Bass Fishing 401

Bass Fishing 401:

     I see a lot of "Fishing 101" articles, and videos, and blogs, and vlogs, and pogs, and even a shmog or two about the basics of fishing.  But this isn't an entry level course on fishing (or grammar for that matter, just look at all the rules I've broken in these first two sentences!). This is the 400 level.  The point in your education where the pupil becomes the master.  Where you are trusted with the responsibility of taking a new human mind under your wing, to form a student of your own in the likes of your self.  To pass down not just knowledge of a game, but a legacy of champions.  A student that will one day grow into a master himself.  More powerful than you could ever imagine.  A master, who fueled by fear and suffering, turns to his powers to cheat death and save the life of his beloved baby momma.  A master with a false hope that his power of this force can be used for good.  To rise and unite the galaxy as one under the Galactic Emp....  Wait, no, that's Star Wars.  Fishing.  We're talking about fishing....

     What I'm trying to say is, this discussion is not about you.  You already know how to fish.  This is about teaching others.  And let me make one thing clear, sharing this article to your rookie friend is not going to teach said friend to fish.  That's right, in a cyber world of shares and viral media, I'm telling you NOT to share this article!  Instead, use it to share YOUR knowledge.  Use it to pass down a lesson the way education is supposed to work, through real life human connection.

     Throughout this article, I've emphasized with bold some of the more specifically educational points.  These points are important to keep in mind throughout the whole process, and even when teaching non-related fishing items.  I spent WAY too much money on used text books in college, and these are the kind of things that were already highlighted in them.

Lesson 1:  The Bobber Rig

     If your student is a 5 year-old child or a girl you met on Tinder, then this is a great place to start.  If your student is anything else there's a better way.  In short, "Lesson 1: The Bobber Rig" is don't use the bobber rig.

     For most people, staring at a bobber is boring.  Its a common theory among childhood development experts that children have an attention span of minutes equal to their age.  This means that a six-year-old can focus on that bobber for about six minutes before he'll get bored and grouchy.  However, in my experience, working with children everyday from ages 5 to 12 as an elementary school teacher, this pattern cuts off at about 10.  Anyone older will have their cellphone out texting, or on Instagram, before the bobber even hits the water.  I can't tell you how many teenagers I've met who were turned off to fishing because they learned with a bobber but weren't old enough for the beer that MUST accompany this kind of fishing.

Lesson 2: Equipment

     Working with big, heavy equipment can be difficult for someone first learning.  Regardless of if they are learning with spinning gear or a *baitcaster, downsizing the equipment will help them to feel more in control of it.

     I'd recommend a medium power, fast action rod not over 7 feet long.  Carrot Stix (as shown in the photo above) make some great rods for every level of angler from novice to pro.  The carrot-based fibers that give the rods their name translates to a rod that's both lighter and more durable than many rods on the market making them a great choice for a beginner that's going to be rather tough on a rod.  You can find more info on Carrot Stix HERE if you're in the mood for an orange rod!

     

     Whatever rod you choose, spool it up with a high quality mono-filament line around 10 to 12 pound test.  Trying to cast the cheapest line from the bargain bin at Walmart is difficult for the best of us, it's not going to make casting for your student any easier either.  However, don't use high priced braid or fluorocarbon.  You are going to be dealing with a lot of birds nests, loops/tangles/knots, and nicks in the line from casting into trees, bushes, rocks, fences, and anything else that may be up on the shoreline.  After just a trip or two, that line may be ready to be replaced.

     Set your pupil up with a small tackle box of a variety of "do-nothing" and "cast-and-wind" lures.  Examples of a do nothing bait would be something like weightless wacky worms and shakeyheads.  These are lures that you cast out and let sit for longer periods of time (but not so long as to bore the student).  Lures that you may relate to the term "dead sticking" are great choices.  Cast-and-wind lures are generally reaction baits like crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and small swimbaits.  Basically, you want to avoid any kind of presentation where you have to impart your own action on the bait.  The student has enough things to worry about at this stage, cadences and whatnot are just going to over complicate and confuse them.

*Don't be afraid to start someone with a bait caster.  I learned to fish with them when I was about 7 or 8 years old, a teenager or older certainly can too.

**But definitely avoid the spincast reels.  Not only do they tangle up and break all the time, they teach bad habits.  The release point is at a very different time than other reels, and the locomotor movements within your hands and thumb are opposite of others.  Just like the bobber rig, unless you're teaching a five-year-old, just say no to spincasts.

