Technique Overload

[Mobasser]

I've seen quite a few post from novice bass fisherman here on BR about learning all the new techniques. We have so many now, it gets confusing at times.                    Many members here( like myself) started bass fishing before everything became so technique specific.                                         Is casting a spinnerbait into a stump field a technique? Or is casting a lipless bait around a choppy water cove a technique also? How about slowly reeling a big, 10" weightless worm over some pads or moss patches? Is this a technique too?                                       Do any of the more experienced fisherman here think that a beginner would do better by taking a simpler approach, and not try to absorb so much technique specific info?  I think they would do better this way.                    What are your thoughts here?                                                  

[InfantryMP]

When I think of techniques, I think of things like:

 

Power fishing- Cranking, moving baits etc

Finesse- Shaky heads, ned rigs etc

 

I think you are referring to "how people fish them". I can drag a worm a bunch of different ways in a bunch of different places, but it is still considered finesse to a lot of people. 

 

Same with moving baits

[DitchPanda]

I 100% believe that new anglers should choose a few baits and hone those then branch out from there. I think some of the cornerstone baits that are classics are still great starting points. Spinner bait..Jig...Texas rigged plastic worm...popper. Get good with those and you will already have working knowledge and can apply that to things like shaky, ned, lipless,squarebill,chatterbait and swim jig. After that I think things like jerkbaits and walking frogs that take a little more practice can be tackled.

BTW what qualifies as experienced? Is 20 years bass fishing enough??

[TnRiver46]

I always do the best with a bag of purple plastic worms and jig heads 

[Russ E]

I have taken a few beginners on my boat. one guy had never fished before that. the only bait they used was a ned rig.

They caught fish everytime.

first you have to learn what a bite feels like, and how to land the fish.

Add different baits and techniques, once you are comfortable.

[Fishes in trees]

I don't know about anyone else, but talking/writing about technique fishing helps me try to figure out stuff.   What is the best place to try any specific technique?   What is the optimal approach gear wise?    What gear, while not optimal, will work?    Will gear that I've designated for a specific technique work for other stuff?  Or kinda work?  Once you've popped the top for this line of thinking, you can't re-cap it.

Given that you can't carry gear to meet every conceivable situation, what situations do you want to be geared up and ready for, which ones can you handle if you want to, which ones can you handle if you've got to?  That is basically why I sort out my gear into technique specific niches, because it helps me stay more or less organized and gives me a starting place for the question, "How am I going to address this particular fishing issue?"   Especially when I'm mindful that there is more than one correct answer, there might be a dozen or so kinda right answers, and there are lots of "What were you thinking?" answers.

There you have it - my current thoughts on is there is or is there ain't such a think as technique overload.

[jbsoonerfan]

I think we as fishermen sometimes, maybe more often then we should, over analyze things and in turn make things more difficult than they should be. 

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, jbsoonerfan said:

I think we as fishermen sometimes, maybe more often then we should, over analyze things and in turn make things more difficult than they should be. 

Yep! I work for doctors and lawyers that can’t wrap their mind around a mouse entering a home.  Specialization can lead to ignorance in other fields 

 

also I can work a jigsaw puzzle for half a day and maybe get 20 pieces done, my fiancé is finished with it in an hour. Everyone is different! I just like driving the boat and casting around, some people know enough rigs to catch every fish on the planet 

[Mike L]

To me there are 2 techniques...

Power and finesse. 

For the most part the equipment we use is so different from each other that now we believe 1 combo can’t do everything...
*We may want to use a heavier weight sometimes!

*We must have a different rod to throw a small treble hooked sq bill in open water compared to a hollow body frog across a pad field. 

*We need a 3 different speeds of reels, slow for cranking, super fast for bottom contact and something in between for everything else etc. etc. 

Will all those and more make us better?

I would argue No. 

 

What it will do is make us more efficient, and increase our confidence level because we have the right tool, which can’t help but make us better. 

Does a boater with 20 rods on the deck make him better overall in his ability to catch a fish than me who only owns 6?....Nope

What it does do is give him more options for every possible scenario and the ability to just grab another by just bending over.

I envy the guys who have a combo for every type of bait. 

But we all learn at some point to make do with what we got. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[InfantryMP]

33 minutes ago, jbsoonerfan said:

I think we as fishermen sometimes, maybe more often then we should, over analyze things and in turn make things more difficult than they should be. 

 

I agree, and I am guilty

[the reel ess]

I would start any new bass fisherperson off with a MH combo and Texas rigged worm, crankbait, a Pop R and spinnerbait. I'd say learn with that before you start getting technique specific. Those cover the entire water column and offer a creature bait as well as reaction baits. The worm will also teach good hooksetting, which doesn't come naturally to most people who have only fished for panfish.

 

That said, I have very specific combos for frog, jig/T rig and treble baits. These are always tied on them with the exception of the frog when the water's too cold for it. In that case, I use the frog rod for T-rig and the jig rod for jigs.

[LCG]

I was guilty of it too. Now I have a small tackle bag that covers it all for me. A few techniques that I am proficient at using that covers reaction and finness styles. I don't need to take 50lbs of tackle for a day on the water. Two double sided 3500 boxes and some tools, line, water, and a snack. 

[Bankbeater]

The first thing I would do is read up to learn where and when to use each technique.  Then I'd look at the water I'll will be fishing to determine which technique will work best. 

 

[jimmyjoe]

   When I'm catching fish, I don't care about "techniques".

   When I'm not catching fish, I may or may not care about "techniques". Depends.

