The things that changed me was having an old guy tell fish don't give a d**n what the latest and greatest while I was trying to sell him the latest and greatest...lol. Guy just wanted an H&H spinner bait. 

 

Another life changer for me was when I tossed out any fishing reputation/care for what others thought of me and really got back into live bait. Especially when taking out the kids, family members and novice fisherman.  Even though that may have also cost me significantly career wise I wouldn't change a thing. Its put so much more fish in the boat and at times completely saved the day. In the end Its all about just having a good time with good friends and family.  

 

I DO

This is easy (although more of a “I read it” more than advice). 
 

As I’ve stated numerous times before, I got out of fishing for almost 25 years until I started again in 2020. I was 99% a live bait angler and started using live bait again in 2020. Until I caught my PB (still is) bass…on 1/2 a nightcrawler. Then and there I decided that after a lifetime of believing that artificial lures were a gimmick (I never caught anything but a few dinks on lures), I started researching what bass lures work, and somehow I landed on Bass Resource and heard about this magical bait called a Senko. Although I never really fished lures, I knew about plugs from Arbogast, Rapala and Rebel, and plastic worms from Crème and Mann’s. But I had never heard of a stickbait, let alone a Senko. But I decided to try them. And once I realized that “Hey! Artificial lures really DO catch bass!”, my life as an angler changed dramatically. New rigs, tons of baits, a boat, it’s been a heck of a ride the past four years!