How long should you stay in one spot? 2025

My focus for 2006 is not to stay in a past honey hole to long because of its productivity from the past experiences.  I've found my self talking to myself, saying 10 more minutes, just 10 more minutes.  I know she there.

How long is to long?  10mins, 15mins, 20mins?

GOOD QUESTION!!!

I'D LIKE TO KNOW THAT ONE MYSELF.  THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I DO.

I don't believe there is a standard answer for that question. If you know there are fish there , I usually throw from top to bottom at em and spend no more than 30 minutes and move on and come back later if I have time. Just my way.

If I locate fish in a large main lake cove and I start on one end and fish my way to the other end with crankbaits and catch a limit of small fish. I look over to my partner and he has 2 keepers and one is a good one and he asked "well want to try your spot." I stay because it has the potential to hold bigger fish and the cover to hold them. The cove also had the most concentration of baitfish and nobody moved onto my spot. I turned the boat around and fished worms and creature baits and placed 3rd. What I try to look at is if the area should hold fish and if it has the ingredients to hold bigger fish. That one spot that my partner caught his bigger fish had another of same size I culled out most of my limit also. I try to look for areas that have a lot to offer me and the fish. If I had not had a good fish the first run through I would have left or if I was not getting bites. Some places are run and gun. Sometimes you need to make a milk run and try to catch the fish at the right time. It is a gamble but if you figure them out to the point where you can almost call where your bites should be then you can be successful. I had one tournament where I bounced around from spot to spot and back again. The first run we had 2 keepers at the end we placed 2nd and won big fish. The fish where moving up into areas and we where there to get them. Another tournament we had a bad cold front and I knew fishing would be slow. I threw a jig and grinded it out fishing slow. I also went back through the areas again and picked off more keepers. I won 1st and tied for big fish that tournament. I don't just sit on fish if I don't need to. Each tournament is different for me if I am running around with a empty livewell then I try to figure out if it is something I am doing wrong or if it is the wrong area then adjust.

It all depends on how the bite is going. When fishing a tournament we had a strong topwater bite, especially around a single roadbed. We ended up fishing a single 150 yard stretch of bank the whole day with the same bait, and ended up catching 6 keepers, and then 4 small fish that weighed 13 pounds. If the bite would of ever died then we had other spots that we would have hit, but if I am catching fish I will stay.

This is the weakest part of my game theres some spots i will fish to death b/c ive caught good fish there even though my log and experience tells me i should be fishin somewhere else 10 more niutes and one more cast are two of my favorite songs dont u know :

Theres the public hole that every one knows can and has produced a good sack from, you got the lucky draw and your out on the glassy water first, first to the hole, you fish it for an hour and nothing.   In the back of your mind, you don't won't to leave because some one else is gonna show up and sackem.

You know that deep watered boat docks are few on this lake, most are shallow, the dock holds tons of Holiday brush under neath and on the sides and out front.  It always produces big bass that are eating crappie for a steady diet.

Nothing for an hour.

When do you give up and leave?  

Reading the differetnt  posts in this thread really brings home the differences between tournament and recreational fishing.  As a recreational fisherman, I don't "have" to catch fish.  I'm on the water to have an enjoyable day.  Of course that means I want to catch fish, but if I'm in a spot, that happens to be especially pleasant and I've caught a few fish, I'll stay their longer than conventional wisdom says I should.  On the other hand, I can be catching fish on a particular lure or using a certain technique, and I just get bored with it so I'll change up to something else just for the fun of it.  Senko's are a good example of this.  they are great lures, very, very productive under most circumstances, but I get bored with them, so I"ll stop using them and switch to something completely different like a topwater, again, just for the fun of it.  Tournament fisherman can't do this. They need to catch a limit as fast as possible so they can start to cull.  The pressure is on them to catch fish.  I understand that the competetion and the 'catching" can be exciting and allot of fun, but it's just not for me.

what avid said.

and, sometimes, when i'm on a spot that i know holds fish, i'll experiment w/different baits, different speeds, for future reference.

also, at this time of the year, i'll fish hard for that BIG bite, but, sometimes during the day, i make take 30 minutes to an hour & catch enough crappie for my wife & i for a meal.

