I was thinking about this the other day as I was out on the water. I'm guessing most you guys are like me and have limited time you can spend on the water.

For me, this means I generally go to what was working last time or what I've done in the past that's worked. That means I don't really want to spend the little time I have trying to learn a tactic I've never tried before. Some examples of things I'm really not familiar with would be dropshotting, carolina rigs, ned rigs, anything deep water really, etc. Since I just upgraded the electronics on my console these are definitely things I know I should learn but man, it's hard to take the small amount of time I have to do it.

How often are you guys going to your 'home lake' and trying new tactics that you've never tried before? Lures/baits you've never tried before, etc.

I'm genuinely curious because if I have 2-4 hours of fishing, most of the time I'm not going to try to locate fish on a ledge to learn dropshotting...but I know I need to make time to do it...somehow, lol.

When I fish alone I am usually looking at new water and often new techniques. When I have guests in the boat I hit known areas and use techniques that I have confidence in. For some reason I have a really hard time fishing water I know holds fish when I am by myself.

I think that's the catch... no pun intended... I find myself trying to learn more and try out some new technique...but then I get fish happy and want to catch em...so I go back to old ways of catching them...Really, If I just commit to learning more, it will pay off in the end.

This should work out well for me! Since I'm new to Texas I fish by myself 100% of the time, lol.



I hear ya. I spent a good amount of time yesterday just trying new knots thanks to one of the random threads in this forum.

I do whenever I get the wild hair to do it. Seems like every year I find something, whether it's something I haven't used in a long time or something new, that seems to be what I'm liking. I dont always go after the new "thing". I just go with whatever I think will work with how the water is looking.

every time I fish in our club, because we rotate our co-anglers with all the different boaters and share techniques and baits.

I learn a lot every time I fish. And I fish 3-5 days a week. I may not learn a new technique or terminal tackle trick, but I do learn either what to do, or what not to do. If I�m fishing a tourney, I still learn. If I get a limit quick, I spend �x� amount of time trying new spots or a new bait color. If I don�t have a limit, I learned what didn�t work.

They only way to get better is to try new ideas when the normal routine ain�t getting nowhere.

What you did last week is just a stepping stone, I�m always expanding and learning that�s what makes our sport so enjoyable

Yeah, I try to judge the situation for sure but it seems I always end up back to what I normally throw, lol!



This is a good point. I may have to look at a club of some sort. I think it would really help.



Completely agree! I just started doing the Thursday nighters out at Canyon, it was my first time fishing that late into the night. I learned real quick I needed a headlamp and it's hard to fish a spot you don't know when it's completely dark, lol.



Agreed.

This is what I do too...

I want to learn enough techniques and be able to do them well enough to catch something every time I go out and accurately target the species I want to catch!

Man if you don't want to commit to spending time behind the steering wheel idling around graphing so that you'll eventually learn what you're seeing and how to catch them, I have one question for you. Why did you but the graph in the first place?

This is just another Hank Parker easy fix that when you're wanting to become proficient with a new to you lure you have to commit to it until you build your confidence in it. This applies to learning your electronics and any techniques you're unfamiliar with. To avoid wasting time I suggest you hire a reputable guide for on the water electronics class and different techniques for catching them first hand. He can teach you a lot in a very short period of time compared to what it's going to take on your own. Best teacher in the world is first hand experience, that's what all we anglers build on.

I hear ya. I think I may have phrased it incorrectly. I guess my issue comes from not knowing if I'm, A) not using the electronics correctly when, B) I don't catch anything using a new technique. I do try to put in the time because I know it has to be done.

I guess my example would be, I was fishing a point with a rapid drop on one side from about 8ft to 25ft which looked to have some brush on it. I scanned the drop a few times and thought I saw some fish on it so I decided to throw a carolina rig. I did that for probably 1-2 hours without any action. Was I reading my electronics wrong? Was my setup wrong? Or...maybe it was just a bad day, lol!

I do think you're right though, I think spending some time with a good teacher is worth a lot.

Catching is fun, but if I just cared about that I�d fish for sandbass or hybrids. If you�re not spending a lot of time trying to figure out new spots or how to catch more or bigger fish, I reckon you�ll never get any better at it

A good fisherman told me this once and it has made me a much better fisherman. Network on here or other places and find people to fish with that are better than you. You will be amazed on what you learn from someone in the boat with you. Offer to take them out on your boat. I am similar in that I do not get near the time on the water that I would like because of life and twin 5 year olds. That being said I have three or four guys that I have fished with a lot that I learned so much from. I now prefer offshore fishing and fish techniques that I never would have tried before. In the past 8 years I learned to drop shot (my now favorite method), c-rig, stroke a wahoo, climb a jig over trees, and many more techniques. I can attribute 90% of what I learned from a good buddy of mine that gets to spend a lot more time on the water. I would have never thought of throwing a 8-10 inch swimbait 2 foot under the surface in 25-30 foot of water, but it works in the right conditions. When I fish now by myself, I have more confidence in attacking water with different techniques and looking for different things than I ever did before. This now makes me a better fisherman.

Now that I have my own boat for the past couple of years, I find myself taking out friends with less experience and they are starting to learn from me. I will say on those trips I am not learning as much as I am teaching, but you have to pass on the knowledge to help grow the sport.

Every trip you take out with someone, on their boat or yours there will be one fisherman that is better than the other. For the time being, it would serve you well to be the less experienced and be a sponge. Time on the water is key, but if you don't have it, develop a relationship with someone that does and increase your learning curve tremendously.

the way I have been fishing the last three years not near enough learning. I have been fishing to much history and not enough checking different water.