Best way to improve?

[Jimmy Wallhanger]

So I got back into fishing last year and am loving it. I'm fortunate to he at an age where I'm able to buy toys within reason amd got myself a nice kayak and a bunch of baitcasters and some spinning set ups. 

 

I want to consistently improve this season.

 

My question is this.... is it better to focus on a couple of different tactics each outing, say one outing I do jerkbaits amd texas rigs all day then the next outing I do chatterbaits and top water and progress down the line finding out what I prefer then focus in say 4 techniques overall? Or is it best to just "junk fish" I found last year I kinda got paralysis by analysis and couldn't really make up my mind what to do. 

 

I currently really like topwaters, whacky worms and jigs. 

 

Thanks. 

[Finessegenics]

I’d say keep throwing whatever you’re really enjoying at the moment. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try something new; I just wouldn’t worry about feeling obliged to learn and invest in a new technique or bait because of a fear that you’re missing out on fish or somehow falling behind in the bass fishing curriculum 😆.

 

After more time on the water/experience, you’ll come across situations and tell yourself “I wish I had a bait/technique that can do xyz or be presented in xyz manner”. With a general knowledge of bass fishing tactics you’ll have heard about a technique that can maybe help you out in that situation. Like picking the right tool for a job. Then, you can decide maybe it’s finally time to learn that tactic. 
 

Over the past two seasons, I’ve really learned to simplify things and not overthink it. As a beginner, I also had analysis paralysis so I can relate to how you’re feeling right now. 
 

Hope this helps, tight lines! 

[Bird]

If you're fishing clear water then focus on finesse.

If you're fishing stained water then start with a spinnerbait.

If you're confused, throw a wacky worm, they catch.

[TOXIC]

It takes a long time in different situations for a bait or technique to show its best application.  It takes the same amount of time for you to perfect using the baits and determining when they work the best.  Eventually you will get more comfortable and more skilled with certain baits and you will bend them to fit the conditions.  You have to be flexible enough to know when to switch up as well which means different baits and skills.  My advice is to try as many as you can and it will come naturally. 

[MIbassyaker]

I don't know what the best way to improve is.  But I have always felt that if you can learn to fish a texas rig effectively, you can catch them on anything.  That's because it's more important to learn the fish than to learn the lure, and a texas rig arguably teaches more about bass than any other lure. It allows you to throw into any cover without fear. It teaches precision of location and depth, and how to choose casting targets.  It trains your concentration, your bite-detection, and your hooksetting.  Other presentations are easier to pick up once you have the fundamentals in place, and I can't think of a better presentation than a t-rig for learning the fundamentals.

[Columbia Craw]

Even more important than learning a technique/presentation is knowing when and where to apply it.  That be my focus. 

[Swamp Girl]

The guys have given you great advice. Heed and succeed! 

[GreenPig]

Spend all your waking free hours on this forum absobing knowledge. Pay very close attention to the Latest Catch Pics and what baits are producing. Easy Peasy.

[Jar11591]

The best way to improve is spending time on the water. The more time on the water you spend, the steeper the exponential curve of learning will be. 
 

If you’re having success with a particular technique or bait, you’ll naturally want to start catching them on other things too, especially when you’re main bait isn’t working. Let’s the conditions you’re fishing dictate which technique or presentation you use. 

[Jimmy Wallhanger]

1 hour ago, MIbassyaker said:

I don't know what the best way to improve is.  But I have always felt that if you can learn to fish a texas rig effectively, you can catch them on anything.  That's because it's more important to learn the fish than to learn the lure, and a texas rig arguably teaches more about bass than any other lure. It allows you to throw into any cover without fear. It teaches precision of location and depth, and how to choose casting targets.  It trains your concentration, your bite-detection, and your hooksetting.  Other presentations are easier to pick up once you have the fundamentals in place, and I can't think of a better presentation than a t-rig for learning the fundamentals.

I practice pitching in my backyard. I'm in Canada but have a cousin who lives like 20 min from Lake Conroe and I'm headed there on the 28th for 10 days. Gonna be tossing alot if T rigs 

[T-Billy]

Keep it simple. Better to master a few techniques than be mediocre at a bunch. Many baits are seasonal deals. Learn all you can about seasonal patterns. Never leave home without a T rig. 

[Susky River Rat]

Some call it junk fishing. I call it a progression. Generally I start with faster moving baits and progress all the way to jigs if I am not getting bit. Also if I am in an area throwing cranks/spinners/top water etc. the area seems to die out I will throw a Ned rig or tube in hopes to get any neutral fish in the area to eat.

