Want to Get Better at Fishing? Do This.

All right, so you want to improve your fishing skills and like all of us, we set goals at the beginning of the year to see what we can do to get better. So here's my methodology for improving and getting better this year.

First of all, write down a list. Write two lists. One is all the stuff you did well this last year, right? And pat yourself on the back because learning new techniques, new lures, new lakes and so on and so forth, you know this, it's a lot. And so you have to reflect back and look at your wins, OK, you did a good job last year and you want to build upon that. So you want to recognize that. The second column is going to have some of the stuff that you want to work on. What do you want to do to get better? 

Now from that second list, pick two items, maybe three. If you don't want to overdo it, you don't want a ton of stuff, just make it simple on you. Now, as you gain more and more experience and you do this through the years and you apply this, this whole methodology, you can make the list longer. But right now, just keep it to a couple of items. For example, learning depth finders and the Neko rig. OK, those two. They actually go hand in hand. You can be learning the depthfinder and fish in the neko already at the same time. So, you know, you don't have to necessarily make one or the other. You can combine them. But anyway, pick two.

And then from there, what you want to do is now research and study and dive into it deep, right? Go to Google, do a bunch of Google searches, go on Bassresource.com. Use that search bar we have up in the corner. We've been around for 30 years. We've published, you know, two to five articles a week. There's a lot of articles. That information is there and it's free and it's available. It's a deep repository of knowledge. So use it.

Go to YouTube, do YouTube searches. Again, we have well over 800 videos, tons of information, but there's other channels out there that have a whole bunch of stuff. You kind of have to pick and weed your way through some of the stuff, what's valid and what isn't for you. But there's a lot of good information out there too. A lot of great instructors on YouTube.

Also go to sports sporting shows and go to those fish tanks where those guys are doing the seminars and watch them and when they get done, go up to them, introduce yourself and then ask them about this new technique or lure or fish finders in this instance. Ask them what they do and you know to help them learn. What do they do to learn it and what kind of tips can they give you to help you improve? Like tell them where you're at and where you want to be and I'm sure they can give you a lot of good information to help you on your way.

Then go to your local tackle store and buy a few of the lures you're going to need for this upcoming season. Don't buy a bunch because as you learn a new technique or a new lure, you're going to find. Different areas and different ways to fish them that maybe some of these types of lures work better than others even though they're in the same category. And you can end up wasting a lot of money buying a bunch of lures without that knowledge. So just buy a few lures and then as the season goes on you can adapt and make some more informed decisions on what to buy. Just saving money in your pocketbook there.

And now the next thing you want to do is get a fishing log. Now this one here is available on Bassresource, can you see this? Look at that, I mean it is a ton of information for you. This little gem I actually created for myself back in 1990. I I used a dot matrix printer and I made a first version of it and then some iterations of it through the years. The fishing log is really going to help you. This is the original one that I finally came down and this is like the final version. That I made and you can download on our site for free. I don't ask you for your e-mail address or anything like that. Print off as many as you want.

The key thing about having a fishing log like this is it talks about time of day when you caught a fish, what's the weather conditions? Is it cloudy, sunny, weeds, docks, any kind of cover the depth that they were at, the water temperature, It just it goes on and on and on. So much information in here, water clarity. Other contributing factors What the moon? You know is structure type. I mean you just and for each and every fish, what time you caught them at what lure you were using, what kind of cadence you were using or type of retrieve or presentation you were using for each and every fish. It might be helpful to record that on your phone every time you catch a fish and then you can write it down later.

This really makes a big difference. Guys. Don't take a shortcut and try to do it on your computer or try to do it on a spreadsheet or something. The reasons are many. First of all, as you go through and you fill this form out every time you're going to see all of these different contributing factors that lead to the success of the technique or bait or lure, whatever it is you're trying to learn that lake, you're trying to learn right? And the more you do it, the more repetition you have, the more you're exposed to those things to the point where it becomes like riding a bike.

