We anglers are creatures of habit. We use the same tackle trip after trip. We use the same lures time and again.
And we usually head to where we caught fish the last trip.
That’s a big problem, according to Capt. Austin Plaisance of Louisiana Redfish outfitters.
“The biggest mistake anglers make is they never venture off,” Plaisance said. “They always go back to the same spots.”
Of course, that sometimes works, and we head back to the landing with a box full of fish and plenty of photos to post on online bragging boards.
But the fact is that redfish are mobile.
“Fish don’t go back to the same spots all the time,” Plaisance said. “They move.”
As a guide who has to put his clients on fish day in, day out, Plaisance definitely has a GPS full of waypoints.
However, those are only starting points for his days of fishing.
“I check known spots, and then I start venturing out,” Plaisance said.
That’s intimidating to many anglers. But it doesn’t have to be. Plaisance said the key is to understand why fish were caught in a particular spot.
“You want to find the same type of fishing areas,” he explained. “If you’re catching fish in moving water, you’re not going to go to dead water.
“If you’re catching fish off points or in pockets, you want to find similar spots.”
The payoff goes way beyond filling your limit on a given day: It makes you a better angler, and expands the number of spots you can run through.
