This years learning

[ILfishinman]

What tactics are you guys trying to improve on or pick up this year? for me its going to be the carolina-rig and jigs, and i might touch on crankbaits cause i pretty much never use them

[Curado]

I'm just always trying to improve everything and I usually don't really isolate one or two things.

[Recon8541]

timing....do i use the short fuse....or the long one? makes fishing easy...and ....well.....hardly ever get arrested lol!

[mymomisbecky]

my main thing is to get better at fishing deeper water. 8 feet and deeper. granted a lot of our lakes dont have super deep (more than 20 ft) channels, but they get used.
and another thing is getting better with cranks. I have ZERO confidence in them. but I need to.

[zooker]

only thing i plan on working on this year is the pnj..

zooker

[bassinbob]

California froggin. Which is walking the frog, dead sticking it, skipping it, and open water. Swimbaits. Deep cranking. Just some of the methods I want to try.

[Recon8541]

Seriously I would say I would like to use a buzzbait more. I have caught some bass on them but would say my confidence level in them is very poor.

[keithdog]

For me, I'd have to say the carolina rig and the buzz bait. I've used a buzz bait off and on for years, but never caught anything on one. So my confidence it that type of lure is poor. But I know they catch fish, so I'm making an effort to be successful with one. I bought a few different ones to try this year. As for the carolina rig. I used one for the first time last year on my last outting before winter hit. So it's all kind of new for me. Looking foreward to it though!!!

[WIUbassin]

I find that 90% of the time I'm using worms or cranks. This year I want to really get comfortable with jigs. In addition, I would like to get more confident fishing deeper water. Anything over 8-10 feet of water and I feel like I have no clue how to fish it.

Also would like to perfect walking the dog. Bought my first Zara Spook and hope it works well.

[ILfishinman]

yea i need to work on deep water and buzzbaits aswell and spinner baits, very low confidence in them, wui walkin the dog is easy once ya get it and it will catch ya lots of fish, it is a big confidence bait for me, over at kennekuk cove it works all day in the lil ponds

[ihateforwards]

Super Flukes! Personally, I have used every type of lure except a buzzbait and caught some kind of fish on it. For some reason, I just can't get any worms or super flukes to work to catch ANY fish on it.

[brushhog]

Fishing deeper water, getting away from my favorite plastics and working some cranks and jigs are things I would like to improve... I tend to get in a comfort zone and catch fish where and how i know i can. But I know there are bigger fish to catch and better ways to do it i just have to step outside the comfort zone!

[hackattack]

ihateforwards: pick up a pack of strike king 3x green pumpkin zeros!they are my favorite bait and a good pre-spawn (early spring) bait. texas rig them with a 3/0 ewg gamakatsu hook with no weight and cast them to spots you have caught fish before at. Dont bother trying to find fish with this bait, it is much better at catching located fish. good luck and tight lines.

[texasbasser]

fishing jigs. Thats about all, last year i got pretty much everything done.

[ToPwAt'R GuY]

Deep crankin'

[Recon8541]

Ok this maybe kind of a long post, so I will apologize in advance for that, but please bear with me.

Alot of times I hear the bass are doing this and that. Fact is bass can and will bite on damn near anything, damn near anytime.

I live in Florida, and love it here. Some of you live in the Great White North, and love it there.

I happen to love Pizza, and steak, some of you may prefer spaghetti, and grill cheese.

I love a nice stormy thunderstorm day, some of you may prefer sunshine.

My point is this, BASS ARE THE SAME WAY.

Bass generally live all over the lake, and bite on many different things. Just as we live all over and love different foods.

When fishing I start off shallow, then go to flats, drop offs, and finally deep water. I try different things based on water color and activity.

Ever watch jimmy houston fish a spinner bait? He swears you can catch quality bass in shallow water, no matter the conditions, and have seen him catch bass on a spinner bait in seriously cold *** water!

My point is this. The most successful fishermen, are the ones that can use a mirad of baits effectivly, and know how to match those baits to proper...I said PROPER technique.

When working new baits research the bait, find out how best to take advantage of the many ways to use the bait. A kind of the right tool for the right job. You wouldnt cut a sheet of plywood with a utility knife would you?

When experimenting with new baits, make sure you are using them in a manner consistent with their design. Thats a key, fishing a bait improperly may end in no strikes, and loss of confidence.

I am a firm believer that confidence is the best bait you can take to the lake.


