the first cast. Next cast and my drag is slipping like crazy, I knew I had a really large fish on. Besides the fish there was a bunch of weeds covering but I got it up on shore and pulled the weeds off. It was the biggest largemouth bass I had ever caught, my guess around 5 pounds. After taking a picture I released it and caught a few more slightly smaller fish until it was completely dark.

Blue Heron

Realizing I had possibly found a good opportunity from knowing the best time and place to fish I went back the next evening and caught another bass the same size and a few more.  I missed a day but when I tried same spot again I noticed very little ripples in the water and no blue heron fishing. The bass I caught were much smaller and less frequent. 

RC Sailplane Flying

In my model aviation hobby I watch the weather forecasts and look for predictions of cool morning temperatures that rise rapidly during the day which should be conducive to good thermal air current production for RC sailplanes or free flight models. If you are an investor in the stock market, finding the right opportunities is really important but often not easy.


When it comes to leisure activities finding the best opportunity isn’t everything, it is often just nice to just have the opportunity to do an activity you enjoy.

Bill Kuhl
http://www.ideas-inspire.com