When "Stepping Out Of Your Comfort Zone" Will Catch You More Fish

This post was guest-written by Joe Long of the Indiana University Fishing Team.We all have that one go to bait we seem to throw more than anything else. The one bait that we could throw all day. Any time, any place. Don’t let your go to bait become a crutch. Sometimes it’s good to step out of the box and learn something new. Heck, maybe you’ll find yourself a new lucky bait!

Identifying Your Comfort Zone Crutch

For me, my go to bait was a black spinnerbait. I would throw this thing day in and day out and I caught about 90% of my fish on it. I remember my grandpa who is way more knowledgeable in bass fishing than I am, always tried to teach me new techniques. He got me all different kinds of baits for Christmas and attempted to teach me things like flipping and pitching with a baitcaster and fishing a plastic worm in thick grass. But as a young stubborn kid with my black spinnerbait, I didn’t want any part of it. I would try the things he taught me for an hour or 2 then give up and go right back to my old trusty spinnerbait because I knew it was something I could catch fish on.

Making the Adjustment

It wasn’t until my freshman year of college when I really got into bass fishing that I decided it was time for a change. Stepping into the side of competitive bass fishing, I saw all these other anglers throwing other standard things like crankbaits, texas rigs, tubes, etc. These were baits that I had no confidence in and never really gave a fair try to in the past. I realized that if I wanted to grow as an angler and diversify my arsenal I would have to boycott the spinnerbait.That’s right. From that moment on, I didn’t throw a spinner bait for almost an entire year. Instead, I tied on lures that I had absolutely no confidence in and very little experience on. I struggled in hopes to catch a single fish. Although it was hard not going back to ol’ faithful, I stuck with it and kept trying out new things.

Picking Your ‘Super 6’

One approach that I tried that worked wonders me was to pick 6 baits that I never caught a fish on, bring only those baits to the water and fish with them until I caught a fish on every one. Fish by fish, I started gaining confidence in these foreign lures. That summer, amazingly enough I broke my personal best bass (previously 3.56lbs caught on a spinnerbait) 3 times in the span of less than 2 months.

Seeing the Results

First I broke it on a soft body Keitech swimbait when a 4lb 2oz bass hammered it in a pond near my house. Then I broke it again a month later on a texas rigged Black and Blue Havoc Pitboss with a 4lb 9oz largemouth during a trip in Wisconsin. 3 days later on that same trip I caught the biggest fish of my life weighing in at 5lbs 3oz on that same Texas rigged bait.My point is, stepping out of your comfort zone and ditching your staple bait can really be beneficial to your growth and success as an angler. I know for a certain I never would have caught those fish on my old black spinner bait. Do yourself a favor and ditch your go to bait, at least just for a little bit. Maybe you too can catch your new personal best fish.