I took a couple of close friends out fishing this past weekend for a morning of chasing bluegills, well, they were chasing gills and I was chasing bass but often times the two go hand in hand. They were on live bait rigs which presented a challenge for me because, as my friends noted, I have a mild case of fishing ADHD. That is, I'm always on the move, trying different things. An outside perspective of my routine was humorously refreshing.
Well, more often than not a hook and worm does not get along with throwing a swim jig with the trolling motor on high so I was forced to slow down. Way down. Slow enough that I'm sure I could swim faster while pulling the boat. Thankfully the wind and water was calm enough too allow for that without the boat being pushed around too much (I do not recommend, for the purposes of bassin', a boat with a windshield).
However, here's the payoff: Once we got into an area where we were finding the gills, I was
catching missing fish. The thought occurred to me as I wondered, how many good quality fish am I cruising over and never even presenting to because I'm fishing through an area too quickly? The answer is probably a lot more than I care to admit because I'm usually thinking about getting to my milk run area where I always catch fish. The lesson for me here is to take some time and get to know some of the other areas, docks are fun, but there's a lot more on a lake than what meets the eye.
As far as missing fish, I did land a few but lost or didn't connect with at least twice as many - some small and some pretty decent fish. In any case, here is evidence of a morning well spent with friends:
