Don’t Over-Pattern
Sometimes the simple approach is the right one
(The writer's opinions and observations expressed here are his own, and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views, policies or positions of FLW.)
Ever heard someone say something like, “I’m pretty dialed in. I’ve got the perfect pattern. All you have to do is find a dock in exactly 6.7 feet of water with round poles, precisely two docks from the back of a pocket, and you’ll get bit.”
That might be a little bit of an exaggerated example, but over-patterning is one thing that is easy to do. I have done it, and I’m sure you have too.
Bass fishing is the most frustrating, yet most exhilarating sport in the world. There is nothing like stumbling on a pattern where you can run around the lake and catch a fish on command. At the same time, it’s really easy to overcomplicate a pattern and spin yourself out.
Trying to run an intricate pattern can not only eat up your whole day while burning 50 gallons of gas, but it can also leave you with little to nothing to show for it. If you have to run 20 minutes just to find a place that looks like that fool-proof pattern you stumbled upon earlier that morning, you are probably overthinking it. I promise a few fish lived somewhere along that 15 miles of lake your Mercury just blew past to find that laydown with six limbs on it.
Bass might seem like the most intelligent, elusive creatures on the planet when you have idled what seems like the Dead Sea for 12 hours, beating your head against that big HDS-12. However, I promise you are smarter than them.
Bass are creatures of instinct and opportunity. There is no such thing as an exact pattern. The fish change hourly, and a pattern that worked right after takeoff might not work at lunch. As conditions change throughout the day, so do the fish. It’s important to know when to scrap the pattern you were running and to keep grinding until you find another one.
Say I just caught three fish off of a rocky channel-swing bank with laydowns near the back of a pocket. I’m definitely going to keep that in mind and try to find another similar place. But if there are no other banks identical to that one in my immediate area, I’m definitely not going to run around half the lake just to find one more place exactly like that one. More than likely the channel swing, rocks or laydowns were important, but probably not all three. If there are other spots in that particular area of the lake with one or two of those characteristics, one of those is my next stop.
I try to use a pattern to give me purpose to my choice of spots when fishing, not as an exact template. Keep an open mind next time you are on the water. You might be surprised at how easy it can be to catch fish when you stop analyzing every little detail.