I have a few...

 

-Many fall for tackle fads/gimmicks. 90% of my fish are caught on tried and true lures that have been around for years. This is not to say that there is not any innovation in the tackle field, it's just that one has to do a lot of research to find the good stuff. 

-Many overlook deep water/offshore fishing like so many have already mentioned itt.

-Current. This is a big one.  

-I find that many focus intensively on water temperature, but give very little consideration to the duration of daylight during any particular season; and many bass anglers think that the moon phase is a joke or something. 

 

I can go on like this for hours.

I fish the same structure with the same lure as I did 45 years ago and still kick bass.

True there's always certain spots that hold fish because of what it has to offer. 

Like a couple of folks mentioned already, fishing outside.

 

Yesterday morning a boat pulled in hurry not too far from where I was fishing. I could see they came in for a visible cover. They are casting against the bank. They started moving towards me from there. Eventually they put their boat between me and the bank. I thought they were rude because I was casting in different directions from my boat, but I refuse to let something like that ruin my day.

 

Anyhow, the guy asked me if I had any luck. I told him I had a couple. He looked puzzled. He asked if I was fishing for Stripers. From how he asked, I bet he had no clue where I was finding the LMB. Since they weren't nice I didn't offer any tip on how I was catching them.

If you don't learn from your time on the water, nothing can help you!

However fishing memories to me is fishing the wrong places that you caught bass seasonally. Best example is the spawn when bass are shallow for spawning not feeding.anglers do very well in the spring fishing shallow protected areas and stay there all year. On the other hand is using your experience to locate bass where they currently are active.

Thursday I going fishing with a friend in his boat on a lake that we haven't fished in 3 years. Everyone tells me the lake is 30' down and fishing is slow. I know this lake and will use my memory what the lake is like is like 30' low in mid October. Check the surface temps, look for a thermocline to determine if there is one and what depth the baitfish are at. With that info and my experience we will go fishing, but not at the same places we fished 3 years ago in the the early summer.

Tom

WRB & BassAssassin

There are 2 reasons bass will leave its home, one is extreme environmental changes, and the other is extreme biological changes.

The spawn is one extreme biological change and a change in the depth would be an extreme environmental change.

My "history" would tell me where to search for bass and with which techniques during the spawn.

Even with a 30' drop in the lake level my "history" tells me bass will still be located on structure, breaks, & breakline.

For the original question: Lighter line will catch more fish in many situations.

Always fish first on the side of the lake that is getting hit by the wind.