Factors Affecting the Starting Point

Thoughtful captains consider exactly where to position the boat to maximize the potential for productivity when they choose to fish by wading. Making an intelligent decision about where to exit the boat requires one to have a fairly intimate knowledge of the area, not only of the topography of the bottom, but also where fish typically feed. While the physical features of the area remain relatively constant, the locations where fish prefer to feed constantly evolve, with changing weather and tide conditions.

At the most basic level, consideration of where to place the boat as a starting point for any wadefishing excursion becomes more complex as the variability of features and number of microspots increases. An area with relatively homogeneous depth and features requires less thought with regard to starting point and direction of effort than one with highly variable depth and features. Analyzing the image included here of a "Shoreline" helps clarify this relatively simple concept.

The water lying adjacent to land in this image has relatively consistent depth, varying from inches deep at the edge of the shoreline to maybe three feet deep at the right side of the image. An angler desiring to fish the long, slender pothole system running essentially parallel to shore here could, in fact, disembark from the boat anywhere in the water shown in the image. Additionally, the pothole system represents the only significant feature in the area, simplifying the decision about where to start the effort.

However, these facts don't mean the starting point has no potential influence on the productivity of the effort. In a basic, uncomplicated case like this one, where the fishing occurs in a place with scant identifiable structural features and little depth variation, a thoughtful captain would normally consider only wind direction and tide level when deciding where to deploy the anchor. Since most people perform better when fishing with the wind on their backs rather than in their faces, the captain would likely place the boat at the position labeled A1 on a northerly wind, and at A2 on a southerly wind, adjusting the distance from shore to account for extreme tide levels, also perhaps adjusting slightly if a strong current moving along the shoreline complicates the situation.

When light or calm wind speeds prevail, the captain might choose to anchor in a position between A1 and A2, then walk toward the pothole system and move left or right, if fishing alone, or send people both ways, to spread out, if fishing in a group, maybe make a long loop, to reduce lost time retrieving the boat. These same basic choices would make sense in many other places with relatively homogeneous depths and features, where pinpointing the precise locations where fish feed most often proves difficult or impossible. But in any scenario, the best captains choose to anchor in a specific spot, considering at least wind direction and tide level, because they have direct knowledge of some feature which attracted them to the place.

So, three main factors influence the decision affecting the optimal starting point for any angling effort made by wading: knowledge of the layout of the area, wind speed/direction and tide level. Additionally, the presence of microspots and the direction of tide movement might complicate the decisions in the most basic cases. In other situations, when anglers make their efforts in places with more variable depths and features, including multiple known microspots, more factors influence the decision about where to start the wade.

In a place with highly variable depth and bottom features, wise captains still consider wind speed/direction and tide movement/level when deciding where to anchor the boat. The most thoughtful also consider where fish will most likely be feeding, basing the prediction on several related factors, specifically weather, water temperature, time of day, and time of year. These factors determine which specific parts of the area (microspots) offer the highest potential at a given time.

Careful scrutiny of the image of a "Spoil Bank" included here helps clarify these concepts. The image depicts the southern end of a rocky, sandy, grassy spoil bank in the Laguna Madre, covered by water less than a foot deep on its shallow spine, with depths exceeding four feet lying close to its edges. The image includes three potential anchor sites, labeled A1, A2 and A3, and three microspots: M145, M146 and M147. The positions of the microspots imply something undeniably important about this entire discussion, specifically that the captain has knowledge of the precise locations where fish typically feed within the targeted area. Nothing surpasses the utility of this knowledge.

In the specific case depicted on the included image, M145 identifies a curve on the drop-off on the west side of the spoil which creates a cozy pocket where fish feed regularly, when the wind blows from the south or southeast, especially when they're reluctant to venture onto the shallowest portions of the bar. M146 represents a spot on the east side of the spoil, where fish feed at similar times, but better when winds blows from the opposite direction. M147 marks the location of a rocky hump at the southern tip of the long spoil system, where fish tend to feed best in extremely hot weather, during the bright part of the day.

Importantly, other parts of the spoil regularly hold feeding fish too. The entire grassy crown of the spoil often produces fast catching early on summer mornings, when predators prowl out of the surrounding depths and force their prey into the shallows. This could also occur during warm spells in winter, especially under bright skies. The fringes of the circular pothole within the grassy crown hold high potential in such situations. The seam between sand and grass running basically southwest to northeast also serves as an ambush point for predators feeding atop the spoil.

So, a captain with intimate knowledge of the layout of the spoil bank and its microspots would first consider wind speed/direction when planning where to approach the spoil and anchor. To repeat, this consideration assumes most people prefer to fish downwind, or crosswind, with the wind on their backs, because they function more effectively when doing so. The captain would also consider time of day and time of year, specifically predicting whether feeding fish will prefer the shallows on top of the spoil, or the depths along its edges. This prediction would also involve consideration of tide level.

A higher tide would increase the likelihood of finding more fish in the shallowest water atop the spoil, while a lower tide might render some of those same parts inaccessible to the fish. A tide standing too high might make getting out of the boat difficult or impossible, except on the grassy areas represented by green in the image, while a lower tide will allow anglers to disembark at a place like the one labeled A1, in depths intermediate between the shallow spine of the spoil and the deeper water surrounding it.

Considering all these factors would lead a thoughtful captain to park the boat in position A1 when a south wind elevates the potential for catching at M145, especially if the effort occurs in the heat of a summer day, with a relatively low tide level. On the way to the microspot, casts could be made along the grassy seam running southwest to northeast, and along the drop off on the west side of the spoil, south of M145. A1 might also be preferred in a situation when fish feed aggressively atop the grassy part of the spoil, with south winds blowing and tide levels low.

On the other hand, the same captain setting up to fish the spoil with north winds blowing and bright sun shining late on a summer morning might choose to anchor at A2, to better facilitate access to M147, which lies in the depths at the tip of the spoil. While moving toward M147, making casts to the left, along the sand/grass seam would make sense, as would walking slowly to the east and making crosswind casts toward M146. Casts made along the western edge of the spoil between A2 and M147 could certainly produce strikes.

Using the anchor location A3 makes more sense when a captain approaches the spoil under light or calm winds, and when fish most likely feed in the shallows on the grassy spine of the spoil, rather than along its edges, at the microspots. In such a scenario, the wind won't dictate the optimal direction of the effort, so the captain might move west or south, or somewhere in between, using signs of feeding activity to make the decision. If the effort starting at A3 lasts long enough, with a consistently high bite rate, casts might eventually probe the waters around all three microspots once the activity atop the spoil slows somewhat.

All these cases and plans emphasize the importance of several behaviors on the parts of captains who hope to maximize productivity. All these behaviors rely first and foremost on the captain's intimate knowledge of the spot. They then depend on the ability to effectively analyze how the weather conditions and timing of the effort affect the probable locations of feeding fish. Essentially, the success of the process depends on the captain's ability to use knowledge of the features of the place to make reasonable predictions about the locations of hunting fish, then formulate sound strategies to target those fish, given various aspects of the conditions in play.