Oak Orchard River Bass Anglers
December 28, 2008
I wrote before about being a versatile angler. One of the biggest disadvantages to being a one-lure specialist is the limitation it puts on location options. A one-lure specialist will find himself always looking for the best location for his lure. He will look for the ideal location where his lure choice is the best presentation option. While this is understandable, it automatically eliminates all other location options. If a guy is a flipper, and the only location that he has found where flipping works is 200 miles from the tournament send-off site, he is committed to making that run. Being versatile would certainly allow this same guy to fish much closer to the send-off site and perhaps better utilize his limited tournament time. He may have to fish grass beds with a plastic worm, but being versatile at least gives him an option that the one-lure specialist doesn’t have.
My point is that the minute that you become a one-lure specialist you put serious limitations on your location choices. Not only that, but you are putting all of your emphasis on presentation and you are doing it way too early in the game. To me there is a formula for successful fishing and it is a formula that must be followed precisely. That formula is the In-Fisherman formula: F + L + P = S.
The F stands for the fish and a thorough understanding of the specie you are pursuing. The L stands for location and an understanding of everything that goes into selecting the best location for the water type you are fishing, the time you are fishing it and the conditions you are fishing under. The P stands for presentation and the knowledge that is needed to select the best presentation for that precise time and place, under the prevailing conditions and during the current season. The S stands for success. I have absolutely no doubt that this formula works. However, I think that too many people fail to understand that the formula must be followed in the precise order that is listed.
One-lure specialists are putting the P before the L. A truly successful angler will never be able to correctly select his presentation until the precise location of the bass has been discovered. There will be locations that will totally preclude the use of a great many lure types and presentation techniques. If, as a one-lure specialist, you have selected one of these precluded lures before you start, your potential success is severely limited before you start.
My point is that the minute you become a one-lure specialist you put a limit on your location options. You will instinctively seek out only those locations that are best suited to your lure choice. No one lure is always the best lure choice for every location so excellent locations will never be fished. Any bass angler that fails to fish any location that provides everything that bass need is making a serious mistake. He is limiting his true potential and he may never fish the single best location available. This has to limit his success, especially if other competitors are versatile enough to allow the location to dictate their lure choice. Sure, maybe some bass can still be caught by the one-lure specialist, but he is still limited by what the location holds. If he is not fishing the best location, then he is not doing everything that he could to succeed.
The one- lure specialist will never know the true potential of any location because he refuses to use other lures, techniques and presentations. Lure types, presentations and techniques change constantly. Being versatile opens all the doors and provides all of the options. Where you fish and how you fish must be determined by your results. Find the best location available and then exploit it to the max. Use every lure, technique and presentation applicable to that precise time and place. Do this systematically and methodically and let the bass tell you which lure is best. Don’t ever quit being versatile, especially once some bass are caught. Conditions are constantly changing and so are the bass. It wouldn’t hurt if you could change too.
Follow the formula, precisely!!
December 15, 2008
We hear the terms “power fishing” and “finesse fishing” all the time. The fact that these are two different presentation techniques is undeniable, but the inference that these two techniques rely on two different responses from the bass is not. Power fishing supposedly triggers reaction strikes from the bass while finesse fishing is dependent upon the fish being in a feeding mood. I do not necessarily agree.
Just because you are finesse fishing doesn’t mean that your strikes are not reaction strikes. Bass are becoming increasingly more conditioned to power fishing techniques and presentations. The negative clues inherent in these approaches are just too obvious and easily identified by the bass. It is just too easy for the bass to associate negative experiences with these techniques and presentations. Finesse techniques and presentations are a different story.
Finesse lures are generally smaller and more subdued. These lures tend to blend in better with the natural environment as opposed to standing out. Finesse lures are generally fished in a manner that is more consistent with the aquatic environment and less likely to stand out like a flashing neon sign. These lures display a movement pattern more consistent with the aquatic creatures that live with the bass and these lures display a randomness of movement that only contact with cover or structure can produce. However, this doesn’t mean that the bass that strike these lures have to be feeding to do so.
A bass is an animal that acts on instinct. It must react to certain stimuli. Its very survival depends on it. However, bass can learn from experience. It can learn that certain clues precede positive experiences and that certain clues precede negative ones. By avoiding the negative clues and keying in on the positive ones, bass prosper. A bass can only get older and larger by avoiding the negative experiences and by maximizing the positive ones. However, no bass can learn to avoid an experience that offers few, if any, negative clues. This means that bass cannot equate a negative experience to a lure that offers no negative clues.
While bass can almost certainly tell that any lure is not real if they examine that lure closely enough, close examination of prey is not part of the bass’ feeding process. Bass depend upon surprise and speed to be successful. Surprise and speed do not allow for close up scrutiny. A decision must be made and action taken. If there are no glaring negative clues, the bass will react and it will react whether it is actively feeding or not. The bass really has no choice. To act any other way would be totally contrary to what being a bass is all about.
