Being a Diverse Angler

I fish two local bodies of water that people consistently tell me, “You can’t learn anything from fishing that place”. One of these is Newton Lake, IL (power plant lake) and the other is the Ohio River. Constantly people talk about how the fish on the Ohio River act different and don’t follow the normal movements of fish. Although this may be true to an extent, I always disagree with people who say that. You can always learn from any day out on the water. My rational was never more clear than on a recent inshore fishing trip in Charleston, SC.

As a birthday present on our summer vacation, my fiancé booked a inshore fishing trip for us (I’m a very lucky guy) and before I knew it, we were running through backwater inlets chasing after Redfish and Bonnethead Sharks. I have done a lot of inshore fishing in my day but never in South Carolina. I hadn’t been in several years but I was amazed at how quickly I picked up on it. It’s completely different from bass fishing but the same principles applied.

We pulled up to the first spot, and I knew exactly where I wanted my bait to be. There was an inside bend along the bank and one little spot stuck out further than the rest. This made the current roll around the edge of this little point, stirring crabs and shrimp off the bottom. We soon began to put nice redfish in the boat and had a great morning.

Once we started shark fishing, we were set up in the mouth of a creek and fished it the same way I would bass fish the Ohio River. My point is that current is current. I don’t care where in the country you are, fish are still going to use current and it’s always going to be a factor. In this case, fishing for 12” spotted bass in Indiana and learning how to utilize current helped me catch more redfish in the inshore waters of South Carolina. That’s why every trip should be regarded as a learning experience to being a diverse angler. You never know when it might come in handy.