Getting Me Started

[MikeOGNR]

Hey guys, So for awhile now I have been asking myself what is gonna lead me in the right direction to improve myself as a bass fisherman and what should be what I learn first before other things. Well I am having a hard time figuring that out for my self so I am looking for some guidance as to how do I become great at bass fishing. I have been bass fishing since I was a little kid and I have taken a passion for it so I would consider myself not a beginner. but I'm just wondering what you all did to improve your bass fishing skills and or what I could do to improve my fishing skills to catch more bass. Any help is appreciated

 

 

Thanks

- Mike

[jhoffman]

Fish a lot then fish some more. Youll know youve fished enough when you start to think you have tennis elbow.

[J Francho]

Time on the water, period.

[MikeOGNR]

I know that time on the water is invaluable yes, but what do you think I should be practicing on the water to make myself a better angler??? I also want to do this same idea with hunting deer aswell I no that being out and actually doing something is very invaluable as well I'm just looking for practice tips as well

[jhoffman]

You wont become a good bass fisherman or a deer hunter in short order. It just doesnt work that way. You have to fail in order to succeed. Youre taking two of the toughest items and trying to fast track it. Guys do both their entire lives and most never master it, some do, some dont. I hunted for 6 years before I ever had my first whitetail in front of me. I hunted 8 years after that with a bow before I ever killed my first buck with archery equipment even though I could smoke them every year with a gun. Time cannot be replaced with book knowledge or other peoples ideas. What works for me will not work for you. I can tell you in the mountains that the deer bed 1/3 from the top and you live in a swamp where they bed at single trees in the middle of water.

Get my drift?

[senile1]

Lying has been the greatest boon to my bass-fishing skills.

[J Francho]

I know that time on the water is invaluable yes, but what do you think I should be practicing on the water to make myself a better angler??? I also want to do this same idea with hunting deer aswell I no that being out and actually doing something is very invaluable as well I'm just looking for practice tips as well

 

Catching fish.  Learn to catch fish on the waters you fish.  It's trial and error.  No magic bullets, no tried and true program.  It's an art.  Go through each lure group, learn when that lure's strengths collide with the seasonal patterns on your water.  Repeat. 

[roadwarrior]

Faster, easier and more fun?  Find a mentor, maybe through a local bass club.

You can learn a lot when someone is there to help. I have also learned a great

deal from professional guides over the years, some who have become good friends.

 

 

 

 

[Ratherbfishing]

Ditto and ditto again.  Time on the water is the best teacher.  To supplement that, find other experienced fishermen you can shadow.  You'll be amazed how much you can learn when others help you think outside the box.  You'll probably be able to teach them a few things, too.

[senile1]

Seriously, there is nothing like repetition and practice to become good at any endeavor.  Becoming good at anything worthwhile requires a great deal of effort.  Practice applying your knowledge of bass behavior and seasons to the structure in the lakes you fish.  Learn where they are by repetitively analyzing your lakes over and over until you truly know them.  This applies to finding the bass.  Once found, they have to be caught so you also need to practice a number of presentations that will cover the different behaviors and locations that you expect from the bass.  This is it in a nutshell.   It takes time to be a good angler, but because we enjoy it, it is fun while we learn.  Enjoy the journey and become as good as you can be. 

[jhoffman]

I hope you started first and foremost with bait. I worry a lot of guys this day in age jump strait to lures. Learning how to find minnows to fish, hellgramites, catch craws, how a leech acts, what happens when a gill gets smacked off the water at 90mph are all lessons that should be learned to effectively fish artificials. How can you imitate a craw if you never tried to catch one?

 

Fishing with lures is fun, fishing with bait will teach you the fundementals of what to do with lures while enjoying success. Im not saying dont fish lures at all, thats not practical, but do go out and learn the prey so that you can trick the predator.

[Deleted account]

Is there a website geared towards bass fishing with all sorts of articles and posts one could read?...

 

You'll only get better at fishing by fishing.

[fishNCallday]

Im only 17 years old and i am an avid bass fisherman and tournament angler. I started out just weekend fishing, But i fish every day possible now, The first thing you should do is learn your techniques and try them out. Learning these techniques is easy if you get involved in the youtube fishing community. Its a great help! I have won many tournaments by starting out just like this. Good luck and tight lines!

[fl_bass]

What has made me better is this site, and YouTube videos. I learned how to do something then I hit the water to practice them. Every technique that I don't know something about I lookup and hopefully someone has posted a video to see what to do. Subscribe to Bassresource's videos, that's how I found this site. I was completely green less than a year ago. I did not even know what a shad was, this morning I caught 6 bass in 45mins before having to go to work. Still a ton of stuff to learn. Read and apply what you learned on the water.

[bassguytom]

Fish a lot then fish some more. Youll know youve fished enough when you start to think you have tennis elbow.

I feel like I have tennis elbow. I started fishing all year. I don't winterize my boat and fish all 4 seasons. This has greatly increased my bass fishing skills. Like everyone is saying there is no substitute for time on the water.