The point is that just because you are fishing using a finesse technique or presentation does not mean that the strike you get is from an actively feeding bass. Bass are opportunists. All predators are. If a feeding opportunity arises when a bass is not actively feeding, and no negative clues are obvious, the bass will react. It really has no other choice. To do otherwise, absent any negative clues, would require the bass to go against its instincts and bass do not succeed by not being bass.
So don’t ever think that just because you are using finesse techniques and presentations that you aren’t getting reaction strikes. The key today, in large part due to increased fishing pressure, is the absence of negative clues. Any way that you can present a lure that minimizes negative clues to the bass is a plus. Bass aren’t smart, but they can be conditioned to avoid those presentations and techniques that present obvious negative clues. The more obvious these clues, the easier it is for the bass to be conditioned to avoid them.
The easy fish are fast disappearing in our waters. Not because we are removing them, but because we are conditioning them. The macho speed and power approach may have to give way to the slower, thinking man approach. It will be slower and will require more work and patience. It will require confidence in both the area you select to fish and in the approach you choose to use. Get used to it or get used to catching fewer, and smaller, bass.
Think before you cast
December 1, 2008
My goal has always been to be a truly versatile angler, an angler capable of fishing all lures and all presentation techniques with a high degree of proficiency. I understand that there is a trade-off involved with being a versatile angler. If you want to be a versatile angler, you have to understand, and accept, the fact that you will never be as proficient as those who specialize in just one lure. There are just too many lures and too many presentation techniques.
The only way to become a true expert at any of them is to specialize solely in that one particular lure or presentation technique. Only by specializing will you fully understand the true potential of any lure or technique. Unfortunately, by specializing, you are using that particular lure or technique when another would be more effective. Here in lies the trade-off.
David Fritts specializes in crankbaits and as a result can make crankbaits produce even when they are not the most effective lure choice for that time and place. However, and this is important, no single lure or technique works all of the time. This is why I think versatility is important.
By being versatile you may never be the best at any single lure or technique, but you can fish all lures and all techniques successfully. Because you are versatile you should almost always be able to catch bass. However, because one lure or one technique anglers do exist, you will probably always be fishing against one of them regardless what lure or technique you are using. I think that you need to understand this fact going in.
Does this mean that you are never going to be in a position to win? Not necessarily. Conditions are always changing. It is seldom, especially during multi-day tournaments, that conditions remain constant for the entire tournament. David Fritts may keep catching bass on crankbaits even after the bass’ preference has switched to worms, but if you have stayed up with the bass and have switched to worms, you now have the edge. By using the lure or technique that the bass are most tuned into, you are giving yourself the best chance at success. It is a fact that David Fritts doesn’t always catch bass. Therefore it is also a fact that crankbaits don’t always catch bass. Lures are tools and just like any tool they work best when utilized to perform the job they were designed to do. While it is true that you can drive a nail with a screwdriver, there is little question that a hammer will always do a better job.
This is what a versatile angler is trying to accomplish. He is trying to always be using the proper tool for the job at hand. It will never be as easy as choosing a tool to drive a nail, but there is always a best tool for the job at hand so the principle is the same. It is the angler’s job to determine the best tool for that precise time and place. He must also understand that conditions are always changing and he has to know when these changes mandate a change of tools. This is what really makes successful tournament angling tough. There can never be an obtainment of perfection that will last for any extended period of time. Conditions are constantly changing and so must the angler. This is the real reason that specializing in a single lure or presentation technique has to lead to failure eventually. Specialization is limitation and any limitation that an individual places on himself limits his potential for success.
Every lure and every presentation technique was designed for a particular purpose. If they weren’t, then you don’t need them. Tiger Woods can beat any golfer alive, but he doesn’t do it by just using his driver or his putter. He uses all the tools at his disposal and he does it by using the right tool at the right time. There is no secret club in his bag that always provides the exact shot that he needs, but there is always a best club for the particular shot that he faces. I would also be willing to wager that Tiger does not carry a club that does not have a precise purpose. I will also bet he knows how to use every club that he carries in his bag. When we, as tournament bass anglers, can say the same thing about our tackle boxes, we will be a lot closer to being the type of anglers that we all would like to be. Becoming truly versatile is a big step in the right direction.
Be versatile
November 17, 2008
It occurs to me that most fishermen don’t make a distinction between searching for bass on unfamiliar waters and fishing known locations. To me there should be a decided difference in your approach.
When searching for bass on unfamiliar waters, you should just be looking for that first fish. There is no way to know if an area holds bass except to catch them. Therefore your first bite is everything. Since the only way to know if an area holds bass is to catch them, this is no time for experimenting with lures, sizes and colors. You should be using a lure that you know will elicit a response from any fish that might be in the area. Use your favorite spinnerbait, worm, jig, crankbait and topwater and use them in your favorite size and color. These should be the lures that you know will elicit a response from at least one bass, if any bass are in the area.
