Minor Details - Tell Your Winning Story

[jhoffman]

Seems like we are always looking at the big picture, at least I am and sometimes miss out on one little key thing that can change an entire day.

 

Id like to hear some little things you have done that changed your day in a big way. I was just thinking about how something like a warming or cooling trend in the spring can dictate where to find fish after reading a BASS article.

 

One that I had personally happen was in muddy water. Everyone was running back into the coves to avoid the mud on the main lake and no one was catching fish. I was fishing the main lake and trying everything under the sun at blow downs. At one point I decided to change over to an all white spinnerbait and throw a big ol pig of a swimbait on the back. I then proceeded to chuck that bad boy back under the bushes overhanging the blow downs. Nothing would hit it. It wasnt until I figured out that I needed to start the blades after hitting my target and immediately kill the action letting it fall that I started to hook up. After that point I was putting fish in the boat on trees that I couldnt buy a bite on before, of course, it was the day I blew up my starter also and couldnt get back to the dock lol.

 

Whats a minor detail or change you made on the fly that changed your entire day?

[Koofy Smacker]

Couldnt pull start it? lol

 

One thing that always gets me, especially in tournaments is when I stop catching I have a tendency to start fishing a different way than I did to catch the others. And by that I mean I speed up, which is nearly never a good thing in most of the lakes I fish at. When I can stay calm and fish the way I know how too fish usually end up in the boat.

 

On the other hand, one tournament with 10 minutes left I decided to scrap my plan and drag a drop shot down a structureless bank and ended up landing a 4 lb smallie which bumped me up into 2nd. Made it back to the weigh in with 15 seconds left by the time I got it in the livewell So scrapping a plan can and does work. Ahh its all mind games.

[jhoffman]

I yanked on that rope for an hour, I finally just called a guy down the lake for a tow

[ClackerBuzz]

i take a nap. no kidding. working lures with too much ADD action can mean little to no bites when the fish want something low and slow.  if you put warm sun on anyone's face in my family they are sure to doze off. and that's exactly when i feel a bite. i've been so much more successful since adding a 'power nap' retrieve to my toolbox

[Bluebasser86]

It's always nice when you figure out that little trick that catches the right fish on any given day. The best one I can think of was a tournament I got paired with a very good jig fisherman in the club I was in. He said he was on some jig fish in standing timber and that's what we'd be doing all day. We started really slow, neither of us getting a bite pitching to the standing trees. Then one cast instead of reeling in right after I dragged my jig away from the tree I kept dragging it very slowly along the bottom. I could feel my bait crawling over limbs that couldn't be seen from the surface when my jig just slowly started moving towards deeper water, keeper number 1 of what would eventually be a limit was in the boat shortly after that. For some reason the fish weren't holding on the standing trees, but on the laydowns that were the result of limbs falling into the water or trees blowing over. Since we were fishing in about 8' of water these laydowns couldn't be seen, but by dragging my jig very slowly back to the boat I was able to find them and catch fish off them. My boater never did figure out what I was doing and ended with only 1 keeper pitching the trees. I never got a kicker fish so I didn't win it but I did get 4th and this lake usually beat me bad so I felt really good about how I ended up on that day. 

[tomustang]

I just wing it.

[SirSnookalot]

I just wing it.

Works for me.......

Fished bass over 50 years, did ok.  The change in my bass fishing was due to my interest in SW inshore fishing.  Revamped my entire thought process, I fish simple now with a minimal amount of equipment, not only has my numbers increased but size too.  Being in Florida certainly does not hurt, in reality you are as good as the water you are fishing on. 

[jhoffman]

Works for me.......

Fished bass over 50 years, did ok.  The change in my bass fishing was due to my interest in SW inshore fishing.  Revamped my entire thought process, I fish simple now with a minimal amount of equipment, not only has my numbers increased but size too.  Being in Florida certainly does not hurt, in reality you are as good as the water you are fishing on. 

 

Aint that the truth. Theres some places I can just clean house and others that really humble me.

 

[A-Jay]

Works for me.......

Fished bass over 50 years, did ok.  The change in my bass fishing was due to my interest in SW inshore fishing.  Revamped my entire thought process, I fish simple now with a minimal amount of equipment, not only has my numbers increased but size too.  Being in Florida certainly does not hurt, in reality you are as good as the water you are fishing on. 

 

I'll second that.

 

And so the challenge is to do the best you can where ever you're at.

 

A-Jay

[Catt]

I agree with A-Jay & SirSnookalot

Here's a little secret!

I know all the guides & top angles on the waters I fish, when I'm at the launch or marine I stroll by their boats & see what they have tied on!

If they have it tied on you can bet it works!

[basshole8190]

Once last summer came to mind. i was out fishing and the bite was tough. id tried it all swimbaits worms jigs cranks jigs everything. i had been throwing a rapala square bill when i finally got a strike well my front treble broke two prongs and the fish got off. i only had a size smaller treble to replace it with. so i put it on an noticed i tightened the wobble but added more body roll. two casts later i have fish on. the rest of the day i backtracked my spots and caught 13 fish on that crank. I'm positive it was the minor change in action that triggered those fish. Since that day i bought two more and did the hook change to them too. One is always tied to a squarebill rod now.

[Bankbeater]

The day I caught my PB I was throwing out a jitterbug and starting the retreive as soon as it hit the water.  My reasoning behind this was that my partner was using a buzzbait and had caught 3 or 4 in the first 15 min that we were at the lake.  With no bites I decided to change it up a little.  When I threw out the jitterbug, I just let it sit there for about 10 seconds.  When I moved the rod tip the bait turned toward me and POW, new PB.