Charles “Turk” Gierke

Nobody thinks twice when Canada geese start flying south in the fall or head back north in the spring. Seasonal geese movements are not considered mysterious or random, it’s just migration.
And yet many anglers believe fish act randomly in unpredictable, mysterious fashion. Over time I have learned that fish do not act randomly but rather follow nature in systematic, seasonal ways where we can easily pattern and catch them.

Twenty-six years ago, I learned while fishing the Mississippi River near Red Wing, Minn., that top anglers would directly compare their walleye catches to the water level present on the day of said catch.
These “sharpies” would also sync the time of year to the level. These guys believed in a cause and effect where fish locate based on water levels. When the water is “this height, then fish are there.” This concept changed my fishing tactics forever.