“Strategy” for the year?

[DinkDreams]

I started fishing about a year and a half ago. I went through the usual pitfalls of a new angler; buying too much stuff, thinking you need one of every lure of every color and size, and all of that.

 

I decided over the winter that I was going to try to commit this years season to learning 2 types of lure, mine being jerkbaits and big swim baits. 
 

Does anyone else go into the season with this mindset? (I’d imagine I’m not the first person to dedicate time to learning a specific lure) or do you tend to just go out and mix it up until something happens? 

[GreenPig]

After 44 years I rely on my previous experiences on the water which comes with time. Nothing wrong with taking time to learn specific baits but don't pigeon hole yourself by fishing a bait in an area that calls for something else. Example: My beaver pond is shallow(3.5' avg) and weedy so a big SB or JB is not right tool for the job.

[thediscochef]

I am also fairly new to this. I think if I had more discipline I would probably branch out and challenge myself a little more, although this month I took on jerkbaits and baitcasters at the same time. It's been frustrating when skunking after having mild success, but overall the results have been worth it. 
I have a tendency to find something I do well with, and then keep using it until it's no longer effective. Last year it was chatterbaits, this year it's probably gonna be jerkbaits given the current trajectory.

Early on I would just mix it up until something bit, but I have recently found it to be more cost effective to narrow down to a bait type or two that should do well for the location and conditions, and then mix up the sub-types until something works. I also like to settle on baits that can be used in lots of areas and situations successfully. Like chatterbaits, or - for example - for this winter's colder waters, chatterbaits and moving baits in general were not so effective. I needed something that could suspend or stay stopped in the water, therefore jerkbaits seemed to make the most sense. From there, it's the subtypes of size, action, buoyancy, etc. I found some things that seemed to work so far, if there's fish nearby. So far I think that's been my main problem this year. Really seriously considering getting one of those castable sonar units so I can at least see if I'm casting at anything. They just splash so hard when you throw them...

[Aaron_H]

1 hour ago, DinkDreams said:

I started fishing about a year and a half ago. I went through the usual pitfalls of a new angler; buying too much stuff, thinking you need one of every lure of every color and size, and all of that.

 

I decided over the winter that I was going to try to commit this years season to learning 2 types of lure, mine being jerkbaits and big swim baits. 
 

Does anyone else go into the season with this mindset? (I’d imagine I’m not the first person to dedicate time to learning a specific lure) or do you tend to just go out and mix it up until something happens? 

 

In December I became acutely aware of my shortcomings with the jerkbait and decided that 2022 would be the Year of the Jerkbait™ for me. I was worried that the beginning of the venture would be too rough and discourage me, but the learning curve wasn't too steep to at least be able to trigger bites. I still have a long way to go before I really feel dialed in, but I've been very pleased with the results so far and my three biggest bass of the year came on the jerkbait.

 

It has really helped me to feel less anxious about putting in time with other techniques I have little confidence in, and I look forward to whatever I choose to focus on for 2023.

[zpelletier]

10 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

I have a tendency to find something I do well with, and then keep using it until it's no longer effective. Last year it was chatterbaits,

Same here, I just never had chatterbaits stop being effective, but it got icy. 
 

This year I decided I’m going to learn to fish a jig and a ned rig. I’ll still fish chatterbaits as well (because I love it) but since I’m newer to fishing I want to try to fish only a few baits and focus more on being better at finding the fish. 

[WRB]

Most of us learned to walk before trying to run.

It’s like a golfer who buys a new bag full of clubs before ever hitting a ball and finds out he better left handed and bought right hand clubs.

Take your time to practice your casting skills and pick out lures that can be effective top to bottom, like soft plastics.

Tom 

[schplurg]

My strategy is to fish as much as possible. More than last year, more kayak trips. More everything, except I have all the baits I need so no more of those. Need that money for gas!

[LrgmouthShad]

No strategy, just a fish a lot and learn a lot

[Wprich]

My strategy was to incorporate Senkos, Ned rigs, and jigs into my arsenal for this year.  Been doing really good fishing Senkos on a Neko rig and gotten a few fish on a Ned rig each trip as well so I got some confidence in them now.  Finally got my jig setup put together so will be giving jigs a try this coming Monday and Tuesday hopefully.

[gim]

I’ve generally fished tubes with familiarity for both largies and brown bass over the years, but these new max scent versions are a whole new lure. I’ve never fished a max scent product. They will receive more than a fair amount of time from me this season.

[Mobasser]

This season, I've set my mind on fishing for large bass.Ive fished for bass for many years now, and I plan to take my fishing to the next level. Catching large bass  consistently.

