Lures And Learning New Techniques . . . Advice Needed

[greatone1210]

There are too many dang lures and techniques to learn!!!

I am overwhelmed with so many lures and techniques. It seems like so many successful bass fisherman focus on maybe five or six techniques and types of lures, varying color and size only. I read a million threads of guys that only throw jigs, spinnerbaits, and senkos. And these guys are extremely productive by choosing their favorite techniques and mastering them. After all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

So I have a trip to Chautauqua Lake in a few weeks and this will be a perfect place to work on a few techniques. Here are the five or six I plan on using or learning.

1. Spinnerbait -- quick note, caught my first fish on a spinnerbait today. very excited and more confident.

2. Crankbait (includes lipless, hard jerk baits/slashbaits) -- have been decent with these all year.

3. Jig with Trailer -- just can't figure these out yet. probably the one most bass fisherman tell me I should learn.

4. Fluke -- like the concept and seem like a really fun way to catch fish

5. Senko (T-rigged and wacky) -- caught one or two but find this technique somewhat dull so far.

6. Top-Water Poppers -- had a few hits on these but couldn't set the hook. love the sound and seems very productive.

I have some additional baits in my box including frogs, baby brush hogs, and buzzbaits. None of which I have had one ounce of luck on. I don't know whether to add or subtract. I like the concepts behind these lures but no clue when to use them or how.

Any thoughts or sage advice would be so very appreciated. Thanks for a great community.

DU

[11justin22]

My advice is to take it slow. When learning a new technique a lot of times I will take one pole and only that lure. That forces me to pay attention to what Im doing and learn the subtle details of the bait I'm fishing. Choose one and after u feel comfortable with that one move on to another. Also choose conditions that will magnify the bait to get more bites, that will gain confidence for u. For example use a jerkbait in the spring, topwater in the sunrise/sunset,etc......

 

 

[ClackerBuzz]

take a deep breath and step away from the tackle box lol. what are ur best 3 techniques so far? how can u build on them with complementing techniques? ie ur patient and successful with a wacky senko. next try a jig. its weedless so u can pitch it in cover, swim it back, access more holding areas where most guys don't even go, and use ur patience to twitch/dead stick it when the bite is tuff.

WHAT isn't nearly as important as WHERE. learn to read water and locate holding areas. there is a good chance a bass will hit any of 10 lures if you bounce them off his nose . there is a ton of great info and posts here. your job is to sift thru it and find the information that relates to ur fisheries and climate. be aware of the size of water where people are having success and how it compares to ur water. august in a 10,000acre lake w/ 50-70ft depths is much different than aug in a 150 acre lake that maxes out at 12ft. also what time of year it is. ur in Pa like me so don't get caught up on someone's advice b/c they are killing it with a particular lure the same day over in CA. its a totally different climate. find out what ppl in ur region are using this time of year

[skeletor6]

I agree with all of the replies. It seems that there are so may different techniques and lures that one can try out. Even different color schemes, but in reality it is near impossible to have yourself rigged up with all these different baits and lures even if you have 9 setups. Believe me, I have already went out and bought so many different soft plastics, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, etc. I am now just finding out that I should just focus on just a couple of different techniques and only master those before moving onto the next.

Right now I am only fishing with jigs and texas rigs. 90% of the time jigs. I want to learn the ins and outs of how to use this bait and learn to master this technique. I will go out all day and only catch one fish. This most likely has to do with me not being in the right locations, that I also need to improve on, but most likely switching to different baits is not always the answer. I suggest that you take either a spinnerbait, jig, or texas rigged plastic and stick to fishing just those. Master your technique with them and learn how to present them in multiple ways and how to set the hook properly and get a good feel for how the bait is moving and working through cover and such. I mention those because they are so versatile. They can be fished with many different techniques, That way, you can go out and really develop your technique without having to retie and get all hung up on what is the magic bait for the certain conditions.

[SirSnookalot]

Sounds like there are a lot of techniques, but not really. Lures are cast and retrieve, with varying the retrieval speed or pauses and twitches. Dragging bottom bottom baits. Jigging, which can be used thru the entire water column. Drop shot which isn't too different than bottom baits. 3 techniques I can use a bunch of different ways. Keep the thinking simple, the object is to outsmart the fish, not outsmart yourself.

[Marty]

Right now I would not add anything because you feel overwhelmed. You have a pretty good assortment of lure types which will cover numerous situations. I think what you probably need is more time on the water to help you sort things out.

By the way, those lures you've had no luck with are all excellent fish producers; you just haven't been fishing them in the right place at the right time.

Good luck at Chautauqua. Never been there but have heard that it's a good fishery. Let us know how you made out.

[greatone1210]

Great advice everyone.

Took some time tonight and cleaned out the tackle box (actually bought a tacke backpack) and am focusing on things I actually WANT to fish.

I thought about it and realized fishing is fun regardless if I get skunked. That being said, I prefer fishing things that really keep me moving and connected to the water. So I will keep a few bags of senkos with me but I will be focusing on spinnerbaits, cranks, jigs (and respective trailers), top-water poppers, and one of my new favorites after tonight, flukes. Took a Zoom Super Fluke out rigged on a Gammy 3/0 EWG and had some nice luck. Used my casting gear and was able to fling it pretty far. Such a fun bait!

[mrmacwvu1]

First rule of fishing is to have fun. I have found that when I am confident with a bait I catch more fish with it. However the only way to get confidence is to fish it. My advise to people is when you have a day that you are killing them with a certain bait that is the time to put it up and try other ones. If the bite turns cold you can always go back to what was working. This taught me how to yo yo a spinner bait on Erie for smallies. It is now one of my go to methods.

[zachb34]

Do what I did master one bait at a time and I've you have it down practice a new one

[greatone1210]

Actually had a good day today.

Used a KVD 1.5 crankbait and caught a LM and SM. The SM even did some acrobatics for me.

I also now have some northstar jigs and some different trailers. My biggest problem with those today was getting the trailer on their correctly. Should it hang of the back end or be threaded on?

[Arv]

One thing I've started doing is buying lures for the season so I don't overwhelm myself with 100s of different options. Its so easy to go pick stuff up off the discount rack at Dick's and never really use them. For example, I heard chatterbaits were great lures. So, I picked up a bunch at the beginning of summer, and fished them around wood... Probably not the best choice. I wound up losing all of them and didn't catch a thing haha. Now that bass are starting to move up a little more shallow and chase bait fish I have been working on throwing chatterbaits (and spinnerbaits, which I've not had success with in the past either) and am now having success and able to focus primarily on learning these lures instead of random stuff I found on sale.