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February 11, 2014 at 11:05 AM
Palatka, Fla. is known as the “bass capital of the world.” The St. Johns River and many tributaries abound. I live about 30 miles from Palatka and have gone fishing there many times.
When I was just a teenager, I learned a very valuable lesson about bass fishing: You can’t catch them if the lure isn’t in the water. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? Of course; it is.
However, how many producers hope they can get new clients without getting the lure in the water, so to speak. Prospecting is like fishing in many ways. Sometimes you just put an artificial lure or worm on the hook and let it sit on the bottom or just wiggle it occasionally. Every now and then a bass will swim by and take the bait. Fish generally don’t take the bait unless they are hungry. That’s why we lure as many as possible so that we find a hungry one.
When you are fishing for prospects, you are looking for one who might be looking for you. It takes patience, casting (activity) and persistence to catch a bass. Some lures won’t work where I’m fishing and I need to change lures to find what works. When I find a lure that works at a particular fishing spot, I just keep using the same lure.
When you prospect, find a lure that works and don’t change the lure until it stops working. Then, either change the lure and be patient again or move to another spot. If the fish have moved on, move on to find them.
Changes in the weather and seasons definitely affect fishing. It’s also true of prospecting. Pay attention to seasonal changes and how people react to them, as well as holidays and vacation travel.
A good bass fisherman will have an electric trolling motor to ease slowly and quietly around the water and find where fish are hiding. Gently and methodically, he will move and cast, move and cast.
One of my young friends would change lures every few minutes, not because the fish might like a different lure, but because he liked a different one. Some company would come out with a fancy new lure and he had to have it. That makes a tackle box pretty, but it doesn’t necessarily catch fish.
