If you surprise a fish with a lure, you won’t hook it as well as you would otherwise; and you might not hook it at all. A deliberate bite, where a fish sees the lure coming toward it and then goes for it, is better than a reaction strike. If you’re missing a lot of fish, it might be time to move. Whenever possible, you should position yourself so that you’re casting upwind or upcurrent because that’s the way the fish are facing.
When I’m fishing a tournament, I pay attention to how the grass is laying over, or the wind is blowing, and which way fish are likely to be facing relative to the current. Bass are professional eaters, and they know where the baitfish should be coming from. For instance, if I pull up on a point and the wind is blowing from a certain direction, I’m going to be on the other side casting into it and bringing the lure back downwind.
If there’s no noticeable current, it’s tougher to find the right angle. As a result, you’ve got to make several casts to the same target from at least two different directions. If the lure is going the wrong way when it goes by the fish, it might not make a move. But when your lure and the fish meet face to face, that’s when good things happen.
—- Chevy pro Dion Hibdon, Sunrise Beach, Mo.