Spring 2022
®
personal apocalypse and get better in the process?
It’s time to mix it up.
One option is to devote yourself to learning a new technique or style of fishing. If you’re a dyed-in-the- wool power fisherman, go out with nothing but spinning rods. If you’ve never tried glide baits or swimbaits, find a way to gain confidence in them.
The second option is to find a new body of water to break down. In my experience, the guys who burn out after a few years tend to be the ones who fish a derby every Saturday, all year long, on the same body of water. Go someplace new and break it down.
As with trying new techniques, this may prove initially frustrating if it takes a while to get bit consistently, but you may be surprised at the fact that you get more satisfaction with minimal bites under new circumstances than the same old number of bites doing the same old thing.
Finally, if you’re
Photo: Pete Robbins
like me and you tend to fish either alone or
with a small circle of
regular partners, go
fishing with someone
new.
Ideally, go fishing
out of the boat of
someone who is better
than you, or at least
someone who fishes
differently than you do.
Make it clear that
you’re not there to steal
their spots, but just to
learn or to have fun – and
then analyze the hell
out of them. Do they fish
faster than you? Slower?
Deeper? Shallower? Do they throw bigger baits?
It may cement in your mind that you’ve been doing
the right things all along, or in the best-case scenario it’ll
give you a new lease on life. The ultimate goal here is to
rekindle your love of the sport and jump start new levels
of success…and perhaps most importantly to avoid a
future fire sale of your gear resulting from you switching to
bowling or golf. •
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