Lesson 3: Casting

     If you can't cast, you can't fish.  Teaching someone to cast is the MOST IMPORTANT PART (I capitalized that for those of you that skim through these and may miss something)!  Your student simply won't catch a fish if they're only casting 15 feet in random directions.  I can't stress this enough, casting should be the number one concern for both the teacher and the student.  This lesson should be broken down into two smaller lessons: distance and accuracy.

Distance:

     This is the time for your cast-and-wind baits.  Spinner baits like the Boyd Duckett BD Series Spinner Bait, Yo-Zuri 3DB Lipless Crank, and the Olympic Lure's jointed swimbait are all great cast-and-wind lures that won't run too deep and get snagged on the bottom.  These lures, plus many more, can be found in this month's Lucky Tackle Box.  Check them out HERE if you are so inclined.

     The key is repetition.  The more casts you can get in each trip, the more practice they will get at it, and the more progress that will be made.  Even if the fish aren't on a reaction bite, keep hammering away with those cranks and spinners.  It's not about what's best for the fish, but what's best for the student.

     Find some off-shore structure to fish and place a marker buoy out on top of it.  Tie on a crankbait that runs just deep enough to get down to the structure, but not more.  It doesn't need to drag the bottom or get hung up in the brush piles, remember the focus is casting, not catching.

Position the boat about 30 feet off the marker.  The goal should be to cast past the marker, not to it.  At this point, we're working on distance so the marker is a goal, not a target.  As needed, back the boat further away from the marker until they can consistently reach 50 to 60 feet.

     Don't force a technique on them, let them figure out what's most comfortable.  A two handed over hand cast might be the best way to get distance for you, but maybe a slinging side arm cast is the most comfortable for them.  Let them discover the tweaks they have to make to all the little details of the cast.  Explaining every last thing to them and nagging them about every detail is just going to ruin it for them.  After all, everyone casts a little bit differently anyway.  As long as they don't look like Charles Barkley's golf swing, they're going to be just fine.

Accuracy:

     Tie on something small and compact, but heavy enough to cast pretty easily.  This is a time for those "do-nothing" baits.  For a baitcaster I'd recommend something like a jig or a Texas-rig from about 1/4 to 1/2 ounce.  A small shakeyhead worm or weightless 5-inch Senko would be a good choice for spinning gear.  Cactus Wren Outdoors, HERE, makes a great little shakyhead jig head.  Pair the Rock Hopper up with a 5-inch Quail Tail or Talking Stick soft plastic and you have a great little compact, weedless, fish-catching thingamabob (Yup, a thingamabob).  Whatever you choose, make sure it's weedless!  Your student is going to be throwing that lure into all kinds of crap on the shore line, and it's your job to go dig it out.  The more exposed the hook is, the tougher it's going to be to get it out of those tullies.

     Find a location along the shore that doesn't have too much vegetation, rip-rap banks work great.  Have your student pick a rock around the shore line and cast to that rock from different angles.  Each angle will slightly change the distance as well.  This is important!  Accuracy is not about just hitting your target from left to right, but distance as well.  It doesn't matter how well you can cast along the X-axis if you're constantly over shooting (or under shooting) your target.

     Once they feel comfortable controlling the distance, move on to some isolated cover.  Stumps and stickups on shallow flats are great high percentage areas that give them a great chance to get bit at this early stage.  Have them focus on casting to either the left or right of the target, but not directly on it.  Not only will this mean less hang ups, but the larger target will give them more confidence.  Missing their target (a tiny little stick) will discourage them, but casting into the larger area will make them feel more comfortable.

     Use this time to tell them a bit about the bass's feeding habits or seasonal patterns.  These habits are why accuracy matters.  The "why" is important to motivate the student.  Were you the kind of student in school that put less effort into math class because no teacher could ever tell you why you needed to know logs, factoring, and the quadratic formula to succeed in life?  They probably were too, and maybe still are.  So consider the conditions.  Is there current where you're fishing?  Bass will be on one side of the cover or the other based on current.  Post front conditions?  Bass will be holding closer to the cover, and accuracy is more important.  Is there shade on the water from docks, cliffs, trees, clouds?  Bass will be more willing to leave the cover and chase down baits so accuracy isn't as important.

Lesson 4: Setting the Hook

     Unfortunately this is a situation that you can't recreate on your own.  It's also not a situation that occurs all that often on its own.  The K.I.S.S. method is important here, and no I'm not referring to Jimmy Houston kissing each fish.  There are a ton of acronyms in the education world, but none as important as KISS:  Keep It Simple, Stupid!

