I learned from my granddaddy, who fished like 8 or 9 times a year in a boat that would run 21mph wide open. With LORAN, he got 100 “holes” marked over 25 or 30 yrs, and he had the bigger artificial pieces once that program started. Keep in mind everything was written down with pencil and not just saved by pressing a mark button on a plotter. If we marked the same spots today we’d do about 8 or 9 points for each of his “holes” = 800-900 numbers.
He would go to the hole, turn on the graph, and have a guy ready to throw out a block tied to a plastic jug. When fish got marked, the jug went out. If the fish “weren’t biting,” then we would move.
He didn’t have the technology we have today to look at stuff in great detail while running over it and instantly marking things. Half of his stuff came from sharing with other fishermen as well.
As I have helped people with old books like my granddad’s I have noticed that there are about 1000 or so “numbers” that most everyone seems to have. There are fish there, but logic would indicate to us that it might be prudent to try elsewhere if everyone else fishes at those spots, wouldn’t it?
I have to credit Purpose One with teaching me a different style of fishing. We would look around for hours. We would mark stuff but keep on looking. Most people see a mark and stop and fish. P1 would keep on looking around- even when everyone on the boat would have become pretty much angry with how we were not putting baits down…
By the end of the day, they would have learned the difference between short cut fishing and truly prospecting an area.
What’s more, most people stop and fish, don’t have success, and then ride to another “number” like 10 miles away? Why??!
The fish aren’t just going to not be in a particular area at all. They do move around throughout the year due to food, spawning, temps, water clarity, etc., but if you’re needing to find the right area then make the move legit. I might move from 70ft to 90ft or to 150ft but not from 70ft to 75ft if the bit
. Finally, Phin start giggling and said this is it boyzzzzz. 4 livies over the side and within 30 seconds we all were hooked up on our first drops…4 gags, over 60lbs total in less than 5 minutes. Due to the restrictions, we had to practice catch and release for a bit, but the bite was off da hook.