Don't Believe Everything You Read/Hear

[Spankey]

I hold a certain amount of respect for a pros opinion and as well as all y’all on here. Enough of a respect that I’m going to reach out to pretty many here after I retire to see if we can hook up and go out. This site does have a lot of good info on it. Let’s say it is all factual. Most of us on here with a reasonable amount of experience can  can pick out parts of a thread and maybe try to apply it to your normal routine. Some of these threads and posts can be a bit overwhelming to someone new. Steer in many directions but oh well poster asked for opinions. A little trial and error for a new guys is a good thing. Keep it basic. The problems start after you start  going in too many directions too fast. There are a lot of Trolls here also. Falls into a different category. A newbie and a Troll are not the same thing. 
 

There a guy on here that not all that long ago was green as grass and had a million questions. I don’t know him personally but wish I did. He become a for real smallmouth guy. Put in a lot of hard work to get where he is. Good things come from this site. 

12 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I rely primarily on past experiences when I fish.  Although I definitely feel like I could learn more, my 20 years of fishing this area has taught me a lot.  I'm skeptical of vague suggestions from someone in a completely different part of country than I am.

Very true. I’m always picking up something new or trying a new variation of something. 
 

We are spread out pretty far and wide. All fishing different types of water. 
 

In the Smallies section you can pick up on it a lot when rivers are discussed. Maybe certain characteristics are the same but overall picture is way far off from one to another. 

[QED]

A healthy dose of skepticism should be de rigueur for reviewing social media or even news media.  But if you consider the contextual information in any opinion/recommendation plus how reliably a particular source has provided other [useful] recommendations, then you can usually separate the wheat from the chaff.  That's the only way to properly use yelp, for example.

[Zcoker]

Yeah, it's out there: this works for this or that, the end all lure or presentation or whatever...gotta pick and choose else read between the lines, just like with anything else in life. As for fishing, the best advice is usually your own LoL. Being out there and having a bait in the water, whether dead or alive or fake, having a bait in the water counts the most. 

[T-Billy]

14 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

This site's popularity stems from the exchange of information and tips that are passed on to its members. If you have a question, ask it. There is so much accurate and applicable information stored in the heads of the members here, you can be sure to get more than one answer that mirrors others and that's a sure way to build on your fishing knowledge.

And... I've never had anyone here try to convince me that I need a pile of magic baits, in fifty different colors, made by their sponsor, in order to catch fish.

 

[Tennessee Boy]

The world is full of experts on various subjects that know more than we do but are often wrong.  Figuring out what to believe and what not to believe in this life is hard but essential.  I wish all of the world's experts wore jerseys like pro fishermen.  It's very convenient  when they recommend a product to be able to look at their jersey and say "Yeah, that's made by one of their sponsors,  I can ignore that advice."  

[MrFishALot]

I like watching pros on the "how" not the "what".

I pick a lure that "speaks to me" at the moment and research how to fish it.

 

Ultimately I believe in "if I don't try it myself I'll never know".

[evo2s197]

There are a few pros in my area, I know first hand they might use the brands they are sponsored by maybe 1/4 of the time at most, a few even fish with custom rods more than than the rod manufacturer that sponsors them.

 

But they'll say that they used this or that, even though "this or that" wasn't what helped them win or place.

 

Take what these pros say with a grain of salt because they are salesman.

[king fisher]

It has to be true, I read it on the internet, magazine, billboard, or heard it on talk radio.  Only guarantee is if it is about fishing, the truth can and probably will be stretched.

[Yakalong]

You should have been here yesterday

[scaleface]

9 hours ago, QED said:

everyone has smart phones now

I dont .

[QED]

5 hours ago, scaleface said:

I dont .

OK, I was wrong. Most people have a smart phone now.  They are awesome compute and communication devices.  Multi-core ARM 64-bit v8 processors in phones are better than those used in desktop computers from not that long ago.  Also, if you shoot, then they are absolutely an enormous benefit because of all the great available ballistic solvers.  But if you don't have pix of your catch, then it still never happened, Luddite! ?

[T-Billy]

So today I caught a couple piggies right where I'm not supposed to.

Smack dab in the middle of a dead milfoil mat. It isn't as green as it looks in this pic. That's why the water is as cloudy as it is, dead milfoil breaking up.

Caught this 5-2 on the first pitch into it. Bout time, it's my first 5+ this year.

Stuck this 4-9 on the next pitch, about 8' from where the first one bit. SWEET!!! 40+ years of bass fishing and this is the first time I've caught 4+ pounders back to back. Right where they're not supposed to be according to the pros, and every fishing article I've ever read about fishing weeds. They say bass are only supposed to relate to green healthy weeds. Pretty stoked, 5's are few and far between in the waters I fish, and I only get a handful of 4's most years. I caught another dozen or so smaller fish from dead milfoil patches. Some pitching a T rigged beaver, some swimming a Fat Kietech through them. Don't be scared of the brown weeds. You might be surprised at what's in 'em.

[J Francho]

Fallen tree trumps dying grass. All the grass dies, so they gotta be somewhere. That and I can't resist lumber in the water. 

[DitchPanda]

 This healthy dose of skepticism is indeed what is needed to wade thru this world in general. Mike Iaconelli is a perfect example for me...no doubt he's a very talented angler plus I just like him so I watch his videos, pull out the nuggets of gold and throw out the whole this wouldn't work without my max scent general and 100% Berkley fluorocarbon crap. By now we have all been so inundated by fake news we should be able to smell that from a mile away and discard it.

