I have this theory that I just can't drive home to many people that I have fished with.

I lost count of how many times I get the look of " really, another one " .

I out fish everybody I fish with. I try not to offer too much advice because I don't want to come across as a know it all.

I can tell you the difference.

Every cast I make has a purpose. It always has , even as a kid.

I visualize each cast and thought is put into where to throw that cast.

When I was younger, I used to call it " thinking like a fish ".

That is all I do. I break down the area in my head and make a conscious decision where a fish might be.

That's where I cast.

I can't tell you how many people just tie on a jointed rapala and throw it anywhere and everywhere.

Now as a seasoned gentleman I cary a arsenal to help find them.

I don't know if anyone will even care or not. But maybe someone who fits this description can just try and " think like a fish "

I like this whole thought process and agree with it. I imagine most intermediate-level-and-up bass fishermen kind of automatically apply this, but this is probably something that would make a difference with beginners who don't know where to find bass as well as some of us with more experience. 

I recently have been taking my buddy fishing and he don't know squat. I out fish him every time and that's the one thing I keep telling him, is every cast is a calculated decision. We can be in the middle of a huge flat, were the fish are scattered all across it and I still don't cast randomly. You're theory is right on point.

I started doing this and hooking up more. My wife got a little upset with all the frogs and insects that the Lilly pads drew that I was sleeping under.

There are some people who almost extinctively have a feel for where to cast. I'm sure that it comes from having spent a lot of time paying attention to where they've caught fish in the past and they now do it almost without having to think about it. I know several guys like that who fish rivers and some who can do it on lakes and rivers. There is a level of concentration that is required that many guys just can't do. I'd bet that it's a skill that Every Elite angler has that separates them from those that don't ever achieve a high level of success.

spot on. 

I'm thinking this way 5 weeks into learning how to bass fish. My major shortcoming is controlling my casts. I can't put it where i want to but about 25% of the time. I just got blowed up on today for the third day in a row in the weeds. The fish completely missed my frog twice today though. He didn't seem to want to try a third time.

If we're truly talking about "beginners", is it possible that they just don't know any better, especially if no one is helping them or they're not researching it?

 

I have a hard time believing that these beginners are just randomly casting to nothing, while still wanting to legitimately try to catch something. 

I can tell you the difference.

Every cast I make has a purpose. It always has , even as a kid.

I visualize each cast and thought is put into where to throw that cast.

 

Yeah, OK, sounds good. But from their perspective, the question is, what is the purpose and how did you determine it?  The answer is, you have knowledge about behavior and location and presentation that beginners don't have. The only way to get that knowledge is to learn it form someone, or learn it yourself through trial and error, observation, and inference.

 

The realization that bass are not randomly hanging out just anywhere under the water, but relate to specific locations and strike particular presentations under particular conditions is actually pretty momentous.

The young men I see who truly love to bass fish on my waters are grinders. They spend a lot of time on the water. They learn there is no silver bullet to catch bass at will. They have blank zero days but come back and at 'em again. Then from time and experience it clicks and they begin to catch 'em more regularly and can rightfully call themselves LMB fishermen.

 

The Old School Basser...

Every angler    should think about each cast ,each lure change...  Even beginners , its the fastest way to learn . There will be lots of mistakes made but when things click they will have a better understanding .

I fish like you do now mostly, but I got there by trial and error. Time on the water teaches you what, where, and when to toss to cover/structure. When fishing a big flat, it really is just chucking and winding, but I do really work the retrieve in different ways to trigger them.

Reading a river is both an art and a skill, bass will hold in spots you would just think there is too much current looking at it. Just takes the time to learn.

Heck if you put me on a lily pad field right now I would be lost and would probably just chuck a tube and if that didn't work a frog and look like a beginner. Put me on a reed patch and I can hold my own with the best of them.

I fish like you do now mostly, but I got there by trial and error. Time on the water teaches you what, where, and when to toss to cover/structure. When fishing a big flat, it really is just chucking and winding, but I do really work the retrieve in different ways to trigger them.

 

When fishing a big flat I am casting at a depth or baitfish my marker buoy.. , I still dont chuck and wind . There is a reason for every cast ..

The young men I see who truly love to bass fish in my waters are grinders. They spend a lot of time on the water. They learn there is no silver bullet to catch bass at will. They have blank zero days but come back and at 'em again. Then from time and experience it clicks and they begin to catch 'em more regularly and can rightfully call themselves LMB fishermen.

 

The Old School Basser...

This summer I learned more about bass behavior when I had to grind for three fish during a severe double dip cold front than when I was whacking them earlier in the week. It really taught me how the bass bite and locations change as the front moves in and squats on your beautiful vacation lake. While the fish numbers were down, the learning opportunity was priceless.

I'm certainly nothing like a KVD, but I have seen a lot of people fish with me, and it seems they don't see difference in water. Like, they basically are fine throwing their Berkeley 6" Power worm 15' in a dock loaded with people, as they are throwing something a frog in a weeded, lily pad covered area with bass jumping out of the water for them.

When fishing a big flat I am casting at a depth or baitfish my marker buoy.. , I still dont chuck and wind . There is a reason for every cast ..

Agreed, I have a featureless lake that has a couple of nice flats that I will pick a depth and work it with a bait for that depth and change baits as I change depths. Here I just cast to an area though, not a specific spot since there is no visual targets on the flat vs say a dock where you are casting to a spot.

I use the hummingbird portable fish finder at a new spot. This tells me the bottom structure, flats, holes, depths, transition points. Rocky points. Now I know how to fish it from shore.

I've taught students as young as 4 yrs old to students who are competing at the Pro Level.

To quote Bocephus; " some of us are born with it; some of em don't ever, ever get it!"

If we're truly talking about "beginners", is it possible that they just don't know any better, especially if no one is helping them or they're not researching it?

 

I have a hard time believing that these beginners are just randomly casting to nothing, while still wanting to legitimately try to catch something.

I know guys who have been fishing for over 25 years that just cast into open water without thought.

It's not just beginners.

I know guys who have been fishing for over 25 years that just cast into open water without thought.

It's not just beginners.

I have a friend who is my age & has fished for 50+ yrs, when we are together I'll show him the pattern I've figured out but he still doesn't get it. He does not like casting into cover peroid but then he's a perch jerker at heart!

I know guys who have been fishing for over 25 years that just cast into open water without thought.

It's not just beginners.

 

I don't doubt that, but do they care? Meaning, are beginners, or people that have been doing it for years, legitimately trying to catch fish, know the proper way, and just go out of their way to defy it?

There will be a day when your "proper" way to fish will not work. Will you be humble enough and open minded enough to change?

Instead of deriding n00bz, pick up on their successes, and try to distill what factored in, besides blind luck.

There will be a day when your "proper" way to fish will not work. Will you be humble enough and open minded enough to change?

Instead of deriding n00bz, pick up on their successes, and try to distill what factored in, besides blind luck.

 

 

I'm assuming, possibly wrongly, you're talking about my post since you used the word "proper" in quotation marks. If you are referring to me, i'm not understanding what you mean.  

 

What I meant by "proper" was throwing to specific targets, as opposed to randomly throwing to nothing as the OP suggests is happening.

I feel the OP's original post is the best advice a new bass fisherman can get., not what lure is best  .Whether they run with it or not is up to them .

Fun4me, it had nothing to do with your post. It was coincidence that I followed yours. I generally use the quote feature when referring to someone's specific content.