What new technique are you going to try to master or just try for next season?

     > I am going to try to master crank baits. I have never got the hang of catching fish on them.  When I fish them I either hook weads, a stump or the water. I nead to biuld up my confidence with this bait.

> I am going to try to master crank baits. I have never got the hang of catching fish on them. When I fish them I either hook weads, a stump or the water. I nead to biuld up my confidence with this bait.

Glad to hear i'm not the only one.

When the weather gets hot and the bass move back out to the main lake ledges in deeper water i am going to try the Carolina rigging more. I dont know much about except what Ive seen on TV,but alot of peaople do down here.

I'm going to work on my Deep water spinnerbaiting this year. I've seen a bunch of guys fishing those 1oz - 1 1/2 oz spinnerbaits in 15 - 20 ft of water. I plan on working on this.

Tight Lines,

Fatdaddy151

There's a couple things i'm going to try.  First thing I'm going to try to get the hang of is the lipless crankbait.  I have never caught a fish on one.  The second one is the soft jerkbait.  I've never even fished one of these before so that will probably be an all year affair.

                          Kajun

flipping

im going to continue working jigs, i think they can be the most deadly lure for bass, especially big bass. I want to get as good as i can with them, i have a ton of confidence with them already so it wont be hard to get better with them.

i also want to use them in milfoil more, i didnt get many opertunities to do this last year.

Jigs for sure and techniques such as flipping and pitching.

Carolina rig a hard jerkbait.  

I'd like to master going fishing more than twice a month!  

I'm with you Rich.  But something keeps getting in the way of me mastering that.  I'm pretty sure it's called marrige. ;D

                             Kajun

I'm with you Rich.  But something keeps getting in the way of me mastering that.  I'm pretty sure it's called marrige. ;D

                             Kajun

What you guys need is a woman that was raised on fishing  

Sorry mine's already taken  ;D

I need to wrap my head around this baitcast reel really nicely, and get down to flipping and pitching.

Jigging.  But it's kind of hard from the banks >  Any advise out here?  Thanks!

You can cast it out and hop it on the bottom, You can swim them, or you can pitch it from the shore to the edge of the weeds much like boat fishing.

Sure, you can fish a jig from the bank and I have and I've caught some fish, but what's the point? There are are better options.  I think jigs are most productive in  heavy cover and/or nasty structure. When I  fish a jig I try to place it where I know, for sure, that I will either catch a BIG fish or hang up. If you are in a boat, use heavy equipment and have an effective lure retriever you might retrieve your jig 90% of the time.  On a good day your hookup ratio (to casts) might approach 2%.  So, 100 casts, 10 lost jigs and 2 good fish and that's being VERY optimistic.  If you are casting from the bank and into the kind of stuff where I think jigs are effective you are going to lose your jig almost every time!  If on the other hand you are fishing structure or cover(?) where you can hop or swim a jig you won't get hung up much but I doubt you'll catch many fish and certainly no more nor any better quality than you probably would throwing a Texas rigged Senko, weighted  or unweighted.  And one more suggestion: Before you start jigging have someone you have confidence in show you how, that is , the techniques that he has been successful with. That way you won't be as disappointed after spending five or six hours fishing WITHOUT a bite!  Jigs produce monster fish but will test your patience.  If you are looking for action, this is NOT your lure.  But if you are like me and only care about BIG fish this might just be the ticket.  Either way, don't fish a jig from the bank.  That's a waste of time,  effort and money.            

I want to practice my "hard" lures.  Poppers, sticks,cranks, jerks.  I always seem to do better with my soft plastics.

Still trying

Ric

I have some new Horny Toads.  They really catch bass and so many people swear by them.

Here's a little something along the lines of dropshot fishing that the guys in Cali are beginning to use for the Largemouth.

http://www.tackle2000.com/pages/1/index.htm

Wing It's are also used.

Use one of these with the stopper configuration and a light pinch on split shot about 12" above the dropshot hook (now on the end of the line) .  Add drop shot bait of your choice and you are downshotting at a controlled depth (set with the bobber stopper).  Cast it towards your target and slowly work it in or sometimes more effective begin a drift upwind of the target about 20 to 30 yards. and just controlled drift using the trolling motor.

I'm gonna work on my spin casting.I've been using my baitcasters non stop and I notice when it is time to throw some finesse with accuracy I'm a bit rusty.Also I wanna fish the drop shot alot more.

Flipping

Picked up some Senkos the other day and look forward to trying them.

I plan to try the Carolina Rig as well.

being more observant of exactly what the fish are doing.

I'm going to give drop shotting a try I think. And I'm going to buy some poppers for my fly rod and try them for giggles  8)

I need to get the Carolina rig down and add it to the arsenal.