Yea Avid im a recreational fisherman too Sometimes if im havin a good day with a lure im usually successful with i switch  up to something i dont use just to learn how to use it Then it goes back in the box for another 10 years ;D

Well if your not wanting to leave because someone else might pull up and take your fish then you might not have a solid pattern. I fish one lake that is always a race to the train bridge. The bridge does hold good fish but that tournament has never been won on the bridge. I would not spend much time on it. I would pull up and hit it in the morning and then again in the afternoon. I would spend enough time on it to cover the bottom and any suspended fish then leave. Total time spent 20 minutes. If I get some fish maybe 30 but I wouldn't bank the tournament on one spot or area unless it showed me something. Just hit the prime spots and if it turns up something slow down and fish it. If your the first one there with the first cast you usually cash in. Next hit it in the afternoon if it still didn't turn up anything leave. I would not wait them out because you might be sitting on a empty hole and get stuck with nothing. Always factor in that someone messed up your spot this keeps you from wasting a day on a unproductive spot.

It also depends how long the tournament is. If the tournament is a 3 or 4 day tournament and I catch 5 fish from my first spot in a short period of time then I will leave and look for new spots for the next couple days. Consistency will pay off, especially in the first half of tournaments. I may not be able to catch the biggest stringers daily, but I will 12 pound you to death over a series of days.

I rarely ever stay on a spot too long.If the fish wont bite,I'm out of there!I believe that if I cover enough water during a tournament I will run into enough aggressive bass for a limit.Then when I have 5 in the boat,I slow down and fish a little deeper.

If I know the fish are on rip-rap,I will fish as much rip-rap as I can during the day.Same with docks,same with points,bluffs,brush,etc......thats just the way I look at it.The more water I cover,the more bass will get to look at my bait.It's their choice whether they bite or not,not mine.

I will switch baits a time or two or three on one spot but after that,I'm gone.  

FBL, we should fish together because that's exactly how I fish.  Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't slow down.  The run and gun seems to work for me most of the time.

To answer your question: how much do you know about the spot. Are there fish there? History doesn't put fish there now.

This is a pressing decision that I have to make on a daily basis. I have learned over the years that the solution is simple. If you absolutely know that you are on fish then don't leave. Do what you have to do to make them bite, but don't leave fish to find fish. If it is a case that the bite is off for the moment, it is off in that other spot also.

Maybe this isn't exactly an answer, but this is a specific example of why you might not want to stay at one spot too long:

Last summer I was fishing late afternoon and early evening at Bull Shoals. We were fishing for smallmouth/ walley with jerkbaits over rocky primary points. My guide and several of his guiding buddies had been wearing them out with specific colors on specific structure, so we kinda knew the pattern. We both caught largemouth, Kentucky, white bass and smallmouth (my biggest ever on a Pointer), but we were really after walley and fished several points fast, then moved on to another. Now, I wasn't too jazzed about leaving fish, but on the otherhand, we were not killing them. Low and behold, at about the fifth or sixth stop we hit paydirt.

Man, when we found the fish they were in a feeding frenzy. It only lasted about forty-five minutes, but the action was awesome. My point is that the fish were all concentrated on one point, not similar points that might represent a pattern. Run and gun was the key to success and I assure you, this was not an isolated incident. You have to find where the fish are to catch them.

The amount of time to spend in the same spot would hinge on a couple of things:

1. Your familiarity with the water at hand.

2. Your personal temperament

On new and unfamiliar waters, your "chart search" will undoubtedly yield a mile-long list of trial sites. In this situation, it's more important to touch base with all the most promising spots until you're able to distinguish a "trial site" from a "holding site".

On familiar waters however, you already know where to find bass. How you cover those honey holes will probably depend on your personal temperament. Speaking just for myself, if there's been no action for 10 or 15 minutes I'm going to change my retrieve rate or maybe my lure. That failing, I'll move to deeper water, since I always begin fishing in the shallowest cover. If there's been no contact after 10 or 15 minutes, I'm off to another holding site. But bear in mind, I'm also the type who hates to sit in traffic ;-)

Welcome RoLo!

First day, first post...

Lots of good thoughts on this one.   We all say, a good Tournament fishermen makes adjustments to the current pattern as he or  (I can't forget Chevy) she  fishes.  

One more mistake I think I make, is I put time, alot of spare time in on Fork, which I like deep water for the opportunity of a hog.  I do fish it shallow, but not as much as I go deeper than 10 ft.  That success has lead me to go deep on other lakes alot.   Face it, some lakes are better fishing shallower year around.  For some reason, there are lakes that don't have a good deep dependable bite or vice a versa.   So success on one lake doesn't translate to success on similar lakes, and I have tried to carry that same thinking with me to another lake.  

