Whitefish Bay Camp, walleye, bass, smallies, lake trout, musky, muskie, american plan, housekeeping, crappie, north­ern pike Hi Everyone, as we close out our 2009 season we would like to thank everyone who visited us at the camp. We are always looking to meet new friends, and where better than at the camp. It is with our blessings that we wish everyone a... Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year. Bob, Peg and Jerry

53 Success is in Your System As we identified fish we would catalog them in categories of size, their relativ­ity to structure, and lure preferences. In doing so, we identified their mood at the same time. I know you just asked yourself, " How in the blazes do they do that?" Actually, it's pretty simple. When we would discover a fish of interest, it would be visual of course. This would give us a quick read on the attitude of the fish. If the fish was close to the pre­sentation and continued to show inter­est for a few minutes -- say 20 minutes or so -- but did not commit, we would note it and formulate a plan to return. If the fish followed one time and one time only, we would also note that. Again, strategizing a plan to return. If she fol­lowed low and back on the first sighting and then showed improved interest in the forthcoming few minutes, we would aggressively work her; this would either complete the task, or allow us to once again note everything we witnessed. The long and short of all of this is, you learn to identify what makes this crea­ture tick. You see things in the actions of the fish that really do give you an insight into their attitude at that moment. These fish we chase and so often take for grant­ed are instinctively smarter than we will ever be. We need to realize it's us chas­ing them, not them chasing us. Once you do that, you will start to identify many things under a totally different light. Based on the attitude we witnessed, we began a numbering system. The num­bers were relative to the how often we could witness the fish in relation to our existing conditions. We would clock our return visits, noting every nuance in the process. As we began to see the fish more often we would record the con­ditions. Were they improving, holding steady or actually losing interest? How many times were required in terms of approaching the fish before she would show again or respond by actually en­gaging our presentations? History Continued from Page 50 These fish we chase and so often take for granted are instinctively smarter than we will ever be.