What to do...what to try for freshwater in general

[Sigfredo Gomez]

just looking for some advice. How do you guys dont get overwhelmed with so many rigs and baits whenever is time to fish a new place. sometimes i want to try a new lake or canal (south florida) but easily get overwhelmed with what should i been trying for a new place. between plastic rigs, jerbaits, dropshot, swimbaits, crankbaits.....?, usually fish for around 3 hours but i get discourage quickly because i feel i didn't try what i should have been trying then go back to saltwater which is pretty much bait and a hook. this year hopefully i can start on a different note.

[roadwarrior]

 

[scaleface]

When I first started , I would go through bunches of lures to , trying to find the one bass are hitting . Now days I pick lures that allow me to effectively fish the structure or cover I encounter  . There are usually several good choices  to try. Over 90 percent of the time I am using Texas-rig/jigs , crankbaits , spinnerbauts or buzzbait/top-water .

[Glaucus]

Well first of all you can leave the finesse stuff like drop shot at home. No need in south Florida. A Texas rigged worm or a Senko are old standbys that will always get bit. It's what most people really start with because they simply produce and are easy to fish. Keep it simple with moving baits: Spinnerbaits and crankbaits to start with. Honestly if you take a pack of your worm of choice (with hooks and weights), a package of Senkos, and a spinnerbait, you're going to be just fine. Remember: most of the stuff you see on the shelves is meant to catch fishermen. A forum like this is valuable to weed out all the junk you don't need to be worrying about in the first place. 

[Koz]

What I should do:

Make lure selection and presentation based upon weather conditions, time of year, water conditions, structure, and cover.

 

What I usually do:

Power fish my favorite baits.

 

The easiest thing to to is throw on a Senko and fish the heck out of it all over the place. Another thing I do is put a few baits in a plano box and carry only that box when working the bank and leave my main tackle bag behind.

[Sigfredo Gomez]

thanks for the advises guys, i figure a drop shot or something like that should only be used if im planning to go pan fishing, which i dont munch unless im not getting any other bites, maybe my issue is finding place that actually have fish or fish big enough to bite