Did you master a new technique this year?

[Jrob78]

I was thinking about a thread posted at the beginning of the season.

http://www.bassfishin.com/bassfishin...ad.php?t=22518

I was wondering how many of you followed through and spent time working on new techniques?

I definitely broke out of my comfort zone and caught a lot of fish on hard baits. Lipless cranks probably produced more fish this year than any other bait. Did you guys build confidence in any new areas this season?

[Backwater Charlie]

Yes I did.. I mastered Buzzbait fishing. But the years still not over. Lots of time left.

[CamG]

Nope...just didn't get much fishing done when it was super hot this year. If the fish are super deep...I still can't catch em. That is my biggest weakness.

[Garry2rs]

I did work on Swimbaits, throwing them for awhile almost every time I got out.
I also tried to use my old hard top water lures more.
These old baits like the Hula-Popper and Jitterbug were lures that my friends and I always used a lot when we were kids.
Over time we got away from them...and I had forgotten how much fun they are!
Garry2R's

[dave0943]

I wouldn't say MASTERED, but I spent more time with the craw this year. I experimented with different brands, rigs, presentations. Definitely more bass fell to the money, chigger crawl this year. Did quite a bit of deeper water/ledge presentations that produced well. Great tool for the arsenal.
Dave

[HarveysMinnow]

I can't say I've mastered it yet, but I've spent some time learning drop shotting. It seems a good technique for hot days (and we've had an abundance of those) when it's just too much like work to be flailing away with other baits.

.

[walkeraviator]

No mastering involved... but i introduced myself to the wacky rig and the weightless t-rig with senkos this summer... so far so good..

[coachpurdy]

I have never mastered any techniques, but I did fish a Zara Spook alot this year year and did pretty good. I also fished crankbaits more than usual, and I have yet to fish a t-rig worm. So, it's all new to me.

[CMorg]

I have as well. Shakey Head fishing with light line and a spinning rod. I never knew how many fish I was missing using heavy line and big baits...

[nofearengineer]

Drop shot has been my most fun thing to do this year, by far. Plus, it works great from shore when I only have an hour or two to kill after work and don't want to take the boat out.

[Ebbetsguy]

C- rigging, my PB came on a C rig this year 7.1 lbs
Tubes

I have come to the conclusion that plastics is the best for me


until next year then when i top the 7.1 with a crank bait, ill say that crank baits are best for me

[keithdog]

I got into fishing soft swimbaits and really got hooked on them while the swimbait bite lasted. The rest of the year I stated using poppers for the first time, with the exception of the Hula Popper which I have yet to catch anything on. But the Excaliber 3" Zell Pop produced crazy numbers of bass for me this summer. Not sure I'd say it was a new technique, since I've been fishing topwaters for a long time. But this was the first year I've used poppers. Boy was I missing out!!!

[BigBassin144]

I'd honestly have to say no. With the little time we've spent fishing, there wasn't much time to practice anything, and I mostly stuck with what I knew.

One major step for me towards one of my goals in the linked post was I got a hit on a swimbait. I know it doesn't seem like much, but I've only spent a small amount of time fishing it, and I still don't have a lot of confidence in it yet...

BB

[WatterBoy]

I know basically zero about fishing with jigs, shaky heads and tubes, so I wanted to experiment and try to learn to fish with at least one of those this summer. Didn't happen, though. I kept catching so many fish on senkos that they were too hard to put down. And when I did put them down, I went with something else I already knew how to use.

Here is the breakdown of what I've caught them on this year:

  Wacky-rigged Yamasenko 109  40.4%  (4 LM at 4+ pounds)
  Dropshot                96  35.6%  (1 LM, 1 SM at 4+ pounds)
  Crankbait               21   7.8%
  Pop-R                   16   5.9%  (1 SM at 4+ pounds)
  Poppin' Frog            10   3.7%  (2 LM at 6+ pounds)
  Night Crawler            6   2.2%
  Yum Money Hound          5   1.9%  (1 LM at 5+ pounds)
  Marabou Crappie Jig      3   1.1%
  Buzzbait                 2   0.7%  (1 LM at 5+ pounds)
  Texas-rigged Yamasenko   2   0.7%

And 93% of the dropshot numbers are from using a wacky-rigged Yamasenko on that set-up, so my total % caught (of 270 total) using a Yamasenko is 200 bass -- 74% of my total for this year. Now you know why that's been so hard for me to get away from this season.

.

[ran24]

I got my first experience with frog fishing this year. Had some success with it and loved every cast. What an exciting way to fish!

[Embrey]

this weekend i mastered the art of not getting a single bite in both days of our tournament classic...awesome

[Dave63]

I used more crankbaits this year. Before it was something that I hardly even looked at, much less used. Plastic wise, I got onto lizards early and often, which is something that I'd not ever used. I'm looking forward using both more next year.

[bamabassman]

Sadly I didn't even to master what I used to master this year. I really wanted to do more drop shotting and jig fishing. But I didn't get out on the water as much as I needed to. But there is next year...... I hope.

[Bubba_Bruiser]

I threw a crank more this year than I ever did. And I actually pulled them through timber and got them back. But I am still weary. Its a patience game wondered if it has cleared yet hahaha.

[islandbass]

Nice stats, Watter! I started keeping stats and the beginning of my season, but after realizing I wasn't going out as much as I wanted to, I stopped.

However, I made many of my few outings successful more so in being observant and making better decisions and choices in both lure selection and time to go.

As for mastering any technique in particular? Improving with certain techniques, certainly, but mastering? Nope. The day a technique is mastered is the day I die. There is simply too much room to improve at least in my case to ever master any technique.

I feeling I have greatly improved with crankbaits and other treble lures and further refined my drop shotting skills. I just didn't fish enough this year to expand or get around to other techniques. What I mean by this is if I were to spend some time to learn the jig, but the gut is saying cranks, and I'm running out of time, I'm going to set the jig down and grab the crankbait, get me fish and go home skunkless. I am noticing that the bass in one lake I go to often just don't give a rat's phanny to jigs of any kind or color. They seem to be more attracted to horizontally moving baits. Don't know why but that's just the way the bass in this lake pan out/prefer more often than not.

[WaffleJaw]

As you already know Joe.
I broke through big time with jigs this year

I would say 80% of all my fish this year came off jigs!!
And now its probably my #1 confidence bait.

[CMorg]

Originally Posted by Bubba_Bruiser

I threw a crank more this year than I ever did. And I actually pulled them through timber and got them back. But I am still weary. Its a patience game wondered if it has cleared yet hahaha.

I have done this everytime I fish cranks. My buddy thinks im nuts. I catch fish in the trees though. None the less , I learned a lession yesterday during a tournament. If your crankbait gets snagged , dont pull too hard on the line , else something bad can happen.

[cassidyta]

I mastered nothing, but I did improve on my drop shot considerably. That and Jigs made up the majority of my caught fish this year.

[BassFeverJohn]

I wouldn't ever call myself a master, but I have come a long way this year on soft plastics. Especially with worms. I never really used them much before this year, and I had never caught anything with one before May this year, I think it was May.

I also have done a lot with swimbaits. I love swimbaits!

[DaveW731]

Finally got wacky rigs figured out this year. Also made progress with jig/pig.