fly fishing.  the rest I'll eventually figure out.

I've become fairly proficient with some baits, but I honestly can't pretend I've truly mastered anything. With baits that I lack confidence in or am unfamiliar with, I force myself to use them by bringing extremely limited tackle, just the bait(s) I'm working on and 1 or 2 other things.  The rule is that I have to catch at least 1 bass or 3 pickerel on the bait I'm working on before I have the option of tying something else on.  It may take a good deal of time, but generally I make progress if I have the opportunity to do so.

When I dont have easy access to a fishery due to location thats when it becomes hard for me to become proficient at certain things when I have 5 or 6 days to do it once or twice a year.  Nymphing would have to be the technique that i find most difficult.  Like anyone else I prefer to catch trout on a dry, or even a streamer.  When the fishing is tough, I don't think anything can beat a well-presented nymph.  The sharpies on Penns creek almost exclusively nymph all the time and they catch fish when everyone struggles.  I can bass fish a few hundred yards from my door, but I'm 4 hours away from good trout streams, which makes limits my time greatly.

Drop shot. I just can't make it work. This is probably because I get bored and over work it. But man, I just can't get bit on one.

I'm very good at catching weeds with crankbaits. Bass, not so much. 

This is going to sound stupid. I own 1 bladed jig. Fish seem to love the thing. Only problem is I miss more than 50% of the bites I get on it. They'll be on and I set the hook and they just throw it. I sharpened the hook and got a bunch of bites Saturday, but landed maybe half and lost a good bass on it. I put a trailer hook on it for next time. One fish did really choke the bait. Not sure what's wrong, but I'm going to keep at it because fish want it.

On 7/19/2025 at 11:40 AM, rboat said:

For me, it has to be bass jigs. I know they catch big fish, but I have never caught a bass on one. I have zero confidence. It may be where I fish, the bottom is mostly mud and muck and I feel bottom presentations just get buried. I do keep trying and someday maybe that bite will come and I can add jigs to my bass fishing resume.

About 6 years ago I decided I was going to learn to use jigs. I tied one on my T rig combo and didn't take it off. I noticed I didn't feel as many bites as I saw when the line just moved the wrong direction. A lot of the time the bait didn't get to the bottom before a bass bit it. I got fairly good with them in heavy cover, but they got hung up too much. I settled on the Trashmaster jig because it was the most weedless. Then after a while I determined, at least for me, a T rig is more weedless and, therefore, more productive.  Nothing sucks more than  coming up to a laydown you know probably holds a bass and getting your jig hung up on the first cast. Senkos and craws do the same job, are more weedless and cost less. I might revisit a jig in the colder months. I have some in reserve if I feel like it.

For me, it's deep water spoon fishing in the winter.  I've caught other species by accident doing that, but not bass.  I admit I lose my patience when I know I can catch them other ways.  So I haven't given it a decent shot yet.

 

2nd place would be giant swimbaits.  Those 8" or larger baits that weigh as much as a puppy.  Just casting them throws my back out! LOL

 

43 minutes ago, Glenn said:

I admit I lose my patience when I know I can catch them other ways.  So I haven't given it a decent shot yet.

 

 

I think this is it in a nutshell why adding on any new technique is hard.  When you have confidence in a multitude of other options, the temptation to go with what you know is at least distracting if not down right irresistible.  I mentioned earlier that I keep trying to punch mats.  By that, I probably give it on average 5-10 minutes each time I go out to the Delta before I go back to techniques I have confidence in.  About the only time I go longer than that is as a last resort when I cannot get them to bite in general, and I probably do not have the best mindset by then.  

Jigs for me two. I finally got my first couple of jig caught bass last year and I’ve been fishing since 2004. Granted, I did write them off and pretty much quit, I knew deep down that was not the correct mindset or approach. 
 

This season, I’ve been having great production with t-rigged baits, that the jig has been on the back burner and I’ve nearly forgotten about my commitment to get more familiar with them. I’ll tie in a jig next time I go fishing. 

I’m not as long as most you on strictly bass fishing, but I’d say chatterbaits would be a weakness for me. I’ve hooked one fish all summer on them. Granted I don’t run them much at all, but I also don’t find myself drawn to them. I also tend to shy away from any kind of fad or current “hot bait” and will use the complete opposite at times just because I cannot be a follower at all.
 

Jigs are my absolute strength, but Texas rigs are fast becoming my shine in current conditions. I also have a high interest in squarebills and I’m diving into big worms as well. My skinny ass loves the power game as I’ve always been a light-line steelheader all my life and this is a fascinating change for me 

bladed jig. ive caught some fish on them but i cant consistently catch fish on it. i hear guys raving about them but it just doesnt get results for me.

It's jigs for me too. I catch a lot of fish on swim jigs. But when it comes to football jigs or flipping jigs, I can't catch a fish on them. I've caught 2 in my pond at home, but that is a little different. They hit anything that is new to them. I need to leave everything else at home and force myself to use them. I give up very easily when I have a T-rig laying on the floor of the boat. 

I’ve got absolutely zero skill/luck/karma with a shakey head. I can’t even get a bluegill to tap at one. 

Suspending jerkbaits, just can't crack the code. Drop shot, think I shake it too much. Think there is a joke about that, if I recall.

On 7/20/2025 at 1:51 PM, Rucksack said:

Drop shot. I just can't make it work. This is probably because I get bored and over work it. But man, I just can't get bit on one.

Stop using it. Your life will improve without it.

13 hours ago, ElGuapo928 said:

I’ve got absolutely zero skill/luck/karma with a shakey head. I can’t even get a bluegill to tap at one. 

Impossible!!!

I am at peace these days, secure in the understanding that I probably don't need to master every single lure or technique.

 

I view all lures and presentation techniques as potential solutions to one or more fishing problems. But they are almost never the only solution to any problem, nor are they guaranteed to be the best or most efficient solution to that problem. Many lures and techniques I do not use often because they are simply unsuited to the biggest problems I tend to face on the water, or I have other options that already solve those problems effectively.  

 

I don't drop shot very often because I rarely encounter any situation where suspending a mostly motionless small bait off the bottom vertically is the best way to get bites. I rarely use lipless crankbaits because most of the vegetation I fish around cannot be effectively "ripped" through without a sturdier platform than my kayak (I actually find floating-diving crankbaits a lot more useful around vegetation)

 

I try new things when I can see how they might solve a problem I have faced.  If successful, then great. I'll probably add them to my repertoire.  If unsuccessful, my interest in continuing to use or "master" them depends a lot on how big or frequent the problem is, and whether I have other solutions. 

Boy, there are probably more techniques/presentations that I haven't caught a bass with vs what I have caught bass with. But after trying so many of them with zero results (literally zero), I'm not opposed to trying them again, but I'm also fine with not feeling a need to master them. 

The only one I haven't caught a bass on that I'm still working on is a frog. I've had a few strikes, but I've always seemed to fumble the hookset. The explosions are what keep me coming back to it.