Your path: Tried-n-True, or Something-New(?)

[DaubsNU1]

When fishing your "home-lake," do you stick with the spots and techniques you know will produce fish?  Do you venture to new spots, try new techniques? Or do you mix it up?

 

I'm probably 80% tried-n-true, 20% something-new on my home-lake.

 

Yesterday I fished for the first time in three weeks...was catching them on spinner-bait working my standard spots. Around lunch time I decided to hit a new spot, and tied on a drop-shot. Had several bites, broke off a few snags, boated three bass, and the best fish of the day, 17" / 2lb-11oz. It was a good fight on the light spinning rig.  FUN!

[Jar11591]

With my home lakes, I’ve spent years picking them apart, learning the best spots, techniques, seasonal patterns etc, so I’m usually fishing the tried and true approach. It’s gotta be a really tough bite for me to mix things up on my home lake. But when it’s a grind, it’s fun to grab the drop shot rig, head to some deeper water and look for stuff with the depth finder. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[N Florida Mike]

I would say I’m 90% tried and true, but the other 10% has been fun. I fish soft plastics 90% of the time because they work best in my home lake , and other waters I fish around here.

The biggest fish Ive caught outside of my normal plastics, was a 7.3 on a Booyah pad crasher. I got a 6.3 on a spinnerbait. Im pretty sure I will eventually get a big fish on a chatterbait.  I’ve caught some fish on jerkbaits but nothing big. Ive even learned about different soft plastics that Ive caught some fish on. I do need to fish new spots more. That’s probably true with most of us…Bassresource forums are the main reason I’ve branched out from the norm.

THANKS YA’LL !!

[gim]

23 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

With my home lakes, I’ve spent years picking them apart, learning the best spots, techniques, seasonal patterns etc, so I’m usually fishing the tried and true approach. It’s gotta be a really tough bite for me to mix things up on my home lake. But when it’s a grind, it’s fun to grab the drop shot rig, head to some deeper water and look for stuff with the depth finder. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the same for me.  I generally spend most of my time on several lakes or sections of river that I am pretty familiar with, and I've developed a seasonal pattern on them.

 

Drop shot...no.  Lol if that's all they're biting on I'll just come back when the bite improves!

[Mike L]

Some lakes go through cycles fir different reasons. If you fish your water long enough you learned the hard way what to do and where to go when a “down” year or  even season happens. 
 

For a few years now it’s been widely reported (even on here) that Okeechobee isn’t fishing the way it used to at times which is true to a certain point.
It’s easy to complain about a body of water that you infrequently fish and believe everything you hear. 

However, if your “home water” is truly that, you just shake your head, roll your eyes and be glad they feel that way. 

Point is, as it’s been said here many times nothing beats time on the water. 

The problem occurs when you are, you’re not really learning the most important thing. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike
 

[Tennessee Boy]

Spots:  60% tried and true.  40% something new.

 

Techniques:  90% tried and true.  10% something new

[roadwarrior]

I have been fishing Pickwick and the Tennessee River for 25 years.

For me, it's 100% tried and true.

 

 

                            

 

 

[Bankc]

Whatever I feel like at the time.  The good thing about a home lake is, you don't feel pressure to perform.  If you get skunked doing something new and different, you know you could have caught something falling back to tried and true.  If you do the tried and true and still get skunked, you know the fish just weren't biting.  

 

Most trips, I'll mix it up a little.  On a typical day I'll work on something I'm not that familiar with and spend some time doing something I feel pretty confident in.  How long I spend on each depends on my sucess with each.  I'll do whatever seems like the most fun to me at the time.  

I don't fish to catch fish.  I fish to fish.  As long as I don't spend most of my time fighting technical issues or the weather, I'm happy.  

[WRB]

Some days you just go fishing and the best way to do this is back seat with a friend and let the day develop.

I believe bass fishing is giving new lures and presentations a try when the bite is good and enjoy something new more then tried and true. Bass are very forgiving fish reacting to several different lures and presentations on any given day.

Trophy bass fishing is another story very hard to move away from proven lures you have confidence using or trying new areas.

Tom

[casts_by_fly]

I'm probably 80/20 across both.  I've only been fishing this area for 2 seasons now, so plenty of exploration and new places to do still.  Then within the lakes in the regular rotation I'll mostly stick to tried and true for lures and techniques.  I love topwaters so I probably overuse them but that's my preference for catching so I almost always start there.  Sometimes I choose a lake that I know really well to work on a technique (see the "plastics only outing" thread) or something specific.  Sometimes I'll get a bug up my butt to try a specific lure or thing and I'll usually pick a known lake for it (fishing an unknown lake with an unknown technique is never a good approach).  Very rarely I'll be in a place catching a bunch of fish doing one thing and decide to see if another thing will do as well.  

 

55 minutes ago, WRB said:

Some days you just go fishing and the best way to do this is back seat with a friend and let the day develop.

