Fishing tip of the week

Fishing Tip of the Week

Monday, 07 October 2024 11:20

Struggles of Back Seat Fishermen
by Mike Gerry

Your biggest investment could very well be owning a boat; an investment many can’t make and because of it you become your best friend’s back seat partner.
As the backseat fisherman you can struggle to find ways to catch a fish especially in a lake where there are hard targets that require you to fish those targets in order to catch fish.
Targets like spotty lay-downs or stumps really put you in a disadvantage when fishing behind a good stick running the trolling motor, catching then becomes a learned experience and if you’re smart the guy in front can teach you many things by just observing what he or she is doing. I believe if you just put a little thought into the back seat driver mentality you can learn and become successful fishing behind the boat operator.

The back seat fisherman has to be acutely aware of what the guy in front is doing when he is catching fish; look for the subtle movements in his presentation, be aware of the approach he is taking. Presentation can be everything in bass fishing if you’re not concentrating on working your bait so it causes a bite that might very well be a flaw in your back seat fishing. Look for the little changes and movements that are making the front seat drivers’ presentation successful.

Many times, when the guy in front is catching fish on a specific bait it’s time for you to change to a different bait than what he is fishing; if he is the human sweep up-front catching everything and fishing a jig change to a worm or crank bait to be different and see if the results change. Many times, as I have said before angles are everything, so if your angle is not the same as the guy in front, change angles of presentation to mimic the boater running the trolling motor, if it’s the same then try different angles. One thing that always seem to work for me with customers is to the have back seat fisherman drag his bait behind the boat many times that dragging is just slow enough to hang in front of the fish long enough to cause them to strike. You can be a successful back seat fisherman you just need to be creative from the back seat!
Captain Mike