Fish your strengths!

[Zcoker]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Hmmm. @PhishLI and @AlabamaSpothunter might disagree with you. I know I do. I had my best fishing season ever by sticking to a few bodies of water and gaining a better and better understanding of them. In 2022, I was a hummingbird, flying from flower to flower, i.e. from pond to bog to a different pond to a different pond to a different bog. In 2023, I focused on five bogs and gleaned a better understanding of where the bass bunker and how that changes from spring to fall. 

 

I'm not the least bit uncomfortable fishing new water. I LOVE to fish new water, but by fishing the same bodies of water again and again, I did develop a better understanding of them and their bass. 

 

It's hard to compare your Everglades bass to my bog bass, for your fish grow 12 months a year, but as @Pat Brown has observed more than once, a six-plus-pounder in Maine, in terms of rarity, equates to a much bigger bass from the Everglades. I didn't catch dozens of six-plus-pounders like I did four-to-five pounders in 2023, but I caught enough to believe in the wisdom of @PhishLI's and @AlabamaSpothunter's approach.* And I'm pretty sure I hooked and lost fish bigger than the biggest bass I caught, but I don't yet have the skill/strength/equipment to land those biggest bass yet. It's pert near impossible to keep a goblin out of the weeds when she's big enough to pull your boat into the weeds. 

 

However, from time to time, I still do fish new water for the sheer joy of casting into the unknown. 

 

*To be frank, Alex and Phish wanted me to focus on one or two bodies of water. I just couldn't. I like variety too much. So, I compromised and focused on five...and am sure glad I did. 

 

My approach was perhaps more of a springboard for me, not so much a fundamental practice. I still fish my honey holes. Breaking out of the shell or breaking out of the box, so to speak, can be based off most anything, you know. 

 

And I know diddly-squat about Main bass compared to Everglades bass. The only thing I can say about Everglades bass is that they are completely insane! lol 

 

 

[Pat Brown]

I saw @Zcoker suggestion more as acknowledgement of intention and not necessarily applicable to the number of bodies of water.

 

I could see his advice applying for an angler who only fishes one body of water.

 

I see it more as learn where your strengths and this moment in your life fishing intersect and exploit that intersection when possible.  Don't rely on history to get the job done.

 

Perhaps?

[Swamp Girl]

51 minutes ago, Zcoker said:

And I know diddly-squat about Main bass compared to Everglades bass.

 

And vice-versa. This doesn't mean that I wouldn't love to fish the Everglades. I would. I watch lots of videos of kayakers fishing for those swamp bass and I want to be there too.

 

I don't think I'd be overwhelmed. A swamp is a marsh is a bog. I think I'd feel pretty much at home despite my ignorance. 

 

26 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

I saw @Zcoker suggestion more as acknowledgement of intention and not necessarily applicable to the number of bodies of water.

 

It's not my intention to be dense, but what do you mean by "acknowledgement of intention," Pat?

[Gera]

21 hours ago, RipzLipz said:

@Catt Where was the part about drinking beer? I must have missed it.🤣

 

Try to fish my strengths but at times the fish are more strong-willed in regards to their lack of desire to open their mouths.

I was about to ask the same!!

[Tennessee Boy]

24 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I don't think I'd be overwhelmed. A swamp is a marsh is a bog. I think I'd feel pretty much at home despite my ignorance.

Except swamps have man eating gators 😲.  No thanks.

[Pat Brown]

@ol'crickety it's like a mindset where you're intentionally saying 'im gonna go where they're at not where I wanna find em' on the pond today.  You're consciously acknowledging your intention and letting it guide your decision making rather than saying 'i caught big fish on that tree once, better cast there too' 

 

It helps focus us sometimes to sort of keep our intentions at the forefront when we get to the water where our imagination and our memories of big fish can cloud our judgement on any given day.

 

I usually can read a body of water and guess where they're going to be but sometimes I struggle with 'but what if they're over there?' and sometimes I eat up a whole day testing hunches in water where bites wouldn't be likely if I listened to my gut and cut the fat and went straight where I know they're at.

 

🙂🙂🙂🎣🎣🎣

[Zcoker]

14 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

And vice-versa. This doesn't mean that I wouldn't love to fish the Everglades. I would. I watch lots of videos of kayakers fishing for those swamp bass and I want to be there too.

 

I don't think I'd be overwhelmed. A swamp is a marsh is a bog. I think I'd feel pretty much at home despite my ignorance. 

