Don't be afraid to try something new

As a fisherman, I try to expand my toolbox each trip out -- try something new.

One of my great fishing buddies (like most any fisherman) has a favorite "go to" bait for catching fish. His just happens to be a Berkley Powerbait worm, 7½ inches, black with chartreuse tail.

In the martial arts, we call this a tokui waza or favorite/favored technique.

In either case, I call it a crutch.

You have to get outside your comfort zone. You have to try something new if you're going to grow.

So, my buddy promised himself (to my great shock, as he is highly competitive) that he would not throw his favorite worm all year long. He's been trying spinner baits, and crank baits, and things he wouldn't have tried otherwise. And guess what? He's catching bigger fish this year.

Last weekend I opted for something new. I was watching a fishing show with Roland Martin -- one of the legends of the sport -- I had saved on my DVR from the Outdoor Network. He was talking about what a great bait the Senko worm is.

Now, I like going to Bass Pro Shops. So much in fact, my girlfriend calls me a Bass Pro Ho. I've helped customers find stuff the staff didn't know the location of. Let's just say I've spent a couple of hours there and leave it at that.

I was going to pick up a bag of Gary Yamamoto Senko worms, except they didn't come in the color nor the size I was looking for. I started throwing 7½ inch worms, but lately have been favoring the 10 inch Berkley Powerbait. I've got a few from Yum, and noticed their variety of Senko called a Dinger. They had it in a 7 inch, and I immediately went for Junebug color -- which has been a great producer where I fish.

My girlfriend's son, who turns 15 at the end of October, is pretty new to bass fishing. He fished a little in 2010, and has barely wet a hook in 2011. He caught his first two bass last weekend, and would have made three if he'd set the hook. He asked me, "Why Junebug? You know that works. Why not try something else?"

Dammit.

He had me. I was going to get out of my comfort zone by trying a different manufacturer and style of worm. Heck, let's go for the trifecta and choose a different color. I labored over a couple of choices, and ended up with Yum's Red Shad color.

I gotta say, it was quite a producer. I probably used half a bag of worms. I had a perch pull one completely off the hook in a series of machine gun taps. I had two other bass totally swallow the worm, hook and all well past the barb on one giant hit. Needless to say, I was quite impressed. I got out of my comfort zone, and look at the results.


To summarize, don't fall prey to the things that feel comfortable. We develop confidence in a martial arts technique or a fishing bait because it's created success for us in the past. We often skip many other great producers and keep doing the same old thing because it's worked in the past. Get out of your comfort zone, try something new. Heck, you might just end up with a new favorite!