Now, once you have caught that first bass, you can begin experimenting with lure size and color to try and find the absolute best tool for that time and place. It makes no sense to me to make these changes on unfamiliar waters until I have found the bass. Changing the size and/or color before any fish are caught seems to imply to me that the size or the color can make the bass appear. It is my belief that, if I find an area that holds bass, I’ll catch one on the lures that I search with. Of course the more bass that hit your search lures the better, but I believe that one bass can give away a holding area. One bass caught is a thousand times better than none caught and two or more caught is a sure give away of a holding area.
I have found myself in situations in tournaments on unfamiliar waters where I planned my entire tournament strategy on one bass caught during practice. More times than you might believe that one bass has led me to a limit catch during the tournament. The size of that one fish is important as well. The bigger it is the better, but the existence of any bass in an area indicates to me that others are somewhere in the area. What attracted one will attract others.
Every fisherman should know that all the water doesn’t hold bass and that the fish are concentrated within certain areas that provide what the bass need to survive. Still I constantly see fishermen fishing an entire shoreline from one end of a lake to the other. Why? It doesn’t make sense. If 90% of the water holds no bass, why fish 100% of the water? Why wouldn’t they search for the areas that appear to provide everything that the bass need and then concentrate their efforts there? It has to be because they either don’t truly understand the bass or they just don’t want to have to work to catch them. I believe that too many fishermen still believe that luck is the key to successful fishing.
Luck has nothing to do with it. There is no luck involved in understanding bass, understanding their aquatic needs and fishing only those areas that provide those needs. It is simply knowledge, coupled with hard work. The more knowledge that you have and the harder you work at putting that knowledge to practical use, the luckier you will get. It just takes time and effort.
Most fishermen don’t want to be bothered with effort, especially mental effort. Fishing will always be recreation to most people, but consistently catching fish is work. There is no reason that recreation and work cannot be compatible, but most anglers are not willing to work hard enough at the catching. The single biggest difference between successful tournament fishermen and those that fail is in the catching. Catching can only happen after the locating, so it is in the locating that all of your efforts need to be directed. Locate bass consistently and you will catch bass consistently. It is that simple and that complex.
Work at your bassing
October 28, 2008
Previously I wrote about big bass and how they get big. I stated that big bass get big by doing what a bass does and doing it better. That is true. However a point I should have mentioned is that big bass may not behave like small bass once they are truly big. What do I mean?
Well a bass gets truly big by doing what bass do best and by doing it better than the rest. However, once that bass gets truly big, it is pretty much free to do as it pleases. Its’ larger size frees it from the worry of being eaten by larger predators yet allows the bass to feed on larger prey. This is a survival edge that smaller bass are unable to exploit.
Larger bass are less dependent upon cover for a couple of reasons. The first is that their larger size makes hunting in cover a little more difficult and the second is that their larger size provides them with increased power and speed. Raw power and speed are always better exploited in open spaces than they are in confined areas. Keep in mind also that the larger prey fish get, the more likely they are to frequent deeper edges than they are the weedier flats and shallows. This is the type area that a truly large bass can dominate. A truly large bass can run down any prey fish that swims if that bass has a little room to operate.
Larger bass may also hold in these areas when not actively feeding. The only real security that a truly large bass needs is deeper water and deeper water is never far from deeper edges. Larger forage also roams these areas and larger bass, even when not actively feeding, are opportunists and will take advantage of any mistake the roaming forage may make. When holding in an inactive phrase, a truly large bass will normally hold near some type of sparse cover just in case a feeding opportunity should present itself. These fish will not move far, if at all, to take prey, but if the prey ventures close enough the bass will suck it in. The bass really has no choice. Part of the reason it got so big in the first place is because it learned to maximize just this type of opportunity. In fact I doubt that the bass could ever get truly big by not exploiting this type of feeding opportunity.
However, everything better appear right to the bass. The prey must move right and act right and it had better not display any negative clues. One hint of negativity and the prey will escape to live another day. After all bass don’t get big by just eating everything that happens by. Bass get big by making the right decisions, maximizing their feeding opportunities and by not making mistakes.
Keep these things in mind when you are fishing for larger bass. Larger bass may behave differently than average sized bass. They may be found a little deeper and a little less related to heavy cover. While they tend to feed on larger prey than normal sized bass, larger lures may not work.
Larger lures may not work simply because they are larger and therefore easier for the bass to detect as fake. This would be particularly true when working the lure slowly. A truly large bass fears nothing and will swim right up to your lure for a closer look. Remember that an inactive bass will not normally chase anything so your presentation must be slow and precise. Remember randomness of movement and that this is best obtained with an artificial that bumps the bottom and struggles to travel through sparse cover. Fish natural looking lures slowly through the sparse cover and do it with a randomness of movement.
