So after a long hiatus I’m back to my blog. Originally I thought I would blog MORE during the winter when I’m sitting on my butt and the fish are hiding away in freezing cold water under inches of ice. Instead I found my honey-do list quite long this year and my job really busy.  Things are slowing down and fishing is starting up… so time to talk fishing!

I want to focus on changes I am making for the coming season.  I bombed in the tournaments last year.  I know we all have our off years but I took time this winter to reevaluate my tactics for the coming tournaments and for non-tournament fishing. I had two great seasons prior to last year and then things fell apart. And I think I know why….

Novelties. I spent too much time trying weird unproven tactics that I read about on websites and in fishing magazines. While I intend to be innovative this year and keep changing things up to throw the fish off their game… I am going to generally fish with more tried and true tactics. This year for freshwater:  I plan on spending a lot of time with jerkbaits (hard and soft) , jigs, soft plastics (texas rigged, Carolina rigged, weightless, wacky rig and drop shot) , crankbaits (one of my absolute favorite lures and I want to use them a lot this season), spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, swimbaits and tubes.  I plan on wasting less time on frogs, which are time wasters and terribly frustrating in a tournament (but fun outside a tournament), shaky head unless I find a spot that begs for it, weird creature baits which seem to never get hit regardless of what the magazine articles say and numerous other tactics which fail me in tournaments.

Attractant. I couldn’t find my favorite attractant last season so I opted for a different brand. I won’t make that mistake again. I’m convinced my favorite brand makes a difference on how long the fish holds onto the bait. And yes I’m not going to tell you what it is. Sorry. Just keep an eye on me and you’ll spot the stuff I’m smearing on my lures. Good luck with that.

 Obsession with standing up. I thought standing while fishing was the best thing since kayak fishing. I’m convinced that’s not the case. There are times it is helpful without question. But I was more focused on not falling in the water and looking cool as I’m stand-up-paddling than I was on catching fish. I believe you lose some of your stealth standing up. Stealth is what kayak fishing is all about! The only time I felt an advantage standing was sight fishing. This is useful during the spawn but most of the time its more trouble than it’s worth in a kayak. With my new Hobie Outback my butt is staying firmly planted in the seat!

Fishing speed. I know I fished WAY too fast last year.  While compensating for the above mentioned failures I was moving my lures too quickly. Especially my soft plastics. This year I am forcing myself to slow down. Patience pays off in fishing.  I do know I am a power fisherman and need to tailor to that but when I am not using power fishing techniques I have to watch my speed.

Stress. The more I failed last season the more I tried too hard to compensate. This led to fishing too quickly and changing lures too frequently. I wanted to figure out the pattern without putting in the time. This is going to be the hardest change this season. It’s not a gear issue or a tactic but a mental one. But I’m determined to do it.

My next post will still be on changes but more gear centered and will hit on saltwater as well. Check back in soon!