 

The key which can be dictated a lot on weather is learning when to move on. Get about a handful of techniques and get proficient in them. Maybe have 1-3 more that you know you can catch fish but, aren’t your go to. You can drown yourself in the endless rigs, set ups, baits and techniques. Keep it simple. 
 

Also given the chance fish with some better people than you. Keep logs of weather conditions, moon phase, time of year, bait, water depth/temp may help you give you a starting point. 

[Captain Phil]

The fastest way to improve is to fish with someone who is better than you.  If possible, join the best bass club you can find.  Join as a non boater.  Sit in the back of the boat and do a lot of observing. Be friendly and courteous. Don't talk about yourself, ask a lot of questions or offer advice.  You can learn more in a day than in all the videos and articles combined. Reading and watching videos is good, but they're not as good as personal experience.  Most weekend fishermen don't get to the next level because they try to do it alone.  You won't live long enough to learn everything there is to know about bass fishing.  Learn from someone who has. 

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Captain Phil said:

The fastest way to improve is to fish with someone who is better than you.

 

^This^ is my favorite advice.

 

To follow up on it, what nearly all fishing shows don't show are hands. To learn, I need to see what a fellow angler's hands are doing. When you're fishing beside someone, you can see what their hands are doing, I.e. how they're working the lure. 

 

1 hour ago, Captain Phil said:

Sit in the back of the boat and do a lot of observing. Be friendly and courteous. Don't talk about yourself, ask a lot of questions or offer advice.

 

More great advice from Cap'n Phil. 

[Catt]

Select one each of the following:

Topwater, mid-depth, & bottom contact.

 

Larry Nixon is known as Mr. Versatile, not for his ability to use every technique known to man. His versatility is in his ability to adapt to changing conditions quickly while using a simple selection of lures.

 

[Pat Brown]

Nothing is more frustrating than being doubtful of your own intuition early on in fishing.

 

Learn to read the conditions and trust your instincts.

 

Learn to be very quiet in a boat, on land, with your bait entering the water etc etc etc

 

Learn to cast accurately.  One accurate cast beats 10 casts that miss the mark by 2 feet.

 

Learn to vary your retrieve with any and all baits.  I like to use my imagination and put myself in the baits shoes.  I try to make it look like it's doing everything it can to evade detection or being eaten.  No movement should be arbitrary or robotic.

 

Learn to move yrself around.  Bass aren't the kinds of creatures where you 'wait for them to get active' and have a lot of success.  You got to put yourself on fish and that means covering water and saturating areas with casts.  Some of the most successful anglers to ever fish tournaments are merely fast.

 

Spend as much time learning about bass learning about what exactly they're eating on your home waters.  If you want to understand the owl, study the mouse.

 

Bait selection?  That's the easy part.  Just pick something that efficiently targets them in their chosen cover at the depth they're ambushing prey and get your presentation in the ballpark of profile/speed and color and you'll get some bites.

[greentrout]

Some of my reading: Advanced Bass Techniques, Mastering Largemouth Bass and Find Fish Anywhere, Anytime -- all books North American Fishing Club. And Largemouth Bass Patterns -- Babe Winkleman.

BASS RESOURCE.

Of course, a good mentor is a good thing but from there you need to get on the water and find your own fishing path.

 

Good Fishing

[Zcoker]

I'd say to stay focused on what you like and do best, maybe adding creative ways to what you like to do best. Try thinking outside of the box. Never think that you have to force yourself to do other things to get better at them. You may even be great at certain techniques and not even know it! Don't copy-cat. Never assume that fishing success is all wrapped up in a neat package with no other options. What other people do is what other people do and what makes them great at what they do is how they personalized their own unique styles, techniques, and presentations. 

[A-Jay]

16 hours ago, Jimmy Wallhanger said:

So I got back into fishing last year and am loving it. I'm fortunate to he at an age where I'm able to buy toys within reason amd got myself a nice kayak and a bunch of baitcasters and some spinning set ups. 

 

I want to consistently improve this season.

 

My question is this.... is it better to focus on a couple of different tactics each outing, say one outing I do jerkbaits amd texas rigs all day then the next outing I do chatterbaits and top water and progress down the line finding out what I prefer then focus in say 4 techniques overall? Or is it best to just "junk fish" I found last year I kinda got paralysis by analysis and couldn't really make up my mind what to do. 

 

I currently really like topwaters, whacky worms and jigs. 

 

Thanks. 

 IMO, you are making the classic inexperienced basshead mistake.

You're putting the cart way ahead of the horse.

Buying gear is a blast but if you don't know why you're buying it or where & when to use it, it can be a problem.

Your profile notes that you are up north, probably targeting Smallmouth, (I like them too)

I've read through several of your posts.

There's quite a bit about the gear & baits YOU like to fish,

but very little (insert nothing) about the seasonal habits of the fish you're looking to catch.

