It is New Year’s Day. No doubt you are already eating well, exercising regularly, and have long ago sworn off all your bad habits, so, why not focus on fishing when it comes to making a few New Year’s resolutions?

These next few suggestions will go a long way toward making you a better angler in the span of the next year if you are diligent about pursing them. Pick just one, or pursue them all. Let’s get started…

RESOLUTION #1: I resolve to keep a detailed, written log of my fishing successes and failures.

If you have ever visited my website www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com, or my Facebook page facebook.com/bobmaindelleyou will find at the very bottom of my detailed fishing reports a concise summary of the conditions I faced on a given fishing trip, the success I enjoyed, where that success was had, and any other items of note.

The data I include in each “snapshot” are: date, start time, end time, starting ambient air temperature, water surface temperature, wind speed and direction, percentage of cloud cover, moon phase, results (fish caught), and location (based on the GPS coordinates of waypoints I place on the areas I fish using the chartplotter feature of my sonar unit). Other items of note include statements like “saw first sunfish in the shallows today” or “first gulls of the season arrived today”, etc.

By starting such a log you will be able to refer back to a given time of year at that time of year in the future and build on past successes.

I now have a 25-year database with over 3,700 entries covering everything from floods to drought, and from 14F mornings to 109F afternoons. Rarely do I encounter conditions that I have not encountered and taken note of in the past. This helps me to be successful.

RESOLUTION #2: I resolve to choose one body of water and fish it exclusively.

Because we are blessed with multiple, productive bodies of water to choose from here in central Texas, it is tempting after experiencing a bad day on the water to “go somewhere else” in hopes of finding better fishing.

As the saying goes, “Even a blind sow finds an acorn now and then.” Yes, you will occasionally happen into some good fishing by skipping around to various lakes or by chasing the latest reports on the various fishing websites out there. But, there is no substitute for having the confidence that comes with experience, and experience is had by putting time in and searching out fish-holding cover and bottom features and then getting a bait down there and observing for what happens next.

Fishing one body of water for one year in all manner of conditions will make you a better angler.

RESOLUTION #3: I resolve to go fishing with a professional fishing guide.

I’ve taken at least one guided trip per year every year since I graduated from college 25 years ago. I do not regret a single one, nor did I fail to pick up some tip or tactic or tidbit that I was able to apply to my own fishing upon my return home.

When you go with a guide, do your homework and go with someone who excels at something at which you do not. If you are a great soft plastic angler, but you just cannot seem to catch fish in deep water on a slab, then do some research and find someone who is good at that. Then, find out what time of year is best for learning that technique and communicate your intentions to the guide.

As a guide, when someone tells me they want to learn a particular skill during their trip, I will often fish very differently in trying to accomplish that for the client versus how I would go about conducting the trip were the goal simply to catch fish.

RESOLUTION #4: I will take the time to learn to use my sonar unit better.

Other than occasionally fishing for surface-feeding fish that I have visually located, I simply don’t fish for fish that I haven’t verified the presence of on sonar first.

Modern sonar is an incredibly effective fish-finding tool, yet most anglers barely scratch the surface on putting sonar’s full potential to use.

The first step in getting better with sonar is separating your fishing from your sonar education. I suggest that you dedicate several on-the-water sessions this upcoming year to “playing” with the buttons and variables on your sonar unit while not in pursuit of fish.

Take along a rod rigged with a ¾ or 1 ounce bell sinker so you can let it down directly under the boat and get your unit dialed in to watch it rise and fall in the water column in up to 40 feet of water.

Adjust things like sensitivity, color line, surface clutter, noise rejection, contrast, etc., and, as you do, just study the screen and what happens when you make those adjustments. This will be infinitely more helpful than watching videos online or reading the owner’s manual.

Next, drive over a bed of hydrilla, and then over a boat ramp, and then over some standing timber, all so you know what it looks like both on your colored sonar screen and on your down- and side-imaging screens.

If you are just starting off with your first sonar unit, ask a buddy who is good at using sonar to help you understand what is going on, or ask around at your local tackle shop for a recommendation on someone to help you out.




Happy New Year!

Great ideas and I absolutely love that center console

Bob, another great post. These resolutions will undoubtedly make me a better angler in 2022. I started fishing in May of 2020 and in only 18 months and about 2 dozen trips my knowledge and experience has increased exponentially. I started out on Memorial Day weekend 2020 and remember the moment of coming off plane, dipping the trolling motor in the water, and looking around and saying out loud, "I wonder where the fish are?" After 3-4 unsuccessful trips, I decided to start learning. This forum has been a tremendous tool for me. I get something new almost every time I view posts from yourself, Prosise, Dennis Christian, and more. Thank you for sharing these resolutions. For me, I plan to do all of these in 2022, and hope to increase my proficiency and take my kids to show them a fun time on the water too. Happy New Year and God bless!

Happy new year!
Bob I don’t know how you do what you do but keep it up!
I barely have time for anything but I guide 6 days a week and do have two teenage boys I’m sure my time will return when they’re gone and I miss them. One of the guides I looked up to growing up here always kept a serious serious log and I still kid with him even though he’s retired I want those logs :-)

Great post Bob, I need to work on all the above this year!

Bob, I would qualify #2 by adding "until you have learned the lake. Then you can add to your fishing pleasure by taking your white bass finding and catching skill-set to another lake and take on the challenge of finding and catching a mess of fish there." For me, I think it is fun to go to a new lake and see if I can do just that. Some lakes I have yet to try include Lavon, Sam Rayburn, Toledo Bend, Grapevine, Lake of the Pines, Caddo, Possom Kingdom, Benbrook, Summerville, Joe Pool, and Bridgeport. I still hope to get around to these some day.

Dennis, that is a good "qualifying statement"! I've been to most of those lakes on your list and might suggest you put Caddo up at the top. It's not really a white bass lake (although there are yellow bass in the river feeding into it), but it is a one-of-a-kind environment totally unlike the man-made reservoirs spread over the rest of the state. Take your bass gear and get ready to cast at all manner of cover to those cover-loving green fish. Heck, I even caught a pickeral there during my self-guided week of fishing some years ago.

Good to hear from you!

Sounds great Bob