Drop offs and Cliffs

Although these two geographic occurrences are somewhat different, their meaning to fish is same. They provide shade, protection, and easy access to food. Cliffs will trap poor flying terrestrials time and again, sending these errant flyers down into lake, where schools of fish are apt to be waiting. Windy days aid here in two ways, one providing more difficult flying conditions, and two, giving water a rippled surface to aid in angler avoiding detection.

Drop-offs allow fish a sense of security and can be effective mid-day, when fish are hiding out from activity of both humans and predatory birds. If you can locate a drop off close to a food source, you are likely to have a very productive fishing day, and at times insanely productive.

Shorelines, shallows and shoals

One of most misunderstood facts about lake fishing, is that shallow water more often than not is where fish are going to be caught. There simply is not food down deep for fish to survive. If one can learn to read shorelines, one can catch big fish in lakes. Here is what to look for; Irregular shorelines offer monist protection for fish and aquatic plants. Aquatic plants are important because they offer protection for fish and food for aquatic insects. Also look for shoals, which are just submerged islands, ones that are just off shore offer fish protection and food at same time, (remember those are two things fish need). Fish in shallows are very skittish, and will not show themselves in direct sunlight. Dusk is often best time to pursue these areas.

Reading lakes properly takes practice and patience. If one can, one should learn one lake very well, before attempting another one. Many of things you learn to read will carry over from lake to lake. And once mastered reading new lakes will become easier, as will catching of fish

A few players that should be on your draft radar for 2005 season should be Ronnie Brown, Carnell Williams, Cedric Benson, J.J Arrington, Eric Shelton and maybe even Maurice Clarett.

Brown may be most solid fantasy prospect for this season since he really faces no significant competition for starting job. Even if Ricky Williams can come back and play this season, don’t expect head coach Nick Saban or his teammates to accept him with open arms. Williams has burned too many bridges and cast too much doubt in minds of his coaches and fellow players to be handed back feature running back job. Brown should not have much trouble beating out Sammy Morris, Travis Minor or Lamar Gordon for starting job. None of those player possess combination of size and speed that Brown possesses.

About only question mark with Brown is if he will have enough players around him to make him successful. The offensive line is mostly a collection of journeymen and backups and A.J. Feeley did nothing last year to make defenses fear Dolphins arial attack. Even if defenses stack line and try to stop run, Brown should get enough attempts to make a fantasy impact.

Rookie running backs other than Brown face some sort of competition heading into training camp. Carnell Williams will have to beat out incumbent starter Michael Pittman in Tampa Bay. Cedric Benson will have to battle with last year’s starter, Thomas Jones for top spot in Chicago. J.J. Arrington may have to split time with Marcel Shipp who is returning from injury in Arizona and Maurice Clarett faces an uphill battle for playing time with Tatum Bell, Mike Anderson and newly acquired Ron Dayne on roster.

If we had to rank top five rookie running backs in terms of fantasy value right now, it would look a little something like this:

1. Ronnie Brown, Mia 2. Cedric Benson, Chi 3. J.J. Arrington, Ariz 4. Carnell Williams, TB 5. Eric Shelton, Car

So when this years draft rolls around, don’t make mistake of simply dismissing a talent just because he a rookie. You might find out that you could get some outstanding production and value out of a wide-eyed rookie running back that has a bright future ahead of him.