Creating A Confidence Kit

[Ohio Dave]

just got to push it north now!!  I think too many guys see the shows that are largely southern based and don't realize that there is great bass fishing in their back yards.  

[hatrix]

I am not sure is they fish Erie for bass tournaments. I know they do walkeye ones though. If you don't have a boat it could be tuff to fish Erie if your tryng to target bass. The only places I ever fish from shore for bass there is out west across from the islands. The Catawba Port Clinton area is good and you can catch some really nice fish from shore.

If they don't have a lot of fishing experience I would try to target everything just to get a sense of all the different bites and techniques. It's kind of a bummer fishing a actual lake from shore and you are super limited in where you can fish. You can throw everything in the book out there and if they are not around your sol. It can make fishing kinda suck and be boring. I can see that being a turn off to fishing if that was the kind of experience people had every time.

[Felix77]

My Confidence box consists of 5 baits/rigs

 

1 - Senko - Green Pumpkin T-Rigged weightless

2 - Finesse Tube - Gitzit Leech/Gold

3 - Shakey Head/Finesse work - Strike King Fat Baby Finesse worm - Green Pump Purp/Gold

4 - Finesse swimbait - Keitech Swing Impact (Bluegill Flash), VMC Half Moon

 

5 - Drop shot - Roboworm - Aarons Magic

 

FWIW - How I got to these 5 for me was the key.

 

When I began tournament fishing as a co-angler 4 years ago I did a ton of research on finesse fishing.  Over the years I found myself relying on these items for bites when nothing else was working.   The order I put them in is the order in which I learned them.  I also intentionally wanted to cover the water column.  I can fish from top to bottom in as deep as 30 FOW confidently.  They shakey head got me my PB 5.89 Smallmouth at that depth.   In my fun fishing I dedicated time to learning each to gain confidence in them.  For example ... Drop Shot was not in my "box" last year.  Committed to learning it this year and as a result had a lot of success with it.  

 

Good luck.

 

Good luck.

[Ohio Dave]

Thanks a bunch Felix

 

I do have a boat just not one that is safe on Erie.  Its one of those 10' plastic jobs but is a load of fun to fish with on smaller water. Sadly there is only room for one other person though so its hard to get guys out on the water and work with them as I could from a bass boat.

 

I have a pretty decent background in bass fishing and really do enjoy the sport.   Some of my students only fish for cats or pan fish etc and that is perfectly fine with the club too.  

 

For students who just want to have fun and have zero interest in making a team and competing: my mission is to support those students by providing more knowledge and fishing partners.  

[Catt]

Dave,

What's needed is more adult participation!

Most teams down here are kids whose dads, uncles, or grandfathers are tournament bass anglers which leaves little room for the kid who has no one in their family who are anglers of any kind.

The next obstacle is competing with baseball, basketball, or football; there simply isn't any or very limited budget for fishing teams. The teams that are out there are in schools that are located in higher income neighborhoods leaving hundreds of kids with just an unattainable dream.

The kids I work with are those kids, we don't compete against anyone!

Yes bank fishing is more difficult but it's better than not fishing.

[Amarley]

One thing that has helped me this year is narrowing down my tackle for each trip. A lot of us get in the mentality that we need all of our tackle all of the time. What I have done when time allows is keeping one extra plano clear box. Each trip I do my homework and fill that box with what I think will work that day on the water. I will also pre-tie all of my rods before I get on the water. One trip I may have A-Rigs, jerkbaits and rattle traps. The next I may have jigs, shaky heads and deep cranks. Then I may have spinner baits, frogs, swim jigs and square bills. I almost always have jigs and shaky heads in the box. My catch rate has improved tremendously since I've taken this approach. Very rarely do I wish I had something that wasn't in my box for the day.

 

I think it's hard to have one box for all of the time. The only thing I could think to keep in a box like that would be jigs, senkos, shaky heads and maybe a spinnerbait. But it's all on personal preference and confidence. I think it's also important to pair the kids together based on their fishing styles.

[5fishlimit]

Dave, first of all, as a fellow Ohioan, thank you for what you are doing for the kids.

 

I think keeping them on the reservoirs and small lakes is the way to go at least for now.  While the prospect of fishing on Lake Erie is exciting it can be a very dangerous body of water if you do not know what you are doing.  Also, without knowing where to go it can be a fruitless endeavor.  A great starting point for Lake Erie is East Harbor State Park.  You won't find the monster smallmouth bass, but the size and numbers of green fish is a lot of fun.

 

I agree with what Amarley said about narrowing down your tackle based upon where you are fishing.  Some lures and colors work better on one body of water over another.  Also, time of the year is key, too. 

 

What lakes and reservoir's are the kids fishing?  Do you ever take them to New London reservoir?  It's a great smallmouth lake, and has very easy shoreline to navigate.

[Ohio Dave]

Heard many good things about New London Res.   Might try to sneak over yet this fall myself if my surgery recovery goes a little better.   

 

great idea about pairing by ability.  A nice trend I have noticed is that the better the kid is the more likely they are to share what they know.   Being paired up with someone better than you is always my wish.

 

 Although, as you teach,  you realize that there is so much more to learn at the level you are at.  I have learned so much more teaching my science subjects than I ever did as a student.  

[J Francho]

Create confidence by spending time on the water, and using your baits.If there's a bait you lack confidence, do the research, and find out the best time and situation to use it and use it then. 

[Catt]

I found by pairing advanced students with less advanced students works the best.

Kids have a way of explaining things better than us old farts!

[rboat]

When I can't get bit and don't want to leave with that skunk feeling, I resort to what looks the most natural in the water.

 

1. That wonderful senko wiggle

2. A  plastic worm on a split shot rig worked very slow.

3. A fluke always looks like a dying minnow, the way it darts and falls. Bass love a dying baitfish.

4. A soft body frog looks like the real deal.

5. A jig and craw trailer resembles a craw fish.

 

If you think like a fish sometimes it seems to help.

Good luck with the students, wish my school would have had a bass fishing class!