Getting Close to Catch More

We are getting to the cold times of the year. Some of us are lucky if we aren’t covered with blanket of ice on the tops our waters. For those that have water to fish we start to notice that most of our fisheries are getting sort of muddy. And those that fish rivers notice that the rivers are flowing harder this this time of year than any season. Most of these conditions comes from the rain and unpredictable weather that stains the water and fill the water systems. These conditions are great for getting close to the fish.

We all heard, “make long cast and keep your distance from the fish.” During these conditions I which my mentality from, “stay far and cast to the fish” to “get as close as possible and drop my bait on their noses.” The reason for this idea is that the fish are less prone to be spooked with fast flowing, stained water. The advantages of getting close to the fish is that it allows you to be accurate with casting, great for hooksets, and it is more efficient in covering water.

Casting accurately comes with experience, but casting accurately at long distances is a struggle for any experienced fisherman. To combat that just come in closer and be accurate so each cast made is counted. Most times the first cast is the most important cast to cause fish to react. Once you got that fish to bite, the hooksets up close tend to be better. This results in less fish becoming unpegged or missed. And like I said earlier, you are more efficient by making every cast count. In a typical cast, there is only a small zone in which the retrieve is the highest percent to cause fish to bite. Being close and maximizing the retrieve allows to for more cast in the strike zone resulting in more fish. Next time try getting closer to the fish to catch more, tight lines!