 

 

It's not my intention to be dense, but what do you mean by "acknowledgement of intention," Pat?

 

Listen, fishing different bodies of water has nothing to do with what I said for anyone. My whole spiel was just about me and my personal journey while finding my strengths. I got so caught up in fishing the same places ALL the time, which sorta dulled my ability to move and learn new stuff. In fact, years ago I was so caught up in only one aspect of bass fishing that I hardly caught a friggin thing, even while fishing out in the everglades! It wasn't until I started CHANGING my thinkin that things really begin to take on a new life. I broke out of my old habits. I broke out of my shell. I started thinking outside of the box. Yes, I still fished the same spots but with a newness about me. I let the fish and just about everything else in. I closed nothing off. My mind was a clean slate and I started to learn from ALL experiences, good or bad. This was MY strength. So please don't take what I said here as any sort of gospel to fish other places in order to gain a strength.  

[Swamp Girl]

15 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

It helps focus us sometimes to sort of keep our intentions at the forefront when we get to the water where our imagination and our memories of big fish can cloud our judgement on any given day.

 

That helps. I get it. Thank you.

 

15 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

I usually can read a body of water and guess where they're going to be but sometimes I struggle with 'but what if they're over there?' and sometimes I eat up a whole day testing hunches in water where bites wouldn't be likely if I listened to my gut and cut the fat and went straight where I know they're at.

 

However, after completely agreeing, I have this caveat: I do have hunches that I'll play and win. For example, I'll be working an area with contemplated intent and then I'll go and blast a cast to the middle of nothing and nowhere...and I catch a lot of bass this way. You know I don't have sonar, so I don't have a clue what's under the water where I'm blasting, but I have a long history of wayward casts catching bass. However, I don't see the pros doing this. They have a plan and they stick to it. 

 

19 minutes ago, Zcoker said:

So please don't take what I said here as any sort of gospel to fish other places in order to gain a strength.

 

What you said was wonderful. Really. You wrote with such clarity and passion. Thank you.

[Pat Brown]

Oh I think we all have those experiences if we fish enough and they're around!  It always pays to fire a shot on the 'other' side of the boat now and again if you're around em IMHO.  I've caught plenty that way too!

 

I often find that these random casts happen to coincide with key structure or underwater cover that we didn't know we were casting to but not always!

[Swamp Girl]

@Pat Brown: I'm a big believer in the unconscious. I'm guessing that you're familiar with the possibility that we forget nothing. Of course, we can't retrieve all memories, but you've likely had the experience of smelling something and a long forgotten memory floods to the fore.

 

Well, when I blast a cast, I think it's my brain referencing, albeit unconsciously, all my memories and saying, "Hey, this reminds me of that. Cast there!"

 

I trust my hunches. I think anyone who's spent enough time on water should trust their hunches too, whether they're part of the plan or not.

 

10 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

I often find that these random casts happen to coincide with key structure or underwater cover that we didn't know we were casting to but not always!

 

Agreed. I was a whitewater canoeist and to canoe well in furious water, you have to read it. Well, flat water isn't as easy to read, but still, I think there are teeny-tiny clues for when water moved by wind passes over a difference in the bottom, it will register on the surface, ever so slightly. I think hunches can come from noting the slightest difference in the surface and remembering a similar difference that produced a bass.

[Catt]

Fishing your strengths means finding areas that fit the techniques you're best at.

 

If you’re good at shallow water then fish shallow.

 

This doesn't mean one should never learn new techniques or ares. 54 yrs on Toledo Bend I still spend a few hours graphing. But after awhile I wanna stick something!

 

You'll never learn a body if you ain't catching.

[Swamp Girl]

7 minutes ago, Catt said:

Fishing your strengths means finding areas that fit the techniques you're best at.

 

If you’re good at shallow water then fish shallow.

 

This doesn't mean one should never learn new techniques or ares. 54 yrs on Toledo Bend I still spend a few hours graphing. But after awhile I wanna stick something!

 

You'll never learn a body if you ain't catching.

 

Great post. I love concision. 

 

Me: 

 

 

Catt:

 

[WRB]

Couldn’t get the video to load on my old iPad but good idea of what the topic is about, will try later.

First to fish your strengths you need to develop them from fishing several different lures and presentations. I can’t tell you how many times when a bass angler wants to tournament  the advice is Fish your strengths! I am sure Larry Nixon explains that statement, not sure I can.

Over 65 years of bass fishing I have tried everything from soup to nuts developing bass fishing skills and presentations that work under the circumstances what ever they may be.

