New tactics for 11'

Every year I have a few ideas for techniques I can incorporate into my fishing arsenal and 2011 is no different. Sometimes they are new baits, types of line or just philosopy in finding fish but I'm looking forward to trying them out.

Swim baits: There is a very small scenario when I will use these but I think it's something I should explore. Say I've been catching fish on spinnerbaits on a big weedy flat and they quit biting. This is when I can pull one out and possibly catch a few more fish or even a big "kicker" fish since this is a big fish bait. I can see me slow rolling one on St. Clair to imitate a goby or just using it as a big search bait.

Big Spinnerbaits: I can't wait to throw these early in the spring. They cover water and can be worked easily through weeds. I can't think of a better pre-spawn lure and that was evident last weekend in New Orleans when many of the top finishers at the Bassmaster Classic used this bait.

Swim jigs: I will throw spinnerbaits a lot this year and I think I can coax a few more bites with a swim jig when they stop biting the blades. A swim jig is essentially a spinnerbait without the blades so why won't they hit this bait? It is very weedless and can be fished finesse style over heavy weed flats.

Punching plastics: I've talked about this before and believe in a one day tournament that catching a big fish could win me lots of cash. This is a big fish bait and I will have one tied on everywhere but St. Clair. You can always find a pad field or holes in the weeds where this will work, especially on Ovid. Would you rather catch a couple small keepers weighing 3 pounds or one big one that goes over 4? I'm not a math major but that just makes sense to me.

Braided line: I have mastered a line to line knot and will throw braid a lot this year. All my spinning rods, my topwater rod and my flipping combos will all have the superline attached and I'll have a flurorcarbon leader tied on. This should save me a few bucks when buying line next week at the BPS sale and I've noticed that a lot of pros have gone to this philosophy as well.