I feel that as anglers we sometimes get "hooked" on our go to confidence baits. I know that I have spent the whole day throwing the same baits without success...because I feel comfortable with them. My new year resolution was to use more baits that I lack confidence in...and grow my techniques and presentations. I was rewarded on this trip with a chunky 5+ pound bass.

Good video, and good point. I found that if I'm trying to learn a new technique that's the only thing I bring with me. That way, I'm forced to learn it or zero out.

I reckon that if the conditions and/or bite is tough then the best thing you can do is stick to your strengths.

While I have a few PROVEN CBs, my confidence is in MYSELF to figure the fish out and catch them. MUCH harder to get, but once you are there, you can go catch fish anywhere, anytime on almost anything. It takes a LOT OF TOW to get to this level on confidence, but when you get there, you KNOW you are going to catch fish, REGARDLESS of which bait you tie on. Of course, bait selection is still mandatory, but C O N F I D E N C E is the key to catching a LOT of fish over the years. TOW is the way to get this confidence, may be other ways, but TOW is the major one. Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

I agree, but it would be nice if we can expand on our number strengths, and decrease our weaknesses? I think that the more presentations and techniques we can learn and feel confident using, the better we will be as anglers for many changing conditions.

You are right...there is absolutely no substitute for TOW

My other thought is to master multiple techniques and produce with them your understanding of the fish and their behavior has to get better. Understanding your target whether hunting or fishing is vital.... Then you simply have to pick the technique that most efficiently allows you to succeed. TOW allows you to accomplish that understanding of the fish AND the perfection of new techniques.

If I'm out hunting cats and yotes and don't think about what those animals are doing with the conditions and time of year, it'll be a long night. Fish are no different...

I agree you must know a bit about the fish your after in order to be successful...I doubt you would be fishing 30ft of water when the bass on the spawning beds...well you may, but you might not be as successful as you would be cruising the shallows looking for beds.

Yea, growing up I used to beat the bank no matter what. After I started learning what the fish are doing and trusting my electronics those days you get skunked go away....

I think we all start out beating the bank, lesson #1 (probably one of the hardest) sometimes you got to get away from the bank.

I have a funny story , never had any confidence in spinnerbaits , I would throw one for 5-10 minutes and put them down . One day after 4-5 hours on the water and only a few fish between my son and I , we head to our last spot , late in the evening , a weed filled cove about the size of a football field , for some reason , I pick up a spinnerbait . Literally , for the first time in my 35 years of bass fishing , the bass are absolutely killing them , we end up catching over 30 bass in 45 minutes , all of them were 2 to 3.5 lbs . Today , I never fish without throwing a spinnerbait --- and what's funny , I will throw one for an hour without a bite , because I know eventually I can get em . I have 6 DD's on spinnerbaits and my best one day ever came on a spinnerbaits . Confidence is a funny thing .

When I buy a new to me lure, I always wait and use it when the fish are biting everything. I want to get confidence in it right away. Nothing worse to me than loosing confidence in a bait that I know others have proven that work.

Before your baits, you gotta have confidence in yourself.

The biggest questions I think most of us face are: bait, area, or presentation. You can have two of the three figured out and not be successful on many days. Other days if the bite is on only one of them really has to be a factor to catch em. I feel pretty confident in using just about any lure, and I'm not afraid to change approaches. My biggest two confidence killers are: "am I in the right area" and "am I making the right presentation". How many times have you thrown a crankbait or C rig across a point or hump and got zilch. Change angles and bam! Whacked em! Or knew when they wanted it deadsticked or hopping with a worm or spoon? With electronics out deep I can pretty well eliminate the "am I in the right area" problem. If I see plenty of bait and plenty of fish...I know I have a good chance. Doesn't always add up to fish in the boat, but I know at least 1 of my 3 issues is settled. Up shallow it's a [censored] shoot in regards to seeing them on your graph if you have good cover. Hope this helps!

With so much stuff out there I've really cut back to the basics and downsized my gear. Crankbait, Spinnerbait, platics, top water. Now granted I have a TON of em so I should be good to go for a while. I'm sticking to what I'm good at. Most of the new stuff on the market is just a tweeked version of what's been out for 40 years. My old stuff still catches fish so game on.

Very good point, I think this is one of the factors that differentiate between us normal anglers and those that are professionals. Professionals understand all 3 of these questions and are pretty good at knowing the right answers most of the time.

I'm usually too impatient to tie one lure on and live or die with it so I haven't done it much. But I'm thinking maybe I'll be able to tie on three of the same type with different weights or some other characteristic and cut through the monotony a little more tolerably.

That brings up some funny stories, and I am sure I am not the only guilty party.
Have you ever started the day with 5 or so rods up front...with different baits, and by the end of the day you look down and 3 or 4 of them now have the same bait on them?

Not so much, i normally start with 4 on the deck, and by the end of the day all 14 are scattered out allover the place!

I plan to change that this year, i'm leaving them at home!

LOL..I tend to due the same with baits...they are all over the boat by the end of the day.