Many times tour pros don't talk about just finding a pattern. They want to know the pattern within the pattern, or the most productive and efficient way to fish within the most-productive overall pattern.
One of the best at nailing this is – no surprise – Kevin VanDam. In the following, he gives a few pointers on how to look for those little somethings that can make a huge difference.
Simple or Difficult?
The first question is whether finding the pattern within the pattern as simple as noticing which type of bush the bass are on, or whether it's more refined than that.
"A lot of it might be something that simple," VanDam says. "But you're refining the exact location of a fish at certain times of the day, depending on the light conditions and other factors. So there are many variables to it. If there was an easy way to do it, everyone would be winning."
Delta Example
First you have to find the fish, and to illustrate that he gave as an example his recent experience at the California Delta.
His thought process going in was that "the fish were wanting to spawn, and as cold as it was, it was probably the beginning of the spawn. I looked for dead- end canals or other areas protected from the current, where the fish would feel safe spawning. What I found were dead-end canals loaded with boats."
The fish were in holes in pockets at the edges of tules or rock levees. Virtually everyone knew that. So he knew the pattern – looking for spawning areas, which had to be out of the current – but had to find something different, yet just as good or better.
"I wanted to find these little areas on the main chutes that had a lot of current on the outside, but which had grass that made a protected place for the fish to spawn," he says. "That was my whole gameplan." So the three factors in the location part of his pattern within the pattern were:
1) At low tide the spot still had to have water – "enough water where the fish would feel safe, even at the lowest tide"
2) Outside grass had to protect the area from the current – "bass don't want to spawn where there's current"
3) It had to have little holes where the fish could spawn – "a big-enough hole against the edge of the tules or rocks"
He notes that figuring that out is one thing, but finding it – especially on a big, unfamiliar body of tidal water – is something else. "It wasn't easy. The key there was that the tidal fluctuations were a couple of feet, so you only had an hour when the water was low to find the water you wanted. But when you found it, it was easy."
The Strike (or Not)
Location is only one element of refining a pattern. Among the rest, the strike obviously is another important component.
"One thing I always try to do is that every time I get a bite or I come into contact with a bass – whether it blows up, follows it in or whatever – right then I try to sit back and analyze everything that happened," VanDam says. "How the fish was positioned, exactly what I was doing at the time – I look at all the little details.
"If I didn't catch them, I wasn't doing something quite right so I home in on what the fish was doing. If a fish did bite and it bit really well, I'll figure out everything that happened and do it again.
"Each time you come in contact with a bass, it should give you more of those details," he says. "Most people get caught up in the excitement of catching the fish, which is easy to do, but they don't really analyze exactly what they were doing. Did the fish bite when the bait was still or when you twisted it? Was it on the sunny side or the shady side, the deep side or the shallow side? When it bit was it on the bottom or suspended?
"There are so many little variables you want to take into account. If the fish didn't take it real well, how clear is the water? Did it spit up a shad? All these things give you a clue to change the size of your bait, the color, the presentation, something.
"The key is begin to be able to recognize the little clues fish give you in the way they bite your bait – or the way they don't – to make adjustments that make maximize your pattern."