Fishing for truly large bass is not easy nor is the action fast. It is not something than any fisherman can be successful at every day. Action can be slow and a long time in coming, if it comes at all. If you insist on steady action, big bass fishing is not for you. However, if you wish to become a truly good big bass fisherman, then heed this advice and fish accordingly. Oh, one other thing. Don’t expect to win too many tournaments doing it. It involves a totally different approach and mind set and will seldom produce the total weight necessary to win tournaments. Truly big bass are just not caught consistently enough to do so.
Catch a big one!!
October 13, 2008
I have come to the conclusion that the only thing that stands between me and my goal to be the best bass angler I can be is me. I think that this is true for most bass anglers and yet I don’t believe that many bass anglers realize it.
Too many bass anglers talk about it not being their time or if it is meant to be, it is meant to be. Horse manure!!! Every single bass angler controls his own destiny and whether he succeeds or fails is entirely up to him.
Once an angler obtains knowledge of the fundamentals, masters the basics of the physical aspects, and obtains a solid base of experience, he has everything he needs to be successful anytime, anyplace and under any conditions. The only reason that he will not succeed is because he does not trust himself to do so.
One of the most difficult things in life to do is to accept total responsibility for your own actions or inactions. There comes a point in any serious bass angler’s career when he knows that he can always catch bass. Failing to catch fish is not the reason for his failure. The reason that he fails, and not winning is failing, is because he refuses to trust himself.
I am often beat in tournaments, but I am never surprised by what was done to beat me. I guarantee you that sometime during the tournament day I thought about doing whatever it was that the winner did. I just never did it. The question is why not?
There is only one reason that I can think of and that is an inability to trust myself to do it. I was not willing to take the risk, for whatever reason, so I failed. What I don’t understand is this: I failed anyway so why not take the risk?
It is all about doing what is comfortable. We all have our comfort zones and most of us will go to extremes to try and stay in them. That will not make you a winner on a consistent basis. It is only through total trust in yourself, your abilities, your knowledge, your experience, and your intuition that you can succeed consistently. When you can forget everything else and chase a gut feeling to the max and not worry about the outcome, then you have a chance to become a truly great tournament bass angler.
A truly great tournament bass angler will do whatever he has to do (ethically of course) to catch the quantity and quality of bass that he needs to win. He will never, ever put limitations on himself or what he can or cannot do. He could care less about what technique or presentation he has to use because he is prepared and willing to use every tool that he carries in order to get the job done right. He could care less what everyone else is doing. He is only interested in doing what he knows he must and doing it the best way he knows how. If he is a truly knowledgeable and experienced angler and he totally trusts himself, he will succeed. And he will succeed every time.
I am reminded of an old bowling adage that I have heard for years at the lanes, “Trust is a must or your game is a bust.” I know it is the key to outstanding bowling, but I think it might be even more applicable to successful tournament bass fishing.
Trust yourself
October 1, 2008
It seems to me that many fishermen do not understand big bass. Bass can only get big one way and that is by doing what bass are supposed to do and doing it better than the rest. A bass doesn’t get big by acting differently. It gets big by being better at doing what bass are supposed to do. In reality this makes big bass the most predictable of all bass.
This is also why big bass are not usually found in large numbers. They have all ready been caught. The few that haven’t been caught have proven, by their very existence, that they do not make mistakes. To catch a bass of any size, big or small, a mistake has to happen. Bass can not survive by eating artificial lures and any bass that tries to do so will probably not survive long enough to get big.
As tournament bass anglers we must catch bass using only artificial lures. This means that we have to get the bass to make a mistake. In the bass’ world the only way to get truly big is to live long. But it takes more than age. It takes superb predatory skill and an ability to avoid negative experiences. The longer a bass lives, the more experienced it gets and the less apt it is to make a mistake. This is why the biggest bass in any body of water are generally the most difficult to catch. As an angler you are trying to get a creature that does not make mistakes to do just that, make a mistake.
If you consider these facts, then you should realize that your approach to catching such a fish will have to be almost flawless. Certain lures will be less likely to succeed simply because by their very design they are totally unnatural. These lures are designed to attract attention but the very design features that allow them to attract attention are also the features that shout “unnatural” to any experienced bass.
Other lures are much more subtle in appearance, texture, design and look. These lures are more easily passed off as a natural part of the aquatic environment. Fish these lures in a manner consistent with the tempo of the aquatic life and maybe, just maybe, an experienced bass will make a mistake. The biggest bass are the most efficient predators so no feeding opportunity will ever be passed up unless it is comes off as unnatural.
If bass anglers will give some thought to the difference between truly big bass and the average sized bass that they most often catch, they should realize that going after truly big bass is totally different than simply fishing for any bass that hits. Failure to pay attention to details may allow you to catch quantities of smaller less experienced bass, but it will almost certainly prevent you from ever catching a truly big bass.
Big bass are different from smaller bass. If you want to catch bigger bass, accept this as fact and adjust your approach accordingly.
September 21, 2008
Tournament bass fishing is one endeavor that does not mix well with inflated egos. If you have an ego that cannot deal with failure, then tournament bass fishing is not the sport for you.
