Why Some Catch More Than Others

Some people catch more fish than others, they just do. But there are reasons for that and this post will go over some of them.

Early in my saltwater fishing obsession, I booked a trip with Cpt Larry Bell from Artificial Action. Larry and I were wading with artificial lures and were standing about 10-15 feet apart. Larry was catching fish after fish while I wasn't getting a bite. We had the same lure tied on. I said "Well, you're obviously in the better spot over there!". Larry said "Let's switch spots" which we did. And you know where this is going - Larry kept catching and I kept getting nothing. I know he's a pro and does this every day but what the hell?

In a prior post titled "A lot of things have to go right to catch a fish", the last two are 1) they have to want to eat what you have, and 2) they have to like the way you are presenting it. Both are required for a catch. Larry's presentation was different than mine. His depth in the water column, the speed of the retrieval, and how he twitched and reeled. I then changed my approach and started mimicking exactly what he was doing and of course, I started catching fish. It changed me from that point on.

When you get to a spot, the first thing is be quiet getting out of the boat. If you are wading with artificial lures, you are HUNTING FISH. Stealth mode is the key. I can't tell you how many times I've gone with someone and they were actually leaving a wake in the water they were thrashing so much. So if you do nothing else, be stealth.

Next, when you do get a strike, make a mental note of the details. Did you get hit on the pause or when reeling? How deep is your lure? How fast are you retrieving? How much are you twitching? And then keep doing that until it stops working. When it does stop working, change one of those things at a time. Lather rinse repeat. And your final option is to switch the type of lure you're using. What worked yesterday probably won't work today.

Making a few smart changes will increase your catch rate. Stay safe out there.

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