Knowing as much as you can about the seasonal habits of the bait that the bass eat in your waters can be very helpful as well.

So my advice is to take a step back from the tackle selection topics and read up on where & when the bass in your waters will be at.  The answer to that will almost always dictate tackle & lure selection.  

Finally, 'improving' at bass fishing is like anything else, it takes time.

It's not a race and having an attitude where one is trying to speed up the process almost always leads to frustration.  Perhaps slow your roll a little, enjoy the process and your time on the water.

I added a thread here a while ago that covers quite a bit about what I referencing here.

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/211811-brown-bass-tools-~-questions-answers/

Clearly not the end all answer to everything but I do believe it can help get you on the right track.

Good Luck.

A-Jay

 

[RRocket]

This is a somewhat difficult question to answer..at least for me.

 

For my part, I did a "World series of bass rigging" that took about 3 seasons to complete in which I learned to fish ALL relevant bass techniques for a minimum of 40 hours each..most longer. I don't think this is a truly practical or cost effective way to do it...but it was the way I had to do it. For me. 

 

As such, I was able to determine which techniques best applied to my area: some techniques worked better here than other areas and vice versa (vegetation is quite pronounced here for example). But more importantly, I was able to determine which techniques worked AND I enjoyed fishing. 

 

After I figured out which techniques worked best for the area and my enjoyment, I then decided to find which baits and tackle excelled for the presentations I use. Of importance to me (which might not be important to others) was baits and tackle that were multi use. For example, a single hook, weight or bait that could be used across multiple presentations for multiple conditions. I wanted to distill it down since I'm more of a minimalist. 

 

Now even though I have my "base" setups figured out, I still try new baits or techniques as they present themselves if they have merit. For example, last year I tried night bass fishing since there are plenty of devotees here. Sadly (very sadly! )it was a total and complete bust. But I needed to try it nonetheless. I do this as new/interesting techniques or baits pop up.

 

So this is a difficult question to answer since there are so many variables so unique to each of us! 

 

If I had to counsel a new fisherman, I'd say figure out a few simple techniques to comprise your "base".

 

1) Topwater (self explanatory. Some prefer Ploppers, some buzzbait, some frogs or toads, etc)  

 

2) Search bait. For example, I prefer a Chatterbait for this.

 

3) Your "bread and butter" presentation. This is what you'll throw the bulk of the time. Texas rig, Dropshot, Free Rig, etc

 

4) Pressured water or "tough" condition bait. Maybe it's a wacky with an interesting color? Or a drop shot with a downsized bait? Just something you can throw in pressured areas or otherwise tough conditions when nothing else seems to be working.

 

Once you comprise your "base", it's pretty tough NOT to catch fish. If you can't catch fish with a good "base", the fish probably aren't there or won't be caught anyways! 

 

So I don't know if there's truly an intelligent or effective methodology to figuring all this out. I don't think my way was either of those!

 

But I wanted to see and try everything for myself because that's what I felt I needed to do to be most effective.

 

YMMV.

[Woody B]

21 hours ago, Jimmy Wallhanger said:

 I currently really like topwaters, whacky worms and jigs. 

 

All are proven Bass catching lures.  Instead of finding new lures and techniques work on finding Bass and putting these lures in front of them.   You don't need to feed the bait monkey to catch Bass.   It's my belief that pinpoint casting, and strike detection are way more important than the actual lure.   

Pinpoint casting for me also includes having the lure land like a feather.  You're not going to catch many big Bass with a big splash.   

[king fisher]

48 minutes ago, Woody B said:

 You don't need to feed the bait monkey to catch Bass.   

You may not need to feed him, but given time he will be eating dinner with you, invited or not he will be there.

[JayMac89]

I'm probably in a very similar situation to you. I'm 34 and this will be my third season of taking bass fishing serious. Well, not serious, i have fun doing it. But being all in. I'm also at a point in my life where i dropped some serious money on gear. Just bought a new pedal drive kayak. Any way, here's my advice. Or what i have been doing. 

 

First, learn all you can. Read this forum. Watch YouTube videos. Whatever. Just be immersed in it. 

 

Second is fish often. I'm up before sunrise every weekend and am out on the water. Just fish. 

 

Third, and this might sound silly. But invest in a tackle subscription box. I use monster bass. I like it. Here's the deal. You get some stuff that you'll probably not use. But you get some good stuff too. I always have my go to stuff, then some "hmm maybe I'll try that stuff". I always start with what appeals to me. But if I'm not having luck I'll reach for somthing new. I'll either hate it, or decide i want to put more time into that technique. It's a good way of getting a larger assortment of baits, without spending alot or wasting money buying somthing just to find out you'll never use it. 

