I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I can catch fish consistently in several different ways, including bigger ones, and I’ve really narrowed it down to 3 main styles that work for me. The problem is, I find myself constantly switching back and forth between them because I think one might be better at the moment… but honestly, most of the time it ends up being about the same.

 

So here’s my question: at what point do you stop changing baits all the time and just stick to the system you know works for you? I do want to get better, but it feels like every time I turn around there’s a “new way” to do something. A good example is watching some of the best Livescopers like Drew and Jacob—they’ve completely cut crankbaits out of their tournament arsenal and adapted their style.

 

At the same time, I don’t want to waste energy constantly re-rigging, swapping line, or second-guessing myself. That gets old quick. Ideally, I’d like to lock into what’s best for me, and then maybe add a bait or two here and there when it truly makes sense.

 

Do you guys focus on perfecting your core system, or do you constantly experiment with the newest methods? Where’s the balance?

I used to be the same way.

Not anymore.

My efforts are solely focused on Location and Timing.

I do not fish derbies so there are no timing constraints on my fishing.

Trying new deals is fun and it makes me feel like I might figure it out.

But if the bass are not there or not feeding, I am usually just getting knot-tying and casting practice.

No doubt I have plenty of tackle but I'd say there is no balance, just priorities. 

New styles and different presentations still need to be applied at the right time and in the right place to get bites. 

What that means for another man's fishing has zero bearing on what I'm doing and where I'm doing it. 

When I get the location and timing right, 

the presentation selection suddenly becomes a whole lot easier.

Good Luck.

A-Jay 

Yeah I’m pretty much throwing the same stuff all the time and just fish the conditions and try to figure out where they are biting - like @A-Jay is saying.

 

Once you get them dialed in you can pretty much catch them how you want.

 

And like he said - the bait to throw is usually pretty obvious for the type of cover and depth and speed they want the bait to be fished which is usually top middle or bottom and usually either fast or slow.

Over the years I have simplified the process.  I basically fish a few different baits (spinner bait, jig, shaky worm, Ned rig, and swim bait) and keep a couple of each rigged all the time.  I carry several sizes, weights and colors of each of them.  So when I switch it is easy and if it isn’t better than what I was doing it is easy to switch back.

Quote

So here’s my question: at what point do you stop changing baits all the time and just stick to the system you know works for you?

 

What point? 2025. When I took up lmb fishing again after nearly a half century away, it was a whole, new ballgame. So many new lures and techniques. So, I tried to absorb as much as I could and bought WAY TOO MANY lures on the path to discovering what lures work best where I fish. Many of you guys have kindly urged me to try this lure and that, but I'm at the point where I know what lures will catch bass at my two primary ponds. I see other anglers fish these two ponds and often are skunked...or they catch one or two. So, not any lure will work and not every angler casting the lures that do work can catch bass.

 

My local bass do have preferences and those preferences change through the year because bass are fickle beasts, but there are still overarching patterns and I fish those patterns. When it comes to my two primary ponds, I don't think there's a person alive who knows them as well as I do and I acquired this expertise through errors. I've learned enough to leave the wrong lures on the shelves in my basement. If I were to fish with someone who outfished me with different lures and different seconds, I'd switch in a New York nanosecond, but that hasn't happened yet. Still, I hope it does. I'd love to learn a new trick. 

I will stop changing baits,when they quit making new baits, or the Bait Monkey dies.  I have as much fun experimenting as I do catching bass.  If all I wanted to do was catch bass, I would only fish live bait.

I'm pretty much 100% a scoper now. I'm blessed enough to have the technology so I'm certainly going to use it as much as I can. I mainly throw baits now that work in unison with that. Jighead Minnows, Neko Rigs, Drop-Shots, Jigs.....  

When they don't seem to want anything, I just keep throwing a Whopper Plopper, knowing it will anger at least one bass. And it'll probably be a good one.

I always have my jig rig rod ready and use it just to satisfy me and keep the big girls honest. 
Where I fish during the day the bird is going to some type of finesse baits. So I now using BSF to keep me busy catching bass in lieu finesse spinning tackle.

Tom

I have 16 rods on the boat that stay rigged so I may grab a different rod but never change baits on a given rod.......the same bait remains on the same rod at all times.

