The Past Eighteen Months (A look back…)

By Rob Brewer

In my last article, I explained what I believe to be the advantages of belonging to a bass fishing club. Having fished in tournaments for the past eighteen months with the club and having shared a boat with several different partners during that time, I’ve learned a few valuable lessons and made some humorous observations. Learning should be a never-ending process. I try to learn something new on every trip. It really doesn’t matter what it is, as long as I walk away with something. It could be a new hot spot, or the fact that culling floats truly are a time saver or any of the other ten million possibilities that the dedicated pursuit of bass fishing affords. 

One of the things I’ve done to help retain these “nuggets” of wisdom is modifying my fishing log. I have added a section titled “lessons I’ve learned”. When I return from each trip, I have to write something new in there that I have picked up. Sometimes this can take several hours of reliving the day; sometimes I immediately start writing and don’t have enough room in the block. I will share some experiences. In an effort to help you catch more fish, I want to share with you some of the things I have learned while fishing both for fun and in tournaments. I’m sure some of you will be able to relate directly to some of these items.

• Never take your eyes off your bait when fishing topwaters. The second you turn your gaze toward that boat that just went by or the wildlife ashore, a 4-pound bass will slurp it under just long enough for you to see him spit it out. 
• Trailer hooks DO boat more fish. I wish I had started using them 10 years ago. They don’t foul enough to warrant not using them. Boating three consecutive fish on the trailer hook only, was all the convincing I needed. 
• Carrying a big “possum belly” with every lure imaginable is a waste of boat space and only adds weight. Instead, pick four lures that will cover the entire water column. 
• Master those four lures. Refine them to only one or two colors that you have confidence in. Gone are your decisions about lure selection and color. You do fish with four rods in your boat don’t you? 
• Want to use more lures? Confine experimenting to prefishing or fun fishing. Tournaments are not the place. Time is too valuable of a commodity to waste. 
• Back to those four lures again. You can change those four lures according to the season. For example, lose the topwater for a silver buddy, jigging spoon, or rogue in the cold water season.  
• Your best five bass usually average 2.5 to 3 pounds whenever you are prefishing. When you return for the tournament, those bass have mysteriously managed to lose fifty percent of their body weight or they’ve disappeared all together and have been replaced with pickerel and bowfin.
• Stren, Trilene, and P-line. All three have won tournaments. All three have taken big fish awards. I’ve used all three this year. NONE have failed me on a fish. Use what you have confidence in. Whichever brand you choose, it won’t fail you IF YOU DO YOUR PART. What’s that you ask? You must tie good, wetted knots & test load them, inspect your line often, retie often and use an appropriate line for the application at hand. If you are worm fishing with 8lb test, you’re fishing on borrowed time.
• When launching your boat in the predawn darkness, don’t keep your eyes fixed in the rear-view mirror. The sound of water entering your cab will break your concentration real fast.
• Speaking of launching boats, there are people out there who think you prepare your boat to launch in the “launch lane. Usually it’s a “new boater” who has no clue about ramp etiquette or how back up a trailer. Not only could four boats have launched in the time in took for this person to prep their boat, but six more could have launched by the time they backed their boat in the water
• Bass are not half as smart as we give them credit for. Sometimes they elude us, but it’s not because of their “intelligence”. We’re simply doing something wrong.
• I still can’t understand what makes one fisherman “hot” and the other "not". You and your partner can be fishing the same bait, same line diameter, etc, etc and one will catch more fish than the other. Backseat more so than front seat.
• Premium hooks will boat more fish. It doesn’t matter if they’re Gamakatsu, Daiachii, Owner, Hookerz, VMC, or Mustad. Spend the money for them; you’ll see a difference. It still amazes me how some people can shell out $10 for a lure they think looks good, but skimp when it comes to hooks and line. When you think about it, that’s ALL there really is between you and the fish.
• All those bluegills biting your bait aren’t necessarily bluegills. Don’t refuse to set the hook because they are harassing you. Keep swinging at them. You’ll either hook a few “blue-bass” or you’ll collapse from exhaustion.
