How Birds and Lobster Pots Help You Find Fish
When you’re on the hunt for game fish, half the battle is often knowing where to look. Sometimes the answer to the question of where the fish are is right in front of your face, and you might not even know it.
Experienced fishermen know to look for subtle signs of fish all around them. One of those signs is often buoys for inshore lobster pots. Boaters often think of lobster pot lines and buoys as an annoyance they have to avoid. But some anglers like to see them because they often signal that is an area where fish are. That’s because lobster pots are often placed in areas that are also good fish-holding spots, such as rocky structure and transition zones.
If you come upon a lobster pot buoy and you have enough open water to work with, you can try trolling a tube lure or swimming plug around the pot line. But do so carefully; you don’t want to catch the line.
Another sign to look for is a crowd of seagulls hanging around on a nearby shore or in the water. If they seem to be resting, it might be because they’re full after a feeding blitz that just happened. It could also be they’re waiting for a feeding blitz to begin, and that’s where they expect it to happen. Either way, it’s a good idea for an angler to cast out a line or check the fish finder to see if there’s any fish around.
