For me, I would say the hardest part is picking the correct lure for that moment that I am fishing. I tend to always go for my "go to" lure instead of trying something that might make better sense and catch more fish.

Finding the fish.

"Catching bass is easy, the challenge is finding them."

http://www.azbw.com/past_issues/november07/f4_patterningbass.php

8-)

When I see people posting of outings where they have caught 10-20 or even 50 bass, I say how hard can it really be?

Bass are abundant, hit on almost anything and are aggressive.....one of the easier fish to catch.

The challenge is finding and catching larger bass, but that goes for any species.

Im a firm believer that once you FIND the fish, pretty much anyone who's halfway descent at bass fishin' can catch them.  Especially once they throw enough at them.

For guys like me it's not the fishing part that's difficult, it's understanding the fish's behavior(thus where they are located) based on time of year, water clarity, water temps, the thermocline, barometric pressure, structure, cover, food source and every other thing that makes them behave they way they do. 

I hear pro anglers all the time talking about what the shad do when a certain lake starts getting more current at a specific spot, or what the females do when the water hits a certain tempurature, or where the spawning routes and other routes are and how the fish use them to spawn and move around a lake to hunt.  That knowlege is invaluable and I don't seem to have it yet.

I think for the pro angler, the hardest thing about bass fishing is different than what guys like me think of. 

For the pro, I guarentee the toughest thing for them is all the time they have to spend away from family and friends, being on the road.  All the travel, and driving the boat across country back and forth, and then to find time  for their sponsers on top of all that has GOT to be a gigantic pain in the butt.  Spending half the time on the water, and the other half at bass Pro Shops, boat shows, lectures, designing lures etc. etc. is a monster grind I just don't know if i could handle.

The hardest thing about bass fishing is hopping on one leg while  having your foot come out of your shoe  when  stepping in all of the BS that these guys talk when bass fishing. >

Getting my butt outa bed at 4am.

Finding the fish.  Once you know where they are, you probably have a good idea of how to target them.

Convincing the wife that the dozen Lucky Craft lures you bought were 3.00 apiece, keeping a straight face, and convincing her that the bank made a mistake when processing your debit card.

dealing with the days you don't catch them and figuring out what you could do better or different next time to try to keep it from happening again.

I couldn't have said it better.

Getting home in time to get your BPS/Ebay/*** package off the front steps before the wife sees it.

I would have to say making good decisions on the water. "have I been here too long, do I need to look deeper, wonder if this is the right bait". In otherwords, so many questions, so very little time. I need my decisions to lead me to better quality fish, that my friends is what I think is Harrrrrrrd!!

saying no to the baitmonkey. ;D

finding fish and trying to figure out where they'll go when they move...that and having to leave fish when they're biting.

TJ

Convincing the wife that the dozen Lucky Craft lures you bought were 3.00 apiece, keeping a straight face, and convincing her that the bank made a mistake when processing your debit card.

I've done that before.

The hardest part for me is when I put a pattern together and it fails.

Or when I find the fish and the pattern changes all of a sudden and I didn't put a strategy together fast enough to find the fish again before weight in time.

"Catching bass is easy, the challenge is finding them."

http://www.azbw.com/past_issues/november07/f4_patterningbass.php

8-)

This article is a good read and well worth your time.

Let's suppose you're planning to fish a new lake that you've never seen before,

and you've obtained a detailed tutorial written by a local expert.

You absorb every word that entails "WHEN", and every word that entails "WHERE".

If you find yourself disrespectively skipping over everything that entails "HOW",

you have the correct mindset, and you're a giant step ahead of the crowd.

As the article above stresses, "a bass is a bass" no matter where it lives.

Carolina rigs work in Oregon, Florida rigs work in Canada and swimbaits work in Rhode Island.

The hard part is to establish a "pattern" (Location + Timing).

Roger

Finding time to actually go!

Finding time to actually go!

Did I leave the door open?   ;D

Locating bass, once located you can usually get them to hit something.

having time to really devote to fishing.If it was up to me i'd be on the water from dawn to dawn lol.But on a serious note I think the hardest part of bass fishing is heavy fishing pressure lakes and cold front conditions.

remembering that i should always enjoy the experience and never take it for granted

Boat control on a windy day.  Everything else is a piece of cake by comparison.

having the time

having to wait out the looooooooooong @ss winters in minnesota til opener >

truth cept' i'm in michigan. >

Making time to get out.Once I'm headed to the lake,no troubles.

Staying focused when the bite is ice cold.  I give in too easily.  If I don't find them within an hour or two, I will start casting for musky or toying with the pan fish.

I wish my will were stronger. :-[