Here I am again sitting in the house with cold temps and 40 mph winds predicted for today and 25 tomorrow with a little better chance to get out there and play. A few years ago, I sat down and tried to figure out how many hours some of us has spent on the water during our lifetime. Now that I have been retired for 8 years, more days have been spent on the water so I added them all up just to get an idea. I told you I was bored. From the first year I started learning about spoonplugging till I retired, 44 seasons have passed. We usually have about ten months we can launch a boat, sometimes more or less. So that's about 40 weekends or 80 days some of us could have fished. I always figured our little group of 3 guys spent at least 60 days a year on the water when we had to work for a living, plus vacations which were not included. Some of our days were shorter and some very long so 8 hours a day might be a good average. Retirement now gives me 150 to 165 days to be out there. The same time period was used figuring that an 8 hour day would still be an average day. 30,720 hours seems like a lot but with only one hobby and one desire to get better at something, maybe not really. And this is over a 52 year time period(a lifetime). Learning came in stages for me. Success trolling spoonplugs came the second time I went out. With a 12 ft jon boat with a 5 1/2 hp johnson and a green box style flasher, we went at it! My next boat was a 14 ft Meyer with the same motor. The darned thing wouldn't plain out with just me in it so I put a nice size rock in the front and it stayed there the whole time I owned it. Our timing came along pretty good because there were lots of fish in most all of our lakes and no one had disturbed them till we got there. It was that way for close to ten years, even on some of the bigger lakes. We had it pretty much to ourselves. Deb was my fishing partner then without children. That's why she is still my best partner now. She has gotten into so many schools of big bass with me, back then and still some these days when populations are not like they used to be. When we troll, I never have to tell her I am going to turn this way or that way. She just knows and puts her line where it needs to be. When casting, I hand her a rod and say to cast this a way or over there and never have to do anything but net her fish and take them off just to be nice. You must remember this. We have always fished from ice out till ice up. We learned that we had to learn the slower speeds early and late so we learned how to cast spinning and baitcasting very early in the learning stage. Denny taught me the Don Dixon way of mapping 30 years before it was put on a VCR tape. From that day, I was never lost on the water and learned every contact point in every lake that was fished. What a great thing to know so young. That time period was the best fish catching days of our lives, plus the learning that came by doing the work. There were times of the year that different species became very easy and not talking about the spawn. Timing is everything and weather and water conditions have to line up for a person to make good hay. Everyone knows that the northerns are best caught during the heat of the summer. The spoonplug has no equal when it comes to the faster speed controls and the bump when needed. I never want to miss the early pre- spawn movement of the bass if and when it happens in my area. Like I said, the weather and water conditions must be stable enough for it to happen but when it does, its the best bass catch of the year. Ask Brett Christianson about last year and he will try and explain it to you. Over the years, you see these changes where these different species make shallower movements and you learn that there are some other tools that might do a better job of offering the fish a better depth and speed control. When you see these things, some time must be spent in learning how to use these tools and when to use them and where. Any time you can learn a new tool and when to pull it out of your bag, this is more knowledge you can use down the road. This includes lures to control depth and speeds, rods and reels that allow you to do a good job of controlling those depths and speeds, electronics that come along that may help shorten the amount of time it takes you to interpret a fishing situation and arrive at the fish a little quicker. Its all knowledge that can be used at one time or another which will make you better. The hard part is learning to separate your thinking into the things that really matter and the things that don't. Bucks guidelines will help you in doing that but may also limit your thinking into a tiny box which can limit your ability to learn. Every one of us is different. Some are completely satisfied with their catching ability and I am never satisfied and question everything. The variables in fishing makes it so we cannot know everything. Buck said that conditions can be so bad that even the best fishermen cannot make a catch. Been there a lot myself and a good butt kicking brings you and I back to reality and let's us know that there is still a lot to learn. After a day on the water, time spent thinking about how we spent our time and I question myself as to did I do a good job of controlling my depths and speeds or not. Was there something I could have done but didn't. Did I go shallow enough or deep enough? The end of a fishing day, good or bad is a good time to go over your day on the water. It's all about the learning and I have to also say it's about the catching too. There is no better way to measure your success than the catch, period!!!!!!!!!
Buck spent about a paragraph if that talking about jigs being used as jump lures. Jump lures are important in the cold water period and anytime the fish are deep and dormant where the slower speed controls are needed. A person should have a good stock of jigs with him from 1/8 oz all the way up to at least 3/4 or an ounce and spend time learning how to use them. Enough soft plastics should be in the box to fit every weight and style jig you have. These days , the internet allows a person to find any kind of subject you are looking for and if you watch enough video's, you might find the right guy who will show you how to control a few depths and speeds correctly. I was watching a video this morning of Eric Hatchaa on Lake Michigan this morning fishing for the pre spawn walleye. As I watched him work his hair jig, his rod movements were exactly like I would do it,,,,,,, exactly!!!!! I took a guy last week and we caught 16 total smallmouth and largemouth but size was great. He caught one. At the end of the day he said it would have been nice to have helped out a little more. I asked him why he didn't take the time to stop fishing for a moment and see what I was doing that he was not. That day the speed control of the jig was dead slow with 6 inch drags with 3-4 second pauses in order to get bit. He was constantly moving his more like a blade bait and not one time did he change or look my way to see what I was doing. I let him know that he never tried to figure it out and never told him what it took. I did tell him that it is obvious that he has a lot more to learn. I still feel like I am in that same boat when it comes to the learning. John
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John, great post and thanks again for sharing your knowledge with us.