There are tons of different fishing techniques out there. How the heck do you learn all of them to become a better angler? Here’s one trick that I have learned.
About ten years ago I realized I had all these different baits that I enjoyed using, but if you asked me my favorites, or more importantly, what I had the most confidence in, I was stumped. I decided I needed to do something. So, you know how the Chinese have the different animals representing different years? Well I took that idea and added a fisherman’s twist. For me, it was now a different bait for each year. From that point on I picked a new bait at the beginning of each year and focused on learning it throughout the year. I started off pretty dedicated. This was before I was fishing tournaments, so I was pretty literal, and I used that same bait more or less all the time. And for those of you who do not tournament fish, I recommend this to learn the intricacies of a single lure type.
My first year, I chose the crankbait. That year, that was pretty much all I fished. And by the end of the year, I sure knew a lot more about crankbait fishing. And better yet, I had a handful of baits that I had a huge amount of confidence in that I still carry with me today.
The next year was the year of the jig. Let’s just say, the next TWO years was the year of the jig. That’s how much I liked it. Today, you are going to find a jig rod on the deck of my boat pretty much all the time.
The year of the frog – sometimes baits are more season specific, and you’ll only be able to use them for a handful of months. I started that summer off with a bang. I went out on a guided trip on the Delta with Gary Dobyns, and got the low-down on frog fishing. That day I realized that Gary had probably forgotten more about frog fishing than I ever knew in the first place. These seasonal baits can be great because you can fish them really hard for a short period of time while the bite is phenomenal. This can build your confidence in a new bait really fast. But because of this, you may end up needing to spend a couple of years honing your skills during the on season. You can take advantage of this by rotating in a more fitting seasonal bait in the other months.
As I started tournament fishing, I was not able to intently focus on one bait as much any more, at least during competitions. But I still use my personal fishing time to focus in and learn new baits, and I still keep that one bait on my deck staring at me, and I use it any chance I get.
By intentionally limiting your lure choices like this, you’ll learn how a lot of techniques have similar uses, and over time realize the subtle differences as to when one might be slightly better than the other.
This has helped me a lot over the years, especially for learning techniques that I did not necessarily originally favor, such as the drop shot. Originally, I thought this was only a finesse fishing technique, but throughout my drop shot year I adapted it in many new and different ways. And to this day some of my biggest fish on Clear Lake have been caught on my power drop shot.
So now as I get to the end of a couple of satisfying years getting to know the swimbait, I am gearing up for new things for 2008. I have already started building up the arsenal, and I can now say that I am truly looking forward to the Year of the Rat.