After producing a couple dozen BassCam videos yesterday, we find that this morning the opinions are unanimous.
“If you’re not fishing in a crowd then you’re probably not around fish.”
That comment resonated through most of the interviews. Watch those and you’ll hear that comment time and time again.
The question is why?
The solid answers are to come. This week, the biggest given is lack of habitat and water clarity. Florida bass like vegetation and dislike dirty water. Here, the goal is finding clear water and vegetation, the key attractant for spawning bass on this lake. Find both and you’ll likely be in a crowd.
Some anglers in this bunch tend to be antisocial. Count Greg Hackney in that clique. He is a master at finding big bass, and lots of them, in lakes loaded with vegetation.
“The crowd thing is true for most of Florida but not here,” he told me. “Typically the guy here who wins is not fishing in a crowd, but doing something a bit different.”
“What you have to do here is put on the blinders and not watch other guys catching fish.”
That’s the crowd fishing strategy for veteran Brent Chapman of Kansas.
“Watching a guy catch a ten pounder can really rattle your mind, so for me, yes, I’ll fish in a crowd but I’m going to mind my own business.”