What are your fishing weaknesses?

[Bass_Akwards]

What are some of the things in bass fishing you could use a little help with, or just plain stink at?

Confidence in crankbaiting is a weakness of mine. I shy away from cranking even when the conditions say I should throw one.

I think another weakness of mine is being a little cheap. I seem to never buy the higher priced swimbaits, jerkbaits, or spinnerbaits, and always go with the cheaper stuff that might not perform as well, or be built as well.

I'm also not great at reading my electronics very well, but I guess like anything else, I need to practice.

It also bothers me that I actually might be to patient.  If I don't catch anything in a spot, I'll stay there for an hour, instead of moving, because I'm so d**n stubborn

Lastly, I'm not very good at understanding fish movement and what causes it. I always hear pro's say stuff like "Well since it's fall season, the bass are pushing the shad into those back creeks so that's where the bass are gunna be" I just don't get it.

I walk up to a pond or lake and look for cover and structure and that's about it. I can't walk up to a lake and figure out where the bass should be based on things like weather, seasonal changes, current, water color, bait fish behavior and other factors.

How about you? What are you NOT good at?

[WRB]

Leaving a tackle store without buying something new that I don't need, just can't seem to break the habit.

WRB

[skunked_again]

im not a good jig guy at all. i do well with shakey heads, weighted wacky rigs, texas and carolina. i just cant get the jig bite down.

and the fact i dont fish every day.

[J-B]

I suffer from a lot of the same weaknesses as you.  Being that I am not a pro, I also do not fully understand fish movements and habbits.  Though, I doubt that any of us ever will fully understand them.  If I sense a weakness I try to overcome it by studing it and trying what I have learned.  I do not have a boat so I know nothing about the electronics side of the battle.  I am just getting into jigs and how to use them effectively.  But I think my biggest weakness is not being able to "not" go fishing and do other things that need to be done.

[skunked_again]

What are some of the things in bass fishing you could use a little help with, or just plain stink at?

Confidence in crankbaiting is a weakness of mine. I shy away from cranking even when the conditions say I should throw one.

I think another weakness of mine is being a little cheap. I seem to never buy the higher priced swimbaits, jerkbaits, or spinnerbaits, and always go with the cheaper stuff that might not perform as well, or be built as well.

I'm also not great at reading my electronics very well, but I guess like anything else, I need to practice.

Lastly, I'm not very good at understanding fish movement and what causes it. I always hear pro's say stuff like "Well since it's fall season, the bass are pushing the shad into those back creeks so that's where the bass are gunna be" I just don't get it.

I walk up to a pond or lake and look for cover and structure and that's about it. I can't walk up to a lake and figure out where the bass should be based on things like weather, seasonal changes, current, water color, bait fish behavior and other factors.

How about you? What are you NOT good at?

you dont have to buy the high $$$ cranks to catch fish with crank baits. the Bandit series will catch a ton of fish. no matter what cover youre tossing a crank into, retrieve the bait as though theres a piece of grass stuck in the rear hook and youre trying to jerk it off. thats a good start. dont be scared of getting hung up. youre going to lose a bait once in a while, most times with some effort youll get snagged baits back.

if you see a log or rock in the water, bang that bait off the log or rock and pause for just a second. thats a killer way to trigger a strike.

[SirSnookalot]

My weakness is patience or lack of using plastic worms.  Just to slow for me, I seldom use them. But I love jigging both sweet and salt.

[bigtimfish]

My biggest weak point is deep crankin.I rarely catch them when they are suspending in 10'-17'.  My 2nd biggest weak point is the jig.I can catch grass all day on a jig, but who wants to put a 10lb clump of grass on the wall? I definately need help in those two areas.

[pondmaster32]

my biggest weakness in fishing is fishing deep cranking. i just dont like fishing water deeper than 15 feet because the bight is light and i dont know what king of cover is down there without a depth finder.

[Big Country]

I know for me it's catching any fish in water deeper than 6'. One reason being b/c I have no boat, but even when I fish with someone in a boat I've never got a bite in deeper water, no matter what kind of lure I use. I hope to refine those skills though b/c I feel its crucial in the overall effectiveness of my fish catching abilities.

[CWB]

I tend to vacate a spot too quickly if I'm not getting bites, even my top spots. Too impatient. Also I can't stand up for too long due to a back injury.

[midnighthrasher]

1-Catching fish. I am relatively new to fishing so my numbers are going up but i still find myself being skunked quite often

2-Patience

3-The bait monkey gets me oh too ofter...

[SoFl-native]

I will discover a pattern and then over analyze it and try to make it better. When i should have just stick with what was working originally.

[Skunked in DR]

1) reading water, especially big water.  I'm comfortable on smaller lakes, with recognizable structure and likely fish holding areas but put me on bigger water and I waste a lot of time just hauling water.

2) T rigs - just haven't spent enough time fishing them.

[bass wrangler569]

Definitely deep crankin', a lot of my local lakes are pretty shallow and aren't prime territory for deep diving cranks. I'm planning on working on it more this summer though. I really want to try to nail down some deep water techniques like deep crankin', dropshotting, etc. this summer. I plan on fishing some bigger tournaments and opens next year and I want to make sure I'm a little more well rounded before I try to hang with stiffer competition.

[Wildbillb]

I dont have any weaknesses, I just fish some baits better than others.

[kms399]

weakness

drop shot

shakey head

carolina rig

jigs

strengths

topwater

many different soft plastics

crankbaits

jerkbaits

spinnerbaits

[tritz18]

Patience

[T-2000]

I'm still pretty new to fishing, so my weaknesses are great in number, but crankbaits in particular are something I have trouble with. I guess my main problem, and this extends to all lures, is lure control/retrieve. I don't have a great sense of what my lure is doing under the water and I strongly suspect that I'm a little too heavy-handed, even with plastics ( which typically yield the most fish for me.)

[Dad_Golf_Fish]

1. Topwater - just never try it.

2. Jerkbaits - don't own any.

3. Crankbaits - only own a couple and they never seem to get tied on.

I guess I have a few things to work on before I think of turning pro.

[CRFisher]

1) no boat

2) lack of equipment

3) not enough time

Seriously - 1) getting plastics/jigs through slop/weeds with decent presentation

2) locating fish/structure from shore

3) patience with soft plastics (I tend to fish them too fast)

[bilgerat]

I tend to have success with a certain bait or technique, then abandon most others. For instance, I fished worms for years because it was easy for me. I still fish the worm, but now I'm into throwing I guess what you'd call swimming jigs - ball head jigs with any number of plastics on.

I catch ore than enough fish to keep me happy, I'd just like to master something new, like crankbaits or jigs.

[CODbasser]

i think sometimes i dont give certain baits enough of a chance and go back to what i have confidence in

[aarogb]

    For me it has definitely got to be the jig.  Also I have trouble reading my Lowrance because I will see structure on my graph but I don't know where to throw my bait whether it be to the left or right or just straight behind the boat.

[DINK WHISPERER]

Put me on a deep lake with no visible shallow cover and i am done for! I have no experience/confidence in deep water situations! I grew up fishing the nastiest of FL cover. I have become darn good at that aspect but never bothered to expand my techniques. Although i would love to find a local, experienced deep water angler to teach me a thing or ten about it!

[fishinfiend]

I tend to stick with the baits that worked last time I was out rather than changing color and/or size if I am unsuccessful.