Many of you may wonder what the offseason looks like for me. Fishing multiple trails and traveling thousands of miles a season can be very chaotic. I miss a lot of important family things in the offseason, so I use the time away to enjoy the normal everyday things like parent pickup and drop-off, softball games, some ping pong with the kids or some Netflix time with my wife.
I also take this time to enjoy some fun fishing, feed my fish in the backyard and try to learn some new things for the next season. Each season is unique as far as bait selection goes. So, in the offseason, I use that time to recalibrate and add new things to my arsenal. In the past there have been seasons where I feel like the fish are eating a swim jig the best.
Then there are other years where they aren’t eating it as well, and a Slobberknocker was the bait of choice. There was a year where I just stuck with a spinnerbait. Last year, my go to’s were the Berkley General, a swim jig and a Slobberknocker. Compare that to the year before, where I was mostly throwing a Frittside, a War Pig and a bladed jig.
It is difficult to try new baits in the middle of the season. I am a creature of habit, so I like to stick to what I know works. But in the offseason, Berkley sends me lots of new baits to try. I lay them all out on the table in my shop, and I try fishing four to five days a week. I test out the new stuff and try to learn something new with baits I have not tried yet.
One of the baits I finally found time to try was the Berkley Gilly. The first time I threw it was in a tank at the Bassmaster Classic. I rigged it on a Texas rig on some fluorocarbon without a weight, and it swam well. A couple fish came up and inhaled it. I was blown away. In the spring, I threw it a little bit, but I was already in the season and in the swing of things.
Just recently the fish started spawning at my house in Florida. I was trying to catch a fish for a video we were shooting and nothing was working so in desperation I pulled the Gilly out. I put it on, and the second or third flip the bass ate it and I lost it. I ended up working that fish a little longer and finally caught it. It weighed 9-2.
Three days later, I caught a 9-10 on the Gilly. I threw other stuff on that fish and could not catch it. Then I threw the Gilly and caught it quickly. It really made me think that maybe there is something to that bait. That is one of the best things I have figured out in my offseason that hopefully will come into play this upcoming season.
I also caught a lot of big fish this offseason on a Berkley Crash Craw. The legs kick really well at slower speeds and less weight. Now I am starting to figure it out, and I am catching giants with it. My wife, Melissa, caught one over 10 pounds flipping with that bait with a 1-ounce weight. I bet in the last 60 days, I have personally caught 10 bass over 8 pounds with it. I had one guy in my boat catch an 11-11 on the Crash Craw, and another guy landed one over 8 pounds with it. When you catch that many big ones on a certain bait there is something to it.
I have also been experimenting with the Berkley Power Stinger on the Slobberknocker and my spinnerbaits. It has a big profile, but it is only one thin piece of rubber going to the tail. So, the tail is able to lay over really nice, but the head is strong enough to stay up on the hook. It is one of my favorite trailers.
There is also some stuff that will get released by Berkley at ICAST this year that I have been testing. I want to say I will add more lures into my arsenal with this ICAST launch than any other year.
Along with the new baits, I also got Lowrance Active Target. That has been in the box, ready to go, sitting on that same table. That is something I wanted to learn in the offseason, but it scares me because I don’t want it to change too much of the way I fish. I feel like it will be eye-opening.
I feel like a lot of times what I think the fish are doing might not necessarily be what is actually going on, but it is a confidence thing. I don’t know if I can handle going to a spot, using Active Target, seeing them and not getting bit. I feel like there’s a chance I will lose a lot of confidence with it when I’m not catching them.
The other thing is, I love observing nature and looking in the water or looking at the surroundings and watching a fish come up and bust. Reading the water with my eyes is what I like to do, and I worry I won’t enjoy the whole thing as much by watching a screen the entire day.
But at the end of last season, the last four events were my worst of the year, and the fish were out a lot more. I felt like the forward-facing sonar guys dominated.
As of right now, I’m thinking I will put it in the passenger seat and ride with it for a little while and see how the season goes. There is a small break in either June or July where I have a couple weeks off where I will debate whether to put it on and do some practicing with it to get ready for the August smallmouth swing.
For now I’m going to focus on what I enjoy best and that’s sight fishing in the spring. I’ll worry about the forward-facing sonar when that time comes. I’ll be fishing three tours again this year, and I am excited for the season to start.