[Hammer 4]

I fish a bunch of city park ponds/lakes, so I fish from the shore. These local places that I fish,  I've done it for so long, that for each pond/lake there are only a few presentations I've found that catch bass regularly, so no real strategy for this year. However being that there is a lot of water that can't be reached from shore, and the fact that I've caught numerous 5 to 7 lb bass from those places, I'm really going after bass that are at least DD. I've done that somewhat in the past, but this year I'm focused on the big girls out there. 

[scaleface]

Only goal I have is to keep on keeping on .

[Deleted account]

12 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

No strategy, just a fish a lot and learn a lot

That is actually a good way to do it, and just like chess, if you can do it with folks that are much better, that will speed things up.

[throttleplate]

Fish the majority of the time on the ottertail river around the many dams and keep away from the lakes during the summer.

 

The river lets me concentrate on smallmouth and walleye as i am burnt out on catching largemouth.

[DitchPanda]

My strategy can be summed up in 2 words -dark sleeper. I bought a few of these last year then never tried them. Finally busted them out today and caught myself a bass on it and missed a 2nd one. Nothing crazy but impressed me and I saw alot of potential. So now I'm gonna order more and give them a real go.

[roadwarrior]

Great lure, but it loves rocks and wood. Keep it off the bottom.

[LrgmouthShad]

7 hours ago, Deleted account said:

if you can do it with folks that are much better, that will speed things up.

signed up for a tournament in April where I'd be a backseater. Hope to learn a lot then! 

[Bird]

Will continue with what has always worked well in the past. 

Only thing I really changed for this year is the Ned rig.

Gonna try 1/16 offset wide gap hooks and texpose the Ned for a more weedless presentation.

Don't care for the heads with weed guards.

[DinkDreams]

2 hours ago, Bird said:

Will continue with what has always worked well in the past. 

Only thing I really changed for this year is the Ned rig.

Gonna try 1/16 offset wide gap hooks and texpose the Ned for a more weedless presentation.

Don't care for the heads with weed guards.

Yeah the “weedless” Ned heads from ZMan aren’t very weedless IMO. They won’t get hung up in weeds but you’re dragging some salad back in.

[Boomstick]

On 3/19/2022 at 2:22 PM, DinkDreams said:

I started fishing about a year and a half ago. I went through the usual pitfalls of a new angler; buying too much stuff, thinking you need one of every lure of every color and size, and all of that. 

I see nothing wrong with this personally. You could be spending your money on a lot worse things believe me. While I'm not the biggest follower of the idea the lure has to be the right color and your hair has to be just right to get the fish to bite, there are lighter lures which blend in, dark or chartreuse lures that stand out and then there are red lures which either magically get all the bites or won't catch a damned thing! But it never hurts to have a few extras either way.

  

On 3/19/2022 at 2:22 PM, DinkDreams said:

I decided over the winter that I was going to try to commit this years season to learning 2 types of lure, mine being jerkbaits and big swim baits. 
 

Does anyone else go into the season with this mindset? (I’d imagine I’m not the first person to dedicate time to learning a specific lure) or do you tend to just go out and mix it up until something happens? 

I definitely do the same kind of thing. I wouldn't stick to only two all season, nor would I start with big swimbaits as a beginner but I definitely started focusing on a few lures and branched out from there.

[Deleted account]

Strategy? Only one. Catch fish.

[BassNJake]

When I was new to tournament fishing, I often only brought one type of lure to practice with.

This allowed me to focus on the bait I was using and allowed me to learn the nuances of each one.

I was not able to do this until I left everything else at home because after a little while of not getting bit, I would always go back to something familiar.

 

Not having anything but 6 different types of jigs tied on allowed me to get a feel of the bait

How a football head feels dragged on the bottom or a swim jig feels thru the weeds or

how different trailers affect the rate of fall. This helped me become a better fisherman.

 

With that being said I was also fishing 12 hours a day, 3-4 days a week

So I had the time and the resources to spend on learning new techniques

 

This also taught me that I am more of a power fisherman by nature and should concentrate at learning some more finesse/slower presentations to be a more complete angler

 

[DinkDreams]

For reference, I’ve been fishing about a year and a half but I do a ton of research on here and other places. Nothing replaces time on the water, but I have a decent grasp on lure selection based on weather and other factors.

 

also, I almost exclusively fish ponds from the shore, as the lakes around me leave much to be desired as a bank locked angler.

 

I find ponds to be one of the best places to learn new techniques because the fish only have so many places to go, I don’t have to spend time trying to “find the fish”. Ponds come with their own pitfalls of course.

 

Anyone feel one way or the other about ponds vs. lakes, especially as a bank locked angler? Would it be worth trying lakes more to find better bank spots?

[roadwarrior]

Ponds are much easier to fish from the bank. I prefer soft plastics and jigs verses hard

baits from the shore.