The "Drive" to Win

So you have a big tournament coming up and you need to get some pre-fishing in. You launch your boat and start driving around the lake picking out random areas to fish. After pre-fishing you realize that you have no distinct pattern and your fish were all scattered. What happened? What happened was you fished too much! Yes, you fished too much. A lot of anglers spend too much time "fishing during their pre-fish and not enough time "driving. Confused yet? Instead of just picking out random areas to fish and running around the lake blind, use your electronics to learn the water and see (with your electronics) what it has to offer. If it's a large body of water that seems overwhelming, pick a section of the lake to dissect and start your search. Idle around the area to really get a feel of what is down there. Make note of any points, humps, high spots, drop-offs, weedbeds, rocks, channel bends, or any irregularities on the bottom. Now, I'm not saying to completely abandon the shoreline, I'm saying to get off of them for a while and see what's out in the open water. Look at it like this. You're driving down the highway and you look out into an open field that is relatively flat. You then see a small pile of rocks, a ditch that runs through the field, and a toppled-over tree. Now picture that all these things are beneath the water. You need to find the rock pile, the ditch, and the dead tree with your electronics. Chances are there will be fish on these irregularities that you've found. It's the same as fishing the shoreline. Most shoreline fish will be found on or near irregularities like a tree stump, a rock, or an outside or inside weed edge. You just need to apply this to deeper water and learn how to use your electronics to pinpoint key areas. Give this a try the next time you're out fishing and see if you can't find these untapped fish. Happy Fishing! Keith Cormier