My only gripe is having to dig to the bottom of the rod locker which usually indicates I'm struggling 😂

I’ve got about 5 or 6 presentations I regularly rotate through based on the target species and time of year.

 

Its been a long time since none of them worked. I honestly can’t remember.

 

I tend to try more presentations when the bite is slow, attempting to find something fish are more willing to bite. When I find the bite, I stick with it and beat it into a pulp.

I usually put 4 to 7 rods on deck based on what I expect that day.  From about 9AM, I generally just throw a Rage Bug all day or until the fish tell me that's not going to work.  I'll change weights or size, but the other 4000 baits in the boat probably feel neglected. 

   There are exceptions based on seasonal things, of course, especially offshore.

   

Often one of the first things I do on a pattern is start switching around to see a) what else will work b) what else might work better. 

 

I enjoy the learning that comes with it, but it is at the expense of covering more water. So it often costs me fish to fiddle. 

 

If they aren't biting at all, if I can see them on the scope I'm more likely to change how I'm presenting before I change baits/rods though. 

People don’t take the effort to find multiple schools of fish, mark them and go thru the schools and get them fired up and catch them. Every season of the year has a reason & a particular food source. Fish are eating, thinking about eating and oxygen consumers. 
 

What are they foraging on? Why is the forage base there? Bass are always going to be in fairly close proximity to the forage. I think the biggest mistake fishermen make is fishing the wrong locations and fishing too fast. Find schools, fish slowly and keep fishing that school slowly until you stick one and then for the next 20-30 minutes wear them out. Move to the next marked school/waypoint and do the same. 
 

Everybody likes an aggressive horizontal bite. But fishing jigs and a 7” plastic worm slowly are key tactics that have to be learned. Understand your electronics.. true understanding will yield a lifetime of success. LMB are schooling fish w larger bass typically living in smaller “wolf-packs” 

Now try that on busy reservoir systems where you are dealing with a 1,000 other boats.. most certainly requires patience & manners. 
 

Happy fishing..😁

3 hours ago, the reel ess said:

When they don't seem to want anything, I just keep throwing a Whopper Plopper, knowing it will anger at least one bass. And it'll probably be a good one.

 They at least sound really cool. They can be effective for sure also 😁

I subscribe to the belief that if the bass aren't biting your "Core Techniques" with any regularity that day (and you are skilled at your techniques and their presentations)...they aren't likely to bite at all regardless of whatever you throw.

 

My "Core Techniques" are: bladed jig, Free Rig and Neko. Pretty simple. I fished all weekend with 2 rods on the boat and only switched between a few choice baits that I deem "the best" of their class.

 

Now there are some caveats to the above that use common sense: if the fish are busting the surface, you probably shouldn't be working a bottom bait. Things that are rather obvious in other words.

 

Another is as new baits come out, I test those out to see if they can supplant my "best baits". But I do not hoard.

 

So for me personally, I like to keep it simple and I don't think I'm missing many fish because of that.

Adjust to seasonal period and use the lures/ presentations the bass want.

Tom

If they don’t bite the mainstays, and then they don’t bite any kind of good switch up; they’re not biting at that time likely. When I kayak fish my river, I typically use a couple different baits as I pick my way down and then on the paddle back up, I throw a senko all over and into spots already fished.
 

Senkos are money on this river simply by design and you can weedless fish them anywhere and simply cast, let one wiggle down along cover, in cover or near cover. I often fish flooded/undercut grassy banks and my main strategy is to purposefully overcast slightly into the grass and lightly wiggle it free so it plops nice or just quietly slips into the river and any active bass is almost guaranteed taking that presentation. I haven’t saw another angler do this and I keep any edge I get tight to myself on the river. I’m old school and we don’t share lol

I tend to stick with my big 3 (Free rig, dropshot, spinnerbait), and branch out from there.

 

I do like to tinker with new/different baits/techniques, and will occasionally dedicate a day to that.

On 9/19/2025 at 8:48 AM, GoneFishingLTN said:

 

At the same time, I don’t want to waste energy constantly re-rigging, swapping line, or second-guessing myself. That gets old quick. Ideally, I’d like to lock into what’s best for me, and then maybe add a bait or two here and there when it truly makes sense.

 

Do you guys focus on perfecting your core system, or do you constantly experiment with the newest methods? Where’s the balance?