Pretty soon you you, your eyes just open up when you catch a fish, you immediately think, OK, what's the water clarity? Was he on the shady side of a dock on the sunny side of the dock? How fast was I retrieving? How deep was he? You know what kind of lure I was using? Was it a stop and go retrieve a really fast? I mean on and on and on. All those elements click. And that helps you put together patterns. And accelerates your learning curve by filling this form out every time you see down here, it's every fish you catch that day.

So each one, as the time goes on, you may find that it's, you know, in February you catch more fish in the afternoon than you do in the morning, for example. You start to see these patterns and trends that you wouldn't see on a day on a microfish level. You know, 1 fish by 1. Pretty soon you just start to gather these up. You can start to see trends and patterns.

Especially be doing it over the years, I like to collect these and organize them in a notebook by lake and by month. And then when you go back over the years, you start to see these macro trends, you start to notice the bass are doing pretty much the same thing every year in that particular body of water. It may be different in a lake 20 miles away or 30 miles away that you never would have noticed if you didn't keep a log. So it's very important to do it this way. And you're going to learn so much more than just that tactic or that lure that you're trying to learn right now. You're going to learn a lot more about bass fishing, how to put together patterns really fast. So it's a great learning tool. So definitely use a fishing log.

A couple things to help you out here even more #1 pack your patience. It takes time to learn this stuff. It takes time to get the mechanics down of casting the presentation, takes time to figure out where to fish them, and so on and so forth. It takes time to figure this stuff out. So don't get discouraged. It will happen as time goes on. You'll get better, you'll improve, you'll start catching more fish. Just know that that's going to happen. Have that kind of faith.

Second one is go fishing with a buddy who knows how to fish this lure or technique or this lake who can show you the ropes. What does he do? What's some tips and tricks that he can give you help you accelerate that learning curve? It really helps to watch somebody fish it. I mean, the YouTube channels help. But being there on the water with somebody all day long who's going to show you how to do it and can catch fish doing it that way? Can really really help accelerate your learning.

Another thing to do is. Go fish this stuff when it's the ideal conditions. If you're trying to fish a Zara Spook, it's a top water bait. Fishing it in the winter months is probably not a good idea. Top water is not a great bait to use during the cold months. You know the spring and early morning during the summer. That's when you want to be fishing top water and that's when you should be practicing with that Zara Spook. You're gonna have more success or any kind of top water bait, for example. So just make sure you're fishing these baits and lures and these techniques during the prime time of the year to ensure your success.

And then lastly, man, this is the hardest thing to do, but. Take that rod and reel with that bait that you're trying to learn, that technique you're trying to learn and only bring that, you know, bring a couple baits, like for example, plastics in case you break off or you rip them off or fish tear them off, whatever. But what I'm saying is. Only fish that all day long. And just that. 

The temptation, a lot of us and especially we've got boats like the one I'm on here, we've got all these rods and reels in there. We'll give it a good 20 minutes. Nah, it isn't working. I'm going to go to my go to that I know that works. Like don't do that. You're not going to learn. It's you just fish that one, just that one.

Leave all the stuff behind if you have to and just bring that one rod and reel and a few baits for that. Focus on that one particular technique or bait or tactic and fish only that. Force yourself to do it. Because you know after a while when you start catching fish. That's when you get that confidence and you get the success. But it only happens after you begin to catch fish.

That period when you're first learning it, you're not catching anything. You're not catching Jack. And you're like, this sucks. I'm terrible at it. It's not good for my lake. This is not a good bait. I did the wrong thing. You start to question and trust me, I do this too. But suddenly you catch a fish like, hey, this actually works. I want to try that again. And then you start to do it more and more and you start catching more fish and. Next thing you know, you start to become proficient at it, but the only way to do it is you just got to have the belief and the confidence that it's going to pay off.

So have your patience, practice the things I just told you about, and you will be successful learning new techniques and improving yourself and becoming a better angler. For more tips and tricks like this, visit bassresource.com.