Last year my goal was getting more confidence jig fishing, which I did.  This year i'd like to roll that confidence over to the T-rig.  Also, I got away from spinner baits the last couple years after having them as one of my go-tos when I first started fishing.  I'd like to work on that again.

 

But, my main goal for fishing this year:  Catching a SMB out of Lake St Clair.  If I don't get that done (skunked the last two years) then i'm moving out of Michigan...

My top 3 would have to be Ned Rig, Drop Shot, and Shakey Heads. We all can see the pattern here, I'm not great at finesse fishing! I love to throw a wacky rig around, but never branched out from that because it always worked for me! I got all the right gear for these techniques for Christmas, so I'm ready to try these out as soon as these giant icebergs melt off the lakes up here in the Midwest...

jigs and texas rigs, I can't catch fish on em

18 hours ago, WI_Angler1989 said:

I plan to dedicate a lot of time this year to learning, improving and gaining confidence in:

 

1) Dropshot

2) Ned Rig

3) Soft Jerkbaits 

4) Wacky Rig

 

Half the battle with the above presentations is just USING them more. I've dabbled, but never put enough time in.

 

But I'd say the biggest thing I want to improve on isn't a lure, but canoe tactics. I need to improve in navigating the river, finding opportune places to fish, and to do it all safely. 

I would agree. but im going to swap out the dropshot for jig fishing  

15 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Dropshot for sure. One of the most popular finesse techniques out there and I just can't get the hang of it. I can catch some doing it, but if I switch to a Ned rig my catch jumps exponentially. It's starting to make sense though. 

I thought I was one of the only people who can't stand the drop shot. I seem to get line twist and think I work it too quickly. I also fish it too fast, I don't like leaving it in one place for some reason...Although I like using the Ned rig and my favorite is just taking a small TRD or worm, fluke, and putting a split shot in front of it. I feel like I can work it like a shaky rig, carolina rig etc...

 

The few times I had success with the drop shot, the fish seemed to be mostly smaller, and when I would take out a finesse rig, I seemed to do just as well.

 

Too many rigs to master....I guess the drop shot is now the Tokyo Rig, Wacky Rig is Neko Rig, Jika rig....I just like throwing soft baits with some weight somewhere on the equation.

 

The Ned rig or slider rig still catches fish just about anywhere, plus I can fish it quicker which I like. Drop Shots require patience. If I need to focus on patience and working slow....I will throw a jig or big worm and this way I know my strikes will be better quality...Most of the time.

 

I probably fish too fast in general...Maybe I need to focus on slowing down. I shake a drop shot too much which catches smaller fish for sure. The guys who can deadstick a dropshot seem to get bigger fish.

On 2/17/2019 at 9:09 AM, RyneB said:

chatterbaits and jerkbaits. I dont want to master them, I just want to have enough success them to gain some confidence.

Same here, especially chatterbaits. I never seem to get anything on a chatterbait in areas I know people catch them on chatterbaits using the same size, color and trailers as I do, but I attribute a lot of that to me throwing a different lure, say a spinnerbait on after a while of not getting anything as well. I don't fish too many jerkbaits as well, but I plan on fishing more jerkbaits this year as well.

 

I still plan to improve my dropshot fishing, a carryover from last year. But late last year I also found a few areas with solid cover that I can fish as well, so I plan on doing some more jig fishing. And of course, morning topwater fishing too (last year, on chemo I was just too tired to get up early).

I want to gain confidence in fishing deeper.  I rarely fish over 25ft but I know there are fish down there.  I can see them on the fish finder taunting me.

I don’t think that I have ever caught a fish on a lipless crankbait–which is weird bc crankbaits and topwaters are my confidence baits. I also have never tried a ned rig. Those techniques are on my list this year. I think the ned rig may work well for me. I wade fish a lot of shallow water. 

There's nothing easier to use than a crankbait but I've never caught many fish with them.

48 minutes ago, microotter said:

I don’t think that I have ever caught a fish on a lipless crankbait–which is weird bc crankbaits and topwaters are my confidence baits. I also have never tried a ned rig. Those techniques are on my list this year. I think the ned rig may work well for me. I wade fish a lot of shallow water. 

Ned rig is a killer shallow water lure. So are Finesse tubes and my favorite to use sight fishing. Try it, you won’t regret it!!

5 hours ago, jrwerner310 said:

I would agree. but im going to swap out the dropshot for jig fishing  

 

Nice! The sad part is that I've had all the tackle to do the 4 that I want to improve on. I've just continually fallen back into those same old go-to's.

What do you want to master?

 

Getting away from the house!  ?

11 hours ago, WI_Angler1989 said:

 

Nice! The sad part is that I've had all the tackle to do the 4 that I want to improve on. I've just continually fallen back into those same old go-to's.

I always fall back on my finesse fishing. Mostly the Ned rig and the weightless Texas. I fish from the bank mostly and want to improve those along with jigs and maybe crankbaits as well. That will be my big focus this coming spring.

Jigs

Fly, finesse, particularly Ned and hair jig.

I have never really tossed chatterbaits, so that's number one. Number two is probably to improve my frog fishing.

I've fished for many years & tried nearly every "new" technique that came down from the different "experts" that I either read about or met.  So I got lots of gear.   Last year I fished 10" worms ALOT.   Tungsten weights helped the learning curve quite a bit.   I got confident enough that I didn't feel that I was missing hits and that I could throw it in different places and feel like if there was a fish there, it would probably bite it.

 

This year, I don't know.   I keep a good ned rig in the boat all the time, but I seldom fish it.  I have a Loomis drop shot rod that I need to remember to keep in the boat.  I bubba drop shot frequently but I seldom pick up the finesse version.

 

So there be 2 things to work on.   Last year I feel like I neglected my whole reaction bait game, mostly to focus on 10" worms.  Improving my reaction bait game in general, and my spinner bait game in particular, is in the plans this year.

My wife may want to fish with me this spring. I would love to master her getting ready faster. I can be ready to go in 15min. It takes her foreverrrrr!

Just now, Mobasser said:

My wife may want to fish with me this spring. I would love to master her getting ready faster. I can be ready to go in 15min. It takes her foreverrrrr!

Slowpoke - once I have the trailer assembled and the canoe on it. When I want to go - 5 minutes to hook it up and drive away. Since I'll be storing it in the locked garage, I never have to remove anything from it.

1 minute ago, MN Fisher said:

Slowpoke - once I have the trailer assembled and the canoe on it. When I want to go - 5 minutes to hook it up and drive away. Since I'll be storing it in the locked garage, I never have to remove anything from it.

I'm no slowpoke! My wife likes to take her time, but I'll get her moving 

Just now, Mobasser said:

I'm no slowpoke! My wife likes to take her time, but I'll get her moving 

Cattle-prods work wonders. ?