FISHING REPORT OR ADVERTISEMENT?
Never Trust Anything You Read or Hear – what happened yesterday may not happen today, tomorrow, or ever again.
Creative fishing reports are found everywhere and unless you feel confident in the author never trust its truthfulness. It’s important to recognize many reports are produced by fishing guides, while other reports might come from recreational anglers.
A Good Fishing Report: There are only a handful of Full-Time Professional Guides in Florida fishing communities like Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater that operate fishing guide services to support their families. They spend 15 plus days each month on the water they know what’s happening in the fishing community. Fishing over 200 days each year, these professionals know and understand what it takes to pattern and understand fish behavior. In doing this they recognize what it takes to consistently guide clients to fish, thereby duplicating previous excellent fishing days. So, a report, about the Where, What, When and How to catch fish, by one of these full-time professionals should be worth reading.
How to recognize an advertisement fishing report? However, some fishing reports are often produced solely as advertisements often times by guides only fishing one, two or less days a month, primarily because of other job commitments.
First you’ll certainly read written commentary about the writer’s ability to catch fish, and about how great they are at guiding. Then you will often see plenty of big fish photographs (some non-current) taken to support the report, which may or may not be current itself. When, reading the reports you quickly discover high percentages are obviously designed as an advertisement.
Therefore, when it comes to fishing reports, it’s important to remember what’s written or said, is only a guide and you must understand there are many variables when it comes to fishing. What happened yesterday may not happen today, tomorrow, or ever again.
A Fishing Report Should Teach: Fishing reports should guide the reader to understanding Where, What, When and How. Doing those four thing will certainly increase their odds of success. Fishing reports are also a medium for experienced anglers to share the knowledge gained throughout their tenure in the angling game. A respectable fishing report is a guide to the past, present and future.
Weather Patterns: They should explain weather patterns, how they affect fish and what to expect as weather scenarios change. They should offer summarizations on what to expect for upcoming reports.
Moon Phases: A good report should give some indication of the best fishing days or where to find the information. It should also offer guidelines on Solunar Theory showing the predictable feeding times for wildlife based on the position of the moon to the sun. Usually, there are four (4) feeding periods during the day, two (2) are described as major and two (2) are minor periods. You can purchase a copy of John Alden Knight’s Solunar Tables online for these tables.
Tides & Currents: Reports should expose readers to tides and currents. Experienced saltwater anglers agree that tides and currents play a major part in fish feeding behavior. Whether inshore or offshore, fish tend to feed on a moving tide. As a rule of thumb, I like incoming tides best and outgoing tides second. However, when the tide stops, it’s time to take a break or make a move. Currents: As fish looking for food navigate through certain areas, currents play an important role. Instinct teaches moving current not only brings food, but also supplies life giving oxygen to their gills. So, regardless of where they feed; rivers, bayous, channels, flats or structure fish tend to feed facing a current flow.
Barometric Pressure: Most anglers fishing when they can, but if you know about pressure changes it could change their game plan. You can count on respectable fishing during cloudy, stormy weather conditions and not-so-great during beautiful, sunny weather. A barometer tracks which way the barometric pressure is heading and helps determine whether you should be fishing. If the pressure is consistently rising it explains why you haven’t caught a fish in the last two hours.
Dropping Pressure = Good Fishing
Rising Pressure = Poor Fishing
Temperature: Fish, amphibians and reptiles, are ectotherms, meaning their bodies do not produce ample internal heat. Unlike endotherms (warm-blooded animals) that produce metabolic heat to warm their bodies. A fish’s body temperature depends almost entirely on the water temperature. In warm water, its temperature is warm and in cold water, it’s cold. Like other animals, fish need a specific body temperature to function correctly. Otherwise they enter a state sluggishness and remain relatively docile attempting to survive. This means that their behavior and, survival, relies on the ambient temperature. For Example the Ideal Temperature Range of three popular species follows:
Redfish – Ideal Temperature Range 70° – 90°
Snook – Ideal Temperature Range 70° – 82°
Spotted Sea Trout – Ideal Temperature Range 68° – 78°