What Fishing “Best Bites” Means to Pros
Category: article
May 8th, 2009 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified May 8th, 2009 at 12:00 AM
Tournament winners Dave Anderson and Mark Martin weighed-in on the AIM philosophy of conducting tournaments on systems with the season’s best bites. “Numbers and big fish are what AIM is all about,” Martin said. To Anderson, one word expresses how he feels about the strategic timing of the four AIM events, “Confidence.”
The inaugural tournament on Saginaw Bay, May 22-24, and other AIM events (see schedule; openings exist for pros and co-anglers on Saginaw Bay, on Green Bay, the Missouri River and Lake Winnibigoshish), will also benefit co-anglers. Martin said, “Their skill levels will shoot way up. This is going to be a great learning curve where co-anglers can put everything together from boat control to electronics to tactics. They’ll want to turn right around and get back out there after each tournament.”
Anderson felt it would be easier to try new methods especially when handling lots of fish. “When catching fish, I look forward to determining the best methods. I intend to switch often to see what works best,” he said. Even though he said his favorite methods will likely catch fish, he will experiment with new techniques that he might not otherwise try.
“All skills will be on display,” Martin said. With big waters, boats will be able to spread out, and being on great fisheries when walleyes are active, he said the waters fished will be widely diverse. They could be in shallow weeds in one spot and on deep rocks in another. “I bet I will use two or three key presentations every day, maybe more,” he said.
Being on systems where active walleyes run from one end of the lake to the other still means anglers will try to catch every fish they see on their electronics. “This means various tactics will be the norm, as opposed to sticking with one method to get five bites,” Martin said.
“Over the years, I have fished tournaments at marginal times, and struggled to put a limit in the boat. I am really excited to hit the AIM systems this year. I know I’ll have fun, and look forward to catching fish,” Anderson said. He also encouraged pros to take advantage of the AIM schedule and join him on tour – or sign up for even one tournament.
Martin knows the fish will be there. Asked how many he might catch on Saginaw Bay at the Bay Fest Festival, he said, “The sky’s the limit!”