How did you improve this year?

[Durand Dan]

What did you do to improve this year? Was it a specific technique? Did you do something different in boat placement or the depths you fished?
Personally I tried to work on the psychological part of fishing. Not letting the weather effect me, trying to adapt when my spots were taken and not losing my focus on the next cast being the one!
I also fished deeper than I ever had and had some success at it. Having only been Bass fishing for about 7 or 8 years I figure I have a lot to work on. Next year it will be concentrating on fishing jigs and worms again (that was how I started and somehow lost the touch)
Lets hear some of your stories.

[fiker]

For me it was techniques.
That and making new friends via this board.
I learned to shakey head.
Pitch to the fish below the "stuff".
Drop shot for smallies in the channels. 
Fish w/ tubes in 30 fow.
It was a pretty darn good year. I made lots of new friends, and cemented with old ones.
I only hurt my back once, (during Jobie Nooner).
I fished more often, caught more fish, and have the "bug" worse than ever.
One of these days I'll have to learn to fish off of my new boat.
One of these days........

[Team KaRu]

Stopped applying the definition of crazy to my fishing - "Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results"
 

[Waterfoul]

I learned to fish the Drop Shot... with much success.  I won more money this year and I can clearly point to this method as the reason for that.  I landed the biggest tounament fish of my short tournament "career" using this method.  5.67 lbs... and our sack that day went 22.1 lbs.

I also improved my shakey head techniques... it proved to be my "big bass" technique more often than not.

I bought a new(er) boat in the spring!  This was by far the best thing I did to improve my fishing this season!!!

OH yeah, and I pretty much throw nothing by powerpro braid on all my rods.  No more line twist!!!!

[joshimoto son]

I coined the phrase to myself "accurate casts catch fish!"
I greatly reduced my "short casts" which are the ones made out of fear of getting hung up. I took the time to disect the areas I was fishing and narrowed the size of my acceptable landing areas.
If I did not make it within the region and screwed it up, I did not go on with the hopes I get the next one right. I would stay there until I could make that cast correctly a couple of times.

I expanded on the lures that did well for me last year and gained a confidence that makes me think I can fish against the best in the world with them.

I practiced learning to find fish that everyone else passes by.
That one was difficult, and was only possible by first fishing with someone more experienced and who knew how to do it. Then... for me, it was just putting the trolling motor down at the launch and fishing everything! Then these little spots started popping up like a hidden object in those paintings you stare at for hours.

I continued to work on my skills at finding patterns and developing them musch faster by not second guessing what the fish were telling me.

The most important thing that has helped me is my beginning relationship with God. It's something that I have avoided my whole life, and to be honest with everybody, it's the one "big thing" that I was missing.

joshimoto son

[1javelin]

I feel the most improvement I made this year was in the decision of when and where to fish.  I found fish this year in areas no one else was concentrating on, and found them in areas that were getting pounded before we got there.  I learned that no fishing is better than hard fishing, and that if you are going to have success you have to beat it to death.
   Last year was not too bad, but we fished really fast with fast baits, and this year we started to slow down a lot, which paid off big time.  I would say we went from the lower middle of the pack to the middle of the top pack.  More work this year and we will have it nailed I think.  Friends and good info to start always help!!!

[TCook]

I really consider this my first year of tournament bass fishing. I fished a club for a few years about 6 or 7 years ago and then went to college and stopped fishing all together but knew I would get back into it one day. Girls and partying was priority at the time.

So I must say that every aspect of the sport has improved for me. This year I lived and breathed bass fishing and learned alot of new water, techniques, and most of all how to find the fish in relation to season, weather, water temp, and bait. Discovering a few forums especially GLB last winter brought me up to date and made it possible to meet and fish with many good anglers. Also my partner for the year (1javelin) made for a great team. Since everything we fished this year was new to us it forced us to put our heads together and figure it out. Although it was clear to me that being without a boat you are very limited on how much one can improve. This Spring I should have my first boat and will be able to fish 3-4 times a week, cant wait.

If anyone is looking to sell this spring, I am looking for a 20-21ft champion, triton, or stratos from $17-20,000, 2000 or newer. Any boat that gets beat up on big water I am not interested.

Tim Cook

[SethV]

The most important thing that has helped me is my beginning relationship with God. It's something that I have avoided my whole life, and to be honest with everybody, it's the one "big thing" that I was missing.

That's awesome!  That is the "big thing" for sure!


For me, this year was interesting because I was on the water much, much less than previous years.  Between 2 little kids, and a crazy business travel schedule, I only had time to fish 5 BFL's.  I did not fish any weeknight events, or opens.

