Confidence baits of the bass pros exposed! A 2-time Classic champ reveals his secret for selecting the best lures that catch the most bass!
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Transcript:
Glenn: Hey, folks. Glenn May here with BassResource.com and I'm here with Hank Parker, the one and only, with another weekly tip from Hank Parker's Fishing.... Well, we call it "Hank Parker's Fishing Tips." This week's question, Hank, comes from George Greeb from Davie, Florida, and he asks, "When fishing gets really tough in a tournament and you have tried almost everything in your arsenal, what's the one confidence bait you turn to?"
Hank: The one thing that I like to do is not be limited to a favorite bait. I tell people all the time, "Don't have a favorite bait." If you wanna improve your fishing, leave your favorite bait at home for a year. You'll be surprised at how many times you depend on that favorite bait, that it doesn't apply. So, I never falled into that trap. I used to all the time.
I grew up, I was a spinnerbait fisherman. I lived on Lake Wylie. I fished Lake Wylie all the time and I made a deal with myself that for one solid year I would not put a spinnerbait in my boat. So I learned to fish grubs. I learned to fish more effectively with crankbait. So all sorts of different lures because I didn't have my favorite bait. I didn't have my go-to bait. And that was the smartest, best thing that ever happened to me from a fishing perspective, is getting rid of the hang up of falling back on my security blanket, the spinnerbait.
So I hear people say this all the time, "Man, you gotta have the confidence bait." Let me tell you what you have to have. You have to have confidence in the right bait.
Always read the water. Always let the water dictate to you what you need to be using and go with it. And I don't care if you've got confidence in a top water bait and the fish are biting in 20 foot of water, no matter how much confidence you got in that top water bait, it's not going to pay dividends. And if the fish are hitting on the surface and you've got confidence in a football jig, doesn't matter how much confidence you got in that football jig. If they're hitting on the surface, it's not the right lure.
So don't get hung up. Have confidence in every single lure you fish and have confidence in yourself. That is where you need the confidence. Have the confidence in yourself that you've selected the right bait and if it doesn't work, then make slight adjustments. Don't be too radical in adjusting your bait selection. Read the water. Choose the bait.
The question that I ask myself every time I pull up to a certain area... The conditions are this. The water color is this. The water temperature is this and the structure is this. Now, what lure, under these circumstances that I have, that would most thoroughly fish this structure and I start at that point. I try to never fall into that category that I've got to go to a confidence bait. I want to have confidence that I choose the right bait to fish the structure under the circumstances that we're fishing, and stay with that and have confidence in me. That's the trick.
Glenn: That's fantastic advice, Hank. That's some of the best advice I've ever heard. George, I really do hope that helps you out and I hope it helps everybody else, not just George. For more tips and tricks like this, go to hankparker.com and take a look around. There's lots of tips and tricks and articles on there that Hank's posted over the years. You can immerse yourself over there for a long time and then, if you want, subscribe to our channel and we'll notify you the next time we post more of "Hank's Tips." Until then, have a great day.