[MikeOGNR]

Time on the water defiantly seems like my answer I think in my mind I want to rush everything and just be amazing, but then I realize practice makes perfect ha ha I just cant wait to get out and start fishing and then hunting cant wait to get back outdoors. Winters SUCK!!!!!

[WRB]

I disagree with time on the water doing the wrong things over and over will ever improve your bass fishing skills.

What will improve your skills at consistantly catching bass is learning basic bass behavior to determine where the bass should be located seasonally. Practicing skills to present lures where the bass are located with lures that the bass are interested in eating.

The bass calendar is; winter cold water period, pre spawn, spawn, post spawn, summer, fall everywhere that bass live. Bass must eat to survive; learn about the prey the live on, where you fish.

Bass are active and catchable about 20% of a 24 hour time period, about 5 hours. This means they are not active about 80% of the time, about 19 hours. Don't waste your time fishing for inactive bass, optimize your time by targeting active catchable bass. Several groups of bass are active and inactive at the same time, target the active groups of bass.

Tom

[mjseverson24]

many people say practice makes perfect... well in actuality perfect practice makes perfect performance. so in my opinion if you want to get better at bass fishing in a hurry there are a few easy things you can do. the first is watch all of the FLW and bassmaster elite series tournaments that you can. Then watch as many technique specific videos that you can. learn as much as you can from videos, but also reading articles. once you have the knowledge of how and when to use certain techniques you are ready to really grow your bass fishing skills very quickly. if you now hit the water with this wealth of fishing knowledge you will greatly increase your productivity and will better be able to create your own fishing philosophy. if you do these things and are very dedicated you can become a very good bass fisherman in just a few years. Now to accomplish this most effectively you should fish many different bodies of water, clear/dirty, grass/wood/rock, river/lake/reservoir. try and get out as often as you can and at different times of the day, and in all of the seasons. do these things and you might accomplish what you want.

 

Mitch

[MikeOGNR]

I defianettly need to learn mroe presentations because im very fluent with soft plastics I wouldl ike to learn more on reaction baits and search baits becasue I feel as thoguh with those id learn how to cover water a lot faster.

[WRB]

Mike

When you launch your boat what is your routine? Where to you go to fish and why do you go there?

There isn't a lure made that can catch bass if the bass are not there or not active.

My routine is based on over 60 years of on the water time bass fishing;

1. Look at the water, how deep can you see? Can you see any fish?

2. What is the surface water temperature?

3. Turn on my sonar unit and determine at what depth the bait is holding or any bass in the marina area, before I leave the marina. Is there a thermocline?

The reason I do the above is trying to determine the seasonal period and what depth the bait and bass are using after I figure this out, then I select a few lures that should work to catch bass where I think they should be located. The lures I like to fish; jigs, worms, swimbaits may not be appropriate for the seasonal period, so I make adjustments until I locate bass or catch bass, then try to zero in on what is working better that day or night, then stay with it.

I only fish shallow water at night or during the spawn, unlike 90% of bass anglers who never fish farther away from the bank then a casting distance.

Why go out and buy reaction bite lures until you know where the bass are located? Pounding the bank hoping to find active bass is a very low % technique.

Tom

[MikeOGNR]

I usually launch my boat and immediately look at land features and look for cover mostly visible. Then as the day progresses usually in the summer ill start shallow cover then as midday comes I go deeper about 8-13ft and look for cover in that depth range whether it be weeds or rocks or clay or whatever and fish those areas then come night time i fish docks and other shallow cover I usually am pretty successful, but I feel like I could be catching more bass just by determining their location instead of just chancing it.

[Felix77]

2 things

1. Never start learning (this site, books, DVDs etc.)

2. Applying what I learned on the water.

If you are looking for advice on what to learn and when then I would suggest picking one finesse and one power technique and do as I described in #1 and #2 until you are very comfortable with it.

[MikeOGNR]

I definitely am going to focus on power baits this year spinner baits crank baits I also wanna try the Alabama rig and catch some big fish!!!!!! I just need to get on that water. 2 things I am ready to fish for some bass and hunt for some turkeys good season this year boys 

[Deleted account]

Think of it in terms of an activity you are good at or familiar with. Let's say fixing something, you would never say "I want to screw that in with a hammer" or "I'm going to bang that in with a saw", seems obvious right? Its the same with fishing, lures and tackle, (I'm mainly thinking rods, reels and line here, which should be viewed as a unit, but that's a different topic) are nothing more than tools. Find the fish first, then apply the right tool(s). So don't try to get good at lures or techniques that aren't favorable when and where you are fishing (I'm assuming you are trying to catch fish). Also, much like screw drivers, some are better than others, but most will get the job done. AND to keep the analogy going, you can read all about cabinet making, but until you do a bunch of it, your projects are going to look like,...well, you know.

[MikeOGNR]

Good analogy and yes i do believe in that I am a better learner hands on or when someone else shows me I'm just going nuts hahah