Like most anglers I am always looking for the newest lures, ritziest tackle, innovative storage, coolest electronics, swankiest clothing, revolutionary rods and state-of-the-art reels all to help me catch more fish and win more tournaments! I had the opportunity this year to attend ICAST 2016 in Orlando where over 600 companies showed off thousands of new items all designed to catch us anglers and pull money out of our wallets.
Now it is true that a lot of this so called NEW & IMPROVED gear will help you tighten your line more often it is also true that a lot these new fancy offerings will fail you in your quest to be better.
We all fall prey to the glitz and glitter of new color stick bait loaded up with the newest fish catching scent or the newfangled crankbait that will get deeper faster than we ever thought was possible and happily shell out hard earned dollars to add it our deadly arsenal of fish catching weapons.
Trust me as I was walking up and down the isles at ICAST 2016 I wanted all of it! Every corporate representative gave me believable spiels on why their product is must have for my days out on the water and I will be purchasing my fair share of these hot offerings just like most every other angler will. What I will not be doing is experimenting with my new gear during the rigors of a tournament. I may want too and I have done it a lot in the past but I won’t! Any new gear from cheapest lures to the most expensive kayaks need time to get confidence in and to learn the idiosyncrasies of how they perform.
Take for example that new stick bait I described earlier, it has this great new scent, great new color and should be a fish catching machine. Its competition morning and you have it wacky rigged weightless just like you do with your past favorite worm and you are ready to go. The whistle sounds and you’re off to your first spot of the day grab your rod and cast out your new super worm but your cast fall short of your intended target because this worm is a little lighter than are used to using. That’s already one cast wasted. After a few casts you get the hang of the new weight and are able to skip it perfected under those docks. That’s a few more casts squandered and what you don’t realize it that this new super worm is already “in your head” does it skip better than old worm, is it sinking at the right speed, will the fish really like the new scent, is the plastic too soft or to hard- 20 minutes into your day and you are already in panic mode and your thinking that maybe I should switch back to my old worm or should I stick with the new worm? In tournament fishing time is money and every second should be used to focus on catching bass with lures and gear that you know gets results not practicing with new baits that may or may not help you win.
This is what fun fishing is for.
I love it when I see a competitor angler fooling with a new fish finder or trying out the new fluorocarbon line which blows up on his spinning reel on the first cast because I know that I will have more fishing time and I will get more casts in than him which gives me a better chance of winning. When you are out on the lake just fishing for the enjoyment of fishing, have more fun by playing with all your new stuff, see how it all works, see what actually catches fish, learn the new electronics or new kayak and get that needed confidence in what works and put away what doesn’t work. Your tournament arsenal should only consist of tried and true money makers while your fun and practice days should be your experimental time. Do this and you will be a better tournament angler!
Layne Ell is an experienced kayak tournament angler that has competed in over 100 events throughout the country and is the President of the South Jersey Kayak Bass Fishing Club.