 

Tom

 

I don't have friends with boats, so I use my 2 or 3 times a year trips with my dad for this purpose.  If we're on his lakes, I use my techniques while watching how he'd do it.  If we're on my lakes, similar, though I'll usually just take a back seat and enjoy the day (making half as many casts as normal).

[roadwarrior]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Trophy bass fishing is another story very hard to move away from proven lures you have confidence using or trying new areas.

 

[Catt]

1 hour ago, Mike L said:

However, if your “home water” is truly that, you just shake your head, roll your eyes and be glad they feel that way. 

 

Toledo Bend was voted the #1 bass fishing lake in America 2 years in a row.

 

Shortly after that the lake lost all it's grass drastically changing how the lake fished. Many believed the notoriety increased pressure to the point the lake was "fished out".

 

What happened is the fish moved from grass to timber. The anglers stayed with the "tried & true".

 

50+ years on Toledo Bend you learn how to adjust to the lake.

[roadwarrior]

Well, when Toledo Bend was ranked #1 my brother and I went down for three days

fishing. When the wind BLOWS the fishing can be very restricted. We caught some

fish, but nothing special. Sometimes that's just how things shake out.

[RDB]

With each major advancement in electronics, the secrets that the lakes hold decrease a little more.  There are not a lot of secrets in our lakes today and advances are only making it easier for the masses to find higher potential spots.  IMO, to rely on “tried and true” is to die a slow death as technology continues to progress.  Whether it’s @Catt and his Toledo Bend example or someone like Josh Jones who started putting together massive bags with an approach few were employing, to think that bass are not going to continue to adjust is to underestimate their adaptability.

[Koz]

I’ve been here for just over a year and have found zero consistency in this lake. If there’s any good news, the local guides have also been struggling to consistently find LMB.

 

The consensus is that low oxygen levels have hurt fishing, but GA Power just finished an extensive aeration system that should start helping soon.

[Bluebasser86]

I mostly just get there and let it be a surprise to myself with where I end up at. I fish a lot of the same areas, but what order I get there isn't the same with a few exceptions. 

[Junk Fisherman]

Spots:  90% tried and true.  10% something new.- My home lakes are places I've fished a lot but I always check out a new spot every time I go out.  Some of those new spots turn into the 90% group.

 

Techniques:  90% tried and true.  10% something new- I always spend some time on a new presentation every time I go out.  Or maybe it is a new knot or hook but I always want to spend some time with something new every time I go out.  

[DitchPanda]

Over the past few years I've tried to do some new stuff...both spots and baits...on my home lake. I know there are small mouth in there..albeit a rarely small population...but a few years back conditions were right and I caught probably 20-25 that year. Haven't had any the past 2 years with the drought \low water. But I've heard a few reports of one getting caught here and there so I've got non typical baits and spots in mind to challenge myself!

[Columbia Craw]

I fish the conditions, not the spots.

[papajoe222]

I've been fishing one local lake for almost 40yrs. I still stumble upon 'new' spots, but the majority of time, I'm fishing known producers.  I love trying out new techniques on this lake. I never put any faith in the Ned rig until I did just that.  There are other local lakes that I'll hit a couple of times a month and with them it's known spots with techniques based on conditions almost 100% of the time.

[txchaser]

I almost always have a clear plan. I rarely fish that plan, as I see something that changes my mind. Sometimes it was a good idea, sometimes not so much.

 

I really enjoy finding new fish, especially when they are weighty. The whole process of figuring out where bigger fish are and what they are doing gets me amped up.

 

Almost 100% if I'm on a pattern I'm immediately trying something different. I suppose I'm trying to compress time on the water. If they'll bite a bubba shot, what about a t-rig, or a moving bait at the same depth? It's almost comical how fast I'll change baits when they are working. 

 

[PhishLI]

Personally I get bored with fishing "history" until I think I need to. Spots that have all the right elements yet had always kicked my azz in the past interest me most. This year I finally broke through in many of those zones. Felt like I accomplished something.

23 hours ago, WRB said:

I believe bass fishing is giving new lures and presentations a try when the bite is good and enjoy something new more then tried and true

I'm right there with you.

[Zcoker]

I usually hit my same spots but I usually hit them at different times. I find the time frame more important than the lure or presentation. In the everglades, for instance, I can hit one of my spots during the morning hours and catch this or that. I can hit the same spot during the afternoon hours and catch this or that. But if I hit it at 12am midnight, I get 7 and 8 pounders on the same lure and presentation! Nothing at 11pm and nothing at 1am, only 12am. Weird. Same with another spot, only lights up at 5am. Get there at 6am and it's game over. Every spot is different and has very different outcomes, like a dynamic puzzle that comes together and then falls apart, only to be put together again at the right time. 

[Darth-Baiter]

if I learned anything.  nothing ever stays the same.  I can crush them one day, and the very next day they are gone.  i have had very few back to back repeat performances.  some, but not many.

 

this is very true on the CA Delta.  you can't trust any situation. 

[Bankbeater]

It depends on how much time I have to fish.  If I will only be out for a few hours I will fish the spots I know.  If I have time I will go exploring.