It is my belief that the only way that an individual can improve as a tournament angler is to be capable of realizing his faults and then doing his best to correct them. If you are an individual that finds it hard to accept responsibility for your own actions, then you are doomed to be a failure at tournament bass fishing.
In my opinion there are too many tournament bass anglers that are all too willing to blame their lack of success on someone else’s good luck. This is, I believe, why you hear so much talk about “luck” when tournament bass angling is the topic. Too many people are too quick to blame their own bad luck or someone else’s good luck for their lack of success. Rather than accept the fact that they are not as knowledgeable, experienced or skilled as the successful angler, they prefer to place the blame for their failure anywhere but where it belongs, on them. After all, placing blame elsewhere relieves them of the necessity of facing the fact that they are not the angler that they like to think that they are.
You are free to do as you please, but, in my experience, accepting responsibility for your own failures is a big first step towards improving as a tournament bass angler. It is only by objectively examining your true capabilities that an individual can learn how and what to improve. Clearly, an inflated ego or sense of self will not allow for this to happen. As humans we all have a sense of self and we all have a basic drive to succeed at whatever it is that we do. Many times it is difficult to face the reality that we aren’t as good as we would like to be. There is nothing wrong with this, provided you handle your failures in a positive manner. If you find yourself incapable of enduring a weigh-in process when you have been skunked or if you are incapable of accepting your own shortcomings and your need to improve your knowledge, skill or experience, then you have little hope of ever getting better.
It has been my experience that I learn the most from my failures. So even though it is a blow to my ego when I fail, experience has taught me that I will get closer to my goals by asking questions and listening than I ever will by sulking. It is also human nature for those that have been successful to open up. Many times they will reveal things that they might otherwise have rather kept quiet. If you are off sulking, you will never be in a position to pick up on these “gems” of wisdom. When you have failed miserably, don’t you think that knowing what did work would be of value? I do. The only way to find that out is to listen to those that were successful and by asking questions. If you are off licking your wounded ego, you will miss a golden opportunity to increase your knowledge.
I don’t know about you, but as far as I am concerned I don’t think you can ever have too much knowledge when it comes to tournament bass fishing. So, if you have an ego that is maybe a tad to big, deflate it, swallow your pride and take a big step towards becoming the best tournament bass angler that you are capable of being. I think that you’ll be glad that you did. I know that I was. Become a better angler by taking responsibility for your failures!
See you on the water,
September 8, 2008
A while back I wrote about the color of a lure and how important I think that can be. I said that I had seen times when a particular color seemed to be the determining factor in my success. A couple of weeks ago I experienced a fishing trip that reinforced my beliefs about color and its’ importance.
As I often do, I was practice fishing on a local reservoir. I usually end up practicing here simply because it is close by. Although all of my tournament fishing takes place on natural bodies of water, the closeness of the reservoir usually out weighs my desire to practice on natural bodies of water. Actually, to be honest, I believe that natural bodies of water are much easier to fish than are manmade bodies of water. So, even though what I experience on the local reservoir is not directly applicable to natural bodies of water, I believe getting better at fishing the reservoir makes me a better angler overall and I can live with that.
Anyway, I was practice fishing on the local reservoir and I wasn’t having much luck. I had fished locations that I know from experience hold bass. I had fished those areas with a spinnerbait, a buzzbait, a crankbait, a surface frog, a worm, a tube, and a jig and pig. I had not had a single strike. Since I had now been fishing for about an hour and a half with absolutely no success, I decided to take a short break and try to figure out what to do next.
I finally decided to go with my all time best “tough times” lure, a 4” worm fished on a light jighead. On my second cast, I had a pickup. I knew I was into a good sized fish, but something told me that it wasn’t the bass I was looking for. Indeed it wasn’t. It was a 3 to 4 pound sheephead (freshwater drum). Even though it wasn’t what I had been looking for, it was a positive response from a fish. This fact fired me up a bit and I continued fishing the little worm on the jighead. I fished a weeded edge that I know holds bass and I caught zilch.
Again I took a breather. As I was mentally leafing through my files to try and come up with an answer to my failure, I suddenly realized that the water color was much more stained than usual. This made me wonder if I had been using the wrong color lures for the water conditions. I immediately pulled out a black neon tube, rigged it on a jighead and went back to fishing. What happened then is almost unbelievable, but I swear to you it is true. Within 20 casts, I landed 3 keeper sized bass, 2 largemouths and 1 smallmouth. The smallmouth was the largest of the 3 bass going about 1¾ pounds.
I stopped fishing for a minute and tried to digest what had just happened. Could it be that simple? Was it just a matter of throwing the right color? I had to find out.
I spend the next few hours hitting areas that I know hold bass. At the first area I caught a largemouth that weighed over 4 pounds on my second cast. At my last area I caught 6 largemouth between 2 ¾ and 3 ¼ pounds almost as fast as I could throw my lure.
I know what you are thinking, the bass just turned on. But wait a minute. I decided to see if the black neon was the secret or if any dark colored lure would work. I fished the very same areas with a black and blue tube and never got a hit. But when I again threw the black neon, I immediately caught a bass.
