Check for Size
MAY-JUNE 2017 I FLWFISHING.COM
While so much of offshore fishing
revolves around electronics, Lambert
believes it’s easy to buy into one com-
mon misconception: that electronics
can always reveal a fish’s true size.
“People think you can tell how big a
fish is by looking on a screen, but that
isn’t necessarily true,” says Lambert. “If
you think about the way electronics
work, the [side-scan] transducer sends
a beam under the boat, and if you’ve
got a 6-pounder that’s facing you and
a 3-pounder that’s perpendicular to
you, the smaller fish is going to look
bigger on your screen than a 6-
pounder. That’s why you have to make
a few casts to see what’s really going
on down there.”
In other words, there’s no substi-
tute for getting hands-on with the
bass. For that reason, Lambert doesn’t
concern himself with the size of a fish
on his screen. He’s looking for num-
bers in a school. The size? He’ll verify
that with a rod and reel come tourna-
ment time.
“One thing I know about the
Tennessee River is that you can catch
three 2-pounders and then catch a 6-
pounder,” he says. “When those schools
get big, there are big ones in there.”
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