You guys are gonna get the rust off of me, and look out!!!!  I have fished all year, just didn't tournament fish after April, until getting pumped off this site.  Now my mind is mental, no jokes please, and I have re-focused and want to fish the BFL as it would be the most feasible for me next year,  maybe the Skeeter Team Trail also.  Thanks.  My high is a legal one by the way.  Pure 100% bass adrenaline!!!

  Quote

If I locate fish in a large main lake cove and I start on one end and fish my way to the other end with crankbaits and catch a limit of small fish. I look over to my partner and he has 2 keepers and one is a good one and he asked "well want to try your spot." I stay because it has the potential to hold bigger fish and the cover to hold them. The cove also had the most concentration of baitfish and nobody moved onto my spot. I turned the boat around and fished worms and creature baits and placed 3rd. What I try to look at is if the area should hold fish and if it has the ingredients to hold bigger fish. That one spot that my partner caught his bigger fish had another of same size I culled out most of my limit also. I try to look for areas that have a lot to offer me and the fish. If I had not had a good fish the first run through I would have left or if I was not getting bites. Some places are run and gun. Sometimes you need to make a milk run and try to catch the fish at the right time. It is a gamble but if you figure them out to the point where you can almost call where your bites should be then you can be successful. I had one tournament where I bounced around from spot to spot and back again. The first run we had 2 keepers at the end we placed 2nd and won big fish. The fish where moving up into areas and we where there to get them. Another tournament we had a bad cold front and I knew fishing would be slow. I threw a jig and grinded it out fishing slow. I also went back through the areas again and picked off more keepers. I won 1st and tied for big fish that tournament. I don't just sit on fish if I don't need to. Each tournament is different for me if I am running around with a empty livewell then I try to figure out if it is something I am doing wrong or if it is the wrong area then adjust.

quote " I start on one end and fish my way to the other end with crankbaits and catch a limit of small fish "

quote " I culled out most of my limit also "

In the U.S., are you allowed to keep on fishing when you have caught and kept your limit?

Here in Quebec and probably the rest of Canada, when you have caught and kept your limit....fishing is over.  The only way to keep on fishing is to catch and keep "one fish short of your limit".  Yes, I guess you could say that you are fishing for another species of fish if a conservation officer intercepts you.  Is this common practice with tournament fishermen?  I find this practice a bit degrading for the law abiding fishermen.....unless it's allowed in the U.S.

I really don't have a rule of thumb.My way of doing things is to go by your instinct.As long as I feel there are fish there to be caught,I'll most likely stay a while and try to see what they want.After awhile with no action,gut instinct takes over and it's time to move along.

"In the U.S., are you allowed to keep on fishing when you have caught and kept your limit?"

Fishing limits are set for those that you keep. There are no limits for those that you catch.

Des limites de pêche sont fix ées pour ceux que vous gardez. Il n'y a aucune limite pour ceux que vous attrapez.

Never come to a complete stop. It's harder to hit a moving target.

Never bunch up. One mortar round will get yez all!

Serpentine! Serpentine!

That is all, out.

Rod, F.

Having a flashback

Asctech,  I'm having enough problems with spanish, don't throw another language out like that man!!!LOL

  Quote

"In the U.S., are you allowed to keep on fishing when you have caught and kept your limit?"

Fishing limits are set for those that you keep. There are no limits for those that you catch.

Des limites de pêche sont fix ées pour ceux que vous gardez. Il n'y a aucune limite pour ceux que vous attrapez.

On all the lakes that I fish you can cull the fish, and continue fishing throwing the smaller one back so you only have 5 fish in the boat or whatever the limit is. Somewhere I heard of a lake that says if you have 5 fish in the livewell your done fishing, but the tournaments just have a 4 fish limit so you can cull. The Kansas Federation is thinking about making the weigh-in exciting. Instead of person to measure fish from the club, they are looking to have Wildlife Park Rangers do the measuring. I bet you won't see anymore short fish. A short fish will get you disqualified and a ticket.

My fishing partner gets too antsy during tournaments. If we're catching fish in open water and then all of a sudden they stop biting for about 20 minutes, he's ready to move to a completely new spot.  But I refuse to leave because we KNOW there are fish there.  

If it's a small shallow spot, ok, but in open water there are plenty of bass still down there. I'll troll about 20 feet, but I'm not entirely leaving a spot where we were just catching bass.

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