Because of a wide skill base my tackle grew over the decades to include a rod and reel for nearly every presentation and situation that presented itself at the time. 

What I use when the cards are down limited to what I believe are my best choices under the circumstances or fishing my skills I pick a hand full of ole faithfuls.

I love to fish hair jigs with pork trailers so that is always a choice. What soft plastics to choose isn’s as easy because my confidence in several presentations dependent on structure cover and depth, so a choice between slip shot, drop shot finesse and Brass ‘n Glass T-rig worm. Top water my go to is a wooden Sammy for larger bait and a Splash-It for smaller size bait. Weed mats frog or weedless spoon.

mid column a deep diving crank bait or swimbait.

The choices get narrowed down fast with time on that particular water. 

Once I decide what the deal is it’s hard for me to put it down.

Tom

[A-Jay]

A lot of interesting stuff in this thread.

I can't really add much mostly because despite some lengthy explanations from several accomplished anglers, I don't really understand how to apply it.

I will say that if I do possess a 'strength', it might be fishing around in my live well

and yanking out a couple of these . . . .

A-Jay

[Catt]

17 hours ago, A-Jay said:

I don't really understand how to apply it.

 

Watch the whole video 

[fishingtx]

On 11/23/2023 at 5:13 AM, Pat Brown said:

Finding my fish is all I know how to do! 

Wellll you see thats my problem........

On Rayburn if you find fish on Friday and your tourney is on Saturday two things will happen 90% of the time. The first thing is the fish will completely vacate the area. Like you can't find them anywhere. The second thing is most of the time if you find fish you're gonna learn to share whether you like it or not because somebody else found those fish too.

[Mbirdsley]

i agree with this 100%.  i really kinda screwed my self up last year way over thinking things, watching to much you tube, and listening to too many pod casts.  it got to the point that i wasn’t even enjoying my time on the water at all.  

 

there is a lot of stuff that is talked about on youtube and podcasts that is very region specific and very specific to large damed up lakes.    the past 2-3 years i’ve bought a lot of useless tackle that doesn't apply to how i fish.  i caught bigger and more fish not worrying about how deep crank is running or the fall rate of specific jig in x amount of water.  basically , i was just fishing.  i caught a lot of fish running a 4 ft crank over 10 ft of water and not trying to hit bottom. 

 

only upside to all of the you tube and pod casts is a feel like i can figure a lake fairly quickly now. 

 

from here on out im going to concentrate on 3-4 things per time period IE winter, pre spawn, spawn, post spawn, summer etc etc.  only technique id really like to learn is drop shot but, im not really interested in learning anything else because, it doesn’t apply up here and im not a pro fisherman touring the country.

 

  this is the first season where i dont really have to buy tackle or make any rod or reel upgrades and it feels good honestly, that i dont have to worrying about if this right rod is right for this random obscure technique. 

[SpinLight]

Great video. Thanks for sharing, Catt. Lots of insightful comments by others, too.

 

Larry Nixon was being interviewed about his career and tournament fishing. He gives great advice about "fishing your strengths". He has about 6 decades of fishing experience and knows more about tournament bass fishing than almost anybody alive today.

 

Bass fishermen who post on this forum fish all over this country, and a few other countries, too. We fish for different species of bass, on different kinds of lakes, rivers, and ponds while fishing from bass boats, canoes, kayaks, or from the bank, or wading a stream. We use different lures, equipment, and techniques.

 

One of the things we all have in common is that we enjoy catching fish, or at least the process of fishing and all the anticipation and preparation that goes into it. While we are young, it may be about acquiring fundamentals, running and gunning if you are in tournaments, and catching big fish or a lot of fish.

After several decades we start slowing down, and for some of us, it's about getting a few bites on that old favorite lure on some of our favorite spots. There are several ways to enjoy fishing, no matter how old or experienced we are. It's all good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Big Hands]

On 11/29/2023 at 1:09 PM, ol'crickety said:

I love concision. 

 

Me: Sorry. Mama tried.

[scaleface]

 My strengths are still under development. I dont fish tourneys so only competing with other recreational anglers. With no time restraints, I stay out longer than most. More hours fishing , more fish caught. I am putting in a lot more hours in shallow cover than I use too, so been refining my casting accuracy.  I only carry a few rods so unlike tournament anglers I cant match my rod and reel to the lure like they can   . I have to match my lure to my rod and reel in order to effectively cast into tight spots.