Do as I say... Not as I do, what mistakes do you make?

[brushhog]

My 11 yr old son and 8 yr old daughter and I went fishing yesterday. We hauled the canoe back to some remote cut backs of the Mohawk River and got to fishing. Junior expressed and interest in throwing a pop-r topwater so I gave a lengthy lesson on how to fish it properly, especially how to wait on the hookset. After about 20 minutes and no results he switched to another lure.

Anyway, too lazy to retie, I took juniors topwater and began throwing it around. Sometime later I overthrow one and bounce it off a stump on shore and into about a foot of water...BAM I get an absolute wallop! What do I do? Of Course I yank the Pop-R right away from the Lunker. Junior, with perfect timing, says "UHH Dad, aren't you supposed to wait a second our two before you set the hook?" DOH!

Fishing was tough, really windy, Junior caught a nice 16 incher with a big belly, but that was it for the day. Sorry no picts, old camera and new computer, haen't figured out how to match em up

Here's is my question, what mistake do you make repeatedly even though you know better? ( If this strays off the fishing topic, i shudder to think of the confessions I'll get! )

[swimbaitkid]

Bad decisions on leaveing spots, or fishing every rod I have tied up in the first 2 minutes when I should stick with 1 rod,then once i get settled down i start catching fish

[Jim80]

same thing I tend to rip a top water out of the fishes mouth early more times than not .


Jim

[crankybait]

Any time I can see a fish bite, I set the hook way too early. That applies for topwater too... I see/hear splash, the hook is set. Also another thing I sometimes do is have a little kink in a T-rigged worm and the hook rides all funny but I only realise after a few casts

[Bassboss]

Same thing! I think just about everyone does that now and than! Even all the pros! Ya, every one does that!

[cassidyta]

I fish too much from memory and not enough based on current conditions. I do a lot of "this worked last time" on baits and spots rather than tyring to figure out where they should be and what they might be eating. I usually don't try and adapt to the conditions until I am frustrated at the lack of production.

[JB]

most of us do that on prefishing a tourney, you get a mindset on whats going on sat, then sunday comes along, weather is exactly the same and the fish aren't relating to sat.'s pattern. The better anglers adapt to the change in
the fishes feeding pattern, either slowing up or changing depth or lures. Its the hardest part of bass fishing I think.

[1/4 stick]

I fish from shore mostly, and my biggest mistake is having my mind so into where I'm going to cast and on the water that I forget to take a good look at where I'm stepping. Only by the grace of God have I not been snake bit, though I have found myself in perdicerments with quicksand and soft, deep mud.

[1/4 stick]

oh... and the slide down the bank of the river. That's always a special feeling.

[bamabassman]

early hook set, leave an area too soon, change baits too soon, i can go on and on man. hahahahahahaha.

[wareagledc]

i don't have a boat so i shore fish alot. as i work around the bank, i forget to look up sometimes and then one of thoes "professional overruns" occur as my lure hangs the tree limb above me. worst backlash ever when that happens

[1/4 stick]

Originally Posted by wareagledc

i don't have a boat so i shore fish alot. as i work around the bank, i forget to look up sometimes and then one of thoes "professional overruns" occur as my lure hangs the tree limb above me. worst backlash ever when that happens

I tend to catch my lure in the bushes behind me a lot too, and the rod bends on the forward swing smacking myself in the back of the head. Get mad and yank the lure loose which then heads toward my head at a rather high volosity and I have to do the "best defence, no be there" dragon drum duck and spin technique.

[abu4600]

I'm bad about setting the hook too early on topwaters too.

[cassidyta]

Originally Posted by 1/4 stick

I tend to catch my lure in the bushes behind me a lot too, and the rod bends on the forward swing smacking myself in the back of the head. Get mad and yank the lure loose which then heads toward my head at a rather high volosity and I have to do the "best defence, no be there" dragon drum duck and spin technique.

I used to think that the behind me snags caused the worse backlash. That was until yesterday when I was casting a 6 inch soft swimbait and the line snapped. I have no idea where the bait went, but I might have set a record on the distance. It only took one look at the backlash for me to put that rod away to cut it out later.

[carolina-rig-01]

preconcieved notions and sticking with a pattern too long are my most common mistakes. too often when i get to the lake i alread have in my head what the fish should be doing under those conditions and what i should be able to do to catch them. i stick with this idea way too long some times and burn way too much time when i should be making adjustments. or if i am on a pattern but it changes i sometimes take too long to adapt and that will kill you everytime. like jb said, adapting is the hardest part of bass fishing.

[islandbass]

Guilty as charged. For some reason lately, I have been going through the motions of setting the hook while drop shotting. I think it is the excitement when I feel the nibble. I have caught good numbers this season with my few trips, and I shudder that that number would be even higher had I followed my own advice on reeling up the slack to set the hook. Doh!

[Fishnngolfn]

I usually wait too long to set the hook.
Oh yeah, and I always seem to forget bug spray.

[bassinbob]

Staying with the same pattern too long. Casting in a cramped boat and catching
another rod on the back cast. Had to fish out two rods so far. Fished saturday and main lake was to rough for my 14ft. boat so I fished the pads. Tried horny toads, soft body frogs, etc. Two little hits. Usually I would stay on this pattern for a long time but remembered I just bought a sexy shad. Ended up catching 5 on it.

[Jim80]

Originally Posted by 1/4 stick

I fish from shore mostly, and my biggest mistake is having my mind so into where I'm going to cast and on the water that I forget to take a good look at where I'm stepping. Only by the grace of God have I not been snake bit, though I have found myself in perdicerments with quicksand and soft, deep mud.

I feel your pain there man just missed a timber rattler a couple weeks ago myself .

Jim

[sac]

Not fishing enough is one of my mistakes. If it were up to me, I'd fish everyday all day, but life doesn't allow that to happen LOL.
Yeah, I get stuck on a bait too long and don't throw anything else, that's another

[BigBassin144]

Too many to list, but a couple ones I do alot are waiting too long to set the hook on plastics, jigs, etc and the bass drop the bait, switching lures too much and probably just not fishing enough. I've been fishing more since I've gotten my truck, but still not enough as I'd like.

BB

[WaffleJaw]

i always forget the bugspray,haha.
i never get enough sleep before my early AM trips out....4-5 hrs tops!
i dont do enough research before hitting a new lake and end up on the wrong side (two weeks ago)
definitely setting the hook too early on plastics and tops.

but most of all,not changing the pattern......Im not a boat owner,(yet)so its hard some times when your limited

[BassMoJo]

When ever I need to retie I always say it than I'm like ah f**k it .... I loose a fish or my bait goes flying 300 yards in the air.

[BigBassin144]

Originally Posted by BassMoJo

When ever I need to retie I always say it than I'm like ah f**k it .... I loose a fish or my bait goes flying 300 yards in the air.

Oh that's another one, I hardly ever retie, especially braid. infact, I don't think I've ever retied the same lure on while fishing braid. I actually casted one of my jigs about 200 yards today, but my knot broke on my fluoro. And it was my fault, I knew the knot didn't cinch good, and I fished with it anyways.

BB

[BassMoJo]

Originally Posted by BigBassin144

Oh that's another one, I hardly ever retie, especially braid. infact, I don't think I've ever retied the same lure on while fishing braid. I actually casted one of my jigs about 200 yards today, but my knot broke on my fluoro. And it was my fault, I knew the knot didn't cinch good, and I fished with it anyways.

BB

All the time ... All it has to do is survive the first tug