Advice for transitioning from being a "numbers" guy to being better at catching big fish
First post here as a relatively new BassU subscriber, so hopefully this is the right place to be asking this question. I've been really impressed with the content I've been able to absorb so far, and really looking forward to utilizing this awesome resource to improve further moving forward!
I'm a guy who is relatively new to current day tournament bass fishing, at least here in my home state of MN. I grew up in WV and fished a lot of tournaments with my dad through my childhood and teen years, but got away from it once I got to college and realized being gone every weekend wasn't compatible with some of the other things a college guy tends to take an interest in at that time in his life. After moving to MN as an adult and getting back into the bass fishing thing full swing, I've been tournament fishing fairly seriously for about 5 years now. I've learned an absolute TON during that time, and continue to learn more every year.
As I've transitioned from re-learning the tournament fishing game into being a guy who competes more regularly and wins one from time to time, the biggest thorn in my side has been getting over the hump in really figuring out how to focus on big fish. I am fairly comfortable in saying that I've become pretty good at catching good numbers of fish (keeping in mind that Minnesota is a different state than most when it comes to quality of bass fishing). Because of this, it seems that the days I shine are usually the days where it's tough--I can usually find a way to put fish into the boat, and when they're not biting very good, this pays off in good tourney finishes. The flip side of this is on days where they ARE biting a little better (and keep in mind that this is most of the time in MN), I often find myself rolling in with 13-14 lbs while the winners find a way to put together 17-20+ lb bags.
This has been something that has bothered me for several years now. Because I know you're all thinking it--yes, I consider myself a good finesse fisherman, and I do throw a lot of finesse techniques, but I've also spent a lot of time working on traditional "big fish" techniques like dragging a jig or flipping milfoil. Even so, it still seems that I'm only running into the 2-3 lbers than finding a way to stick a couple of the tournament winning 4-5 lbers.
I get it....This is probably the $1 million question in tournament fishing, and we'd probably be pros if we had a good answer. That said, does anyone have any advice that helped you learn to get over that hump? Is it just a metal thing, developing a mindset of finding a pattern where you're going out for 5 bites? Or is there something more to it? Any videos in the BassU library anyone feels like really helped them over the hump here?
Thanks everyone! Happy to be here!
I think it was an Ike on-the-water video that mentions this a little bit. He mentioned focusing on deeper, thicker, and current adjacent to the places you’ve found active/feeding fish. If you’re already finding smaller bass in an area, try nearby drop offs for deeper water, thicker cover in or around that area, or nearby areas that feature some sort of current to try to present your bait to the bigger fish in that area.
JT Kenney pretty much across the board is against the "catch a limit first" mentality. Personally, I can't shake it, I calm down after I have 5 in the box, but, as JT argues, what's the point of having 5 losing fish that you have to release if you're going to win anyway? I guess I'm stuck in the "get a check" mindset instead of going for the win. There are some videos on getting kickers (including one coming up from Patrick Walters on Thursday)
Zaldain on swimbaits for kicker bass: https://bassu.tv/bass-fishing-video/win-tournaments-with-kicker-swimbait-bass-zaldain
Tournament practice to win tournaments with Bryan Thrift: https://bassu.tv/bass-fishing-video/how-to-win-bass-fishing-tournaments-practice-right-bryan-thrift
Seeing as how you're from Minnesota, I can't think of anyone better to watch for geographical relevant content, and he flat out puts the hammer down on some 6lb smallies.
Shallow water smallmouth: https://bassu.tv/bass-fishing-video/shallow-water-smallmouth-seth-feider
Marabou jig smallmouth fishing: https://bassu.tv/bass-fishing-video/marabou-hair-jig-fishing-for-smallmouth-seth-feider
swimbaits for big smallmouth: https://bassu.tv/bass-fishing-video/swimbaits-for-big-smallmouth-seth-feider
I hope this helps.
Thanks for the advice and suggestions!
I’m almost always fishing deep in the summer, but I think the tidbit about thicker cover close by has some juice to it. Good insight Jon!
What you mention about the mindset, Jason, I think is probably the change I’m going to need to make. Related to that but I think slightly different are the days where I’ll be on school after school of fish, some decent ones mixed in, just tellIng myself there HAS to be some kickers in there. There just almost never are. Yep, I’ll maybe even scratch out 5 3 lbers doing that stuff. Not gonna cut it, though. I really need to ask myself the question, “what good is scratching out 5 3 lbers when you need 18 to contend?” Easier said than done, but the mindset is gonna have to be the way to start. I’ll definitely also check out those other videos.
Regarding the Feider videos, I’ve definitely taken in everything I can from him. Unfortunately most of my tourneys are dominated by largemouth so those specific ones are a little outside what I’m looking for, even as useful as that info is when I take trips to smallmouth lakes. That said, his milfoil flipping stuff is absolute GOLD and has directly contributed to me winning some derbies!
We had some technical difficulties with an 1HR+ on the water from Oliver Ngy yesterday. It's now set to publish today. I've seen the first half, and he's talks a good deal about why big swimbaits were the missing piece between him catching 3-5lb bass and catching double-digit bass. Of course, he's talking about California, but I think he's accurate in saying that the bigger bass were there, they weren't biting "traditional lures" (including traditional sizes). He starts off talking about the Megbass Magdraft, which is my absolute favorite bait. A 6" swimbait seems intimidating, until you catch your first non-keeper 13" bass on it, then a few cast later have a 4lb. spotted bass hit it like a truck. I didn't get to fish much last year, but the previous year all my biggest bass were caught on a Magdraft swimbait or a Tokyo rig with a 1/2 to 3/4 oz weight and a twin-tail skirted grub, fishing it like a wobble head. I like the Tokyo rig over the wobble head because it keeps the bait up higher. If I were trying to catch big bass to win tournaments, I'd be throwing these most of the day.
Magdraft - https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=c1UQEdGla5o&mid=38416&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tackledirect.com%2Fmegabass-magdraft-swimbait-lures.html
Tokyo rig - https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=c1UQEdGla5o&mid=38416&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tackledirect.com%2Fvmc-thdfl-tokyo-rig-heavy-duty-flippin-hook.html (I was using the offset hooks, because I made a bunch of these at home before VMC made them, but I think I'd like this straight shank with the keeper better)
Thanks for the updates and insight!
More often than not , this gets me too. Its so hard to skunk me, but getting over the hump is tough.
I mean another analogy is partners always pick on me for using lite line even on moving baits.
Ive watched enough bassu to fjnally change my line size to bigger lbs test but i always responded
Hey first step is to hook the big gal i can worry how to land her next lol.
