One of the biggest obstacles as a bass angler is thinking that you're a good angler and you can't get any better. Now, I'm not saying that being a good angler is a bad thing, and many of you are most likely pretty darn good at catching bass. What I am saying is that you can always get better. And, this really comes into play and is best exemplified by what happens in tournaments all of the time. Here is the example:
There's a major Pro tournament on a body of water, for this example, let's say that it's tidal water. Pros from all around the country are entering this tournment to win the huge grand prize. And, in this example, there is a long time guide from this body of water that many locals think has the best shot to win. So, to make a long story short, our local guy doesn't even finish in the middle of the pack and some guy who has never fished tidal water wins the tournament by a large margin.
How can this happen? Because people by nature that are good anglers are content with their performance. The find good solid patterns, and in this case, the guide makes a lot of money with those patterns by keeping his customers happy. However, those patterns may not be the "best" ones to use, at least not good enough to win the tournament.
Now, here's an example for me. In the past I used to rely on spinnerbaits, jig-n-pig combos, and plastic worms for the majority of my pre-spawn patterns (yes, bass fishing is legal in my state during this time and it's catch and release only). I'm not talking about taking bass off the beds, but rather the hot bass fishing that occurs during the colder weeks approaching the spawn with bass are their most aggressive. Those patterns always worked very well, but there was one more that I overlooked that used to be one of my bread and butter baits years ago, the suspending jerk bait. Now, years ago I used to attach lead to the treble hooks to make them neutrally buoyant, but now they can be purchased right off the shelf as neutrally buoyant, or "suspending". These baits are awesome, so one day this spring I decided to give them a go and NOT use the lures that I normally do. I had a real nice day, and my bass that day were better size than my previous trip there, not huge, but nice average size (see pics at end of article taken courtesy of Genz man).
So, what is my lesson for today? Learn to be a more versatile angler. Don't rely always on one good tactic to catch bass. Learn to establish multiple patterns and presentations for each season that you fish. Don't be afraid to try something that seems to make sense on your lake. Try things that used to work well for you that you've gone away from, chances are it's us that has changed, not the fish
Remember, it's our ability to adapt that sets up apart from the lower animals including the prey that we seek, the bass. So, let's use that ability!
The first one below is a suspending jerkbait bass from one day this spring. Both the suspending Rattlin' Rogue and the suspending Husky Jerks worked well that day, this one fell for the Rogue. Cast, twitch, twitch, slam! The last bass was on a Texas Rigged Green Pumpkin Mizmo Tube. These are two entire different presentations and patterns, but both on the same day, again, to illustrate that working the same ol' lure all day long may not always be the best solution.
