Bass fishing has grown into a highly competitive sport. I am sure we can all agree on that. Just like any other competitive sport, if you want to succeed it requires hours, days, weeks, and years of dedicated hard work and practice. Unlike most other professional sports, a professional bass angler does not have a coach on the sidelines calling in plays, or giving motivated speeches at half-time. It is up to us to be our own coach, motivator, and toughest critic. Being an unbiased critic of yourself is a tough thing to do. It requires you to set your ego and pride aside and really evaluate your weaknesses and mistakes. Doing a self evaluation of your own fishing skills could be the most beneficial thing you do this year towards making you a better bass angler. I will share with you a short evaluation I made of my own fishing career a few years back, and how it has made me a much more complete angler. I hope this insight into my mistakes will help you along in becoming a better bass fisherman.

I have always been an angler who learns things the hard way. From the time I was sixteen, and started this game of tournament angling, I have been stubborn in my approach to learning about this sport. I never fished the amateur side of any Pro-Am tournament circuits; I never prodded any other pros for information or hot baits, and when I subscribed to Bassmaster magazine I usually only looked at the pictures. I learned most of what I know by figuring it out myself on the water. This approach has truly been a double-edged sword. My rewards have been great. By learning everything I know on my own, I have developed a style and intuition that is undeniably “mine”. When I succeed I have great satisfaction in the knowledge that it is a result of my hard work alone, and mot my forefathers or peers of the sport.

The other side of the sword is brutal. Often times I have been too close-minded to new techniques and baits, or simply the last to know about them. An easy example was my long-standing refusal to employ the use of light lines, spinning reels, and deep water techniques. I prided myself on my ability to always seem to catch fish shallow. I do have a knack for catching fish “my way”, but this refusal to learn a new element of the sport has cost me on several occasions. Instead of embracing something that could make me a more complete angler, I dismissed it as “just not being my style”. Big mistake.

As the tournament circuits branched out to waters unfamiliar to me I was thrust into situations that my limited skill set hadn’t prepared me for. Different styles of lakes, at different times of year, and bites that were often very tough were a bad recipe for my single minded approach. Simply put, often time it seems impossible to catch consistent fish shallow with my power techniques. In these conditions do not worry about catching fish “your way” or “their way”, just worry about catching them anyway possible. I have come to this realization by maturing as a tournament angler, or in other words, by getting my @#! handed to me in more tournaments that I care to tell you about! A sad example of how solely doing things your way can hurt.

I have certainly stunted the growth of my angling career and fishing talents by learning everything alone on the water. That was the slow hard way. I would strongly recommend getting as much help as you can early in your fishing career. Begin by attending seminars, such as the BassmasterU classes. The money spent will be so well worth it, those guys are there to spill their guts to you. Absorb it all in. Fishing on the amateur side of any local Pro-Am circuits can also really accelerate your learning curve. Anytime you can fish with another angler the opportunity is there to learn something new, no matter what level of angling you’re at. I love the opportunity I get occasionally to fish with some of my peers. I always pick-up some little tip by watching them and then add it to my arsenal.

Don’t get me wrong, you can’t build a fishing career by chasing everybody else around. I suppose it’s like most things in life…moderation is best. A healthy dose of help, keeping an open mind, and tons of hard work on the water is a recipe for unlimited success. For me, not keeping an open mind to any and all techniques available stunted the pace of my success in this sport. I now try to break down any self-imposed barriers that limit my success by labeling me as a certain type of fisherman. Another Lesson Learned.