Each new year brings a new fishing season and goals. Some anglers have competitive goals to cash more checks, win a tournament, or maybe win a circuit angler-of-the-year award. Other anglers may want to just get out on the water and fish more often, or maybe catch bigger bass, and possibly even go after their state’s record. In all cases, anglers want to catch more fish!

Fishing can be complicated at times. With today’s new technology, it can it very detailed orientated—especially when putting together a tournament-winning pattern within a pattern. But there are also some simple things that anglers can do, both on and off the water, to help better prepare them and stack the deck in their favor.

In my opinion, there are five things that every anger can do during this next fishing season to help control little things that, in the long run, will help you have a better day fishing, both recreationally and in your next tournament.

Retie, and retie often

For the most part, anglers retie their lures only when the damage to their line is obvious, such as after it’s been in the mouth of a northern pike or dragged over rocks on the bottom of the lake. For good reason, on that next cast, your line will probably break and send your lure sailing into the distance; or break on the next hookset.

The punishment you put your line through is more extensive than is always visible. From small knicks to kinks from being wrapped around a dock pole, your fishing line takes a beating! Most anglers say that they check their line. Well, just checking it doesn’t fix the problem; you need to retie—and retie often. By doing this more this next fishing season, you will lose fewer lures and break off fewer fish.

Keep hooks sharp and strong

Much like the item above, keeping your hooks sharp is a no-brainer, as a dull hook won’t hook a fish; or won’t hook a fish well, and halfway to the boat, the fish comes off. Examine your hooks regularly. Hook points get dulled or bent over from excessive use and wear from hard cover in the water such as rocks, wood and metal. Sometimes, a quick pass with a hook sharpener will bring a hook point back to life. Other times, that hook has lost its hooking effectiveness, and a new one should be tied one. When using light wire hooks, make sure that your hook hasn’t been bent out from a hookset on a fish, or from getting snagged. The more times you put stress on that light wire, the more likely that hook could break when you are bringing in your next trophy fish.

Stay organized

Being able to quickly grab a crankbait, soft plastic or that new hook and tungsten weight for a Texas-rig is extremely important, as the less time it takes to find those items, the more time your line will be in the water! Staying organized means keeping your gear protected from the elements. Using waterproof cases will keep moisture from getting into your boxes. Plus, there is no bass fisherman who doesn’t love organizing tackle; it is what most fisherman love to do when not on the water. So, start this fishing season organized, and don’t just stop there; stay organized. When you are back from a fishing trip, put away the lures laying in the bottom of your boat. Or if you are done with a box of lures, take it out of the boat, organize that case and put it on the shelf in your shop.

Be prepared

We harp on it over and over, but I’m a very firm believer in always being prepared, both in life and while on the water fishing. This begins with your trip to and from the lake. Carry the proper tools and have easy to access to them should you need to fix a flat tire. Once on the water, have any tools or parts with you that could fix a small issue; this will keep you on the water, rather than on the way to repair shop. The same goes for fishing tackle. Have the items you know you need, along with a selection of other tackle just in case the fish need to see something else.

Now, I’m not saying that you need to have a tackle store with you, but keep a few colors, styles and sizes of each plastic bait you use. Should the bass turn off on a green pumpkin soft plastic, you can switch it up to a green pumpkin with red flake soft plastic, and see if that reignites the feeding frenzy!

Stay clean

Keep your boat and waters clean. Keeping the lakes and rivers you fish free from foreign debris aids in their health and long-term future. I throw any empty bottles, wrappers or fishing line in my cooler as I go through a day on the water; then I empty it out into the garbage and/or recycling that night. Even though that empty water bottle is OK in the bottom of your boat now, chances are pretty good that it will blow out into the water as you move to your next spot; so be sure to keep trash from ending up in the lake. Also, keeping your boat and motor clean on a regular basis not only keeps it looking good and prevents you from having to do a hard, deep clean later; many times, routine cleaning aids in the prevention and identification of minor maintenance issues on your boat and motor.

As we begin a new year, a new fishing season is on the horizon. In my opinion, the above five items are easy things that every angler can do to improve their skill set and enhance fishing success.