Anglers, especially bass anglers, are creatures of habit. Most aren’t afraid to venture out into freezing weather or driving rain in search of that all elusive strike at the other end of the line. Some will even brave the weather in hundred degree heat, while their buddies are huddled up around the air conditioning. But even when they dare to challenge Mother Nature, and she wins the fight, they blame it on conditions instead of their own habits. Fortunately, bad habits can be corrected, but stubbornness is sometimes hard to overcome.

  Bad habits and complacency usually are the downfall to an angler not having the success he or she believes they should. There are a handful of habits that in one way or another are the ruin of most anglers. The most common probably is laziness. Laziness comes in many forms, but more often comes into play concerning line changes and lure tying. Fishing line should be changed regularly and often. It fails when you need it the most and more often than not, it’s the number one excuse for loosing that big one. Knots should be re-tied after every good catch or every few small ones. It’s where the line breaks the most and has the least amount of strength.

 Another habit that falls into the lazy category is making sure you are always out of that stiff breeze. Fighting the trolling motor in the wind is usually the last thing an angler wants to do during a fishing outing. But, the wind is sometimes what turns on the bite in bass, and you sometimes have to challenge a good breeze for those few good bites. Sitting in the sunshine out of the wind in that secluded pocket just won’t put the fish in the boat on most occasions.

  Leaving the lazy category, we enter the phase of just being plain old stubborn. Stubbornness happens most when you’re fishing your favorite bait and color. You’ve fished that all-time favorite for hours and the strike just isn’t there. Some attitudes are to the tone of "they’ll bite this color or starve". For goodness sakes, change colors, sizes, baits or even the technique your using. Go deeper, slow down or just do anything that will change what you’re doing. Quit being stubborn and maybe you’ll catch a few fish.

 Another thing that falls into the stubbornness category is fishing the same honey holes over and over. Even when the bite isn’t there, you fish the same area for hours. Sometimes there may be nothing wrong with waiting an area out for the right time, but you need to get a clue and move on at some point. Fish different water. Quit going back to the same hole day after day just because it produced some good bites three years ago. All that time you spent fishing that old favorite without a bite could have been used fishing new areas that could prove to be another favorite. The point is, don’t be afraid to explore new areas in search of new water.

An old habit that is hard to break is being totally too close to what you’re trying to fish. That ten feet deep brushpile beside that old half sunken dock just might produce a fish if you’re boat wasn’t sitting right on top of it. Fish the immediate areas around the intended cover first. There will usually be fish venturing in and out if it’s still holding a few bites. Blasting in on that one cedar tree sank in that secret spot doing 70mph doesn’t help matters either.

All in all, the point is that we are animals of a different breed. We like the challenge of fishing and everything else that comes along with it. We’re all just a bunch of jerks on one end of the line waiting for a jerk at the other, as someone once said. Changing some of our habits just might get a few more jerks on the end of the line that counts the most.