The Tapestry

In various contexts, anglers use the term pattern when describing their fishing activities. Professionals offering advice on television programs reference the term, as do amateurs casually recounting details about their adventures. On the surface, the word pattern, when used by anglers, seems simple. A deeper dive into all aspects and potential uses for the term reveals a contrary truth. In the fishing realm, patterns prove quite complex.

Anglers generally use the word pattern to refer to aspects of the locations of fish and the subsequently optimal methods which might be used to catch them. For instance, a narrator describing what's happening in a televised B.A.S.S. tournament might say, "This competitor is fishing a shallow pattern, throwing worms at spawning fish in their beds." In essence, the narrator has defined the pattern in terms of where the fish are and how the angler attempts to catch them. For some, nothing exists beyond this simple definition of a pattern.

Others recognize much more complexity when analyzing how the term might apply to the various components inherent to all angling efforts. The dictionary lists fourteen definitions for the noun form of the word pattern and four for its verb form. Some of these have utility only in specific contexts, such as the one related to football: a prescribed route to be followed by a pass receiver. These limited definitions of the word don't apply to fishing at all. Perhaps the best comprehensive definition of pattern, as the word relates to the art of angling, is this―a natural or chance configuration.

Certainly, applying the previous definition to the word pattern makes sense, if we think of the term as describing where fish are located within a body of water, why they're where they are, and how an angler might succeed in catching them. In this sense, a pattern involves the spatial relationship between the angler and the fish, which exerts influence on the type or types of lures and presentations which have the highest potential for urging the fish to strike. In this component of the situation, the biological needs of the fish come into play.

Fish like largemouth bass seek out specific types of locations when constructing their spawning beds. They choose places covered by water of depths falling within a fairly narrow range, and areas with specific types of materials on the bottom. Because of these choices and because of their tendency to protect the territory around their nests (and their young, once they arrive), spawning bass exhibit behaviors affecting which types of lures and presentations work best to make them strike.

In a similar way, schools of speckled trout focused on herding shrimp to the surface react most favorably to lures which move and look like shrimp. Typically, trout swim a few feet beneath herds of shrimp huddled near the surface, suspended some distance between the surface and the bottom, elevating the effectiveness of lures presented at or above their eye-levels. So, anglers attempting to complete the pattern in this case work lures through the area above the fish when trying to catch them, after they use visual clues to verify their locations, normally meaning after they see birds hovering over the scene, or shrimp jumping out of the water, attempting to evade the snapping jaws of attacking trout.

When thought of more extensively, a fishing pattern involves more than just the locations of the fish and the lures with the highest potential for catching them; a pattern also includes a description of the angler's physical actions. An angler who throws a lure beyond the school and works it quickly over the fish, using rhythmic twitches to activate side to side movements in the head of the lure and create loud splashes on the water's surface, might urge strikes at a much higher rate than one who works the lure slower and more quietly, at greater depth. Adding these elements into the equation generates more complexity for the term pattern, and other elements further elevate the intricacy of the term.

In the most complete sense, one might consider the movements of the fish, the angler and the lure as contributing to a pattern. With regard to the movements of the fish, several variables might come into play, all of them related to either hunger, the urge to reproduce, fear or the need for comfort. Surely, trout herding shrimp do so out of hunger, bass making beds do so because of their natural urge to procreate, and fish showing preference for a certain depth of water often do so because the water provides comfort or a sense of security to them, compared with other depths nearby.

Because of the veracity of these previous statements, another element can be factored into the evolving equation which defines the term pattern in the most complete sense: weather and other natural patterns. Many aspects of the weather cause fish to prefer specific areas within a body of water, including the depth of water and whether they're likely to sit on the bottom, suspend at an intermediate depth, or prowl right under the surface. Undeniably, anglers who recognize how the fish they target respond to various weather patterns have a greater chance of catching them.

Savvy trout anglers fishing the Texas Coast know the locations where trout retreat and sit on the bottom while water temperatures decline in the wake of strong cold-fronts. They also realize the need to present lures at or near the bottom, moving slowly, if they want to coax these lethargic fish to take a bite. The same anglers fish in different locations, deploying lures at high speed on or near the surface, when temperatures climb to their highest values. In these ways, anglers acknowledge how the temperature component of the weather element affects fishing patterns. Other natural aspects exert similar effects.

Tidal movements dictate not only the times when hunger most motivates fish to eat, they also affect where the fish in a place will most likely look for their food. In a shallow estuary, an outgoing tide dumping warm water out of a cove through a drain might concentrate fish into a narrow lane, while an incoming tide swooshing around the granite boulders of a jetty and creating an eddy might cause predatory fish to lurk in the protected swirl, waiting to ambush their prey. Moving water affects more than just the locations of fish; it also affects the direction they face while waiting for a chance to snatch a meal. For this reason, working lures directly down-current or at least at an angle with the current usually works better to urge strikes from predators when tides run at more than meager speeds.

In hypersaline lagoons, far from sources connecting the waters of the bays with those of the open Gulf, tides don't really move on a regular, predictable basis. In those kinds of places, wind plays the biggest role in moving water around in the estuaries. Calm weather can dull the bite in such locations. Conversely, a breeze beginning to blow after a calm lull can elevate the feeding mood of the fish. Smart anglers recognize this and adjust their own behaviors to match the needs of the moment, meaning they use different kinds of lures moved in different ways in dead-calm weather and stagnant water than they do when winds begin to move the water and motivate fish to feed. In this specific way, timing plays a fundamental role in the development of a pattern.

Timing plays a key role in the establishment of patterns in places where the water runs exceptionally clear, since predatory fish, especially those intent on eating other fish, have difficulty ambushing their prey under bright skies. Big speckled trout become more nocturnal in such situations, often feeding actively in the shallows on the darkest nights, then retreating to deeper water and becoming virtually impossible to catch during the days, especially when clear skies prevail. Anglers who realize how this combination of water quality and weather pattern affects not only the locations of the fish but the times when they feed adjust their own behaviors and fish earlier or later than normal, deploying dark, noisy lures so the fish can find them more easily. In this way, anglers adapt their own patterns of behavior to better match those exhibited by the fish, in order to increase their chances of creating a spatial relationship which allows them to present lures to those fish at times and in ways which have high potential to earn strikes.

The components of a pattern, then, involve natural reactions made by the fish to various urges which compel them and conscious decisions made by anglers attempting to locate and catch them. These components include the locations of the fish, the motivating factors causing them to appear in those places, the locations of the anglers attempting to catch them, and the behaviors exhibited by the anglers in attempt to urge them to strike, including their choices of lures and presentation styles, specifically the depths and speeds of those styles. These activities on the part of the angler bring up the verb form of the word pattern, as people attempt to "pattern" the fish, to predict where they'll be and how motivated they'll be to strike at particular kinds of lures moving in specific ways.

A pattern which produces well for an angler depends extensively on both timing and location, both of which are profoundly affected by the weather and other natural events and circumstances. Consequently, the term pattern, when applied to angling efforts, becomes a complex concept. Though superficially simple, patterns do display significant levels of subtlety and nuance. In the most complete sense, a fishing pattern is really more of a tapestry, a fabric comprised of multiple, related patterns.