I have had this type of deal happen too many times on too many waters for me not to believe that the color of a lure is important. You can believe what you want. As for me, I know that the color of a lure can be extremely important.
Vary your lure colors
August 26, 2008
If bass fishing is a skill, what does luck have to do with it? It seems that I am always hearing tournament winners talking about how lucky they were to win. Do they really believe they were lucky to win or do they say this because they don’t really know why they won? Does it matter? I think that it does.
In my opinion, bass fishing and particularly tournament bass fishing, is a combination of skill and art. It is something that can be learned. There is knowledge that can be learned and physical skills that can be perfected. To me, there is very little room for luck in successful bass fishing.
Yet professional tournament bass anglers continue to refer to luck when attempting to explain their success. Why is this so?
I think that it is so because in all too many cases successful anglers do not know why they won. Many professional tournament anglers catch bass very consistently, but seldom win tournaments. So it isn’t just catching bass that explains their tournament success. It is always about catching the right bass. If an angler approaches all tournaments in an identical manner, fishes the same techniques, presentations, and locations, but seldom wins, how can he then explain his success when he does win? If he did something different, it would be easier. However, if he fished as he normally fishes, then how can he explain the difference in the results? Most anglers can’t, so luck enters the conversation. If an angler doesn’t know why he won, then how can he explain his success except by luck?
But don’t you believe it. There is a reason for every win and every winner was doing something different whether he knows what it was or not. Most anglers think logically. Most people think logically. It is the way our world works. However, successful tournament fishing involves as much use of intuitive knowledge as it does logical knowledge and there is nothing logical about intuition.
Logic is based in conscious thought. Intuition is derived from innate instincts and takes place sub-consciously. Knowledge derived from intuition can never be viewed logically, but intuitive knowledge can indeed be based in fact. Facts are established through repetition, experience. Intuitive knowledge is based on nothing but experience. Our innate senses detect stimuli and they do it sub-consciously. These stimuli are collected, examined and interpreted in the sub-conscious mind. A course of action is developed and then pushed into the conscious. The angler has a “gut” feeling.
It is here that the average bass angler goes astray. Since this “gut” feeling (intuitive knowledge) originated in the sub-conscious, it can never be logically explained. Since it can’t be explained logically, the vast majority of bass anglers will dismiss it as having no basis in fact. This is a mistake. This intuitive knowledge may be the most factually based information any angler will ever receive. It is founded on thousands of years of trial and error. It is how evolution works.
Do yourself a favor. The next time that you get one of those “gut” feelings, follow it up. Don’t worry about why, just do it. After you win the tournament, do yourself another favor. When they ask you why you won, just say I got lucky. After all, there apparently is no skill involved in bass fishing!
Get lucky
August 3, 2008
Tournament bass fishing is an endeavor that cannot be accomplished successfully unless it has your total attention. There are just too many subtle details that have to be recognized for their true significance. It is, after all, attention to details that wins tournaments.
No angler can ever do justice to his bass fishing knowledge, instincts or experience if he is preoccupied mentally. If you are worried about paying the mortgage or if you have to cash in the tournament to have money to buy gas to get back home, you are almost certainly guaranteed to fail. The true capabilities of any angler can only be maximized when his total attention is focused on the task at hand. Total concentration can only happen when the mind is totally free of all other thoughts. It can only happen when you allow yourself to be at peace in your environment. In short, you have to be relaxed. Only by being relaxed are you able to attain the mental state necessary for your innate, intuitive knowledge to become conscious. This allows you to pay attention to light intensities, wind shifts, subtle differences in water colors, and all the other clues that exist to point you in the right direction.
We live in a fast paced and hectic world. We are creatures that crave immediate gratification. We are conditioned by our man made world to not slow down and smell the roses. Paying attention to details requires that we do just that. Tournament bass fishing is as much about state of mind as it is any physical attributes. It is my belief that no angler can ever achieve maximum efficiency and effectiveness as a tournament bass angler except through achievement of the proper state of mind. You simply have to slow down, mentally as well as physically.
When I am fishing my best, you will never see me in a hurry on the water. I won’t be racing anyone to a favorite fishing location nor will I be whipping down a shoreline churning the water surface with my retrieves. Experience has taught me that I have to pay attention to everything if I hope to have any success. It is usually fairly easy to stay relaxed when I have a good limit in the live well. It is the times that I don’t (and that is fairly often for me) that I have to work at staying relaxed. I know that if I don’t stay relaxed that I will subconsciously start to panic and when that happens I start fishing faster and faster. Invariably that is exactly the wrong thing to do.
So stay relaxed and focus on the details. Read the conditions and pay attention to what the bass are telling you. After all, bass can’t think, but you can. You have evolved a bigger brain so why not use it. Pay attention to the details and you will succeed. I guarantee it.
