Are You In The "fish Your Strengths School" Or "become Versatile" School?

[MichBassMan]

The best time to learn a new presentation is when the bite is good.

Tom

Exactly what he said !

[SirSnookalot]

On a good bite about anything is going to work, on bad bite is when you are going to learn that a particular technique is effective for that situation.  There is a double edge sword, over confidence on a good bite or no confidence on a bad bite.

The best to time learn a new presentation is the next time you go fishing.

[CDMeyer]

I think that more time should be spent trying to become versatile.  I will go out and use just one technique for a week or until I catch a limit what ever I feel comfortable with.  I will also go and do this with my strengths.  I believe this has helped me more than anyone will ever know..... I highly encourage this

[CDobber]

I'm in my 3rd summer of fishing for bass.  I get skunked more than I find success, but I enjoy the process and am always trying new techniques...partly to gain comfort and understanding in how they work and partly experimentation to find what the fish want.  I have recently been working on using my spook puppies and pop-r to get a better feel for the cadences and methods.  This morning, I probably had the best walk the dog I've had, due in part to the slight incline I could gain in the particular spot, standing on the retaining wall gave me an extra foot above water level to work the point of the rod down better.  Couldn't interest any bass in it, but the rhythm is there now.

[Ratherbfishing]

Very often our strength is what we started with or the first thing which actually worked more than a few times.  Most people, being creatures of habit, prefer to stay in their manageable little comfort zone, and will confine themselves to a few "tried and true" techniques-even when they don't persist in remaining true. If we step outside of our box and add new techniques, our strengths will increase accordingly.

[Deleted account]

Thought I would start a thread about something I have been pondering lately. I consider myself a power fisherman and my strengths as an angler are crankbaits, flippin and pitching. They produce consistantly for me from early spring to mid-fall. They are two techniques that I have spent a lot of time using, so I feel I have got to know them fairly well and some of their nuances.

A couple years ago, I decided to make a more concerted effort on becoming a more versatile angler. I began to really try to get to learn some finesse techniques; mainly dropshot and shakey head. At different times through out that first year, I would only fish a dropshot and/or shaky head (several times pre and post spawn, several times in the summer, and several times during fall).

Even though I caught a lot of fish on them, and I feel like I got to know the techniques fairly ok, it still felt like I was trying to put a square peg in a round hole. It just doesn't feel natural to me and I feel like I just couldn't consistantly catch as big of bass as I could with power techniques.

Through out this year I have been going back and forth on whether I should be spending time trying to learn finesse techniques that all I will probably ever be is "ok" at, but make me more versatile or spending that time further exploring and developing power techniques that I can go from pretty good to hopefully great at. At the end of the day, I wonder what percent of his time a guy like Aaron Martens puts into say, deep cranking when he produces so consistantly with a DS in just about any condition. Not trying to be a pro, just trying to catch more and bigger bass consistantly as I'm sure we all are.

It seems like one school of thought is "fish your strengths" but the other is "be versatile" (basically become ok at your weaknesses). So what are you guys' thoughts? Do you think time is better served exploring and developing your "strengths" as an angler or work on your weaknesses as an angler and becoming versatile. Why?

PS I apologize if this became a bit long winded. This has been something I have thought a lot about the last couple weeks and wanted to see what you all thought.

 

You realize that all this is happening between your ears right?

There is no conflict between improving both what you are good at, and what you are not good at (as you perceive it).

[greentrout]

Gentleman George Cochran made a lot of money and won a few Bass Master's tournaments by staying in shallow water.

He always caught fish shallow all day long and I'm sure he knew the saying 95 percent of the fish are behind you if you fish shallow.

 

Old school basser...

[Raul]

There's only one bait that's my Kryptonite, buzzbaits, I just don't get them. I can cast a spinnerbait, reel it in like mad, make a wake, catch fish, then change, cast a buzzbait and catch nothing.

[BiteFiend]

Gentleman George Cochran made a lot of money and won a few Bass Master's tournaments by staying in shallow water.

He always caught fish shallow all day long and I'm sure he knew the saying 95 percent of the fish are behind you if you fish shallow.

 

Old school basser...

That's a really good point. Thanks for bringinf that up.

[everythingthatswims]

I like learning as many techniques as possible so if I am presented with an opportunity, I can take advantage of it. 

[Ratherbfishing]

I could do the same thing all the time and get (perhaps) pretty good at it but I still much prefer to learn and apply a lot of techniques.  Really, it is a lot more fun to try different things.  Plus, I think I do catch more that way.  The fish seldom remain constant and certainly the weather doesn't.

[Catt]

The will always be more than one lure pattern working on any body of water!

Some will be more productive than others

[Swampstud]

I would say im a "become versatile" angler. I have 7 rods in my decked jon boat, with 7 different techniqeus. I think with this setup i can fairly quickly try one technique, test it for a dozen casts, and move to the next rod/technique just by pickin up a different rod until i get that first few bites. If one of the seven isnt working ill try whatever comes to mind until i catch fish. Your limiting yourself if your only fishing your strengths imo.

[RoLo]

I believe that Strengths and Weaknesses are largely products of choice, basically a 'state of mind'.

 

If you love casting plugs, then it's a foregone conclusion that most of your time will be spent chucking plugs,

and most of your bass will be caught on plugs. On the downside, if you fancy yourself as a power fisherman,

that might limit your potential. If you love manipulating soft-plastics to coerce a strike,

most of your time will be spent working soft-plastics, and most of your bass will be caught on soft-plastics.

On the downside, if you fancy yourself as a finesse fisherman, that might limit your potential.

 

The first rule of the road is to be 'versatile'....that's also the last rule of the road 

 

Roger