Fishing Underappreciated Waters

Sometimes the best fishing is right under everybody else’s nose

I must confess that I have a guilty pleasure. I love to catch fish in places other people tell me there are no fish. I’ve done it so many times in so many places that I thought I should share some of my best tips on how to do it.

1. Look for small water
This may seem counter-intuitive but I find it to be the first and best step for finding fish quickly. Put quite simply, my logic is this: the less water you have to search, the quicker you will find the fish!

I recall one particular fishing trip that illustrated this point perfectly. A friend of mine and I were staying in Laurel, Maryland while we attended a school at Fort Meade. We had tried some local fishing holes with varying success. One day I mentioned to the front desk clerk that we were looking for a new place to go and he said the only other water near there was the Little Patuxent River, which at that point was really more of a creek.

We followed his directions and found ourselves at a city park that had a swimming pool. After parking at the end of the sloping parking lot, I started to get excited because I could hear and smell running water. A little investigation led to a trail which came out by a small but lovely stream under a fresh, leafy canopy. A quick inspection of the stream revealed numerous fishy-looking holes. We had a ball there that day and a couple of other days catching largemouth and smallmouth bass as well as crappies, shad and some nice bluegills. The fish weren’t big, but they were plentiful.

The other nice thing about these smaller waters is the ease of access compared with larger bodies of water. You usually won’t feel left out without a boat or specialized gear. Usually there isn’t anyone around to compare yourself with, so how could you feel you’re doing it wrong?

Little Patuxent River was totally overlooked by the locals as a fishing hole, so it was just waiting for us to come and reap its bounty! While we fished, my buddy and I watched about twenty to thirty people go hiking by on the trail that ran by the river. That brings me to my next point.

2. Look for water the locals pay no attention to
The waters we had the most fun with on that trip were that little river, the pond right by our hotel and a pond at Fort Meade where everyone went for picnics. While everyone else was hiking, jogging, picnicking, riding bikes, playing Frisbee, reading books or whatever, my buddy and I were catching fish, often right under the very noses of the locals. More than once I’ve had locals tell me there were no bass where I was fishing. I would smile and nod while feeling the telltale tap. Then I’d wait for the line to come taut as the bass ran with the rubber worm and set the hook. After a short fight, I would display the bass to the dumbfounded onlookers, put it back in the water and make another cast.

3. Use light tackle
Most of the fish you are going to get from waters that are overlooked are going to be smaller than average. That’s part of the reason these waters are overlooked. However, there are usually quite a few of these smaller fish. You can accentuate the excitement you get from these smaller fish by using light to ultralight tackle. My favorite outfit for this type of fishing is a spinning rig with a 7 foot rod and 4 lb test line. It handles rubber worms well when they are rigged without weights as well as small lipless crankbaits and inline spinners.

There is something else I need to say here about gear. In some of these places, you will see people fishing and not catching anything. Before you take their examples to heart, check out how they are set up. My experience tells me they are using rigs much too heavy for the fish in that particular location and they are probably sitting still soaking a worm on their hook and soaking themselves with beer.

I recall two cases vividly that illustrate this point. One was in Nebraska at Two Rivers State Park. I had been fishing with my family at the put-and-take trout lake there and had filled the maximum of two tags of four trout each. We were getting ready to leave and an elderly gentleman who had been fishing nearby approached me. He asked me if I could help him because I seemed like I knew what I was doing. I asked to see his rig and immediately deduced why he was fishless. On 8 lb test line, he had a #4 galvanized steel hook with two cocktail marshmallows impaled on it and a quarter ounce bass casting sinker for weight.

I asked if he would mind if I re-rigged his outfit. He said no. I took off his large hook and the large weight. I dug a #10 salmon egg hook out of my vest and tied it on his line. I added a 1/32 oz split shot about 18 inches above the hook. Then I took his jar of salmon eggs and showed him how to roll an egg onto the hook to completely hide the hook. I then handed the rod back to him. He took one look at the rig and said, "I won't be able to cast this very far with that little weight." I told him he wouldn't need to cast far. He made a cast that might have traveled 25 feet. I told him to wait for the sinker to hit bottom. I showed him how to gently lift the rod and told him to watch the line for any twitches just as I saw his line twitch sharply to the left. I showed him how to lower the rod to give the fish some line and then how to set the hook. He fought the fish and landed a nice 15-inch rainbow.

The other memorable incident was a young guy at Tule Springs on the outskirts of Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the same basic setup. He had been soaking bait all day and catching nothing while I fished next to him and caught my limit of stocked rainbows. He asked me what he was doing wrong and I asked to see his rig. He had a #2 heavy wire hook with a 3/8 oz weight and he was using nightcrawlers. I took off his hardware and took the spoon off my line and tied it on his.

I showed him where to cast and told him to wait until the spoon hit bottom. Then I had him jump the spoon off the bottom and reel it in slowly. He had only turned the handle three times when his pole bent and he was fast to a nice rainbow, which he played and landed. The point to both of these stories is that someone with a line in the water doesn't necessarily know how to catch fish. Knowing how to fish and how to catch fish are different things entirely.

4. Stay mobile
Avoid taking too much gear! Keep it simple and make sure it all fits in a small box you can put in your pocket! Better yet, invest in a fishing vest! There is no substitute for mobility in this kind of fishing. You need to keep moving until you find the fish. Then you can rest your tired dogs while you give your arms a workout.

5. Don’t get hung up on one kind of fish
I fish primarily for bass and trout on these forays but I have also caught crappies, bluegills, white bass, stripers, pickerel, pike and perch and had a riot doing it. Staying flexible has turned many days from disasters to wonderful memories. There’s only one more thing you need to remember.

6. Have fun and watch the locals go nuts!
This is what makes fishing overlooked water a guilty pleasure for me. I just can’t seem to stop getting a thrill out of the sound a local “expert’s” jaw makes as it hits the ground when I show them the 3-pound bass I got from the pond that supposedly has no bass. It’s just too much fun!

When I start thinking I'm being a bit too evil with all of this, I think about how the other fishermen in the boats on the Sea of Galilee must have felt when they saw Peter and his buddies throwing their net on the right side of the boat. It must have been quite a shock to them to see someone doing it wrong and yet catching all those fish. Seems like being flexible is a good way to go, now doesn't it?

You’ll know what I mean when it happens for you. Sound off and let us know how you did!

The 153 Fishing Ministry

This blog is a site for Christian fishermen to share what they know about fishing and about living Christian lives. The title comes from John 21:11 after Jesus showed Himself as the very first fishing guide. Please help me contribute to this site and I will ask only two things of you. First, remember we are Christians here so there should be no foul language, personal attacks or anything else inappropriate. That goes for lying, as well, fellow anglers. Second, don't be stingy with your knowledge! As you will see, I am going to name places and tactics without regard to any other consequences. I believe that our current crop of young people are losing all interest in the outdoors and we must do all we can to bring them back to it in whatever way we can. With that said, I would like to begin with a prayer.

God, grant me strength to catch a fish, so large that, even I, when telling of it afterwards, may never need to lie! Amen