Went Fishing Today, Not A Single Bite :(

[prjavelin]

so I went fishing for 2 hours to a spot near the launching ramp in the local reservoir. I the fished mostly senkos, a havok hawg 194 color and a crankbait for like 2 or 3 casts. senko was pumpkin as the 194 color and the fat ika 194 are on the way(hurry up mailman!!).

I tried to use the Guaranteed to catch bass strategy for my fishing today. I almost could felt my blood pressure rising lol until I relaxed and started enjoying it.

Im fishing from the shore. casting like a fan, it takes me a lot of time to cover a little amount of water. A LOT of time. Its a pretty big lake and I get desperate thinking the fish arent here. I saw a couple fish splash on the surface. I started casting to the area there were splashing but i didnt catch any. Im going again on Wednesday and my wife is not going so I have all the time I want.

Guys a couple questions, what im doing wrong?

what do you think of snap swivels? I never see the pros using them and I think those could be bad for some reason.

Do I have to cast in a different way?

The reservoir is a 108 hectareas( 1 hectarea = 2.47 acres) It has tilapia, catfish shellcrackers and LM bass mostly. Its said to have peacock but I have never seen one or heard of anyone catching one.

its so frustrating, I have been fishing around 4 or 5 times in the last two months and i dont have a single fish to show.

hopefully I receive my stuff and I have better luck so I can post some pics.

the saying is so wise: Patience is a Virtue!

[IneedAnewScreenName-972354]

I never use a snap swivel to connect my line directly to the bait. Snags on grass easy, inhibits the baits movements, and stands out too much for my taste. I would stay away from the boat ramp if there is allot of traffic coming in and out of the lake. Try different spots that you can reach, maybe a point or better a point that has a creek channel near it, if you have a map of the lakes bottom. If you get there on a slow day, sometimes at a boat launch there will be a wash out in the bottom were boats come in and out. Try crawling a worm or craw type bait over the bottom real slow and see if you get bit!

[slonezp]

Have you caught bass in the areas you are fishing or are you just hoping for a fish? The area you are fishing may not be conducive to holding bass. The fish you see splashing could be carp or something other than bass. Can you get a topo map to see the depths OR check google maps satelite or birds eye view to see if you can identify different depths or kinds of structure?

[prjavelin]

here is a picture of the lake I usually go to. Here it has a slightly lower level than now. Ive seen this place so dry that from the middle of it a very old(from the 1940s) factory pipe comes out. its an awesome watch.

The legend there:

in red its the spots ive been to in the last month or two since I came back to fishing. this is the time when I got hooked on fishing again!!! the 3 pots close to each other are the ramp and surrounding areas.

in orange are spots ive visited before and I havent had much success.

Orange square is one spot where I saw my cousin pull a bass from.

the two pink spots are places where im planning to go soon, soon as in wednesday. the one that has markers close to it has a lot of big rocks and many spaces between those. Ive always thought that there must be bass around there in that much cover. the pink spot thats all alone is below a bridge and it has a lot of vegetation inside the water. thats to the right to the left the pillars of the bridge may attract a lot of bass as those are huge and great cover I guess.

the Purple spot is a spot where there is rocks but its very steep. I think this is also a good spot for bass.

Finally the yellow spot is where I learned to fish. Its far away from the beaten path. My cousin pulled a 7 pounder from this spot. Ive never gone empty handed from this place. Its also very hard to get to. You have to go thru private property, thru animals and wires. I know that if I go here, I will fish, but its so hard to get there. Its also a place not to go in alone. Im trying to assemble a group of friends to go here.

should I visit those places with lots of rocks? the spot with the weeds with a frog or a weedless senko?

[Deadeye-1]

Well for one thing, fishing for two hours on a public water area, if it has a lot of pressure, and not getting a bite may be normal for your area. A lot of the places I fish I avaerage about 2 bass per hour. However those two bass may acually be four that I caught in 15 minutes at the end of hour 2.

Until you figure out what the bass where you are fishing like (and that may change from day to day) you may average 1 or less per 1-2 hrs. Study the points and flats that you have access to and you should be able to find out where they like to be.

And remember "There is always a Spot within the spot". Find it and your fishing will greatly improve.

[B@ssCrzy]

I use a snap, but not a snap swivel. There is a difference. To me a snap swivel is way to bulkey. A snap is less bulky and to me does not seem to effect how the fish bite, and I actually think it improves the movement of most lures. I do not use it on any plastics, just hard baits and spinnerbaits. I always tie directly to the hook on any plastic bait. If you are using a snap swivel on your plastics that would be the first thing I would change. As far as where to fish. I guess I would want to know what the fish were doing in the spawning cycle. Are they spawning? If they are spawning they are going to be up close and by walking up to the shore you may be spooking them. My bank fishing has improved significantly by approaching spots that I want to fish by fishing them from the sides and walking parallel with the shore as I cast out in front of me along the shore (or parallel with the shore). Example: If I am looking parallel down the bank (lake on my right and land on my left) and 12 o'clock being where the water meets the shore, I will cast to 1 o'clock (about 1-4 ft out), 2 o'clock (5-10 ft out), and 3 o'clock (11-15 ft out). If I don't get anything I may try different lures, techniques, speeds, etc. I like to use a lure/bait that is slow, moderate and fast. (ex. senko, spinnerbait, and buzzbait/stanley ribbit or lipless crank) If I still don't get anything I move down 10-15 yards and start the process again. I may only spend 10-15 minutes or so in that one spot. It allows me to cover a lot more water and I have been much much more successful. I used to just walk up to a spot, fan cast and stay there for hours not catching a thing hoping the fish would "come in." Was not very successful. Actually this was something I learned last year by reading the forums and articles on this site and it made a huge difference. Of course there are always weather conditions, time of day, etc. that effect where the fish will be so keep reading and posting and hopefully you will get something that can help you go from fishing to catching. Welcome to the site and good luck.

[prjavelin]

awesome information here!! thanks a lot guys. Im going fishing tomorrow. Lets see what happens and how good I do. Hopefully I get to land a couple nice bass.

Deadeye has a great point, a spot within the spot is a really interesting thing ill try to find it.

[GLADES]

Look for sandy bottom and clear water. