April 23, 2019

How Powerful is a “Fishing Trip Review”?

Tired of not getting the results you want? Change gears and make the most of your fishing trips by seeing how a pro does it.

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The day you've been waiting for will eventually arrive: your day off to go fishing.

And, as it nears, certain questions arise:

  • What should I fish for?
  • Where should I go?
  • What baits will work best?
  • How will predicted wind affect the tide?
  • Where is clean water?
  • How do I know it's safe to run my boat?

You don't want to make any mistakes or miss important information, because doing so might mean not catching any fish!

Sure, it's nice to get out on the water to relax, but at the end of the day you still want to experience the thrill of a bent rod, right?

Anybody would, and especially you, because this is your chance to finally hit the water.

But there's a lot of things you're tired of:

  • not limiting out
  • catching throwbacks
  • having your bait stolen
  • not getting great results
  • and other stuff that isn't fun

You're tired of grinding all day just to see fishing reports of people catching a lot more fish than you did.

What did they do different? Are they posting old pictures? How did they find those fish in the first place? Why won't they reveal how they did it?

It's really frustrating, but keep reading and you'll learn about something that will radically improve your fishing trips.

What is a "Fishing Trip Review"?

Fishing Trip Reviews are a resource available to inshore anglers wanting to learn the finer details of planning and executing their fishing trips.

They consist of video recordings of an entire fishing trip, organized into three parts:

  1. Pre-Trip Planning
  2. The Fishing Trip Itself
  3. Post Trip Review

Let's take a closer look at each part, and how it's important.

Pre-Trip Planning

Good fishing trips are always planned, and never left to dumb luck.

Planning consists of taking available information to determine where to go and how to catch fish upon arriving there.

When there's an upcoming fishing trip, I go over:

  • past conditions
  • current conditions
  • latest fishing reports
  • how I will catch fish

Sometimes I'm going to an area I've never been to before, so I will plot safe routes for my boat's GPS and pick fishing spots based upon the conditions and what I think is worth trying.

Here's a good planning video from a successful fishing trip last year:

The Fishing Trip Itself

This is where the rubber meets the road!

Each fishing spot that was picked during the planning video is filmed as it is fished, from beginning to end.

This is done so you can see how I approach and fish each spot.

Even if a spot isn't planned, it's still recorded so you can learn why I stopped to fish it.

How does it help to watch someone else fishing?

Because there's a lot you can learn:

  • how to approach the spot
  • where to anchor the boat
  • knowing when to leave (or stay)
  • and more stuff you may not know unless it's shown to you

I narrate what's going on, show which lures are tied on and why, what the conditions are like and how I feel about each spot as I get a feel for it.

Things may happen on the water that require a decision to be made, such as changing what was originally planned (like rolling into Plan Redfish).

All of this is recorded so you learn why and can apply that learning curve to your own fishing trips.

Most fishing trips see a lot of spots being fished, so the entire fishing trip is broken down into multiple videos so it's easier for you to follow along.

So, instead of one long video, it's several shorter ones.

Post Trip Review

The fishing trip isn't over once the boat is loaded and you're headed home!

In fact, this is the best part, because there are key details to learn.

IMPORTANT!

Catching a lot of fish and not knowing why is worse than not having caught them in the first place. 

Take a moment to think about it, and you may uncover some important detail that will help you catch on future fishing trips.

You should be asking yourself questions like these:

  • What went right?
  • What went wrong?
  • What were fish feeding on?
  • Was the weather forecast accurate?
  • Did the tide move as predicted?
  • What can be done to improve the next fishing trip?
  • What didn't work on my boat or needs attention so it works flawlessly next time?

Anglers taking time to consider questions like these can use their answers to set the next trip up for success, whether they caught fish or not on the current one.

Plus, they virtually eliminate the risk of mechanical and electrical failure, saving their future fishing trip from an inconvenient breakdown.

All of this is exactly what I do inside my Post Trip Reviews, but that's not all.

google earth post trip review

Post trip reviews include going over everywhere I went and what happened at each spot.

I also take the day's tracks off the boat's GPS and upload them to Google Earth, going over the entire fishing trip from beginning to end.

In fact, you can watch a Post Trip Review right here:

An Excellent Learning Tool

The Fishing Trip Reviews I record and upload are a great learning tool for inshore anglers wanting these exact things:

  • learn where fish are biting
  • know which tackle works best
  • expertly plan your own fishing trips
  • make good decisions on the water
  • put your friends and family on fish
  • post great fishing reports people
  • and more

Fishing Trip Reviews are basically a shortcut to finding and catching fish on your own.

Also, they pair well with the foundational knowledge of inshore fishing, Inshore Fishing 101.

Where can I watch all the Fishing Trip Reviews?

They're all organized inside LAFB Elite at this link.

While previews are allowed, only full access is granted to members.

Want to become a member? Take a test drive with code FTR19 to get 14 days free of LAFB Elite!

Captain Devin

About the Author

Devin is a veteran of the Iraq War and former fishing guide. He founded Louisiana Fishing Blog in 2012 to share his ideas as a charter captain and still writes in it today. Since then he's created a fishing university — LAFB Elite — where he teaches inshore anglers how to safely navigate Louisiana's coast and catch more fish.


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  • Good stuff D!
    Do/can you import the spots from Google Earth into your depthfinder? If not, how do you navigate to over 30 spots? Thx, Dean

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