@A-Jay, I would LOVE your gorgeous boat, your extensive tackle, and most of all, your BIG bass. 

9 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@A-Jay, I would LOVE your gorgeous boat, your extensive tackle, and most of all, your BIG bass. 

Thanks - 

And I'd love to do a few tours through that bog full of green bass . . . .

A-Jay

 

@Zcoker Yeah buddy!

 

It really depends on the time of year.  In the summer about the only time I'm in the bag is when I need a new plastic, need the pliers, or need a snack.  In the spring and fall I'm in the tackle bag a lot.  Sometimes a bait that didn't work in the early morning will work in the late morning.

On an ideal outting, virtually never. That means all the conditions fell into place as I expected, I rigged up the right lures off the bat, haven't lost a bait on a laydown or rock and I'm catching bass. There are still some times where I might switch lures even still. For example I may throw a jerkbait during the day and as dusk approaches and the bass move into shallows I may switch that to a popper (which happens my favorite rod for each is the same rod).

 

Other times I go out and realize I brought the wrong baits. Or sometimes I go from skipping an arky head style jigs under docks and around weeds and later end up on some flats where I want a football jig or something obvious like that. And sometimes I snag my bait on something and can't get it free.

On 11/8/2023 at 3:32 PM, A-Jay said:

Thanks - 

And I'd love to do a few tours through that bog full of green bass . . . .

A-Jay

 

 

Anytime, buddy, but you'd have to go east, young man, and rise early.

 

I could show you where the thick Maine bass hunker and you could show me how to catch them on a chatterbait. And we could take turns netting each others belugas.

I only take 3 rods, 1 with lures, the other 2 with plastics. I change the lure a few times, usually to something that works best in the current conditions. I suppose if I had 6 or 7 rods along I wouldn’t need to.
 

I do go through a lot of plastics, pickerel do a number on them. I also change bullet weights a few times, again to match the conditions.

 

i could get away with a couple trays if I set them up before each trip, I’d still need somewhere for the rest of the stuff, bug spray, sunscreen, pliers, nippers, leader, etc., so the bag goes along.

 

I have gone stream trout fishing with just a pocket box and the hemostats.

For me, it's definitely not often enough. I usually bring 5 or 6 set ups with my go to confident baits. I tend to focus on properly fishing those baits and not paying attention to what is going on, especially time wise. I will sometime formulate plan by color or technique but I start focusing on other things, like why aren't they biting, where are the fish, am I positioning the boat in the wrong place, etc. 

 

Retying though is not an issue for me. I can do it in less than a minute, which will cost me one cast. I just become stubborn and frustrated at the same time and tend to keep casting. 

7 hours ago, Mike L said:

After cycling through everything I pre rig I’m in it until I find what they want. 
 

Some days I get lucky and made all the right choices, but more often I’m rummaging and changing as often as I need. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

pretty much this is me also........

I'm pretty much always in the tacklebox. It is worst when I'm having a tough time, or when I have them really dialed in. On the latter, I'm immediately trying something else to see if they will also bite that. 

I carry too many rods and too much tackle, and it's saved me or upsized me often enough that it is hard to back off. 

 

With all that said I have started to narrow down what catches big fish for me, and the stuff that doesn't is starting to stay off the rods. 

 

I've got 6 or 7 baitcasters and one spinning outfit and like someone else said, I used to carry all my rods and a big full tackle bag in the boat. If I was bank fishing I'd still carry that big heavy tackle bag and just a couple rods.  Now I've gotten to where I carry one Plano utility box and only a couple rods regardless of if I'm on the bank or in a boat.

I’m afraid I’m a bit of an odd duck.
 

I’m only fishing from the shore. Because of some back issues, weight is a big deal to me now, so I’ve become an ultralight minimalist. 
 

All my gear, including reels, fit in an old school metal tackle box (my dad’s from the 1950s). It goes in the car, along with 3 travel rods (spin for bass and panfish), fly for bluegill, and spin fly for carp).
 

When I get to my location to fish, I choose what I’m fishing for, and move my tackle for the session into a small bait bag that I carry to the bank. I can only fish for about 40 minutes. So I start with a confidence bait, and set a 10 minute timer. If I catch anything or have bites, I stick with that bait for 30 minutes. If no fish or bites, I switch baits at each 10 minute mark. I use snaps to make it easy.
 

I always fish something that is a learning bait for the last ten minutes. 

Pretty frequently during every outing but mostly because northern pike are a constant assault on my gear. Hard baits can hold up but anything soft gets shredded. Constant replacing courtesy of the pack of teeth.

^ What he said - pike and plastics don't play well together.

if I do only bass trip, I am rigged with 9 to 13 rod and I stick with them.

If trout and bass trip I use my 5 rods and change every 20min and if I catch bass with anything, Very fast ill change lure to catch them on other lure.

About the only time I open one is to replace a soft plastic bait, or respool with fresh line.  I have six rods pre-rigged on my deck and rarely loose hard baits to snags. I'll spend ten minutes getting a crank or jerkbait unstuck. I may, occasionally, change a hard bait for another of a different profile, or color, but most of the time I go with what I have tied on.  Fishing from shore is the only time I sacrifice a lure and is one reason I don't do it very often.

I dip into my tackle box as needed.  I rig up before I hit whatever water I'm fishing and change if the fish aren't playing nice.