Not sure I really improved this year, other than the help that this was my 2nd season on Michigan waters - so the lessons from last year certainly helped reduce prefishing time.  It should have been a much better year - I was tied for the points lead going into the last BFL of the year.  I had a horrible tx and did not adjust to the muddy water that had moved into my best area.

Seth

[springlakebassman]

To start with joining this forum and all the willingness of you guys to share information has helped.  I have never been one of those knock em down tourney guys. Generally one to three fish per tourney.  Some of the techniques I learned this year has helped to put more fish in the boat not always keeps but I have started to catch more fish. Shakey heads and power pro braid are this years magic along with more thorough boat positioning.

[Cheetam]

I don't fish as much as I used to, or, as much as I'd like, but this year I probably fished more finesse techniques than I ever had in the past.  I would have to say this is the fault of my sometimes tourney partner dartag, who, in his own right, is a finesse master.  I don't think I have thrown a drop shot or half a skinny worm more than I have this year.  It was hard not to after watching him catch fish after fish throwing stinky Gulp! worms and senkos...

[dartag]

i studied Drop Shot under the master Kev aka Fishon1219.  his kind words ( most can not be printed on this site ) guided me along.  i spent most of the summer on my own lake with one rod and different drop shot baits.  the " Stinky " Gulp baits worked the best.

i did try a little power fishing at the Chiller Thriller and when i got home and was getting ready for Cass the next day i stuck 2 treble hooks on a brand new Rattle Trap in my fingers.  one i was able to push through and cut off,  the other required a trip to the ER.  Fished all day on cass with a numb hand. 

I learned to leave the power fishing to Cheetam and keep throwing them little baits.

only about 5 months till we get to play again.

[fish hound]

This year I fished almost exclusively new water, and bigger water.  So much more to learn than on the little mud holes I cut my teeth on.  Learned A LOT about structure fishing and have tried to slow down, but still like the short line power techniques.  Jigs played a lot bigger role this year, but still got burned by some seasonal stuff (still hate the post-spawn).  I'm learning new ways to fish old water, caught the smallmouths pretty good friday on my favorite lake, with enough walleyes thrown in for a couple dinners.  Just can't put the boat away yet, I guess I'm an addict.   

[Waterfoul]

Well after reading these responses... it looks like I'm not the only one who's happy they made drop shotting legal in Michigan!!

[Dan]

I would say most of the guys down on Toho during the nationals had a rod with a drop shot rig on it. It's not for just deep water smallies.

[Waterfoul]

I would say most of the guys down on Toho during the nationals had a rod with a drop shot rig on it. It's not for just deep water smallies.

Absolutely true.  I've used it under docks with success.  I had a backseater get a 3+ pounder in a tournament tossing his drop shot ONTO shore and then dragging it into the water.  Fish hit in maybe 10" of water near some pads.  I've caught fish on the dropshot in water from 1' to 30' deep.  It's become one of my go to baits, especially after a cold front or during high pressure.  It also excells on lakes with high fishing pressure.

I'm also finding it to be a good fall/winter cold water bait lately.  The last three weekends I've fished some northern Michigan lakes... and the drop shot (along with shakey head) have out produced anything else we've thrown.  If you haven't tried them yet, check out the Poor Boys Erie Darter baits on your drop shot.

[10-10 Bass Busters]

i fished a crank bait with results for the first time...it put some quality bass in the boat.  Found myself always going to the beaver when fishing got tough.  Fished some smaller tournies and had fun meeting new people and had better results.  All in all it was a good year, I even started my own bass club has a small tourney and looking foward to next year already....just placed an order with unnamed!!

[thedude]

easy answer. i disimproved... if that is actually a word.

[Trux]

This is my third year learning to bass fish.

I also worked with crankbaits for the first time this year and had lots of success with them.

I caught 3 times as many fish as last year, but arguably I fished more often too. I also caught fish with many more techniques this year than last, which to me means I am doing better at figuring out where the fish are.

I caught my first smallmouths this year.

[Waterfoul]

easy answer. i disimproved... if that is actually a word.

Hey, you fished pretty well at White.... but Big Pine Island... well.... you know!

[LAPORTE]

Soaking up all of the knowledge that I can. To help me understand how to find fish on my own. It's much tougher than I thought to do or I'm just making more out of it than it is ... I spend a lot of time on the net reading about techniques & migration patterns? Also watch Al Linder every day. The last 2 minutes of his show helps me more than the first 28 because I never seem to remember it when I'm out fishing ... this board is also a great place to come and get away for the moment. Meet new people with the same like minds (kinda)   either way I think that most days in the summer the fish are right under my boat laughing at me if so it will be awhile before they stop. But I will end the end figure things out and have the last laugh ...

Don L