The process should go something like this:

1. Feel something on your line?

2. Lift the rod tip up and reel in!

It really is that simple, stupid.

     This isn't the advice I give to advanced anglers.  An advanced angler should know that various types of lures need different types of hooksets in order to increase your hook up ratio.  And I absolutely loath the sayings "when in doubt, set the hook" or "hooksets are free".  In my opinion they are just wrong, wrong, WRONG!  But that's another article...  I regress...  In this instance, if anything feels different, have them set the hook!

     Keep it simple with regards to step 1:  "I don't know what a bite feels like."  So set the hook on everything.  If your student feels something and sets the hook on nothing, now they know that's not what a bass feels like.  Eventually they will feel something and set the hook to find a bass on the other end.  That's what a bass feels like!  In order to learn it, they have to experience it.

     Keep it simple with regards to step 2:  More times than not, a bass will hit a lure and swim down.  To set that hook and turn him around, you want to put opposite resistance on that hook point, so pull him up!

Lesson 5:  Landing the Fish:

     Don't be a jerk, get down there on your knees and grab it for him!  One of these days he'll feel confident enough to grab yours for you.  That's the sign of a true partner. (Are we still talking about fishing?)

     Seriously though, don't be a jerk.  This might be a long time friend and you've busted each other's balls all your life.  Maybe it's a buddy from work that you always give some crap to in the break room.  But by agreeing to let you teach them something, they've put themselves in a pretty vulnerable situation. Now isn't the time to be tough on them.  Be cool.

Lesson 6:  Be Sure to Catch Fish

     Success breeds confidence and confidence breeds success.  Take your buddy fishing to a place, and on a day, where you know you can catch fish.  No one likes getting skunked, especially when they're first learning.  Catching fish from day one is a huge confidence boost and will make them want to go out again and again.  You've only got one shot at that first impression.  If their first impression is "we fished for 7 hours without a bite, all I got was this sun burn," it's going to be real hard to convince them to go out a second time.

     It's important that YOU catch a fish or two as well.  A good teacher needs to be a master of the skill.  The old saying "Those who can't, teach" is complete nonsense!  Teachers need to be able to show examples and prove their knowledge and skills to the student.  As a student, it's awfully hard to respect the teacher and learn from them if you don't really believe they are a master in the first place.

Lesson 7: The Retrieve

     It may seem a bit out of order to be discussing the retrieve after hookset and landing, but remember that up to this point your student should should only be using simple cast-and-wind lures, and do-nothing lures.  Retrieving different types of lures in a variety of ways is a relatively advanced topic.  Lesson 7 probably won't be discussed until a few trips in when your student has already mastered distance and accuracy.

     Obviously retrieving the lure will depend on what the lure is.  A wacky worm is worked in differently than a spinner bait, a craw imitation bait is retrieved differently than a shad imitation.  When explaining the retrieve, start from the end-goal.  Teaching from the end to the beginning is huge in the education world, we call it "backwards design".  The theory is that the student will have a better understanding of the process if they already know the end result.  They may even fill in the blanks on their own!

So what is the end result?  Well, it depends on what the lure is.  A Texas-rigged Rage Craw's end result is to look like a crawfish.  Crawfish swim, or bounce if you will, in quick short bursts backwards.  That's what should be explained to the student.  If they understand how the real life prey works, they can figure out on their own how to make the lure do that (by quick pops of the rod upwards).  If you simply tell them to quickly pop the rod upwards, it gives them a lot of variables to guess at (How quickly?  How far of a pop?  How often do I pop?).  If you explain to them and show them how the bait moves, they can figure out the finer details on their own.

     The same goes for any lure!  Start with the end.  What are you imitating?  What does that look like?  Then go find some clear water and experiment until your student figures out what to do

Final Thoughts:

-Your student should be fishing more than you do!

- If you're out on a boat, don't stick them in the back seat the whole day!

-Teaching is a tiring activity, you need to constantly be involved with your student's progress.  Keep and eye on each cast.  Compliment every success and criticize each mistake.

-Keep the lectures short and to the point.

-Keep them active, repeating cast after cast, success after success.

-Make that first fish the biggest deal in the world!  Doesn't matter if it's a half-pound dink, or a six-pounder.  A first fish is reason to celebrate!

     Most importantly, it doesn't matter how old someone is.  They're never to old to fish for the first time.  And despite the picture at the start of this post, fishing really isn't that easy.  A helping hand can go a long way!

     Tight lines!