What have been some "Game-Changers" for your fishing(?)

[soflabasser]

This subject reminds me of how many people started fishing last year because of the pandemic. Most of those people started fishing since they where bored not because they truly enjoy fishing. With time many of those people will quit fishing and they will jump on the next bandwagon of whatever hobby is trending at the moment. Fishing is a hobby you need patience for and patience is something that people that get bored easily tend to lack. With that said a percentage of these fishermen will be willing to work hard to become better bass fishermen and respect the environment, unlike the clowns that trash the shorelines and don't respect the fish.

[Bankbeater]

Biggest one for me has been learning how to fish heavily pressured water.

[Holetail]

Mine would be multiple things over the past year:

1. learning to cast a bait caster well enough not to worry about a birds nest all the time as well as finding rods and reels that I know work for how I like to fish

2. more accuracy and touch with casts for a semi silent entry - not all the time , but getting better

3. going from strictly throwing a weightless TR senko or trick worm last summer to having confidence in multiple techniques now. May have caught 40-50 bass last year where I’m around 200 so far this year. 
4. basically just gaining confidence and experience where I can find something they will bite and being able to present the bait properly to avoid the skunk - not always, but less often than before

[Columbia Craw]

Having a boat.

Fishing diverse bodies of water.

Redefining what “deep “ is.

Tackle Warehouse?

My first fish on a Mann’s jelly worm.

My first fish on a Deep Little N.

Really good rain gear!

[crypt]

learning as much as I can everytime I go. best advice I ever got........

[BigAngus752]

1.  Learning and diligently practicing fishing a jig.  

 

2.  Ultrex.  Anyone can say what they want about "technology" and finding fish, but the little-known benefit of the Ultrex is the incredible amount of time it saves, thus allowing me to have my line in the water more.  If some smart person did a study of my fishing before and after the Ultrex I would not be the least bit surprised if they told me that I have a line in the water a full 50% more than before the Ultrex.  It's not just the spotlock, gentlemen.  

 

3.  Bass Resource.  I can't quantify this one very easily.  It could, in reality, be one or two spots higher on my list.  

[NavyToad]

After using spinning gear all my life, I learned to use a baitcaster at 40. It’s opened up a lot of options over the last 20 years.

 

[Catt]

I probably think what changed me more than anything was boats & motors. 

 

Take Toledo Bend for instance, I started out fishing in a 14' jon boat with a 9.8 merc. At 65 miles long & 10 miles wide I was extremely limited. 

 

When Skeeter came out with their Wrangler & Merc's Tower of Power now the whole lake was fishable.

[DitchPanda]

6 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I got plenty of buddies that could have spot lock, 360, live scope, and a bunch of fish in a barrel and still couldn’t get them 

I’m still waiting on that solid spinnerbait bite

I’ve caught trout with texas rig power worms 

My buddy Brian has a friend named Aaron that is that guy to the utmost degree. In fact I just texted Brian and told him we could fill his daughters kiddie pool with starving piranhas then bait Aarons hook with raw meat and he would still find a way to F it up.

[papajoe222]

New age electronics. Just the amount of information available has increased, not only my catch rate, but my confidence.

I cut my teeth with depth finders using the old flasher units. For years, my Humminbird Super 60 was the only one I relied on. It worked just fine for reading depth, hard bottom/soft bottom and the presence of anything in between. It was up to the user to determine what that in between flash was.

Then came paper graphs, I never owned or used one.  Next on the scene was LCD graphs and technology marched on quickly from there.

The current offering, even at the entry level, are true 'fish finders.' With options for everything from choice of display colors, split screen, zoom, down and side imaging, charts, and much more. The benefit has been twofold for many anglers. Locating fish has become much easier and as a byproduct, time management is more of a focal point than ever for the week-end angler.

[CrankFate]

1. Top quality hooks.

 

2. Fishing ultralight gear (before it was called “BFS”). 

 

3. Fluorocarbon line.

4. Money to buy better stuff.

 

5. Actually reading through articles, comments and tips (but the YouTube videos by the pros are great, too).

 

6. Fishing very fast.

 

7. Not using green pumpkin anything around here. Last time I threw it to fish that literally had no reaction to anything I threw, it was the only thing they reacted to. By swimming away from it.

 

8. Trying different colors.

 

9. Remembering that whenever I think I know everything about anything, I’ll quickly be reminded that there’s another thing I didn’t know. Probably should be number one, but it never will be or I wouldn’t have this problem to begin with.

[Deleted account]

Realizing that "thinking like a fish" is to not think at all.

[Ski]

GPS, Spot Lock, Sonar.

[BrianMDTX]

15 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Super easy one for me - 

While there have been a few deals along the way that made a difference here & there,

NOTHING

can come close to comparing to 12 April 2008

That was the Day I joined

Bass Resource ~

Fish Hard

A-Jay

@A-Jay, you beat me to it. 

 

Having been away from fishing (not counting panfishing with my girls when they were young) from around 1983 to 2020, the game really changed. And as I’ve attested to many times, I never caught squat on artificial lures except panfish and the occasional 10” bass in the past. You can read all the articles you want in magazines, or watch scores of videos on YT, but nothing beat the interaction with more experienced anglers on BR on everything from rods, reels, line and hooks, baits, presentations, you name it. To go from a 10” bass on a nightcrawler to catching 3, 4 and 5 lb bass on stickbaits, worms, craws, jerkbaits, squarebills, spinnerbaits and jigs on decent gear was a revelation. 

