I'm having trouble using my knowledge

[Mobydick]

I've been doing a lot of reading and watching on bass fishing and everything related, such as baitfish, lake types, cover types, etc.

I know a lot about bass fishing, but i'm having trouble putting this knowledge to use when i'm fishing. I know you guys will tell me to fish more, and that I need more time on the water. I agree, it will help, but it hasn't for the entire year. I just keep fishing and fishing, but I dont think i'm getting any better.

I have trouble remembering everything when i'm on the water. If you can think of anything that may help me, I would like to hear it! Thanks!

                                                                  Ian

[U.W BronzeBack Hunter]

First of all, how long have you been fishing?

[Mobydick]

I've been seriously fishing for bass about 3 years.

[Grey Wolf]

Could you possibly pick just one technique at a time and use it until you know it inside and out.

Find out the best way and time to use it.

[bilgerat]

You can't do "everything" on the water until you've put your time in.

I suggest this: If you want to learn worms or other soft plastics, next time you go out, bring ONLY them. Throw them 5 feet in front of you so you can get an idea about what they look like and how they act when they're twitched, hopped ,etc. Then cast out and try to visualize your bait underwater. Don't mimic what you see others do, learn the "feel" of each bait. If you have access to a pool, it's a great way to see how baits work.

I used worms and soft plastics as an example, the same applies to other baits as well. The reason I said to bring one thing at a time is that it's easy to get frustrated and want to tie on something new every five minutes. That comes later

Worms (Senkos especially) are a good place to start though, as they are one of the easier baits to fish.

Stick with it ,you'll get it.

[Mobydick]

Could you possibly pick just one technique at a time and use it until you know it inside and out.

Find out the best way and time to use it.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that in my post. I did try that and am still working on that.

I started in September of last year. I concentrated on a certain technique or lure for about a month and a half. Then I broke down each period and fished different situations.

I have covered crankbaits, spinnerbaits, dropshot, creatures, jigs, wacky style, carolina rig, and some other finesse presentations.

[Mobydick]

You can't do "everything" on the water until you've put your time in.

I suggest this: If you want to learn worms or other soft plastics, next time you go out, bring ONLY them. Throw them 5 feet in front of you so you can get an idea about what they look like and how they act when they're twitched, hopped ,etc. Then cast out and try to visualize your bait underwater. Don't mimic what you see others do, learn the "feel" of each bait. If you have access to a pool, it's a great way to see how baits work.

I used worms and soft plastics as an example, the same applies to other baits as well. The reason I said to bring one thing at a time is that it's easy to get frustrated and want to tie on something new every five minutes. That comes later

Worms (Senkos especially) are a good place to start though, as they are one of the easier baits to fish.

Stick with it ,you'll get it.

;D.....I experiment with soft plastics in a fish tank to see what little details in certain plastics make them work.

I also tried using only a certain lure, technique for one day. When I fish with my bud, we call tham challenges. We'll take either all jigs, all spinnerbaits, etc. We sometimes get even more specific like both using the same exact lure, so that the competition is in the presentation.

Thanks for the suggestions!

                                                     Ian

[Catt]

"I have covered crankbaits, spinnerbaits, dropshot, creatures, jigs, wacky style, carolina rig, and some other finesse presentations. "

That aint learning one technique at a time

[Mobydick]

"I have covered crankbaits, spinnerbaits, dropshot, creatures, jigs, wacky style, carolina rig, and some other finesse presentations. "

That aint learning one technique at a time

I concentrated on each one for about a month and a half, just to get my feet wet, so to speak. Now instead of concentrating on a technique for a month and a half, I concentrate on it for a week.

                                                      Thanks for the input,

                                                             Ian

[Long Mike]

Ian, I was in your shoes for a long time.  I have read extensively, but because I usually fish alone, I did not know how to effectively put my new-found knowledge to use.  It wasn't until I fished with a very knowledgeable and successful angler (fishfordollars) that the pieces started to fall into place.

My best advice is to find yourself a mentor.  Personally, come Spring, I hope to join one of the local bass clubs and fish as a co-angler for a  while.  Depending upon whom I fish with, I may or may not learn anything.  Either way, it beats the hell out of fishing alone and being guaranteed to not learn anything new.

[Sam]

Let me tell you what I was told when I was teaching at the University of Richmond.

The more you know the more difficult it is to answer a test question.

Those students that leave the test feeling great probably did poorly as they did not have all of the information to completely answer the questions.

The students that left the class thinking they did poorly do so as they know too much and are worried that they left something out.

This is why so many high school and college students are surprised at their test and final grades.

You know a lot more than you did three years ago.

So you have to do your homework before you venture out and apply what you know.

Know the body of water by studying maps.

Know the weather as the fish will act differently depending on the moon phases, cloud cover and wind plus drops in temperatures the day before you head out and if it is raining or it rained the week before.

