Before you can become a successful lure fisherman it is essential that you understand the basic needs of the fish that you intend to catch.
Unless you know where the fish can be found, what conditions it likes, and what its food requirements are, it is unlikely that you will meet with much success.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE FISH
1. Does the fish live in salt or freshwater?
2. Does it like still, slow running or fast running water?
3. What time of the year is best for catching the species?
4. What does it eat?
5. Where am I likely to find the fish?
Once you have the answers to these questions, you are well on the way to success. You will not be wasting your time fishing in areas that do not hold your quarry, you will be fishing waters that have the right conditions for the fish, and you will have some idea of the type of lure to use.
The next stage in the learning process is to obtain as much information as you can about the waters you intend to fish. This is called "local knowledge". All waters are different. They have different structures, different ecology, and different populations of fish.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE LOCATION
1. Where are the rocky outcrops?
2. Where are the weed beds?
3. Where do the rivers flow into a lake?
4. Where do they flow out of the lake?
5. Where are the deep gullies?
6. Where are the shallow sand bars?
When you have the answers to these questions, you will know where all the important fish holding features are located. This is very important because you will rarely find predatory fish in an empty expanse of water. Predatory fish like to hide, then ambush their prey, so they favour underwater features.
It is around these areas that you will concentrate your fishing.
Now you are almost ready to be a successful angler, but there is one more learning stage. You have to learn how the fish behave, and to understand this you must learn what they eat. Predators adapt their way of life to suit their surroundings, so you must understand which factors control the behaviour of your target predators.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE FISH BEHAVIOUR
1. What are the common prey species of fish in the water?
2. Are they here all year?
3. Where do they go in the winter?
4. What areas do they like in the summer?
5. Where do they spawn?
This is the information that will bring you success.
You will know where the bait fish congregate, and you will have the best chance of catching a predator. Of equal importance is the fact that you will know which bait fish are in the water, and you can select the correct lure to imitate them.
You will know if they swim near the surface in warm weather, or dive to the bottom in cold weather. You will also be able to find them in the spawning season when many predatory fish are very hungry after a long, cold winter.
Successful lure fishing is therefore made up of a series of educational steps, each one moving you one step nearer your goal of catching a monster predator. Each time you add more information to your "data bank" you become a better angler; and the better anglers are the most successful anglers.
One final tip.
Keep your own log book. Every time you go fishing make an entry in your log book. The information you will need is as follows:
1. Date
2. Location
3. Time started and finished
4. Weather conditions - cloudy - sunny - raining - snow.
5. Wind direction
6. Water temperature
7. Details of fish caught
8. Where they were caught
9. What they weighed
10. Details of the successful lures.
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