 

I have noticed lots of people and even the pro's tend to pick a rod and a reel and line size and then once they combo is put together it almost never changes. Dedicated rods and reels to specific purposes without change over time.

 

I've seen photos posted around here of the same where some people store their completed combos in racks without change from season to season.

 

My approach to fishing rods and reels tends to following in line with some of that dedicated specific use category, but I've gotten myself into a different scenario over the 40 plus years of rod and reel collecting I've gotten into.

 

I keep a few combos ready to go, but most of the rods and reels are kept stored separately because I've collected up around 100 rods and 40 reels on average. And I really enjoy using vintage fishing gear, especially vintage rods. And so the collection has become sort of a rod buffet to me. Never knowing which way it is going to go as far as what reel on which rod. Sometimes its a great combo and sometimes not so much. A lifetime of trial and error, but the enjoyment comes from using so many different rods.

 

So 90% of my rods and reels are stored separately just waiting for use one day on a vintage "flavor" of rod.

 

My current experimental combo is a 1992 Zebco/Quantum Hypercast HC3 reel I recently rebuilt has been paired with a one of a kind "Stiffy" rod made in Texas I plan on posting on the rare rods thread. Its a good match. This way I get to try a 33 year old reel on a 25 year old rod. These two may never get paired up the same way twice. Its kind of nice being able to utilize rods and reels this way.

 

Creating unchanging dedicated combos just does not begin to do justice to a collection of 100 vintage rods. I have to keep changing things up just to really get the benefits from such a diverse collection. This pertains more to the rods than to the reels.

 

I do keep maybe a half dozen dedicated combos at the ready, but I always have to leave room for the variables as well. That's about as balanced as I can get it, while also including constantly experimenting for the vintage enjoyment part I can't ignore.

I have my productive lures. Some of them hardly anyone else uses. They produce and bass choke on them. I dont use every new thing unless I see a need for it. I like the tough days of fishing, not as much as the good days still. I'm ready to change whenever not catching bass becomes tedious. Some days I keep plugging away because it just seems right. Other days I start expiermenting quickly. Then some days I start out with something new,mainly because I've been thinking about it. 

For me I am in a constant state of experimenting. Fishing the same stuff can get old, especially if the fish aren't biting the way I want. I usually take 4 or 5 setups with something that is specific to those rods that are proven winners for me. I then bring 1 or 2 that are experiments or a specific technique that I want to work on. If the experiments make the cut I might fish them more often. On the other side of things, I some times just bring stuff that is fun to fish, like a big glide bait or some fuzzy dice. 

 

When it comes to color, I might change it up as the day goes on. I start with something dark first (black and blue, green pumpkin, etc), then I go with something natural (match the hatch sort of stuff), and then something bright. This isn't exactly a rule. I also factor in water clarity, wind speed, cloud cover, and water/air temp with what I choose. I just adjust it accordingly as the day goes on.  If all works out, I will find what they want and just stay confident. 

I usually have 4 or 5 presentations rigged up.  If I can use all five then I will, but most of the time I will only be able to use three or so.  I fish with each of them.  When I have used all of them then I change the baits, unless it is a jig.  Then I'll just change out the trailer.

It depends on whether I'm catching fish, or looking for that first bite. Until I get that first one, I'll run through the water column with a couple of different presentations. If I go two hours without a bite, I stick with a jig tight to cover and experiment with fall rate.

If I'm on fish, but they're barely hooked, I will change my retrieve, or the bait's profile and stick with the same style bait. 

I fish what I want, when I can. Jigs will always catch green bass, everywhere. They are not always the most efficient or fun method. Brown bass in a river is my favorite, and that’s a different set of fun.

I stop changing baits/ presentations when I start catching fish.  Especially, if i’m fishing an area that i know holds fish.  I know if a lure is going to work with in the first 4-5 casts.   If i haven’t caught a fish by the 5th cast i know whatever i’m throwing they are not interested in. 

 

If i start getting bites but, not hooking up.  I know I’m close.  That’s when i’ll dial in size and color. 

 

Generally speaking when i’m fishing a wacky rig i’m sight fishing.  if i see a fish and throw a wacky rig at it and the fish just takes one look at it and runs away.  ill just put the wacky rig up and try something else. A color change in that instance is not going to make the fish bite the rig. I may move and try the wacky rig on a different part of the lake though