JHoss

@WRB So do you use where a fish is in the water column at a given time of year as part of the way you determine if its a bass or something else? @casts_by_fly It does sound like I'm on the same track, but a bit further behind. I've gotten pretty good with the settings, identifying my bait, and targeting cover. Probably the biggest weakness is identifying what I'm seeing- whether that be what type of cover or what type of fish. It's interesting you say that color and profile of the minnow aren't important as I've tried a half dozen heads/hooks and that many soft plastics in numerous colors and have not gotten my first bass on a minnow yet. Granted I haven't given them a lot of play before I put them away for something else. Are there any you love or hate you'd be willing to share? @Team9nine I can get behind all those baits except a dang ned rig. I've caught plenty of fish on them, but can't stand fishing something so light and slow. Maybe it's a little more tolerable when targeting specific fish or pieces of cover. Most of our lakes in SE Virginia tend to have a lot of grass or soft bottoms, so I haven't had as much success with a ned here as I have on lakes with a rockier bottom. I tend to switch to hunting this time of year, but plan to still do some bassing throughout the winter. When I do fish, I'll be almost exclusively working on improving my FFS game. The logic behind this thread was so that I can narrow down rod/bait selection to 4-5 FFS favorable setups and only carry those this winter, so I'm forced to work on that technique. But no sense learning an FFS technique that only works in winter if all of my serious fishing is done March-October.

My fishing goal this winter is to get better with Livescope to the point I can confidently use it in tournaments next year. I got it a few months back (LVS32) and have had limited success with it- I can catch plenty of crappie and brim with it, but probably only caught a dozen bass on it this season. The ones I did catch largely came on more traditional techniques like spinner baits and T Rigs. I'd rather spend my time practicing with baits that work all year and in many conditions than something that only fills a niche. So my question to y'all is: what are 4-5 techniques that work well with scoping bass year round and in most weather conditions? My short list is: Minnow Jerkbait Drop shot I'd expect baits like an A Rig, Glide, or Big Worm on a T Rig to be more seasonal, but maybe I'm wrong and they're worth spending some time figuring out this winter. Bonus points if anyone has some good advice on honing those techniques and my Livescope skills in general, besides time on the water.

Pre-rig for me. I fish the same 8-10 smaller lakes and rivers most of the time, so I know what to expect. Some rods never get changed, but I'll check knots and line the night before. Others I'll tweak colors or baits based on what I expect. Prep is half the fun for me. I recently incorporated a "Day Box" of hard baits and terminal equipment and a "Day Bag" of soft plastics that I expect to use or think I may want to switch to during the day, which really helped make me more efficient on the water despite already having a pretty well organized boat.

Drop them both in a tank and watch them fall, then you'll know why. The Caffeine Shad has a shimmy on the fall that Zoom just can't compete with. I stopped carrying Super Flukes after I found the Caffeine Shad. If you're not already using an EWG with a built-in keeper, I'd recommend that to increase your hookup and landing ratios. They also work great on saltwater species like Speckled Trout, Redfish, and Striped Bass if you're into that sort of thing.

I think fisheries are cyclical in general and the baits we use are too - especially baits with a more aggressive signature. So if people stop throwing a bait for a while, the fish become less accustomed to it. I generally think of this cycle over many years, but your question brings up a good point- maybe the cycle for the Rayburn Red Trap is a 12 month cycle. It gets thrown a ton in the spring until fish get conditioned to it, then they stop biting so people stop throwing it until the next spring when fish have had 10 months to forget about it. There was a study done out of the University of Florida where they take two identical, small impoundments. In one they only fished a senko and the other only a trap. The catch rates dropped significantly more in the trap impoundment in a short time vs the senko impoundment. The folks running the study theorized that was because the sound/vibration signature of the trap is so distinctive bass could learn to recognize and resist it after a few negative exposures whereas the subtleness of the senko was harder for fish to recognize and associate with a negative interaction like being hooked or seeing another bass get hooked. @Team9nine I like your simplified take on data collection. I tried tracking my trips for a year and found that I was just gathering too much data to really be able to use it. Who cares what the atmospheric conditions were when I caught 20 8" bass in the neighborhood pond on half a trick worm if that's never going to help me in a tournament or serious fishing scenario.

Just finished up my 4th year of tournament bassin and noticed that some of my most confident baits/styles from the last few years didn't play as much this year. I'm curious if this is something others have observed as well and your thoughts on why? There's a few explanations that come to mind: 1) I'm learning/gaining confidence in other techniques and using those in places I would normally use an old confidence bait thus reducing the time that bait spends in the water and the number of fish it comes in front of. 2) Fish are constantly adapting to different baits/sounds and that causes a cycle of productive and unproductive years for certain baits. Maybe they've heard too many chatterbaits by now and are getting turned off by them. 3) I've tweaked something in my gear or retrieve that's caused an inadvertent change. Maybe a line change or hook change is affecting the fall rate or shimmy of a bait.