Fishing Against the Crowd
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One of my favorite things about kayaks is that they can go places where other boats can’t. They have a shallow draft, requiring only inches of water to float. This means that you can take them into shallow backwaters, creeks, ponds and other places that are hard to access. Some of my most memorable days on the water have been fishing small bodies of water that are only accessible in a canoe or kayak. These places typically have unpressured fish that are easier to catch. They also tend to house some giants.
Unfortunately, when it comes to kayak tournaments, it can be difficult to find unpressured fish. We kayakers tend to think alike and gravitate to the same types of places, including hard to reach areas. So even if you can sneak into shallow backwaters and escape the big boats, you’ll often find another kayak or two in the area. If an area looks good on a map, you can bet that someone else found it too. I still do my best to avoid crowds, but even on large lakes, this isn’t always possible. Fishing around and behind other anglers is just part of the game.
Before discussing my fishing strategy when fishing around others, I want to offer a quick tip on mindset. If you’re like me, it can be demoralizing when you pull up to the ramp and there are 15 other kayaks launching. There have been some days when I was mentally defeated before my kayak was even in the water. Now I try to get my mind right while I’m on my way to the lake. I tell myself that I’m probably going to be sharing water, but it’s not a big deal. I’m still going to catch my fish. Then I spend the rest of the drive focusing on my gameplan for the day. This doesn’t magically clear out the ramp before I get there, but it keeps me from getting flustered when I do have to share water.
So how do I go about catching fish behind other anglers? In short, I try to be different. Whether it’s with bait selection, retrieve speed, or casting angles, I want to do something different from everyone else. Let’s start with lure selection. I don’t want to go down the bank behind someone throwing the same lure they are. It’s tough to catch fish behind someone who’s throwing the same thing. It hasn’t worked for me, and it doesn’t make much sense. If there’s a fish in a laydown and he didn’t bite the jig that the guy in front of me threw, what are the odds that he’ll bite my jig a few minutes later? I prefer to start with something similar but different. Let’s say you’ve been catching fish on moving baits, and everyone around you is throwing a chatterbait. Try fishing a swim jig. It’s still a power technique, but it’s more subtle and might trigger fish that were put off by the aggressive vibrating jig. A spinnerbait is another good alternative. It gives off a different vibration and flash than the chatterbait or swim jig, and it still allows you to cover water quickly and target aggressive fish.
If similar but different isn’t working, it’s time for a more extreme change. When your power techniques aren’t producing in the crowd, switch to a finesse approach. Bass that passed up a big topwater plug or fast-moving spinnerbait might be willing to eat a wacky rigged stickworm or ned rig. These baits are an easy meal for the fish. They don’t have to expend lots of energy chasing them down, and they will often bite the finesse lures when they aren’t actively feeding. This same idea can work in reverse. You can go behind anglers who are finesse fishing and trigger reaction strikes with faster moving lures. The same bass that ignored a ned rig worked near a logjam might smash a crankbait that collides with the cover.
Another consideration is bait size. Going bigger or smaller than everyone else can give you an edge. Let’s use vibrating jigs as an example. If everyone else is throwing a standard Z-Mann chatterbait, consider switching to the smaller Mini Max or the giant Big Blade. Not only do these baits have different profiles, they also have different vibrations. The same concept can work with spinnerbaits. A spinnerbait with a single Colorado blade has a much harder vibration that one with willow leaf blades. A Colorado and willow leaf tandem is somewhere in between. If you want to bring fewer spinnerbaits or spend less time switching between them, carry an assortment of extra blades. With a pair of split ring pliers, you can easily remove the main blade and replace it with a blade of a different size, type or color. A bigger blade will give off more thump; a smaller one will have more subtle vibration.
When fishing in a crowd, there are a few other things you can do improve your chances. Regardless of the type of bait you’re throwing, retrieve speed can be a key factor in triggering strikes. So, try speeding up or slowing down your lure. I start with the faster option. Not only will speed trigger reaction strikes from fish, it also allows me to cover more water in a tournament situation. Slowing down means fewer casts at fewer targets, but sometimes it’s necessary. Keeping a bait in the strike zone for just a little longer can trigger bites from territorial fish. In the spring, dead-sticking soft plastics around a spawning habitat will often outproduce standard retrieves.
Casting accuracy is another factor that can help you generate more bites in a crowd. This is a skill that takes work and time to develop, but it pays huge dividends. I don’t know how many times I’ve had a bass hit my lure as soon as it touched the water. I think that those fish would have hit any bait. Lure placement was the key. The ability to put a lure right against a current break, between gaps in a logjam, under docks, or into other dark, scary places will give you access to fish that most anglers can’t reach. It will pay off when you’re fishing behind someone.
No matter your casting ability, don’t overlook casting angles. There are times when I’ve gone down a bank and caught nothing. Then I turned around and caught several fish going the other direction. I fished the same place with the same lure. The only thing that changed was the casting angles. Take advantage of your kayak’s shallow draft. Use it to get into skinny water and hit targets from angles that bass boats can’t. This can be as simple as sitting on top of a long, flat point and retrieving your lure from deep to shallow. That seemingly insignificant change gives the fish a totally different look.
My final suggestion for fishing crowded water is to push farther than everyone else. At a recent tournament, I fished an obvious logjam that I’m sure everyone made a cast or two towards. But I took the time to access it from the back side. I took all my rods out of the holders and put the ones I needed at my feet. The others I set on the bank. Then I pulled up my pedal drive and paddled through skinny water, underneath a maze of overhanding limbs. When I eventually got to an opening with enough room to make a cast, I caught multiple fish. I couldn’t buy a bite from the section that was easy to reach. I follow this same principle when I’m exploring backwaters. I try to go further than everyone else. It’s hard work pushing over logs or pulling yourself through a thick spatterdock field, and it doesn’t always pay off. Sometimes you waste a lot of time paddling miles up a creek and finding nothing. But the more difficult it is to access an area, the more likely that no one else is doing it. The possibility of finding a honey hole that I’ll have to myself is usually enough motivation for me to go just a little further.
Next time you’re forced to share a spot, don’t get discouraged. Fish just a little bit differently from everyone else. Experiment with baits and retrieve speeds. Vary your casting angles and put your baits where others won’t. After all, it’s a nice feeling when you land a big fish and there are lots of people around to witness it.