If you are lucky enough to be able to fish whenever you like, or at least two or three times a week, the prospect of blanking occasionally probably doesn’t matter too much to you in the scheme of things. Just a minor annoyance really. 
However, if you are in the same situation as me and you only get to fish two or three times a month at best, because of family and work commitments, it is probably more important to you to catch fish when you do go.
So this article is about maximising your chances of catching, helping to ensure your precious fishing time is spent catching fish as well as appreciating your surroundings. Being out in peaceful countryside is nice enough, but personally I prefer to catch a few fish as well.
Simply, it’s about applying a logical thought process to your fishing and not just going on a wing and a prayer. You have to put a plan together before you go, thinking through the key elements that tend to make trips a success. Even if you fish quite regularly, applying these methods will put you more fish on the bank.
So how do you put this plan together? The first thing to do when planning a trip is to take account of the weather. What has it been doing over the last week or so and what is the forecast like? The time of year, temperature trends and prevailing weather patterns will have a major bearing on the species of fish that are likely to be feeding and the condition of the rivers and lakes. Hence it should provide some guidance on the venues that are most likely to produce fish.
Secondly, make best use of local knowledge; this includes tackle dealers, clubs and fellow anglers. Take the trouble to phone around to try and find out which venues have been producing and the species that are feeding.
Once you have taken these factors into account you have the best information to decide on your venue. Then you need to put a plan of attack together. If you have a choice of when in the day you can go, think about the time of day that is likely to be the most productive for the venue and the target species. Given the venue and target species, think through the methods and baits that are likely to be successful.
Lastly, if you have a venue in mind that you are familiar with, visualise two or three different swims that you would like to fish and plan how you will fish them. Don’t just plan for one swim, there might just be someone there already when you arrive and you will have to take a second choice. If you are fishing a river it might be that you want to bait two or three swims anyway. Decide on an initial feeding pattern for the method you are to fish. Should you introduce groundbait or just loose feed? 
When you have your ‘plan’ put together ensure you check that you have all the kit you need and that it is packed up neat and tidy. There is nothing more annoying than to arrive for your days fishing and find you have left an essential item of tackle at home or have run out of something. Another benefit of considering carefully your approach often means that you can actually take less kit with you anyway. How often do you cram everything apart from the kitchen sink into the car ‘just in case’ and only use a fraction of it after risking a hernia carrying it all to your swim?
All the above are things you can do to be prepared and organised before you even leave the house. And even when you arrive on the bank, a bit of forethought and organisation can make things easier and more comfortable for when you are actually fishing. Set your gear out tidily and make sure everything you are going to need is to hand. Doing the simple things right will not only make your fishing easier but will also avert a disaster in some circumstances. Like not being in to much of a hurry to start fishing and forgetting to put your landing net together before you cast. It’s very difficult to assemble a landing net with one hand while fighting a good fish with the other and Murphy’s law says that fish will be the best of the day!
And lastly I would say that by and large you should stick to your plan. If you have taken into account the principles laid out above you are far more likely to catch fish and enjoy your fishing than if you have taken an ad-hoc approach. However, having said that, there are occasions when you will need to think on your feet. If something fundamental changes, like the weatherman gets the forecast wrong and you are confronted with an unexpected overnight deluge or sharp frost, you may need to modify your approach on the day. But by and large a planned approach will out-fish a chuck it and chance it session more often than not.
So thinking through your trips before leaving home, following a game plan and being organised on the bank might just turn a ‘day to forget’ into a ‘red letter day’.