Good bassin’
July 23, 2008
Recently BASS announced that the Elite Series would do away with co-anglers beginning in 2010. Not surprisingly, most of the Pros applauded this decision while most of the co-anglers cried foul. I agree with the Pros on this one.
If tournament bass fishing is to be a professional sport, then individual Pros must do it all on their own without any outside influence. Anytime that there is more than one angler in a boat, there is an outside influence. Information is garnered without a word being spoken. More than one Pro has won a major tournament because of what his co-angler did and through no brilliance of his own design. It isn’t about the co-anglers catching fish that the Pro might have caught. It is about having a second person experimenting with techniques and methods that could benefit both anglers.
At every venue there is always a local ringer, a guide or other local expert that knows the water body intimately. I personally watched Pros take advantage of such a draw and I heard arguments when the local expert took another Pro to his secret spots on the second and third days. Co-anglers are supposed to be prohibited from sharing their first day Pro’s spots with their second day Pro, but what if the spots were discovered by the co-angler? Is he then prohibited from taking a second Pro to those spots on the second day of the tournament? Is the first day Pro prohibited from returning to the spots that the co-angler took him to?
These are the problems that arise when there is a co-angler in the boat. If one of the Pros that drew that local expert and fished that local expert’s spots wins the tournament, is it a testament to his ability as a tournament angler or his it due to the luck of the draw? These are questions that can only be answered when the Pros fish alone and must depend entirely on their own fishing knowledge and ability.
Just this past week a Pro fishing the Stren series won a tournament on Lake Champlain. He won because of his co-angler. On the last day, the Pro was not catching fish while the co-angler was killing them. The Pro started fishing what the co-angler was using and ended up catching enough to win the tournament. The question is this: Would the Pro have ever used what his co-angler was using had the co-angler not been in the boat? By the Pro’s own admission, the answer is a resounding no! The Pro had a difficult time as it was using the lure and technique that the co-angler was using despite the fact that the co-angler was convincingly “cleaning his clock”. In my mind, that Pro should have split his winnings with the co-angler. It is pretty clear to me that without that co-angler, that Pro would not have won the tournament.
Am I impressed by this Pro’s fishing ability? Well he was smart enough, eventually, to take advantage of the info available to him, but no I am not impressed with his tournament fishing ability. Had he done it all on his own, then yes I would be impressed. However, he didn’t and I am not.
If we want to know who the very best tournament bass anglers are, then they must fish alone without any outside help. Any angler that consistently wins under these conditions is a true Pro and worthy of the title. Unfortunately, there is always the question of cheating whenever an angler fishes alone and that is why observers are needed. Whether BASS will be able to find those observers remains to be seen, but doing away with co-anglers is a big step towards making tournament bass fishing a true profession. For the sake of professional tournament bass fishing, I hope they succeed.
Do it on your own!
July 13, 2008
The color factor is perhaps the most debated aspect of lure selection. Does the color of your lure matter? Will a particular color of a lure provide more success than another?
I have heard many anglers, pro and novice alike, claim that the color of a lure has absolutely no bearing on an angler’s level of success. Yet these same anglers carry a multitude of different colored lures in their tackle boxes. What is up with that?
I believe that the color of a lure can make all the difference between success and failure. I have experienced too many situations on the water when the color of a particular lure was critical to catching any bass at all. I have also been on the water when that same critical color that worked like magic failed to boat a single bass. If color is important, then how is it that both of these statements are true?
Both of the statements are true and color is important. However, the right color changes just as the right size, weight, depth and speed changes. Color just changes quicker and more often.
It is a fact that you cannot have color without light. Perhaps no other variable changes quicker and more often than the intensity and amount of light. Every change in the intensity and the amount of light changes how a color appears. Certain colors are more visible under higher intensities or greater amounts of light. Other colors are more visible when light is less intense or the amount of light is decreased. This means that the red colored worm that was working a few seconds ago under intense overhead sunlight may go untouched when that cloud blocks out the sun. You might find that when that cloud passes over the sun that a black worm is now the “hot” color.
It is attention to these types of details that truly separates the really successful anglers from the rest. If you have ever spent the entire day throwing only one color, you have left bass uncaught. There has never been, and never will be, a day where the intensity and the amount of light remains uniform throughout the entire day. Therefore, there never has been, and never will be, a single color of worm that will be the absolute best color from dawn to dusk.
Another interesting fact about color is that effective colors vary by lure type. Those colors that are perhaps the best for spinnerbaits and crankbaits could be the absolute worst color choices for soft plastics and jigs. I believe that this fact has a lot to do with the typical speed of retrieve of the different lure types. I also suspect that there is more to it than just the speed of retrieve. What I do know is that before I can give you advice on the best color lure to be using I definitely need to know what type of lure you are throwing. I would also need to know the depth that you are fishing, the water color, weather (light) conditions and, in many cases, what body of water you are fishing.