Recon

[WIbassfisherman]

Going to try and slow down and fish some soft plastic texas rigs. When fishing shallow I'm usually throwing a moving bait to cover water. The biggest thing I need to learn is how to slow down with a soft bait and pick them apart.

Going to be spending a lot more time on river flowages/reserviors so patterning these fish will be different then the crystal clear northern lakes that I'm used to.

[Snake2715]

Originally Posted by Recon8541

timing....do i use the short fuse....or the long one? makes fishing easy...and ....well.....hardly ever get arrested lol!

That sounds more like a new years resolution to me!

[lizardsrule]

Originally Posted by Recon8541

Ok this maybe kind of a long post, so I will apologize in advance for that, but please bear with me.

Alot of times I hear the bass are doing this and that. Fact is bass can and will bite on damn near anything, damn near anytime.

I live in Florida, and love it here. Some of you live in the Great White North, and love it there.

I happen to love Pizza, and steak, some of you may prefer spaghetti, and grill cheese.

I love a nice stormy thunderstorm day, some of you may prefer sunshine.

My point is this, BASS ARE THE SAME WAY.

Bass generally live all over the lake, and bite on many different things. Just as we live all over and love different foods.

When fishing I start off shallow, then go to flats, drop offs, and finally deep water. I try different things based on water color and activity.

Ever watch jimmy houston fish a spinner bait? He swears you can catch quality bass in shallow water, no matter the conditions, and have seen him catch bass on a spinner bait in seriously cold *** water!

My point is this. The most successful fishermen, are the ones that can use a mirad of baits effectivly, and know how to match those baits to proper...I said PROPER technique.

When working new baits research the bait, find out how best to take advantage of the many ways to use the bait. A kind of the right tool for the right job. You wouldnt cut a sheet of plywood with a utility knife would you?

When experimenting with new baits, make sure you are using them in a manner consistent with their design. Thats a key, fishing a bait improperly may end in no strikes, and loss of confidence.

I am a firm believer that confidence is the best bait you can take to the lake.


Recon

Nice post Reacon.

For those of you wanting to work on buzzbaits, which I see a lot. IMHO you need to be throwing them right in, and around cover. Work them through pads, actually hop them over branches, work them through and over the edges of mats and vegetation. I see a awful lot of folks throwing them in the open water. They will occasionally work there, but right over the top of very shallow weeds, or any type of cover is better. It's more of a reaction type bait, and you need to catch them coming right over their head. Not out in the middle where they can see it for awhile IMHO. They are great baits, and will catch bass if used correctly, even in the middle of a hot sunny day.

Lizards

[Vabass22]

Mostly deep water, 7+ feet. Hopefully also will get to be decent w/ jigs. Buzzbaits are definitely something else I need work on!

[ihateforwards]

Yay! I don't even own a buzzbait! Are they really that hard to fish?

[texasbasser]

not really, it depends on your lake/pond. chunk, wind pretty much, catches alot of fish for me on my shallower ponds 3' or less.

[ihateforwards]

Oh, ok, well I should go to wal-mart to see what kinds of buzzbaits they sell.

[InEccess]

My bass club throws Tubes and Jigs almost exclusively all year around. I'd say my strength is soft-plastics; texas rigged, weightless, dead-sticking, wacky rig, etc. This year, I'm going to brush up on my jigging skills. Basicly I want to learn when a texas rigged plastic won't work, but a Jig will.

Next, I'm good with jerkbaits. I took what I learned on weightless soft plastics and applied it to jerkbaits and caught fish, so I'm cofident with them. HOWEVER, I've yet to catch a fish on a crankbait. This year, when I'm not throwing stones, I'm going to work crankbaits whenever I can.

Lastly, I was slaying bass in my club last year with Spinnerbaits. They all think my strength is fishing spinnerbaits (because I caught fish with spinnerbaits while they where flipping and pitching). This year, I promised BassinBob that I was going to throw a buzzbait the first hour or two each tournament. I'll just use the jig as a follow up bait.

Post Script. The entire club drags tubes around Lake Erie. This year, I'm tossing the drop-shot on the great lake. It will give the fish something different to look at, if nothing else.

[texasbasser]

I am fairing pretty well with what I wanted to learn. last year i fished plastic worms maybe a dozen times, caught maybe 20 bass. this year im already at 13 in one day. also, i caught a 4 pounder on a jig today which got my hopes up a ton!