Simple tips to unravel the “do this, don’t do that” to understanding where active fish are located.

Story and photography by Danno Wise

Signs, signs, everywhere there’s signs. At some point it is almost certain everyone has heard those song lyrics written by Les Emmerson, lead singer for the Canadian rock bank Five Man Electrical Band. While the musical ballad refers to signs being overt and unavoidable, in the angling world it has become almost the opposite – far too few fishermen notice the signs telling there are fish in an area.

It is become exceedingly common for fishermen to just pick a spot – whether it be from past experience, a local “hot spot” they were referred to or something pulled off a map or chart – and just go straight there. This practice has become all the more common with the advancements in modern electronics and GPS units. However, anglers often pass up active fish en route to the waypoint because they have tunnel vision to reach the dot on the screen and don’t pay attention to the signs emanating from the water and air.

Additionally, more often than not these days, they arrive at their chosen “hot spot” only to find it looks like a parking lot – filled with boats and other anglers. Why? Well, a spot is a spot and if one angler knows about it, odds are many others do too. If all of these are anglers are simply “spot fishing,” then they likely will end up at the same spots.

Starting this month there will be even more boats on the water as school is out and summer is officially underway on the Texas coast. So, virtually any spot that is hardwired into a GPS unit or marked prominently on a map will be crowded.

So, rather risk being squeezed out of their favorite spot – which actually may or may not be holding fish anyhow – it seems to make more sense for fishermen to let the fish tell them where they are.

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