 

4th, find out what works for you and what you enjoy. Then do that. Example. I don't do the whole "im only going to throw this so i can learn the technique" type of thing. I like power fishing/moving baits. I'll go out and throw a swim jig, chatterbait, or crankbait based off where I'm fishing and the conditions (see point #1. Learning. If it's windy, somthing with more vibration. Ect ect). If that's working, i don't stop. I may not be learning somthing new. But I'll be having fun and catching fish. And gaining experience. If it's not working, then I'll switch it up. Slowly you will learn new techniques. 

 

And 5th, go in to every outing with a plan. Wind direction, wind speed, cloud cover, yada yada yada. Im going to start here because of xyz so on and so forth. You won't always be right. You'll probably be more wrong then right. But you'll learn more than you would just randomly fishing. 

 

And 6th, pay attention. I went out Saturday. On the yak. Still cold here. Not entirely sure where fish would be. Throwing to cover and not catching anything as i make my way to the main lake. Then i saw some current in the water, think because of wind? I don't know. But i could visually see it. Deeper water. Started catching some. Saw a near by point and shoreline cover. Have those a shot. Nothing. I caught fish in deeper water. Let's try that. Nothing. What was the one thing in missing? Current. Found another area in deeper water where i again could see movement/current on the water surface. Started catching again. Point being, you catch them, you take note of the details. Even the minor ones. I don't have it all figured out. Not even close. But im starting to get a few of the puzzle pieces to click into place. 

 

[Jimmy Wallhanger]

10 hours ago, A-Jay said:

 IMO, you are making the classic inexperienced basshead mistake.

You're putting the cart way ahead of the horse.

Buying gear is a blast but if you don't know why you're buying it or where & when to use it, it can be a problem.

Your profile notes that you are up north, probably targeting Smallmouth, (I like them too)

I've read through several of your posts.

There's quite a bit about the gear & baits YOU like to fish,

but very little (insert nothing) about the seasonal habits of the fish you're looking to catch.

Knowing as much as you can about the seasonal habits of the bait that the bass eat in your waters can be very helpful as well.

So my advice is to take a step back from the tackle selection topics and read up on where & when the bass in your waters will be at.  The answer to that will almost always dictate tackle & lure selection.  

Finally, 'improving' at bass fishing is like anything else, it takes time.

It's not a race and having an attitude where one is trying to speed up the process almost always leads to frustration.  Perhaps slow your roll a little, enjoy the process and your time on the water.

I added a thread here a while ago that covers quite a bit about what I referencing here.

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/211811-brown-bass-tools-~-questions-answers/

Clearly not the end all answer to everything but I do believe it can help get you on the right track.

Good Luck.

A-Jay

 

 

Thanks for the response. I fished as a kid, but am practically brand new again. I generally fish for Pike, Perch and Bass. I will check out that link, Im trying to absorb alot of info, I got a Bass U TV subscription and listen to a lot of podcasts. I used to bowhunt and am now starting to see alot of paralells with respect to understanding seasonal patterns and feeding habits etc. I will check out that link you put in your reply. I understadn things take time, Im just eager to make every outing on the water a learning experience along with enjoyment of getting out 

 

Thanks again for taking the time. 

[txchaser]

If you find yourself on a pattern, immediately stop fishing that pattern and fish something close to it. 

Biting a chatterbait? Try a swimjig and a crankbait, or maybe a paddletail, and see what happens. Or fish it a bunch faster/slower and see. 

Biting a jig? run a t-rig with different shaped trailer through and see if you pick up more fish. 

Here's an example that I used to do regularly in a shallow grassy lake that was primarily bluegill:

1) cover likely water with the chatterbait until I find a fish

2) chuck the anchor when I catch one

3) work the area with the chatterbait, maybe trying different retrieves, maybe not

4) downshift to a keitech with an underspin. still bluegill-ish, weedless, midcolumn, but less noisy

5) catch fish on the keitech (very common)

6) change to a senko (slowest/gentlest) 

7) catch fish on the senko

 

Somewhere in there you start to notice stuff like the sun is out and there's not much wind and you are catching most of your fish on the senko. Maybe time to try something else on the bottom. 

 

You could probably make a pretty quick matrix of top, mid (in 5' increments) and bottom baits, fished slow, medium, and fast. Just about everything will fit in there, especially if you can add forage base to it too. 

There'll be plenty to try there, and you can do it inside of a system. 

Biting at 5' deep on a big loud thing moving fast? Keep going at 5' but try slow and quiet. Or bright vs dark. 

 

Basically experiment within some sort of boundaries or system vs just random stuff. And remember that every day is different, so you won't get rules just probabilities.