(taken from another post of mine)

I am less than a year into serious bass fishing and already the amount of variables to consider each time I go out gets complicated (heck, I can't even tell you how half of it affects the bass yet):

Body of water : size, shape, depth, fishing pressure, etc

Strain of bass : Northern, Florida, Spot, Striper

Photoperiod : getting longer, shorter

Moon phase : now, today, where it was past few days, where it is going

Temp : same as Moon

Weather : same as Moon

Barometer : same as Moon

Water : Depth, Clarity, Turbidity, Surface, Current, Runoff

Seasonal cycle : pre-spawn,spawn,post-spawn,summer,fall, winter

Physical approach : on foot, on boat, on float, noise, shadow, etc

Forage : speed, size, depth, seasonal cycle

Rod : size, action, tip

Line : size, strength, visibility, leader

Hook : size, style, strength, etc

Lure : speed, depth, presentation

Structure : mud and rock, wood and weeds, open water, etc

Cover : Rock, wood, mats, weeds, docks, wrecks, trees, etc

on and on and on.... X100

And then you have to take into consideration how each variable affects each other variable, which have priority, the ability to trump one another. Of course each variable probably has 1000 research papers and 50 books written about it.

So what I'd like to know is, each time you go out what do you consider, in what order, and if you have the stamina to type it out, why?

cant you just try something for a while, and then enjoy it without worrying about all the "conditioning" and "variables"? if what you did when you go out to fish was just catching fish, then the sport would be called catching, not fishing

I consider the things I have control over like location, boat positioning, lure choice, fishing buddy; all the rest you mentioned is constantly changing and have to be adjusted for throughout the day or night.

Go up into the fishing articles and just start reading.

After you've been fishing for a few years, you'll start to get a sense of where the bass are at. It's just not something you can learn overnight. Believe me I tried.  ;D

When I get to the lake I start looking at the lake itself. Which way the winds blowing, are there fish busting at the surface, is it a warm foggy morning or a bright sunny morning, are the baitfish up in coves or are they relating to the cover, where are the bass, are they spawning or are they down deep in their summer spots. I mean the list can go on and on. So that's a hard Question to answer, to me at least.

Man just go out and fish,Be happy to be there and just keep switing baits,maybe use some electronics but the most important thing is have some confidence in what your doing and stop worrying about all the scientific stuff

The basic In-Fisherman formula.  Fish + Location + Presentation = Success

Driving to the lake, and prior to that, loading the truck and boat, I've considered seasonal patterns, what worked previously, what didn't, what I want to experiment with that day, etc.

When I'm on the water, I try to not think.  I try to fish the moment.  If it occurs to me to change something, then I change - some of the time.  Frequently, I think my biggest mistake is not sticking to my original plan, being to quick to change.

One of the things I'm going to work on this year is boosting my locating skills.  It wasn't too long ago that I was concentrating primarily on the physical skills, i.e. putting a spinner bait where you want it, or pitching a jig 35 - 40 feet away and landing with minimal splash.  While I'm not totally happy with my physical skills, they aren't going to be a focus this season.  This season it is going to be about fish location and fishing smarter.

personally, sometimes i think people spend too much time worrying about conditions and less time actually fishing with tactics they know work for them in most occasions. for me, i try to place a lot of the 'scientific' stuff relating to fish aside and focus on what im actually doing(technique and such). isnt it often that many of us catch some of our nicer fish in unlikely spots under unlikely circumstances? im thinking that if i were constantly thinking about all the stuff that the OP listed that i probably wouldnt even enjoy fishing that much, id probably end up with a headache lol. to me there is a time to factor in certain things on that list, but theres also a time where you just have to throw your bait in the water and see what happens....

Use common sense and have some fun.

see i think that kinda stuff the day before...dont cram it into that day then u spend your time thinking more than fishing, soon tho naturally these things will just kinda come naturaly and easy so u dont have to think so hard. remeber a bass's brain is the size of  dime dont make it rocket science not for fun fishing anyway

The few days before a planned trip, just start collecting lures you think you will need and a few you don't in a single box. Figure out locations, weather and such the day before.

Overall, it is better to just enjoy your time on the water and learn what you can while there rather than trying to fine tune and figure out every single tiny detail before or during. Remember, this is going out for fun, not a million dollar tournament.

My wife does that with everything and I swear she will end up having a stroke in her low 30s... nothing ever goes exactly to plan, so if you relax some and just run with whatever happens you will have a much better time, more relaxed.

I go out to relax and have fun, catching fish is just an added bonus.

High tide is probably the most important factor for me and of course whether it rains or not.  Other than that, I just go and take my chances.

1.  The weather.

2.  Water clarity.

3.  Water temperature.

4.  How much fun I will have by getting away from it all.        

I just go everyday and use the same 2 or 3 lures and always catch fish, what's to think about?  I'm going fishing to think about nothing, I like that.

Thanks for the input.  Although I listed an exhaustive amount of information, it's more for the worry of not considering something crucial than trying to consider all those variables.

I find that lately, now that I am comfortable with the bodies of water I fish, I have been paring down what I bring to the lake and the number of presentations I try.  For example, lately I've located bass holding close to a rocky bottom in about 20 feet of water next to weed beds on the shallower part of the lake.  I hadn't really thought about the variables, just kind of searched for them using a presentation I thought was likely they'd key on that day.