My wife and I went out with a friend of ours for a day chasing reds/trout. I had to decide between going to some new spots that someone recommended or hitting our reliable ‘go to’ spot. Tried the new spots first and came away with nothing. Hit the old reliable spot on the falling tide and sure as shooting found the reds hungry. We caught 4 over the slot reds in just under an hour. Reds were caught either on cut mullet or minnow left on the bottom. All of them were ‘soft’ bites, not the usual grab-and-go bites. Makes me wonder why do we go to new spots when 90% of the trips to the reliable spots produce fish??
I try all new spots first and do 2-3 old spots last before heading in. I have spots based on tide stage, wind direction, shallow, deep, winter, summer, redfish, flounder, trout etc. you need a go to spot for each of these conditions because I never know what it will be like when I can fish. Also 2-3 back up spots for each condition in case someone beats you to the spot that day.
every trip should have a balance of both new and old… that’s the fun of it… not every spot is going to produce in every condition… spring vs fall cold vs warm what if the water selenity or wind are in the crapper… the more your on the water the more you can see trends where things happen…
quote:The three last comments pretty much sum it up! I love doing some exploring and then having somewhere like a "go to" spot you have confidence in!
Same here. If you don’t try new spots, you don’t learn anything new. No spot is good all the time, but many are good some of the time. Just have to learn when to be where. It takes a lot of time on the water.