• Culling floats are not a novelty item. You can cull in 1/10^th the time with a fish on a float. If you do not find it difficult and time consuming to cull an “unfloated” fish, your live-well is probably too small or your aeration system isn’t cutting it.
• A twenty-minute run to a honey hole takes thirty-five minutes to return from when the live-well is full.
• A pack of cellular phone fuses are the same size and amp rating as my fishfinder.
• Different people keep their boat in various states of repair. Time spent fiddling with live-wells, fishfinders and battery connections is time lost fishing. Fix problems at home; use your fishing day to fish.
• Make it a rule to always have a hook “wet”. If you need to pause from fishing to retie, take a leak, eat a sandwich or whatever, throw a worm or fluke out and let it sit while you do whatever it is you must do. Remember those times you were picking out a backlash and you caught a fish?
• As part of time management, do any of the above-mentioned items, when motoring to another hole if possible. Maximize presentation time. A dry hook can’t catch fish.
• When prefishing a lake with a tournament competitor, don’t show and tell all if his boat is faster than yours is.
• Don’t “shoot the bull” with your partner. Focus on fishing and concentrate on your bait. Before blast off ask your partner point blank, Can you swim? Do you know how to use the net? Can you operate this outboard motor? If you’re the one being asked, answer honestly. There is an art to netting fish. It’s better to “boat flip” one aboard than dork around with a net and knock the fish off if you aren’t experienced. The other two questions may save a life.
• Whenever you catch your limit before 10:00, all fish caught after 10:00 won’t cull anything.
• When fishing grassbeds and continuously fouling your bait with grass, one of those “clumps” will be a 7-pound bass. They usually hold on long enough for you to see a glimpse of their 1 ½” wide lateral line or to get a quick peek inside that coffee can size mouth as your lure comes sailing out of it.
• When fishing grassbeds and continuously fouling your bait with grass and one of those “clumps” begins to swim away, it will only be a 1-pound bass.
• Always go with your “gut instinct”. Ignore “dock talk” and what others are saying. Stick with your plan. You did think this through for the past couple of days didn’t you?
• Pay attention to weather forecasts. Where is the wind supposed to be from? How strong? Is it going to be sunny or cloudy? All of these factors affect fish location and activity. Observe weather conditions a few days out. Incorporate these effects into your strategy.
• Just because it is 12:00 and you have not boated a fish, don’t let your confidence dwindle. Stay focused and fish hard. It’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s a must do if you want to have any hope at all of placing or winning. On that note, guys who had empty live-wells at 2 PM have won some of our tournaments.
• The lunker of the year or tournament winning fish can bite anytime your bait is in the water. Remember that. Fish like that too. Murphy’s Law mandates it happen when you are least prepared to react to it.
• On that same note, fish your bait like an eight-pounder is eyeing it. You would not believe how many bass actually are watching your lure.
• If you find the “skunk” is still in your boat and it’s late in the day. Resort to your “confidence presentation” whatever that may be, and stick to it. Slow down and fish thoroughly.
• Sometimes the fishing actually is pretty darn tough.
• Bass will bite a topwater anytime of the day. Morning, evening and overcast days may be prime but they’re not exclusive.
• I live by the rule that bass will bite if shown a reasonable presentation. If I am not catching fish, it’s because I’m not putting my bait in front of fish. It’s that simple.
• Show others courtesy. Just because you are in a tournament, it doesn’t give you any more right to the lake. A wise man once told me “If you think you are pissing somebody off, then you probably are”. Don’t do anything to another angler you wouldn’t want them to do to you.
• Lure depth and speed are far more important than lure color and size.
• Some guys break more rods in a single season than I’ll ever own in my life.
• I’m amazed at the number of “serious” fisherman who do not own a pair of polarized sunglasses.
• Why does time go by so fast in tournaments but crawls along when fun fishing or prefishing?
• No tournament is over until it is over. You have not won or placed anywhere until the weigh-in is completed. Even if you got “skunked”, as long as you went home with a valuable lesson, you still won. You will only get out of it what you put into it. I hope you were able to learn something from my experiences and I hope you all will continue to share yours with me. 
  
  Fishing is life, Rob