It is easy to get caught up in chasing reports and not really planning when it comes to inshore fishing. For many years I rode by some great fishing to get to spots where I heard the bite was on. Over the years I began to take more time and pay attention to some of the areas I was riding by heading to the next hot spot. What I came to find was that many times I was riding right by the very conditions I was racing to get to. These days I do a lot less riding and a lot more fishing because I took the time to learn what I was looking for.
My son and I took a trip right before he left for college. We went to an area that I had been many years before, but I was a little fuzzy on exactly where I had fished in this area. We pulled up to a bank and everything looked right about the structure and the current, so we decided to start working. There were several boats in the area and they kept moving around to different spots. Things started out slow, but as we worked our way down the bank we began to catch fish.
During the morning we watched a lot of people come and go. They would stop fishing a minute or two and move. One guy passed us no less than 5 times going up and down the river. I would be surprised if he spent as much time fishing as he did riding. I am not sure how the other guys did and maybe they really got on the fish and one of their other stops, but we ended up with somewhere around 20 fish in our 4 hours of fishing and had a great time.
Sometimes it really makes sense just to stop and take a moment to think about the attributes of that spot we love to run and gun to so much. What makes that spot so productive and are there some other spots along the way that may have the same type of conditions that would be just as productive. This strategy will do two things for you. It will help you to learn how to identify a productive spot or area and it will also give you some new spots to go to that may not have boats already on them when you get there. So next time you are out and heading to that latest