What do you want to master?

[billmac]

What are the lures you think you should be using but just don't have experience / confidence in?

 

I've spent nearly all my life fishing smallies, trout, and pike in shallow rivers, wading and canoeing.  99% of the time I was using spinners or jig and spinners.  Some rapala floaters and buzz baits for pike.  I'm a short cast, shallow water kind of guy, and I like to keep moving.  I have a friend who's go to lure is a zara spook, but I've never had a great deal of confidence in topwaters.  So I know I need to work on that.  I'm not a great jig fisherman, so I need to work on that too.

 

What are the lures you think you need to use more?  

[Mobasser]

Probably 25yrs ago, I quit carrying lures which didn't work for me. I narrowed it down to 6 baits in different colors/ sizes for bass fishing. I'm positive this has caught me more fish over the years. The one bait I'm always trying to improve on are jigs. It's a bait you have to fish with and gain confidence in. Then, stick with it

[billmac]

Mobasser: Agreed.  I think confidence is a much bigger factor than color, size, etc.

[RyneB]

chatterbaits and jerkbaits. I dont want to master them, I just want to have enough success them to gain some confidence.

[IgotWood]

Yup, I’ve really cut down the on the tackle I carry. I have a few baits that I consistently do well with, in a few different colors. Occasionally I’ll buy a couple of new baits, but I don’t beat the water with them. Fish them a few times and if I don’t do well, it goes in an giant box in the garage. 

 

One bait I really want to spend time with this year is the jig. I’ve fished them plenty, but I can’t say that I’ve ever gotten on a solid jig bite. I feel confident every tine I tie one on, but I rarely seem to get bit on it. 

[primetime]

I just want to be able to always catch fish, find fish, and even better...When I find them, like yesterday, I do not spend 6 hours catching 1 13" bass, and missing the 2 good blowups I had on a Hollow Frog. 

 

I really need to get better at casting accuracy and skipping baits into bushes etc. I spend the last year focusing on Saltwater/Brackish water canal fishing and only Bass fishing a few times a month, but now that I am back into it, I realize my casting is way off and that is more important imo than the bait on the end of the line.

 

Nothing more frustrating than trying to skip a soft bait or frog into bushes, under trees, and getting backlashes with braid, or having the bait smash the water too loud cause you are not throwing at the right angle.

 

I guess Fishing is not supposed to be easy. I don't feel so bad, I broke out the ultralight for half hour and they wouldn't touch the little Yamamoto IKA which is usually like candy to smaller bass, bluegill etc..

 

Lets hope tonight is better. I think I like Night time fishing better anyway. When its good, its usually really good and stays that way for a few hours....

[Dorado]

Jigs and jerkbaits

[scaleface]

  What I would really like to do is go to a clear lake and do some of that deep water video game fishing like Chris Zaldain does .See bass on the electronics , drop a lure down    and then watch them come up to the lure  .  That would be neat .

[A-Jay]

What do you want to master ?

 

My Electronics - application & use.

 

A-Jay

[CroakHunter]

Power plant lakes. 

[billmac]

I'm glad I'm not the only one not super confident with jigs.

Electronics are a whole other story.  I have almost zero experience with fishfinders and now I have one.

[Columbia Craw]

3 hours ago, A-Jay said:

What do you want to master ?

 

My Electronic - application & use.

 

A-Jay

 

Bingo!

[fishwizzard]

Topwater for me.  I *know* that it is effective but I *feel* like it's never going to work so I rarely tie one on.  There is a great pond by my house for learning them on, tons of grass with a few inches of water on top.  I need to just leave everything else in the car until I spend an hour or so with the popper each trip. 

 

 

[Harold Scoggins]

8 hours ago, Mobasser said:

 The one bait I'm always trying to improve on are jigs. It's a bait you have to fish with and gain confidence in. Then, stick with it

 

7 hours ago, IgotWood said:

One bait I really want to spend time with this year is the jig. I’ve fished them plenty, but I can’t say that I’ve ever gotten on a solid jig bite. I feel confident every tine I tie one on, but I rarely seem to get bit on it. 

 

3 hours ago, billmac said:

I'm glad I'm not the only one not super confident with jigs. 

 

I see this often on here and was wondering if patience plays a role. I've fished jigs for many years and my best results have always come from a slow presentation. I've observed many anglers getting frustrated fishing jigs and it appeared that they were almost always trying to work them too fast. Don't give up on them, the bite sometimes seem far and few between, but most of the bass I've landed with jigs have been quality catches.

[junyer357]

For me its not a lure per say, but a technique. Im working on akipping baits. Its what i have been practicing and woking on since christmas. 

[MN Fisher]

This year I'll be learning something new...pitching/flipping/punching. I never had a setup that I was comfortable in casting into heavy growth with. Now I have the Fuego on a Heavy rod, loading it up with 50#braid. This will be a learning experience for me and I hope to do well with it.

[Munkin]

Electronics as it is tough for me growing up as a shallow river fisherman. Growing up if you needed to know the depth you just looked over the side of the boat or stuck a rod down in the water, that is how we knew the depth. 

 

Besides that it is the chatterbait which is giving me trouble. I have had days where I am catching them on a single Colorado spinnerbait and a swim jig so I switch to a chatterbait and nothing. This is my focus this year as I do not plan on traveling to places that fish deep.

 

Allen

[Heartland]

What do you want to master?   Quantum Physics, Evolution, Black Holes, and Wiggle Warts.

[Hawkeye21]

Jig fishing. 

[Bankbeater]

Jerkbaits and my electronics. I’ve slowly been gaining confidence with jerkbaits but I don’t think I used my fish finder more than a couple times last year. 

[JustJames]

Call me crazy, I think I bought about 50-60 Jigs for this year mostly cheap brand range from 1/16 - 3/8oz. I want to master dragging/hoping jig without snagged.

[WI_Angler1989]

I plan to dedicate a lot of time this year to learning, improving and gaining confidence in:

 

1) Dropshot

2) Ned Rig

3) Soft Jerkbaits 

4) Wacky Rig

 

Half the battle with the above presentations is just USING them more. I've dabbled, but never put enough time in.

 

But I'd say the biggest thing I want to improve on isn't a lure, but canoe tactics. I need to improve in navigating the river, finding opportune places to fish, and to do it all safely. 

[blongfishing]

For me, it's the same lure I keep writing on my "fishing goals" list every year. Jigs!! I know, it's arguably the most versatile lures made but I just don't have confidence I guess. I catch five fish (give or take) every year on a jig but I wanna be able to throw it and have no doubts. I think the best thing for me to do is bring nothing but my jig rod and jig box on the boat one day and gain confidence. 

 

Aside from lures, one thing I wanna focus on learning is grass lakes. Upstate SC doesn't have grass lakes nearby. This fall I will be moving on to college fishing and I think that it will be essential for me to learn grass lakes. Guess I gotta make a few trips to grass lakes this summer!

[Bluebasser86]

Dropshot for sure. One of the most popular finesse techniques out there and I just can't get the hang of it. I can catch some doing it, but if I switch to a Ned rig my catch jumps exponentially. It's starting to make sense though. 

[HeyCoach]

I think I only caught 8 bass all of last year. 

 

I’d like to be able to skip a jig with my baitcaster and be accurate when I cast or skip a Senko with my spinning rod.