BACKSTORY: I took up bass fishing just this summer (at the beginning of summer.) We'd done a lot of catfishing, and been successful, but in watching fishing videos on YouTube, I saw all the different lures, tactics, and equipment, and thought it looked like I blast. I began to collect different baits, and would try them as I got them. I tried Whiptail inline spinners, different color Senkos and other worms on a Carolina rig, weighted and weightless Texas rigs, Wacky rigs, Neko Rigs, jigs of all types, poppers, squarebill crankbaits, jerkbaits, rage lizards and other soft plastic creature baits. Now, I have done all this in 3 different locations on the Ohio River, two different dams (tailraces/tailwaters) at Hannibal Lock and Dam, and Willow Island Lock and Dam, along with our local marina which has two nice docks.
Now, all this has been in the form of bankfishing and dockfishing since I don't have access to anything else. The kicker? I have caught ZERO bass in the past 2 and a half months. To add insult to injury, my son has caught 2 smallmouths by accident while trying to catch catfish with nightcrawlers.
What am I doing wrong? I know it's the heat of summer which is hard, and this has been a bit of an odd year, because we had massive flooding here in WV, although that was all south of where I'm fishing. We're taking a trip next week to a local preserve lake that supposedly has plenty of bass. If I don't catch anything there, I'm just about to hang it up. As much as I enjoy it, it's getting really frustrating. Just to answer questions ahead of time, I'm using two different rod/reel setups: A baitcaster with 20lb braid and a 17lb fluorocarbon leader on a medium heavy rod, and a spinning setup with 14lb Trilene.
Sorry for being so longwinded, but trying to give all the pertinent details. Thanks for your help!
P.S. I know I could throw a nightcrawler on a line and stand a chance, but I'd really like to avoid using live bait if possible. Just because I think there's more sport in using plastic baits.