   I can be curious, but at my age, I don't get too excited about it.                        jj

[A-Jay]

On 3/2/2021 at 3:00 PM, Mobasser said:

I've seen quite a few post from novice bass fisherman here on BR about learning all the new techniques. We have so many now, it gets confusing at times.                    Many members here( like myself) started bass fishing before everything became so technique specific.                                         Is casting a spinnerbait into a stump field a technique? Or is casting a lipless bait around a choppy water cove a technique also? How about slowly reeling a big, 10" weightless worm over some pads or moss patches? Is this a technique too?                                       Do any of the more experienced fisherman here think that a beginner would do better by taking a simpler approach, and not try to absorb so much technique specific info?  I think they would do better this way.                    What are your thoughts here?                                                  

Technique Overload ?

 As it relates to younger folks just getting into the sport, I think it can be a real deal.

 However I'd say it may be more of a sign of the times than anything else.

The current information highway enables us all to believe that just about anything we want to learn can be a self-spaced tutorial.  To some extend, it is; but there's obviously some limitations. 

If we compared bass fishing to say, driving a vehicle.

When we first start, most of us take it slow, two hands on wheel, bug eyed and a face two inches from the windshield.  Rarely are novice drivers expecting to emulate the abilities & performance of a seasoned professional tearing it up at Daytona raceway.

But it seems some of that may be happening now with bass fishing.

With all the "Live" derbies & You Tube info everywhere,

after a few hours of watching the pro's do it and often make it look easy,

just about anyone with the desire & means can get 'what they need' and hit the water.  

Loaded with super high and unfortunately unrealistic expectations, there is a certain amount of initial failure, that's bound to happen regardless of the preparation.  

We see and read examples of it here all the time.

 Back some years ago, we either had to have someone show us what was what,

(and thankfully there's plenty of that still happening today and I imagine it will continue)

or read about it once a month from a fishing magazine; one little nugget at a time. 

So technique overload, I guess, but it may not be a bad thing.

Just as long as there's a foot close to the brake pedal.

A-Jay

 

 

[Michigander]

1 hour ago, jbsoonerfan said:

I think we as fishermen sometimes, maybe more often then we should, over analyze things and in turn make things more difficult than they should be. 

On the flip side, under analyzing can leave you scratching your head. LoL. It's a fine line, surely.

 

I would gladly trade countless trips getting skunked early on with mismatched gear for an overload of actual information to hedge my bets.

[Catt]

Pick one topwater, one mid-depth, & one bottom contact lure.

 

Decide whether ya prefer shallow water or deepwater.

 

Once you're efficent with those 3 lures expand to others.

 

K.I.S.S. ?

[12poundbass]

8 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Loaded with super high and unfortunately unrealistic expectations, there is a certain amount of initial failure, that's bound to happen regardless of the preparation.  

Me to a tee the past couple years. ?

 

While I buy and buy and load up on tackle, rods, and reels, and read, and watch videos, and say I’m going to try this technique and that I end up trying one new technique it ends up working out and I ride that wave most of the season. Last year it was the bladed jig.

 

I don’t like getting outside my comfort zone in more than just fishing, so once I do venture outside of it (bladed jig again) and try something new I’ll stick with it and the long process of trying something new starts all over again. 
 

Structure fishing is another one of my handicaps as you know. I spend all winter reading, watching, and learning. Ice out comes I go offshore, skunk, and run right back to the bank. It’s quite maddening! But once I finally figure something out offshore I’ll stick with it to the point I’ll drive myself nuts again. 
 

Hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day. That’s what I tell myself to help with my insanity. ?

[Team9nine]

Not just beginners. A whole lot of people would probably do much better overall if they avoided the information overload that is today's fishing media. I see it all the time on these forums - like every person who starts a thread with the word **** in the title 

 

Which reminds me of one of my favorite quotes on this subject:

 

"You spend weeks in solitude, wondering what happened and how victory slipped from your hands. The only conclusion offered to you by the fishing “media” was that KVD “switched from regular sexy shad, to a 'gold' sexy shad the minute three extra cirrus clouds entered the atmosphere.  You feel stupid because you were waiting on two cumulus clouds."

[diehardbassfishing]

A beginning fisherman should do just that - be a fisherman.

 

Once they've tried various things (bound to happen naturally) and from reading forums such as this, they can begin to put names to what they're doing.

 

And grow from there.

 

 

Karl

 

 

 

 

[the reel ess]

1 hour ago, Bankbeater said:

The first thing I would do is read up to learn where and when to use each technique.  Then I'd look at the water I'll will be fishing to determine which technique will work best. 

 

When I want to try a new bait and get better with it I go to my buddy's pond I call the Dink Factory. 2 lbs. is  good fish there, but I can almost always count on some bites. 10-20 fish is average. I've caught 50 in 3 hours there before. It's a good way to practice and gain confidence. Of course there are some techniques I can't to there.

[813basstard]

I’m lucky. I know all the techniques that don’t catch fish. 

[A-Jay]

6 minutes ago, 813basstard said:

I’m lucky. I know all the techniques that don’t catch fish. 

And I have a very good idea where not to use them ~

A-Jay

[Deephaven]

Even before the internet, it was easy to go down a strange path.  I read books, magazines, attended Bass U events, hung out at tackle shops and did all I could pre-internet.  I still ended up with a bunch of crap and wasted time.  Last time I did a major sort on my tackle I off loaded more than half of it.  

[senile1]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

Pick one topwater, one mid-depth, & one bottom contact lure.

 

Decide whether ya prefer shallow water or deepwater.

 

Once you're efficent with those 3 lures expand to others.

 

K.I.S.S. ?

Yep, and I would add that typically those first three are warmer weather type baits used when fish are active.  After becoming proficient with those, do the same three depths with finesse type baits and techniques that work when the bite is tough and/or the temperatures are cold.  Then expand on the active and inactive categories of baits at the next step.  Some people become pretty darned accomplished with just a small number of baits in each category.