I ended my last column with the idea that my bass catching success formula would work better if you also learned to marry the real world and the academic world. Here are a few suggestions for how you can do that.
Begin by making notes — I mean written ones — when you’re out fishing. Whenever you have a question about something or you want to know more about something jot it down. Once you’re off the water look it up on the Internet. See what the very best anglers have to say about the subject. This is especially important if it’s about your one strength because that’s where you’re going to start.
The two best places on the Internet are right here on this site and on my site.
Let’s say you’re having trouble tuning a crankbait. No matter what you do it still wants to run left, right or cock-eyed. Type your question into a search engine. Find the link. Read the article or watch the video and then apply what you learned the next time you go fishing.
The key is to know what you don’t know, and then find out about it. There’s no other way to get better.
One word about search engines, though, and websites in general. They’re part science and part art. On this site if you type in “tuning a lure” you’ll get nothing. But, if you type in “tuning a crankbait” you’ll get exactly what you’re looking for — a straightforward, simple explanation on the B.A.S.S. Channel about how to do it by Pete Ponds. If you type in “tuning a bait’ you’ll get the Pete Ponds video and one by Aaron Martens about spinnerbaits and buzzbaits as well as crankbaits.
On my site you’ll go to the Featured Videos or Fishing Videos tab and you can get the same information from me. Or, you can type in “tuning a crankbait Mike Iaconelli” into Google and get a link to the same video. We also have a new pay service that’s from The Bass University presentations. It’s called Bass University TV. You might want to give it a try if you can’t attend one of our seminars this winter.
You can do exactly the same thing if you want to learn a new technique. Everything is available if you take the time to find it. Let’s say you want to catch a bass on a piece of bacon — drop shot, jig and pig or spinnerbait trailer makes no difference. Just type “bass on bacon” into your Google search engine or any of the other ones and you’ll be good to go.
For those of you who don’t believe me go here, click on the video in the upper right-hand corner and watch me do it!
There is one thing I want to warn you about, however. Be careful where and from whom you get your information. There are common sense, quality controls in place on Bassmaster.com and on MikeIaconelli.com. We don’t tolerate garbage or stuff that’s obviously wrong or misleading. We both take great pride in helping anglers catch more bass. We don’t tolerate stupid. (The bacon thing doesn’t count.)
That’s not always the case with other sites. Some are good, some not. As a general rule you can pretty much depend on information you get from top professionals fishing any of the major circuits and from people and sites that you recognize. Be wary of others. They can set your fishing back as well as move it forward.
Mike Iaconelli’s column appears weekly on Bassmaster.com. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter or visit his website, mikeiaconelli.com.