Know the cover and strucutre on the water, like piers, docks, boat houses, wood, brush along the shore, pads, grass, points, dams, rocks, bridges, roads, buried brushpiles, trees, etc.

Then, select your techniques (power vs finessse; shallow vs. deep; slow vs. fast; etc.) for the trip.

Water clarity is also important.  Clear, stained or muddy.

After deciding what to do, organize your lures and plastics for the trip and place them together so you know where they are, adjacent to your other baits.

Set up your rigs, starting with topwaters and followed by the Texas or Wacky rigged Senko to throw if you miss a topwater strike.

Then the brain will kick in as to what other setups you want.  Shaky Head; Texas; jigs and pigs; Wacky; Carolina; beavers; tubes; grubs; creature baits; split-shot; drop shot; mojo; etc.  You can throw them all, but not at the same time.

How about your cranks and spinners? Set them up, too.

You can decide to take only one or two types of each lure, such as the Ghost Minnow and Sexy Shad crankbaits; the white and chartreuse spinnerbait; the fully chartreuse skirts; or white, only; or other color combinations.

And don't forget your Rat-L-Traps.

You see how fast things can get out of control?  Now we are adding Rats.  And what color rats?

So take your time when planning your trip and experiment. That is all you can do.

Just remember, a football team studies their opponent and their plays for certain situations before they hit the field for the game and you have to do the same.

Planning is a lot of fun so take your time and think about what you want to do.

And what about pointers?  Red or yellow eyes?  Should I bring any Gulp! or stick with Zoom, Powerbait or Senkos? Chatterbaits?  And what size Senkos?  Are the 4-inch dead ringers OK?  Maybe finesse worms, only. Any 10-inch worms needed? Maybe junebug will work? or Mocassin Blue? What about black?  Peg the weight? What pound test? Mono or flouro or braid or copoly?  

And never leave your Banjo Minnows home.

Drive yourself nuts!!!!  It is part of fishing. ;D   ;D   ;D

[Sam]

Trick worm. Did I mention trick worms????

[Mobydick]

Ian, I was in your shoes for a long time. I have read extensively, but because I usually fish alone, I did not know how to effectively put my new-found knowledge to use. It wasn't until I fished with a very knowledgeable and successful angler (fishfordollars) that the pieces started to fall into place.

My best advice is to find yourself a mentor. Personally, come Spring, I hope to join one of the local bass clubs and fish as a co-angler for a while. Depending upon whom I fish with, I may or may not learn anything. Either way, it beats the hell out of fishing alone and being guaranteed to not learn anything new.

That is the problem, I can't use it effectively.

I have myself a mentor (basser89) but I have only fished with him once, we usually talk for hours though.

                                                        Thanks,

                                                              Ian

[Mobydick]

Let me tell you what I was told when I was teaching at the University of Richmond.

The more you know the more difficult it is to answer a test question.

Those students that leave the test feeling great probably did poorly as they did not have all of the information to completely answer the questions.

The students that left the class thinking they did poorly do so as they know too much and are worried that they left something out.

This is why so many high school and college students are surprised at their test and final grades.

You know a lot more than you did three years ago.

So you have to do your homework before you venture out and apply what you know.

Know the body of water by studying maps.

Know the weather as the fish will act differently depending on the moon phases, cloud cover and wind plus drops in temperatures the day before you head out and if it is raining or it rained the week before.

Know the cover and strucutre on the water, like piers, docks, boat houses, wood, brush along the shore, pads, grass, points, dams, rocks, bridges, roads, buried brushpiles, trees, etc.

Then, select your techniques (power vs finessse; shallow vs. deep; slow vs. fast; etc.) for the trip.

Water clarity is also important. Clear, stained or muddy.

After deciding what to do, organize your lures and plastics for the trip and place them together so you know where they are, adjacent to your other baits.

Set up your rigs, starting with topwaters and followed by the Texas or Wacky rigged Senko to throw if you miss a topwater strike.

Then the brain will kick in as to what other setups you want. Shaky Head; Texas; jigs and pigs; Wacky; Carolina; beavers; tubes; grubs; creature baits; split-shot; drop shot; mojo; etc. You can throw them all, but not at the same time.

How about your cranks and spinners? Set them up, too.

You can decide to take only one or two types of each lure, such as the Ghost Minnow and Sexy Shad crankbaits; the white and chartreuse spinnerbait; the fully chartreuse skirts; or white, only; or other color combinations.

And don't forget your Rat-L-Traps.

You see how fast things can get out of control? Now we are adding Rats. And what color rats?

So take your time when planning your trip and experiment. That is all you can do.

Just remember, a football team studies their opponent and their plays for certain situations before they hit the field for the game and you have to do the same.

Planning is a lot of fun so take your time and think about what you want to do.

