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+--- Thread: The Strike Zone (/thread-4797.html)
The Strike Zone - Roy - 05-18-2011
The Strike Zone
By Jerry Schlief
Southwestern Staff Writer
Hitting Your Target
In baseball, the strike zone is an area where a pitcher must become proficient in order to be successful. The pitcher must be able to control where the ball is thrown if they want to be successful. If the proper location is not achieved, the pitcher will face a hitter’s consequence. This concept is no different in the world of bass fishing. The ability to pitch and cast separates the pro from a rookie. Most great anglers have become very skilled with their ability to hit the strike zone, regardless of the situation. Missing the strike zone may be the deciding factor whether an angler is successful or not.
Instinctive Bass
Bass are born with instinctive visual guided attack behaviors. As anglers, we associate this behavior as a reaction strike. A bass’s visual field is the space that is confined by the bass’s ability to see in any given direction. =The size of the playing field is determined by such non hereditary factors as light availability, wave action and water clarity. Not everything within the playing field is equally observed. For instance, a bass will see an adult bluegill from a distance much better than small minnows. This is one indication that the size of the lure does matter. Larger objects cast larger images within the retina of a bass. The retina is the part of the back of the bass’s eye that sends light signals to the brain, where they are changed into images. Larger images send stronger messages to the brain, thus, allowing the bass to track down a specific lure much easier than something too small for the bass to register as prey.
![[Image: fallhot2.jpg]](http://www.bassfishing.co.za/resources/fallhot2.jpg)
Under the best conditions, a bass may be able to see its prey from up to 50 feet away. I’m always mindful of the area I’m fishing and make sure I don’t lose sight of the 50 foot radius rule. This allows me to concentrate on the strike zone and not waste casts. Remember, chasing down every prey within a 50 foot radius can be very fatiguing to a bass. Biologists have long recognized that bass often limit their attacks to much shorter distances than they can see. Knowing this allows the angler to determine which lures to present the bass in a given area or situation.
Practice Makes Perfect:
Practice, Practice, Practice! Every good athlete knows, the more you practice the more proficient you become when faced with a particular pressure situation. The ability to pitch a lure like a Yamamoto Flappin Hog at a target with precise aim will increase your opportunity of catching bass others have missed. When bass hold tight to cover, it’s essential the lure be presented with accuracy.
Not all your practice needs to take place on the water. Your backyard or nearby park can serve as one of the most important practice fields, allowing you to hone your casting and pitching skills.
I like to set up individual targets such as empty flower pots or five gallon buckets, trying to consistently hit the targets with my lure. I use a makeshift platform such as a set of wooden steps approximately two feet off the ground as my casting deck. The elevated deck allows me to pitch or cast my lures without my fishing rod hitting the ground.
![[Image: smallmouth.jpg]](http://www.bassfishing.co.za/resources/smallmouth.jpg)
The “Sweet Spot” of the Strike Zone
Not all Strike Zones are obvious or easily located. Take for instance offshore structures such as clam beds, channel turns, underwater brush piles or even gravel humps. In most cases, these types of structures are only manageable using your GPS. Off shore structures often have a “sweet spot”, a term given by tournament anglers as a spot within a spot. Let’s say you stumble upon a brush pile off a deep point. You’re able to catch fish along the entire point, but for some reason, every time you connect with the brush pile, you begin to catch larger fish. This would be considered the “sweet spot”. Understanding where the sweet spot is allows an angler to concentrate their efforts on that particular area. The sweet spot can also be determined as the strike zone.
![[Image: IMGP1464.jpg]](http://www.bassfishing.co.za/resources/IMGP1464.jpg)
The Lure
What separates a great angler from a good angler is his ability to understand every little detail regarding a particular lure they plan to use and where to place it. Denny Brauer and Tommy Biffle are two of the best pro anglers who have made pitching jigs and hitting the strike zone into an art form. Both have developed an understanding of how a particular lure, when pitched and on target, performs under certain conditions.
David Fritts and Kevin VanDam have taken the crankbait to new heights! These two anglers have been able to dissect areas of a particular body of water using a crankbait and successfully perform when others were unable to. Because both David and Kevin understand in great detail how a particular crankbait will perform, it enables them to keep the crankbait in the strike zone for a longer period of time, thus, increasing their chances of catching more fish.
