 One
of the biggest lures of bass fishing is the competitive
nature of the sport. At any level, its competing against
the fish on an afternoon out, your buddy on a Saturday
morning or in the structured setting of a professional
tournament, its competition in a pure form. This fact
causes us to occasionally encounter the malady that every
competitor, in every sport has to face "The Slump."
Like the slumping baseball player who is a half a blink
slow on a fastball, guessing wrong on the curve and when
he does make solid contact hits it directly at the waiting
fielder, we can fall into the same rut. We fish shallow
when the fish are deep, fish docks when they want weed,
and when we do hook up the line pops or the fish wraps
up in the weeds, Our confidence is shot, our feel is gone
and casting accuracy is non existent. Pal, you're in a
full blown slump!
How can we cure this? How can I get my groove back? Just
like the hitter in baseball that needs a hit in the worst
way and tries a bunt when he's a power hitter, we can
do the same thing. It's all about confidence and sometimes
it only takes one fish to get it back. My secret is to
act quickly when I realize I'm in trouble and don't wallow
in self pity. I go back to basics and keep things as simple
as possible. I put on four very simple lures and head
for the nearest visible weed bed that has some deep water
nearby. When I get there I turn off my electronics, because
when I'm not thinking right they can be one of the most
distracting contraptions in the world.
My lure choices are simple, a Mepps spinner #2 or #3,
a 1/16 oz. Jig with a 1 ½ or 2" grub, A small
floating Rapala, and a wacky worm rig. I start around
the weed bed and fish as I did in 60's when I was a kid.
On the shallow side I twitch and swim the rapala near
the edge of the weeds and then follow it up with the wacky
worm, letting it fall to the bottom, rest and then twitch
it a few times. I fish the water between the weed bed
and the shore this way until I start to come around to
the side of the bed. I'll follow the edge into deeper
water changing my tactics by casting the little grub into
the weed edge and swimming it out, and then following
that up with the mepps spinner, running it over the weeds
and retrieving it slowly around the deep edge. You might
think to yourself that I won't catch big fish that way.
I'm not looking for big fish now, I'm looking for bites,
any kind of bite, perch, crappie, bluegill, and of course
bass. All I want to do is get my concentration and confidence
back. I'll remember what a hit feels like and my focus
will return. The next thing I know I've turned my depth
finder back on and I'm looking for a drop or cut leading
to the weed bed from deep water and my brain is back processing
information like a computer, smooth and fast.
Try this the next time the gremlins move into your mind
and you'll see the difference, its fun to see a bad day
come around to be one that you may remember.
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