There are hundreds of ways to catch a bass these days on thousands of different baits. Sampling some of these baits you’ve never fished with before can often lead to newfound favorites and greatly increase your versatility as an angler.  

But it’s sometimes hard to develop confidence in new baits, especially when we can’t seem to put down the steady producers we’ve come to love and rely on.  

So today, we’re going to try to help out with this dilemma, and give you some practical tips on how to develop confidence in new baits and techniques so that you can broaden your tackle box.   

Don’t take anything else with you

I’ll often set out with the best of intentions to fish with something new, but after a short while without a bite, I’ll find myself picking up the same old lures I always go back to. One of the easiest ways to prevent this so that you can develop confidence in new baits is to simply not take anything else with you.  

Some of the best days I’ve had when it comes to new techniques and growth as an angler came when I simply refused to fish with anything else that day, and forced myself to catch fish with the new technique, or not fish at all. If you spend enough time with a new bait in your hand, you’ll eventually learn how to catch fish with it. Only taking one rod and one bait it a great way to force yourself to do this.  

Fish high percentage situations

Fishing in situations where you know you’re around a lot of fish is another great way to develop confidence in a bait. For instance, I fish tournaments from a bass boat a pretty good bit. The bites can be few and far between in these situations, and there’s money on the line. So I don’t really like to force myself to fish new baits in tournaments.  

Instead, I’ll take a new bait to a pond where I know I’ll be around much more fish with less pressure on the situation, and I’ll develop confidence in the bait there. If a bass in a pond will bite a bait, a bass on a bigger body of water typically will too. But learning how to trigger strikes, set the hook and fight fish in a pond with a new technique will have me better prepared and confident in the bait when I set out to fish it in a tournament.  

Swap when they’re biting 

Another great way to develop confidence in a new bait or technique is to intentionally switch baits when you get around bass that are biting. So, say you’ve fished a spinnerbait all morning with little activity and suddenly you get a few bites. Now’s the time to pick up that glide bait you’ve been wanting to learn how to fish.  

It’s hard to put down a bait the bass are biting, and I wouldn’t recommend doing so in tournament situations. But if you’re just fun fishing and the bass start biting, it’s a great time to see if you can get bit on a new bait. You know there are bass in the area, you know they’re aggressive and there’s no pressure on the situation. So, pick up the new bait and give it a shot. You may find they bite it even better than the other lure you were using.  

In conclusion

Developing confidence in a wide variety of lures and techniques will make you a more well-rounded angler and set you up for success in a much broader set of circumstances. In order to grow though, you’ll have to be a little uncomfortable at times.  

One of the easiest ways to ensure you’ll stick with something new long enough to give it a fair chance, is to simply not take any other options with you. It’s also smart to fish ponds or other areas with a good bass population when trying a new technique, so that you can hopefully get more bites more quickly.   

And then changing to a new bait after you get a few bites on an old favorite is another way to fish a new technique and know you’re around fish. Hopefully these simple tips will help you develop confidence in more baits and techniques in coming trips.