By Capt. James McManus
One of my clients on a trip last week asked if I believed in all the old wives’ tales about fishing. You know, “Ten percent of the fishermen catch 90 percent of the fish”, “Fish don’t bite on a full moon”, “Wind from the east fish bite the least”. Absolutely I told him, and throw that in the trash, don’t bring that banana on this boat! There are always reasons we don’t catch what we think our skill set should allow us to catch. Some are fact based and some are only the result of unknowns, but usually unknown facts. Here are a few I have figured out over the years.
Moon phases, or Solunar Tables, are phrases born out of farmers almanacs and hunting and fishing magazines. They even appear on tv newscasts right after the local sports recap. While I don’t plan trips around them, I do keep them in the back of my mind. Full moons have always been the easiest to figure out. If fish can see by moonlight, it follows that they should be able to feed during the night and thus, less during the day. That is ‘til about 11am when that stomach starts to growl a little. We stay on them, especially stripers, ‘til that 11 o’clock feeding time.
Fish before a storm, not after; this makes sense and it’s because high pressure following a front puts fish down, not to mention strong wind and bluebird sunny skies. Here on Fontana, I have always thought a big rainstorm in the winter would wash in food and turn on the fish but it just shuts them down; still haven’t figured that one out. Wind though, can be your friend since it breaks up the surface and seems to make everyone less skittish and easier to fool. That is unless it’s blowing from the east. This one is a mystery to me and it doesn’t matter if I’m on Fontana or down in Louisiana, east wind bites a big one.
Match the hatch, this makes sense whether you are after trout, bass, stripers or reds. Right now on Fontana, the young of the year shad are hatched out. They congregate on the surface out in open water and, regardless of how many are breaking and chasing, if you are throwing a six inch whopper plopper you ain’t getting a bite. These shad are an inch long and something like an xts or a small jig will get all the bites you can handle.
The more you fish the more you figure out. The thing I have definitely figured out is that you can’t catch ‘em if you ain’t out there. While wind, sun, temperature and season all affect how and where fish bite, don’t let any scenario keep you off the water. As long as it’s safe, give it a shot. Fishing tournaments has shown me someone is going to figure it out on any day in any situation. Keep trying and it may just be you, who puts it all together, then you will have one more little trick up your sleeve. Enjoy trying and God put fish in water with food all around, it’s like us living in a grocery store, you just can’t eat 24 hours a day. Later, Capt. James
Capt. James McManus owns 153 Charters. Give him a call for a great day on the water at (828) 421-8125.