And what about pointers? Red or yellow eyes? Should I bring any Gulp! or stick with Zoom, Powerbait or Senkos? Chatterbaits? And what size Senkos? Are the 4-inch dead ringers OK? Maybe finesse worms, only. Any 10-inch worms needed? Maybe junebug will work? or Mocassin Blue? What about black? Peg the weight? What pound test? Mono or flouro or braid or copoly?

And never leave your Banjo Minnows home.

Drive yourself nuts!!!! It is part of fishing. ;D ;D ;D

Thanks Sam!

                                                                       Ian

[Dan:]

What Sam said is great.

I know what you mean about putting together all the knowledge. I've watched countless hours of fishing shows but in reality, they offer pretty similar advice. Just make an emphasis on mental notes about the most important things you learn. Before you go out, consider what the conditions will be. Water clarity, temperature, weather, types of cover, etc..  each difference in those considerations presents a problem that you can solve with information you have learned. For example, if I know I am fishing cold, dingy water, I plan for those conditions and tie on a slow moving, dark colored bait, knowing from what I've learned that bass are more likely to be lethargic in cold water and dark colors show up better in dingy water. Obviously your plans might not work like you think they will when you are actually on the water, but that is what all the rods are for; tie on different variations of baits or other techniques, for example, besides a slow moving dark bait, I might tie on a reaction bait that makes noise, knowing that the fish may be tricked into a reaction bait and the noise will help with the poor water clarity.

More importantly than memorizing tips like what colors to use in different water clarity, or what depths to fish during certain times of year, determine the reasoning behind those decisions. Don't simply memorize the information you hear, but instead process it and think about why those things are true. This will help make sense of conditions and bait/technique selection as well as fish location.

[aceman387]

thanks for bringing this topic up ian , im also a newbie at fishin and been having the same problem as you. the night before i  would go fishin i would read up alot on fishin only to get out there and forget most of it ,im glad i stumbled on this topic and read these replys im going to try and  downsize it  keep it simple  

[Fisher of Men]

Ian,

Two things come to mind.  First of all, are you using a fishing log/journal?  Perhaps writing down information about recent trips will help you remember things you've learned/tried.  Keep the log in the boat (in a water tight bag, of course) so that you can reference it when you need too.  The other thing is this.  Are other anglers successful on the body of water that you are fishing or are you beating yourself up when there aren't many fish to be caught where you are?

Just understand that it takes time to become a great fisherman.  It has taken most of us years of experience to learn what we know.  It also sounds as though you might be "over-executing" a bit.  Depending on the body of water you are fishing, you CAN have success with simple basic patterns offered at the right times of the year (i.e. spinnerbaits in the pre-spawn and fall, t-rigged plastic lizards/tubes fished on the beds, mid-depth crankbaits to staging fish, jigs and carolina rigs in the depths in winter and summer).  

[Mobydick]

Ian,

Two things come to mind. First of all, are you using a fishing log/journal? Perhaps writing down information about recent trips will help you remember things you've learned/tried. Keep the log in the boat (in a water tight bag, of course) so that you can reference it when you need too. The other thing is this. Are other anglers successful on the body of water that you are fishing or are you beating yourself up when there aren't many fish to be caught where you are?

Just understand that it takes time to become a great fisherman. It has taken most of us years of experience to learn what we know. It also sounds as though you might be "over-executing" a bit. Depending on the body of water you are fishing, you CAN have success with simple basic patterns offered at the right times of the year (i.e. spinnerbaits in the pre-spawn and fall, t-rigged plastic lizards/tubes fished on the beds, mid-depth crankbaits to staging fish, jigs and carolina rigs in the depths in winter and summer).

I do use a log, I have one in the computer, and a written one. Before a trip, I will search them to look for any similar trips or conditions. I usually dont take them with me, but I think I will start.

                                                             Ian

[Catt]

"I have covered crankbaits, spinnerbaits, dropshot, creatures, jigs, wacky style, carolina rig, and some other finesse presentations. "

That aint learning one technique at a time

I concentrated on each one for about a month and a half, just to get my feet wet, so to speak. Now instead of concentrating on a technique for a month and a half, I concentrate on it for a week.

                                                      Thanks for the input,

                                                            Ian

It obviously aint working  :

A month & a half will only teach you the mistakes    

[farmpond1]

Might I suggest focusing less on "technique" and put your energy/efforts toward learning where the bass are based on season, water temperature, weather, etc.  Once you can more reliably find the fish, then you can concentrate on technique.  Of course, you might ask, "How can I find the fish until I catch them?"  That's a good question.  Use your depth finder.  Study maps.  Ask other fishermen where they are finding them (instead of asking what they are catching them on).  But I think too many fishermen get caught up in the type of lure/technique to use and, hence, put the cart before the horse.  Finding the fish is half the battle-the first half.

[Sam]

As one of our members said....

It is better to use a wrong lure where the fish are then the right lure where the fish arn't.

This is why we study our bodies of water and other conditions and mark our "honey holes" and special places to fish.

Just keep on trucking and you will be up there with KVD before you know it.