Have you ever noticed that sometimes it seems like the better you know a lake the worse you seem to do on it? Why do you think that happens and what do you do to avoid that situation?

Honey holes dont always have fish feeding,

Adapt, Adjust, Improvise, change things up, fish new areas

That is so true! I never thought of it that way.

I have no idea why.

For me, when I go to a new lake, I'm relying on fishing instincts and my map card. I find a spot, that should hold fish, and it more than often does.

Whereas when I'm fishing my normal lakes, I'm just fishing the usual spots. When I can break myself away from the usual and go back to instincts and map card, I often find new and sometimes even new favorite spots. It's just hard to break away from what's comfortable.

Tight Lines
Mitch "Rooster" Parker

You have to consistently find new water and patterns. This is so hard to do on lakes u grew up on or lakes u live close. That's one of my goals for this next year is to find new areas on lakes I have become used to fishing

People rely too much on "history".. Myself included.

When you catch a big fish off of a spot; It is my belief that she was there for a reason. I keep going back and nothing. History will repeat itself. The conditions have to be right.
On lake Amistad I have caught 3 fish in the 10 lb. range on the same conture but nothing else. I keep going back over the years which has proved to me if the conditions are right I will catch one there that is a big fish. It only takes an hour to fish that conture and I do it every time I go. I have spent many an hour there and sometimes feel like I wasted that hour; but it is the only place on the lake that I have caught 3 huge fish in the exact same spot.

My thoughts too. I go into a lake I know well expecting to find the fish in A B C D and E areas and catch them with either 1 2 3 or 4 lure. When the combos don't produce fish, you gotta do something out of your comfort zone.

This is why pros can do better then local sticks in big tournaments. I'm guilty of doing the same thing time after time on Hubbard. Can we get 5 fish in the boat from those spots. Sure! But 8lbs of fish is not going to get paid.

the more i know about a lake, the better i do.

I do the same thing. History may repeat itself but it could be 10 years in between it happening. I still try it every time. That is why the pros can beat most locals, especially on a 2 or 3 day tourney.

Lots of times when I run to the lake it's just for a few hours and I gravitate to the spots I've caught fish more often, sometimes in completely different conditions only to find they aren't there. Like a safety blanket. Now I try to go at least once every couple weeks and fish a couple new areas

Preconceived notions often lead us astray! We often make better decisions when starting with a "blank canvas". It forces us to rely on actual knowledge instead of using past experiances as a crutch. Human nature=creatures of habit.

I always fish atleast one new area or an area that I've never done well at on a lake I'm familer with when I'm fun fishing once I've kinda figured out how they are biting. Some spots are good most of the time and others are a once a year kinda hole. Sometimes there seems to be no reasoning behind it. Also it takes time to figure out what spots work on a particular pattern. I have several spots on my local lake that work on pattern 1, different spots for pattern 2,3,4 and so on. Sometimes they are scattered so you catch them using spots from pattern 1,2 and 3 together. If you have those patterns kinda figured out it sometimes comes down to simply figuring out which one they are on and making it produce all day.

Your brain is installed backwards. Get that fixed and you will do better on lakes you know.