 

You cant beat this site with a stick. 

15 hours ago, A-Jay said:

 

 

[Bankc]

The internet, number one.  All of that information available from forums to retailers to satellite imaging to depth maps.

 

Sonar.  When I first started, sonar was just a round flasher.  Sometimes you could pick out suspended fish, but not very well.  These days, we can see underwater better than the fish.

 

Lots of other small things came about to help push the sport.  But those are the two that literally changed the game in my lifetime.  It's not even close to the same sport due to these two changes.  I can go to a lake I've never heard of before and be on fish.  That rarely happened in the past without a guide.

[WRB]

Learning cast and use artificial bass lures.

Learning to read topo maps and apply terrain changes underwater.

Lowrance Green box flasher, my 1st sonar unit, now always use a sonar unit.

Studying Bass Behavior and applying it to seasonal periods*.

Electric trolling motors to position my boat correctly without anchoring.

Development of boats for bass fishing with pedestal seats.

Graphite rods and free spools casting reels with instant anti reverse.

I use all the above every time on the water.

Tom

* my Cosmic Clock and Bass Calendar, 1974

[DaubsNU1]

2 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

@A-Jay, you beat me to it. 

 

Having been away from fishing (not counting panfishing with my girls when they were young) from around 1983 to 2020, the game really changed. And as I’ve attested to many times, I never caught squat on artificial lures except panfish and the occasional 10” bass in the past. You can read all the articles you want in magazines, or watch scores of videos on YT, but nothing beat the interaction with more experienced anglers on BR on everything from rods, reels, line and hooks, baits, presentations, you name it. To go from a 10” bass on a nightcrawler to catching 3, 4 and 5 lb bass on stickbaits, worms, craws, jerkbaits, squarebills, spinnerbaits and jigs on decent gear was a revelation. 

 

You cant beat this site with a stick. 

 

 

 

I was away from fishing from ~2005 through summer of 2020...when I joined BR. 

 

I too have learned a TON from this site and the great people here!

 

One other game-changer I remembered...my college roommate in 1987 worked at Cabela's HQ in Sidney, NE. He worked the phones prior to coming to college...did not hunt or fish at all...I took him duck hunting for the first time. We have been life-long best buddies since then...in each other's weddings, traveled to see each other two and three times a year, even when I moved to Missouri. 

 

He went on to great things at Cabela's, working his way up the ladder, and also became quite an expert both hunting and fishing (man, that guy can put walleye in the boat!). He quickly went from student to teacher...and I learned so much from him through the years! 

 

His wife worked for Cabela's as well...rising to VP. Sadly, when BPS purchased Cabela's he knew days were numbered...He and wife are doing other things now. Life is good!

 

[Steveo-1969]

Using braid on a spinning rod has been a game changer for me for the line manageability. Never say never, but…. I will NEVER spool a spinning reel with anything except braid!

[PressuredFishing]

Your ideas aren't 

23 hours ago, DaubsNU1 said:

I fished a little growing up in Nebraska -- trout pond at 2 Rivers, few trips to Valentine Refuge lakes, sandpit at family cabin. Mainly ultra-light tackle, Mepps, beetle-spins, cast-n-reel stuff.

 

Got in to bass fishing while living in Missouri...co-worker and good friend was from Texas and LOVED to fish. Taught me a bunch.

 

There have been a few "Game-Changers" for me through the years:

 

• Not fishing from the bank: Started with buddies canoe, and man did that change the game! So many different places we could hit. When that buddy and his canoe left town, I scored a belly-boat from the Cabela's Bargain Basement. Not great, but still on the water.
• Braid on my bait-casters: spooled up braid on my bait-casters in the 1990's. Sensitivity was amazing! Far fewer birds-nests...and much easier to resolve.
• Getting my own boat: Now I could fish when I wanted, where I wanted...with friends/family, or by myself. Not surprising how much I fish alone...as the day job involves supervising people in a customer service-type world. Give me some quiet time : )
• Braid to leader on spinning gear: I resisted initially...how is that knot going to go through the guides...another knot means another failure point...boy, was I WRONG on this one...I'm just a few months in to this move...and it's changing the way I fish!

 

What are your "Game-Changers"???

 

 

 

 

To be honest while these aren't bad ideas, they didn't really help me catch fish. The biggest thing that helped me catch fish is theory. Learning where bass go certain times of year and how their behaviors influence feeding activity. Honestly I could buy a 20 walmart combo with mono and feel confident just because of theory alone

[Alex from GA]

Fishing with better fishermen.

Buying a kayak and fishing where most people can't fish.

[fishwizzard]

Caring more about location then presentation.  

 

I am a tackle nut a lot of my trips are all about trying out whatever new shiny has caught my eye/wallet.  An awful lot of time I can grind out a bass or two throwing most anything, so long as I can correctly guess where the bass are going to be in a given environment at a given time.  

[Eric Hug]

-upgrading boats from canoe to jon boat to 18 ft bass boat

-spotlock

-livescope

-good gear and the money for it (rods, reels, hooks, line, etc...)

-TIME ON THE WATER

[roadwarrior]

Senko  1996

[Mike L]

When I got serious about fishing tournaments. From local club charity events to regional and national events and tours. 
 

Being forced to read my own water and learning to be the most efficient with limited time and equipment choices, while having little or no input in when and where to fish. 
 

 

 

Mike