Believe it or not, the bass in certain bodies of water have definite color preferences and in many cases those bass also have a lure type preference as well. I know bodies of water that are crankbait waters, others that are jig and pig waters, and still others that are worm waters. I am sure that this lure preference is some how related to the forage in those bodies of water, but it really doesn’t matter why. It is only important to know what the lure preference is and then use it.
I will close with this final thought. I believe that there is always a right color for every time and place regardless of what lure type you are using. I also believe that finding that right color can be the difference between just competing and blowing the competition away. However, remember this, the best color in the world cannot catch what isn’t there. You have to find the bass first!
Good Bassin’
July 1, 2008
Let’s talk about what it means to be a professional. Recently there have been instances during major professional bass tournaments where individual contestant’s actions have been called into question. In all the cases that I am aware of, the questions raised involved tournament rules.
It seems to me that any professional, regardless of his profession, is obligated to be totally familiar with all rules of competition. Being a professional angler is no different than any other profession. It is not just about fishing ability. It is about competing within the framework of the rules.
A year or so ago, Kevin Van Dam, arguably the best tournament bass angler ever, was disqualified for violation of a tournament rule. Not only is KVD a terrific bass angler, he is also generally considered one of the “true” professionals out there. How on earth is it then possible for KVD to be disqualified?
It is possible because KVD did not pay attention to details. Being professional is as much about being aware of the rules of competition as it is fishing ability. Kevin simply did not prepare himself the way a true professional should. A true professional would know all the rules of competition and he would know them backward and forward. If he had any questions or uncertainties, he would get clarification from the tournament organizer before the fact. Kevin was at least professional enough to admit that it was his fault because he wasn’t totally familiar with all the rules as he should have been. My guess is that Kevin learned his lesson and, as often happens, he learned it the hard way. Not only did his mistake cost him any chance of making money that week, the disqualification almost certainly cost him another Angler of the Year title.
My point is that every tournament bass angler must be as knowledgeable as possible concerning all aspects of tournament competition. This goes for everything from knowing how to properly tow a boat and trailer, how to operate all boat equipment, rules of safe boating, and any rules related to competition. There is a lot more to being a professional tournament angler than just being able to locate and catch bass consistently.
One final thought. To me being professional also means being ethical. It means doing what you do on your own without outside help. It means finding bass on your own and not moving in on someone else simply because you saw them catching fish. It means acting within the spirit of the rules and not trying to find ways to bend those rules or circumvent them entirely. In my mind, true confidence as a tournament angler can only be achieved by fishing ethically. Achieving success any other way proves nothing about your individual ability and can do nothing to lead you to continued success.
We cannot all be tournament winners at every tournament, but we can all be ethical. It is all right not to win every tournament as long as you competed ethically. Remember this: No one that competes ethically has ever been a loser. Those that have competed unethically have never truly been winners. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you will never fool yourself.
Be professional, compete ethically!
June 19, 2008
What is more important, knowledge or belief? Is it more effective to be a knowledgeable angler or is an intuitive angler better?
If you are a knowledgeable angler, then you are an angler that makes his decisions based on facts. If you are an intuitive angler, then you are an angler that makes his decisions based on beliefs. Does it matter?
These are the types of questions that a guy begins asking himself after way too many years of tournament angling. I am, by nature, a logical individual prone to making decisions based in fact. I have tried very hard to absorb all the factual information I could find on bass and bass fishing. One thing that I discovered along the way was that there are extremely few facts related to bass or bass fishing. Most of the information is belief founded on experience. Facts, to me, are axioms that never vary and cannot be proven wrong. Too many times things that I thought were fact were proven wrong on the water. Too many times I found the bass where logically they weren’t supposed to be and doing things that they logically weren’t supposed to be doing. Don’t get me wrong. I still think that knowledge is absolutely essential. But knowledge alone will not get you where you want to be. Intuition and a real belief in what works for you are just as important as all the knowledge in the world.
It has taken me over 60 years to finally realize that people aren’t really interested in knowledge, particularly if that knowledge contradicts what they believe. There are some things that people just know to be true and the facts will never change their mind. I know this to be true, but I think it is just this attitude that keeps most anglers from ever becoming all they could be.
It is the blending of knowledge with belief that makes the very best anglers. It is the ability to not allow what is logical from keeping you from doing what you believe. It is the understanding that beliefs are founded in intuitive knowledge. It is the understanding that, even though no conscious thought is involved in intuitive knowledge, intuitive knowledge can still be founded in fact. We do not often consider intuition as based in fact simply because we cannot explain logically what our intuition is based on. Where is it written that something cannot be fact unless we can explain it logically? Our senses are real and what they interpret is often fact. Yet we feel and interpret without any conscious effort. Without conscious effort being involved we can never logically explain where intuitions come from or what they are based on, but intuitions can be fact none the less. Our senses and instincts, and intuitions derived from those senses and instincts, have saved our lives time and again. Our senses and instincts were in fact the sole basis for our decision making before the development of reason and logical thinking. If it worked then, it will still work now. Trust you instincts, but learn all you can.