 There are basically three sources for fishing info I trust to be real and honest. First and foremost my buddy Brian and my longtime fishing buddy and good friend @walt-14. I've been friends with Brian for 15+ years and although he's new to the bass game he's not a liar. @walt-14 has been my only real bass fishing buddy for about a decade and I know what he's capable of and also that he is not a liar. The only source in the public realm I trust is tacticalbassin..even then I have a few reservations.

[Catt]

52 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

They say bass are only supposed to relate to green healthy weeds.

 

Well, in the coastal areas everything is vegetation, both emergent & submergent.

 

During hard winters it pretty much all dies, guess what we target...dead grass. Not when it first dies but after its completely dead. 

 

During cold water periods totally dead grass absorbs heat, check it with your depth finder.

 

 

[T-Billy]

2 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

Well, in the coastal areas everything is vegetation, both emergent & submergent.

 

During hard winters it pretty much all dies, guess what we target...dead grass. Bot when it first dies but after its completely dead. 

 

During cold water periods totally dead grass absorbs heat, check it with your depth finder.

 

 

I hear ya Catt. Late fall and after ice out I'll target milfoil and hydrilla stubble. The water is usually pretty clear and those dark patches are easy to spot. They can be lights out on sunny afternoons. 

This is the first year I've spent any significant amount of time fishing milfoil and hydrilla as it's dying. I've been catching decent numbers swimming a keitech through broken patches of it, and pitching a T-rig to isolated patches of broadleaf pondweed and isolated milfoil mats. The pondweed gets better and better as the fall progresses. It's the only weed that stays green until winter drawdown. 

[Mobasser]

I will say that in over 40yrs of bass fishing, the only thing that actually worked as taught was Slider Fishing by Charlie Brewer. It's caught fish for me as he said. I've read and heard so many other things I'm pretty skeptical.            And we have to remember, what's works great for one guy, may not work for you.

[txchaser]

re dead grass holding fish I heard an interesting in-depth podcast with a biologist who was some sort of lake plant expert, and they made a really interesting point - if it's been dead a while, true, but if it is recently dead it can amp up the ecosystem and food chain for a little while. Eventually goes anaerobic and everything runs from it. 

So far, the BR community has been an incredibly good source of information that has been pretty accurate. And even when there's not agreement, it's pretty easy to play with both approaches on the water and see. 

 

[PressuredFishing]

3 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Well, in the coastal areas everything is vegetation, both emergent & submergent.

 

During hard winters it pretty much all dies, guess what we target...dead grass. Not when it first dies but after its completely dead. 

 

During cold water periods totally dead grass absorbs heat, check it with your depth finder.

 

 

Yes many of my lakes are like this 

[Columbia Craw]

There are times you must first ask questions before you can answer the question.  Those who have been in sales know what I mean.

There are times you must first ask questions before you can answer the question.  Those who have been in sales know what I mean.

[DaubsNU1]

Believe none of what you hear, and half of what you read...

 

The tricky part is deciding what half you are going to believe...

[J Francho]

I don't believe anyone is intentionally trying to deceive by offering their experiences, it's just that not everything applies to everyone's unique situation.  The whole "fish can't resist this lure...." hard sell is just noise that is ever present in every realm of our lives.  It's just marketing.  Do I really need a vacuum sealer?  Probably not, but the one I have I've used two or three times in ten years.  It seemed like I had to have it at the time.

[DitchPanda]

2 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I don't believe anyone is intentionally trying to deceive by offering their experiences, it's just that not everything applies to everyone's unique situation.  The whole "fish can't resist this lure...." hard sell is just noise that is ever present in every realm of our lives.  It's just marketing.

 I think there is a lot of truth in this. We've all done this...have a day where a certain bait really produces, go out and but half dozen more and it never works that way again. If you caught us on that day we would have swore you have to have said lure...non intentionally mis leading somebody. Also agree with the marketing deal..just guys and gals making a living so you can't blame them for that. Just choose what sounds good and ignore said noise.

 I'd like to add to my previous post that another source of info I believe in is right here. There are tons of guys on here with alot more knowledge and experience than myself to learn from. I also never feel like I've been lied to here...nobody has anything to gain by misleading people here since we aren't selling baits or competing for the same fish.

 

[gim]

22 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Do I really need a vacuum sealer?  Probably not, but the one I have I've used two or three times in ten years. 

I need one.  I use it regularly to seal fish filets, pheasants, and some bulk meats that I cut up into smaller portions.

 

Could I go without it?  Probably.  But my meat would get freezer burned and therefore I would not eat it.

 

On the subject of marketing lures...many are designed to catch fish but there are also many designed to catch fisherman too.  I've got some of both.

[Mobasser]

Before the internet was available, all we had were magazines, and advice from other fisherman.                 I read all sorts of magazine articles back then. After a few years, I realized that much of the info I read didn't always apply to my lakes. I bought lots of baits that I've never caught anything on.                                                                 Now, I've narrowed it down to a few things that work the best on my own lakes.                            Because of the internet, we're flooded with info now. Much of it is useful, some pure hogwash. We've all become skeptical to a degree. I think it comes down to being able to take in the info you learn, and apply it to your own waters.