What these great anglers all have in common, is the ability to consistently perform at a high level simply by understanding the importance of keeping the lure in the strike zone.
- Bombasstic - 05-18-2011
Hi Roy. Thanks for posting this article. It is a great read. Question - when you find structure like that, how do you know there is fish in the area. Does it show up on the scanner / fish finder or is it a case of take a few shots with everything in your tackle box and if nothing happens, move on?
I've cought most of my fish on spinner and crankbaits but it seems more like pot luck fishing - I would like to believe that there is a bit more skill involved than that.
When I was doing rock and surf fishing, I felt there was quite a bit of skill required to catch Galjoen or Musselcracker etc. but with bass on the other hand, I see guys on the ESPN shows making 300/400 casts per fish - like I said, almost pot luck.
Please tell me ther's more to bass fishing than that. Is the secret possibly as simple as the fact that you must have the biggest and best scanner / fishfinder? :eusa_think: , but if that were the case, why would the big money guys in the states need to make 300/400 casts per fish? Surely they do have the best equipment possible?
It's all very confusing?????????????????
- Roy - 05-19-2011
Hi Bombasstic
To answer your question and I am answering you purely from my experience on the water.
First of all I have not been privileged enough to fish with electronics advanced enough to show me if a piece of underwater structure has fish on it or not. I use the electronics to find structure and then in turn find the fish but the important factor here is the kind of structure you are looking for thus increasing your chances of locating fish on these structures.
Let me make an example when fishing points, I would grade a point and look at the area around that point for instance is there a shallow area with weed lines, timber rocks etc where baitfish could hide and the bass could move up on early or late in the day. Is there a river channel or creek channel even an old road anything that is different to what other points would not have, by establishing this, this would make it a good point /area to fish.
This comes into factor especially in mid summer and winter when fish do move up and down the water column finding their temperature comfort zones. Bass are especially the largemouth actually a very lazy fish and will find itself the most comfortable position in a body of water where it can hunt without too much effort and without burning too much energy, they would hang around areas like points creeks and river channels where baitfish would also move along bass are opportunistic and are always looking for a mouth full.
The point I am trying to make here is to find structure onshore or offshore that would be in these comfort zones close to feeding areas but that also has deepwater areas where they go to chill when the sun gets too high or it gets too cold.
I have never made more than 300 casts to catch a single fish and I wouldn’t be doing this wonderful spot if that was the case, maybe that amount of casts in a day but then I’ll have more than one fish to show for my efforts.
Bass fishing is not simple but you can simplify it for yourself by applying certain rules as mentioned above.
When finding offshore structure in a area that you feel should hold fish there are a few simple applications to use here and once again these are applications that have worked for me over the years. Caroline rig, Heavy Mojo, Texas rig, Jig and crank baits. Colors I prefer are green pumpkin, junebug but will vary this with different variants of flakes. Plastics I like to put on my rigs are grubs from 4 inch to 8 inch, flukes, creatures, cut tail worms, jigs peanut butter and jelly with either a green pumpkin or junebug craw trailer and cranks deep diving I like Bill Norman DLN AND DD22( Qwaggas = Lavender Shad, Splatter Bass even Bumble Bee has accounted for some fish) or lipless.
I will approach this offshore structure from different angles it helps to put down a marker buoy (I don’t always do it as I’m on other peoples boats most of the time) to assist you with casting accuracy, it’s good to vary retrieve speeds size up or size down on baits and starting playing with colors to find out what they want. And most important you have to make contact with the bottom and the structure and this would be fishing both plastics and cranks.
If this does not put you into a few fish its time to move and go watch some TV
- Bombasstic - 05-19-2011
Hi Roy
Thanks - I'm a sponge for info.
Quote:If this does not put you into a few fish its time to move and go watch some TVHoly crap :blue-shock: - No wonder fish tremble at the sound of your name.
- bassmaster - 05-20-2011
Shot for the info Roy. Some great stuff there... it is amazing how we forget some of the basics sometimes... eish... so many fish... so little time!! :blue-lol: :blue-cool:
- BellaMia - 05-22-2011
thanks, roy, i love reading messages with genuine info. :blue-smile: