After a few months of winter some of us might find ourselves looking out the
window into the
snowy world outside. Its still a long way until the ice comes off the lakes and
the bass fishing
season begins. Instead of day dreaming about the fishing season to come, you
could be
improving your fishing skills!
Fishing is a lot like every other sport in that practice pays off down the road.
A basketball
player might shoot up towards 1,000 baskets in one weekend of practice. So why
not practice
your casting? In your garage or basement (which ever one allows the space) set
up some
targets and practice casting drop shot sinkers or casting sinkers with a swivel
in them sizes
1/8-1 oz. at the targets. Examples of targets could include hula hoops, popcorn
bowls, and
coffee cans. For a challenge, try adding obstacles that could replicate
situations you would
find on the water. For example, placing a coffee can underneath a table could
imitate casting
underneath a dock or overhanging trees.
It is important that during these sessions that you devote 100% effort to it.
This is what I
believe the saying "Perfect practice makes perfect". Even if the practice is
only 10-20
minutes a day you need to put in 100% of your effort into it to get anything out
of it.
I also
suggest practicing everyday if you can. This will allow you to improve your
casting
techniques much faster than if you would practice only every other day.
This is also a time when you can practice casting with your hand that you don't
normally use
for casting. Right handers can practice casting with their left and Left handers
can practice
casting with their right. This will allow you to be prepared for any situation
you may
encounter.
You can also make a game out of this. If you have ever played horse with a
basketball why not
take that same idea and incorporate that into fishing? Invite some of your
fishing buddies
over and you got a game that is both competitive and fun. This is also a great
way to spend
time with your kids and to get them involved in fishing!
The precision with which you cast can have an big impact on how many fish you
catch on any
given day. So the more precision that you have, the more fish will end up in
your livewell in
the long run.
David Bromenshenkel
classicbass.com Field Staff
