AC Contributor Luke Estel

It’s coming!

I’m not talking about the spawn, although I really look forward to that time of year. I am talking about the post spawn/summer scanning that fishermen do all over the lake.

Side scanning, structure scanning, or whatever you want to call it is getting ready to happen in less than a month. Kentucky Lake is notorious for the scanning gps pirates and other lakes on the TVA also have the same problem.

But I am not going to go into detail about that right now. The trend I see happening is more people scanning and less fishing. Then when tournament time comes the same fishermen fish their spots and they are either gone or they aren’t the quality size they need.

We fishermen are not FISHING!

That’s the whole point is to fish.

I have scanned for days before and then to only get disappointed in my results in the tournament. Yes, scanning is one of the fastest ways to find fish offshore but I believe it is starting to hurt anglers more now than help them.

They are relying too much on what is on their screen.

You hear phrases like this all the time,

“ I scanned several spots and there was no fish on them so I left.” Scanning is not 100% accurate. Bass can actually hide if you didn’t know that already.

The angle at which you drove over can make a difference, maybe the fish were swimming 50 yards away at the time. There are a lot of variables which can help or hurt you while scanning.

The solution is simple.

Try fishing the spot.

Yes, I said fish.

Just because you didn’t see them doesn’t mean that they aren’t there.

Before side scanning was on everyone’s boat, fishermen had to fish their spots to see if they had fish on them.

I believe that getting a bite or two on a spot can elevate your confidence more than just hitting a waypoint on the mega school you just thought you found.

Go back to the basics.

Get out on the lake and go fishing.

You may surprise yourself at what you can actually find just by taking a cast.