Good one...

Actually, learn how to cast.

- Fish water that others will not go to. Fish as far away from others as you can go.
- Learn to catch shallow water fish first; then work on the near by spots that they disappear to when they leave the shallows.
- Learn to read paper maps and contours in these shallow water areas. Then you will begin to learn how to visually read the shore line, points, channel swings and bends in the creeks as you fish them.
- Mapping should be a big part of preparing for a trip. Pick 3 shallow water spots to fish each morning the first 2 hours of your day. Keep doing this until you have located the best 3 spots on the lake.
- Now learn to follow these shallow water fish to where they live. They use the same routes each morning to the shallows stopping on the same ambush spots to feed. Time spent on the water will allow you to locate them at these mid range spots.
- Next comes deep water adjoining all these spots. Great dept finders will allow you to master this much faster. Going with fisherman that have mastered this is a must to shorten the learning curve.
- Select one lake if you want to be a great fisherman. Fish it until you can win on it if that is one of your goals as a tournament fisherman.
- Never use fishing gear that will allow you to break a big fish off in shallow heavy cover. You will only be disappointed and your story will be about the one that got away.
- Use scent on all your baits heavily. It mask the human odor and will sew up the deal on big Bass that are looking for all the right things. They didn't get huge by making mistakes.
- Use baits that carry all the right senses that the fish are looking for; sight, sound, profile, scent, vibration and conditions. Match the hatch. Learn the baits to use on windy days, cloudy days, sunny days, bad weather days, stained water and clear water. Putting all this together is a lost art.
- Proven search baits to use in shallow water with 5 variations of each: top waters, spinner baits, jigs, square bill cranks, flukes and pitching plastics.

Find and join a local bass club. Also, watch YouTube videos on bass fishing. A lot of good information there.

Yes that was a joke, but here is some actual advice I can pass along.

One of the best pieces of advice I was ever given many years ago still stands true today. Don't try and "catch other's fish". What that means is if you constantly listen to all the "dock talk" about how this guy or that guy is catching fish, you'll constantly be chasing words not fish.

Learn to fish to your strengths and fish what you're confident in doing that will produce for you and more than likely you'll find success...

Listen to what the fish tell you

You are still a great stick on the lake...
But another tip, if you see another boat in distress, stop and help out.. Back in 2005, my motor fell off my champion on Lewisville and not one boater stopped by to check on me. It's pretty obvious I was in distress, no motor and I was waving a red floatation device to flag down help. Again nobody stopped... Karma goes a long way

I hope you tazed their arse first chance you got.

Less tackle is better than more tackle. Took 80% of my tackle out and couldn't believe the difference it made in boat performance. And you get a lot better with what you have.

1. Don't be scared to go find fish where others won't and don't listen to the he said, she said stuff. It's much more enjoying to find them your way.
2. Practice some common courtesy. Don't let other guys get you flustered. That's hard to do sometimes.
3. Find an experienced(good experience) boater to teach you a few things.
4. Have a spare for EVERYTHING on the boat. It will all break when you need it the most.
5. Most importantly, have fun.

Be sure to lift the trolling motor before putting it on the trailer.

Don't mess around with Jim!

Seriously lift your trolling motor before you take off with the big motor. Had a friend rip off a $1,200 TM this way several years ago.

When fishing soft plastics, if you think your fishing too slow, fish even slower!

Don't [censored] into the wind.
Learn a Palomar knot
Put gear in your hands before you buy, asking others will only tell you what they like, or who they're sponsors are.

Everybody... Be sure you can get in your boat fast if you fall in. Hit a stump on the trolling motor standing up front and in ya go. Winter water 40 and you got 5 min, Fat, old, three layers clothes on.... Dead...
Try putting foot on motor near prop and use the trim button and come over the motor.
This is why others said to have a change of clothes in the boat.

Make sure you have baby brush hogs, super flukes, and senkos on the boat at all times.