October 11-13
I was wondering what you guys do to find a pattern? How do you search for the best strategy when the fish just aren't biting? I don't mean the usual, throw shaky head or go small, been there done that this weekend and it didn't produce. Went fishing Friday and didn't catch a thing. By the second day, I found out, through word of mouth, the key was to throw small white spinnerbaits onto the banks at the coves just off the main lake. Like magic my partner and I caught a limit.


Seemed like several people picked up on this pattern, but how did they know to try this? There are so many things they could have done. How did they hone in on this one strategy?

Conditions:
Stained water about 1-2 ft of visibility.
75-95 degrees thought the day
water levels rising with several feet of of water added in past weeks
Clear skys with some clouds
slight breeze blowing north east towards coves.
pressure steady at around 29.9

Sounds like a typical fall pattern. Here are the hints I see:

-Wind blowing bait into the coves.
-Shad up shallow in the newly flooded areas
-Bright and breezy.

Throw something you can cover water with that imitates the food source until you find them and then slow down from there.

Fall fishing = covering a lot of water.

Bait moves and fish follow.

that makes perfect sense. any idea as to why white spinner baits seemed to be the lure of choice? specifically why white?

white or chart/white have always been a go-to. I never leave home without one tied on. It's a bait that pretty much you can go to any lake anywhere and catch fish on it!

Experience or time on the water has a lot to do with "finding" a pattern especially on that body of water you are struggling at.

KEEP NOTES!!!! Being able to refer back to something that worked or did not work can help save you lots of time in these situations.

I would say the biggest thing would be seasonal patterns and then fishing to your strengths. If you can understand what the fish SHOULD be doing and cover water with a bait that you have confidence in then you will start to understand what the fish are doing. For example this time of year when trying to find a pattern I will cover lots of water with a chatter bait and a square bill until I catch a fish and then I might slow down a little and fish a jig in that area and then keep on with the trolling motor on high. The biggest thing is don't go out and start fishing a bait that you have no confidence in you will get discouraged quickly and start second guessing yourself.