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Weekend Warrior
Tactics
Got limited time for fishing? Here are some things to help maximize your
odds of success.
Background
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Fishing Reports
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Moon&Sun
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Maps&Stuff
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Put It Together
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On the Water
OK, so we have all this great infornation...how do we put
it together to generate the best game plan?
Here's what we do...This may not be a perfect fit for your situation, but it may
give you some ideas. If you have suggestions of your own, please feel free to
e-mail us, or post something on our discussion forums.
Step 1
Given a rough timeframe of when we'll be heading out, there
are regular seasonal fishing and weather patterns that give us a
general idea of what types of fish will be present, and the kind of
fishing that we will be doing . Things like unusual weather patterns, heavy
commercial fishing, etc. can upset hese patterns, so we keep that in
mind. We review fishing reports to see if there are any long-term
trends developing.
Step 2
 We use tide tables, moon phase information, and solunar tables to pick
the most likely day(s) to go within our trip timeframe
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We try to take into
account other factors
that might influence fishing, such as whether
or not we will be fishing on the weekend, or if
there are fishing tournaments scheduled before or after our target
dates. Depending on what we think the impact will be, we
might move our target date(s) to avoid these events .
Using the afore-mentioned tools will also identify likely peak times of
the day. Based on our boat's speed and seakeeping abilities, where we want to
go, and when we can get out of the house, we may adjust our
target day(s) to position the projected peak times so
that we can arrive at the right place at the right time.
For example, if it looks like the peak time
to be fishing starts around 7:30am, and we have to run
around 2 hours, we plan on launching at around 4:00am. Or
conversely, if the peak times occur late in the day, we may not
be able to stay out long enough to take advantage of it, so we'll
choose another day. Also keep in mind that if you want to make a
move, it makes more sense to do this during perods of low
activity, rather than peak activity.
Step 3
 Starting about 5 days in advance of the trip, we start
checking with friends who have been out recently, we begin closely
monitoring Internet fishing reports, SST and Chlorophyll maps,
and periodically review weather / swell information.
Often, we will plot the coordinates of fish reports on top of an SST map. We use different colors or symbols for each day's
reports. Using this technique, you can sometimes see a
pattern of fish movement up or down a temperature break
or bottom contour. 
Obviously, if the fish are moving 5
miles south per day, you would be wise to start your fishing 5 miles south of
where the fleet was the previous day. At a minimum, you might want to start at
the fleet's position, but if you move, move in the direction the fish were
travelling.
We use the weather forecasts and swell information to make
sure our target destinations are safe, and to plan the route
that we will take during the course of a day. Depending on how the winds
and swell are running, we might alter our course to make the runs out/in more
comfortable.
Step 4
The night before the trip, we make a last reality check. We review
whatever last minute fishing reports are available, and the latest water
and weather conditions. We finalize our plan for the day, complete a
float plan, and leave it with the wife.
Plan B
On every trip it pays to have a contingency plan ready ("Plan B"), in
case the weather or water conditions deep-six your original plan. On
more than a couple of occasions we've had to cut an offshore trip short, or
abort an offshore run because the weather and water conditions made it
impossible to stick to the plan.
Over time, you will accumulate a lot of information on different spots, and
which spots fish well under different conditions. Use this information to
develop your "Plan B". Plan B will typically call for fishing closer to
home, and / or for different species.
Here in Southern California, that might mean fishing inshore or the
Islands versus offshore, and fishing for bonito and bass versus
yelowtail and tuna. With that in mind, it might be a good idea
to have some backup tackle on board as well, since your Shimano
Tiagra 80 might be a bit much for fishing bass inshore.
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