Seminars

MMT · Post by **MMT** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 11:29 pm

I particpated in a great seminar with some great speakers yesterday. If you are from the NY area, you likely have heard of most of these guys. Bren, correct me if I'm wrong, I think you might have heard of at least a few of them too..... The following guys.....ok, one of them was me, got together for a 7hr seminar in upstate NY. It was the best seminar I've gone to as far as information and content as well as the antics and crowd participation. I've been to a ton of them.
Ray Scully on bass location
Mike Del Visco on Seasonal patterns
Pat Xiques on Deep water fishing
Craig DeFronzo on targetting big bass

I've spoken at 6 seminars in my day but this one was awesome. There were guys who regularly attend the B.A.S.S. series that told us this one was on par with the big dogs. The one thing that I noticed and this is the purpose of my post was that despite 4 different people getting up there and talking about how they achieve angling success, despite the different approaches, there was so much in common between the guys as far as technique and presentation was concerned. This kind of brings to light something I said a while ago to my fishing partner, who was convinced that some guys just fish the wrong way. I told him there are no set rules in bass fishing, there are only goals that are met by traveling a number of different paths. Nobody is right or wrong as long as they get to that goal.

johnnie crain outdoors · Tue Mar 02, 2004 2:39 am

Craig,
well said! Seminars are an important part of the learning aspect of bass fishing. Dan Galusha and I have done these for years and not only do we teach-we learn. I think, when anglers get together and start talking, it opens up our minds, not only to new ideas, but also to re-examine our on techniques. Is there room for improvement? Of course there is. As you said, there is no wrong way to fish, if you have the basics down and can present a lure close to the target and pay attention, the fish will tell us what to do. Good topic. Johnnie

dansfishntales · Post by **dansfishntales** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 7:04 am

Johnnie,
You are right.

I think that new "Bass Talk" title, hung on us by John Bunge, is going to work great. For those that don't know what we do, it is as if the audience was on the Bassin' USA site to ask questions. The only difference is that Johnnie and I are live, which helps in showing people what we are doing. Then after the seminar is over we do one on one stuff with them. Such as the King Sling knot right Johnnie?

Glad you had a good seminar Craig.
Best of fishing,
Dan

brendanc · Post by **brendanc** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 8:38 pm

Craig,

The four of you can cover such a wide topic range, it is no wonder the event was successful. I wish I could have been there to see the seminar... (Thanks for the invite!!)

I like what you said about there being "no wrong way to fish". Even in tournament fishing under the same conditions, several people find different ways to locate and catch bass. They all have the same goal of finishing in the money, but the method they used to reach that goal could be dramatically different.

How many times have you all been driving your boat from one spot to another and observed several different people fishing completely different areas, depths, structure, etc? OK, granted they may not all be on fish, but some of them are...

BTW - If any Tri-state area people are going to the outdoor-fishing show in Rockland County, NY (Suffern) stop by Capital District Marina's Skeeter boat display and say hello, Dan McGarry and I will be working on Sat & Sun. (I might only be there on Sunday)

Brendan

MMT · Post by **MMT** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 3:13 pm

Bren, sorry about the invite, I kept it quiet cause my nerves get frayed as the thing approaches...wouldn't want you to see me bomb.

I am a firm believer that you can catch fish many different ways if you open your mind up to it. I can't tell you how many times I've seen some guys throw senkos all day with no success. Only to tell me that the fish simply weren't biting. They would rather stick with that bait than switch up to a different approach. I guess it becomes habit forming, you have a good day on a bait and expect it to always produce. Guys have to be versatile enough to know when to switch baits and how to fish different baits when their favorite bait fails. Don't get bait lock, versatility is the key to success.

johnnie crain outdoors · Thu Mar 04, 2004 8:14 am

Craig, you're right about bait lock, and don't forget spot lock which is jusy as bad. I have a disgusting habit of staying too long on banks that are supoposed to produce. I will switch baits a lot, but sometimes, they're just not there. These are hard habits to break good work. Johnnie

MMT · Post by **MMT** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 3:42 pm

Johnnie, even worse is a combo of the two. I fished a tournament last fall in which my partner and I won with a back up plan. As we filled our livewell, I took notice of what several other anglers were doing....beating the bank with Senko's. We fished a two weigh in format this day and after bringing in the only limit to the first weigh in, I gave up my pattern to several guys. Once we got started again, I went back to my pattern and again got a limit while everyone else went back to their empty patterns. Guys just get in tune to catching them a certain way and get locked in to it. We had so many guys get blanked on a day where we brought in about 20lbs.

johnnie crain outdoors · Fri Mar 05, 2004 7:05 am

I may be stubborn, but I'm not stupid. If I'd heard you tell how you were catching fish, I definately would have tried it at least. If you said, jigs on wood, that's what I'd try. Some guys are just pig-headed-not Hawg minded. Good stuff, Johnnie