Rochester Hills, Mi - For years I've suffered the same frustrations that, no doubt, plague many weekend anglers, namely, disappointing results from trying to do too much in a short amount of time. The routine is usually the same.
- Spend all week anticipating the Saturday morning trip
- Up a little late Friday night getting the equipment just perfect
- Off to bed a little late but still can't sleep thinking about the trip
- Wake up early enough Saturday morning to make the 50 mile plus trip and still take advantage of the early morning bite in my favorite spot
- Get to the spot only to find someone's already on it
- Settle for another spot to start out but just can't stop thinking how things would have been if I had gotten here a little earlier and got the spot I wanted. (should be concentrating on the spot I do have).
- Fish all day or until I'm worn out.
- Get home (or sometimes during the drive home) and start thinking about all the little things I could have done differently to make the trip more successful and enjoyable.
An alternate approach to consider is this; Make some of your trips overnight trips even if its is more than 50-80 miles away.
An ideal trip for me goes something like this:
The first day, say a Friday evening after work is spent getting a feel of things, i.e. where fish are holding, what baits they will bite and how they are biting. In other words determining a pattern. During the evening, I reflect on what worked and changes to my plan to make based on the evenings experiences. Its always good to talk to locals usually at the bait shop for their cut on where and how the fish are biting. More times than not the second day I'm more successful because of the prior planning and the fact that I'm not exhausted from lack of sleep and rushing. Fisherman know this but to be a good fisherman you must have a great level of concentration. You must believe each cast, jig hop, new bait or adjustment to an existing one is going to catch a fish. Its no different from making contact with a golf ball, baseball or any other sport. Concentration is absolutely essential to do this. Fatigue, hype and pre-occupation all work against this. So my advice to week-end fishermen is to slow it down a notch, consider making some of your trips overnighters thereby making the best of the time you've invested in your outing.
"Mission Accomplished" Plus!