The 40-Minute Rule...

I have the pleasure of fishing multiple small public waters in close vicinity to my home. There are perks and drawbacks to this style of bass fishing for sure. A sample of the negative aspects might be the fact that boats are prohibited…bank angling only. One of the beautiful things about boat fishing besides the fact that you can get to some pretty far-out spots with ease, is that when the bass are in the weeds on the shoreline they often hold tight until you tempt them with some bass crack. When approaching them from the shoreline…they often spook and flee to open water away from the weed line. They have few predators in the water. The otters, raccoon, etc…that approach from the shore are a genuine concern and barely more than a shadow can cause that “digital camo green” torpedo to misfire out into no man’s land. Nothing ruins your morning quicker than watching gallons of displaced water followed by rooster tails as you assumed you were approaching your honey-hole with the utmost stealth. AAARRRRGH!!

Another maddening aspect to landlocked lure lunking is the cost associated with losing lures to snags. Even in my float tube, I’m able to retrieve most of my lures snatched by giant multi-legged lake monsters. When I’m on dry land however, it sometimes feels like I’ve lost an entire paycheck in a couple hours of a decent crankbait bite. I’ve come home like a whoop’d pup dragging my tail because I know I have to face my wife and kindly ask her permission to replace a few pieces of my arsenal to the thieving bandits that mugged me at the puddle.

Amongst the negatives of the enraged, lipless-losing, fish-frightening, bank anglers…can be a multitude of wonderful positive experiences. One of my favorites being the “40-minute rule”. I made this up a couple years ago when I realized that not all bodies of water are created equal. The surface temp may be the same. They may share the same types of vegetation. They might even have similar shadows from near identical tree lines within a quarter mile of eachother…but if they’re not biting in one lake, they could still be active in another. I went to a local power plant last year to catch what was supposed to be some whoppin’ monsterville largemouth. The power plant uses the lake to cool its core so the growing season really never stops due to the equatorial water temperatures all year long. I was really expecting some Floridian behemoth results. My burning expectations were doused like a European beach loaded with floppy senior citizens. I spent the better part of the day on the water and barely caught a thing. All I could think about was my “40-minute rule” which states: “If you’re not catching anything substantial in 40 minutes, move to a neighboring puddle and try again.” Being restrained to a boat makes for a heavy commitment when deciding to move to a new lake.

I have on several occasions employed my 40-minute rule with successful results. I recall inviting my good friend over to fish with me one Saturday morning. The intention was to get him on some fish because his local water hole wasn’t producing. We hammered away at one of my go-to favorites with very little results, so we moved over to another that I had lay to rest for a while. Not long into our journey, I had 5 pounds of toad choking on a Fat Ika. Incidentally, I hadn’t made much noise during the whole ordeal so when I pulled the bull from the chute, I held it up right behind my bud’s face and said…”Look at this!” He jumped back and ‘bout pee’d his knickers while I nearly did the same just from laughing so hard.

Another successful 40 minute morning was when I was fishing with my Dad and only turned up with 2 or 3 fish in 40 minutes. We hooked up for a quick chat and his results mirrored mine, so we moved about ¼ mile over to another lake that I rarely fished. Within the next hour, I pulled 9 fish right out from under the guys that were already fishing this spot. I would normally never, ever fish near another angler for fear of ruining their chances but it was obvious they weren’t enthusiast anglers and likely just out for the fresh air, so I didn’t mind. They said they’d been there all morning and weren’t doing well and wondered what kind of “magic bait” I was using, so I responded with “Fairy Dust!” I probably should have suggested they dump the 100lbs tackle boxes and chairs for a light backpack and good hiking boots. Anyhoo…at the end of my 9-fish streak came a basswhale to cap off the most amazing morning. 

Believe it or not…nearly the exact thing happened to me less than a year later. I employed the 40M-rule and caught my personal best to date at the next body of water. Obviously, this is not always the case. I’ve tried 40 minutes here, an hour there with no results…but more often than not, it works for me.

I don’t know if it’s the fresh perspective, new confidence in a new body of water, or just breaking-free from a pressured hole that’s getting ready to implode…the 40M-rule has boosted my results on a fairly regular basis. This practice has saved me tons of frustration from wasting hours of my life beating a dead horse with a whippy rod and reel. Take delight in knowing that the boat angler can't do it. Take every advantage you can when it comes to beating the bank because your fellow boat angler is surely reaping the rewards of theirs. Feel free to give it a try and post your results.