David Dudley Practiced 900 Miles Away!

I missed a Dock Talk on Bassin’Fan last week. Found it reeeeeeeeeal interesting. Here it is (abbreviated):

David Dudley [has] been fishing Smith Mountain Lake in his home state of Virginia. The lake fishes a lot like Ouachita, he said, so he’s trying to gauge the state of the bite in anticipation for next week’s Forrest Wood Cup. In particular, he’s trying to judge the viability of a bedding-bream bite…it’s clear that he’s doing his homework for this one.

Couple observations about that:

1. David Dudley has a fascinating fishing mind. As someone who has interviewed him many times over the years, I can tell you that while he doesn’t immediately come across as Encyclopedic or razor sharp, it’s all there, folks.

One example: This article I wrote for Bassin’Fan, back in the day. Telephone poles and light line. Found it fascinating then, still do now. And yes I did switch to heavier rods after writing that (though not 10-pound line!) and it does work.

Does that article or the fact that David was practicing almost 1,000 miles away from the tournament water make him that much smarter or whatever than his fellow pros? That’s not for me to say, but I doubt it. All those guys have some pretty amazing knowledge.

What I’m trying to say is, the longer you talk to David, the more interesting stuff you’ll learn. Remember, this is the guy who brought a chainsaw to a bass tournament…well within the rules, if memory serves.

2. David isn’t the only guy who’s ever practiced on a distant “like” lake rather than the water body itself or one nearby. But over the years this ability to pattern not just fish on a Lake X but fish in similar Lake Y somewhere else in anticipation of a derby on Lake X has been largely buried – by the “need” to pattern the fish in Lake X or GPSing spots on Lake X.

That’s understandable, but not all there is to the game. Hall of Famer Ken Cook told folks for years (still does!) that you could learn things from other, similar lakes – and even helped people fish and pattern lakes that were like ones he had fished before elsewhere.

Interesting, ain’t it. This, btw, is the reason FishingGold.com allows you to search for winning pattern info by Lake Type, not just by exact Water Body. Because it works, and there’s really no other way to do it….

Anyhow, thanks to David for more interesting stuff in the world o’ bassin’, and for Bassin’Fan for cottoning onto it.