8 hours ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

Biggest mistake was putting away my poles and picking up golf clubs.

 

I've been saying it for years; Golf is a waste of good fishing time.

 

My biggest mistake starting out was not knowing about the seasonal movements of bass.

I would fish the same spots where I'd caught fish in the spring all year. From June until ice over, I had the stink like you wouldn't believe. 

Tackle - too many similar soft plastics. Similar shape, different brand but a little different, etc. But I don't fish soft plastics that much and when I do it's almost never the piles of stuff I have too much of. Oh the piles of senko colors. I don't really fish a senko anyway, and if I do it's probably a 6".  I think I have rage menace in 2 sizes and five colors. Best use I have for one at this point is maybe a swimjig trailer. If I'm going to the bottom I'm throwing a jig or a free rig or maybe a big worm. Same thing for jig trailers. 50 packs. Need maybe two shapes and two colors. 

 

I feel the opposite way about hard baits though, and if anything, being able to make small tweaks has been very useful - I get a lot of good feeback on how they are eating it and a color change or a noise change can really be worth it. 

 

Fishing - every fish might be big and I need to lay my eyes on it before I decide it's a small fish and half-ass it. 100% of my big fish losses are my fault, and a majority of those are because I wasn't in "ITS ON" mode. 

 

I'm still learning all the time.

 

When I first started out, I didn't understand fishing soft plastics. I tried it, and didn't get bit, so I just gave up on them. I had a bad habit that I'm still working to break; Deciding something isn't for me without having tried it; Forcing fishing to fit into my preconceived notions.

 

I gave fishing a break for about 12 years or so, then when I had a son and he was old enough I decided it would be an important part of my boys childhood.

 

My dad passed when I was 5 and I didn't have a lot of fishing opportunities. I remember going fishing 2 times before I was 12, once with my dad.

 

Then, we moved to a house that had a pond, and I fished a lot. My mom's boyfriend taught me some, what I was willing to listen to. I caught a few.

 

When I got back into it 3 years ago I decided I was going to master all the core lures. Texas rigs, jigs, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, crankbaits. For me it's about covering the basics and being well rounded.

 

I want to be able to go out fishing with anyone and be able to hold my own. Not to mention I really enjoy fishing, catching fish, and lures.

I recently extended the handle length of an old rod.  It is my first and only endeavor into rod crafting.  I ended up watching hours of instructional videos on rod crafting.
 

If I had it to do over again, I would have made all of my own rods beyond my entry level Basspro and Berkeley rods.  The tools and equipment are not cost prohibitive.  The required skill is not overly demanding.  You can tailor everything to your own specifications using components of considerably higher quality than what I am using now which could be the rods I fish with until the end.  

I used to always avoid the wind and fish in the calmest water possible.  Nowadays on windy days I am always fishing windblown points and shorelines with fast moving baits.  I also have greatly improved my boat control. I used to just let the wind take me down shorelines.  

Too many to list.

Staying with a particular lure too long and trying to force feed bass a lure “I think” will work is a big one. They will tell you what they want, not the other way around.

A big one I’ve learned recently is to make multiple casts to a target. Used to make one or two and move on.  

 

 

 

Early on about 15 years ago I started bass fishing at 22. Fished the intercostal waters of Florida my whole life  though. 
 

I fell for the 6 different colors on every plastic, I changed lures a lot. And I mean a lot. Carried 20 pounds of crap on my back for a day of pond hopping ( which is entirely not necessary) 

For me , it was lack of awareness and understanding of what a drag was there for. I had so many bass break my line early on. 
I also didn’t think about nicks in the line either, which led to more breaks at the hookset.

And back then , everyone set the hook like it was a life or death situation !😅

Not totally understanding how to identify a pattern and how to exploit it!

 

And learned the hard way to..

Never leave fish to find fish!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

21 hours ago, rboat said:

What mistakes did you make early in your bass fishing that probably cost you some money and some lost quality fishing experiences?

 

I am not a fan of using the word failure when it come to my fishing;

especially as it relates to the earliest stages of my development in the sport.

Perhaps failure means stripping away of the inessential.

Clearly a relative term in my particular case.

At some point, I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was

and began to direct all my energy into fishing in a manner that felt natural to me.

The hunt for big bass drives me.

Success other folks had inspired me but once I figured out what worked for me,

I stuck with it and tried to expand it. 

The satisfaction of knowing that I will do whatever it takes

makes any & all small victories worth it. 

I have many fishless days, but those are not failures unless I perceive them that way.

And if I did, I'd have curled up in an old rocking chair knitting a sweaters a long time ago.

Fish Hard and have fun.

A-Jay

20 hours ago, MickD said:

I'm not so worried about the mistakes I made early on, more on the mistakes I'm still making.  I think the biggest one is getting so tied up in the fishing that I don't stop about mid-day and calmly think about what I've forgotten to try.  

 

 

I completely agree with this.

 

I have a hard time calling a dying pattern dead as it dies and then switching gears and finding where they moved to.

 

I find that for me, if a pattern is dying, it's almost better to take a break on that lake and come back in a few days, just to trick my brain into seeing the lake as new.

 

I think that basically the key is learning how to ritualize being open-minded and systematic every time you go out on the water. 

 

Looking for patterns is not always the best thing to do even though it can result in a good day sometimes.

Mistakes I made early on - and still make today. I'm a terrible tournament angler because I overthink things, get impatient, and suffer from paralysis of analysis.

 

For example, I study maps and pre-fish and find spots holding fish. But come tournament day if I hit a spot and don't get bit quickly I move on when I should be patient, switch techniques, try different angles, etc.

 

In a bass boat it's quicker to run from spot to spot. But in my kayak I end up wasting time motoring to the next destination. Patience, Grasshopper.

When I'm in a boat or kayak.... believing fish only live/feed at the bank or that they hold to structure all year round.  Sounds goofy but I know one too many fishermen that just continue to go around the bank never thinking fish may be in water deeper than 2-10 feet and I use to be one of them.   

 

Caught this one last Saturday in about 20 feet of water about 150 -200 feet from shore between two secondary points leading into a cove.

 

my biggest mistake is listening to people...in a bad way.

 

the guy fishing the finger lakes telling me bait-X is killing it, shouldn't mean much to me on the other side...it could, but I could suck as well.  I now fish my own game.  

 

I love the information, but I have to keep in mind I am in different waters.  this is not an exact science.  

I guess my biggest current issue is getting in a rut when they aren't biting. I might take 30 lures with me, and use 4-5 regularly. If the fish aren't biting those 4-5 lures or even the first couple, I usually keep with it, not changing lures for too long.

 

I've been trying to break that, using new stuff, or at least stuff I rarely use. I try to fish something I'm not comfortable with a few minutes, if not every trip, every couple. Short trips though.

I thought of another one..... not fishing for the conditions you are given and fishing the same way as you usually do. 

The biggest mistake I can think of was not paying attention to the conditions.  I would just pick a bait and start fishing with it.  I never thought about cloud cover, water clarity, forage...

I think my biggest mistake was getting anxious and switching baits too quickly. Still happens sometimes, especially at a new location when I’m trying to develop a pattern. Then, I fish too fast, lose focus, and end up getting skunked.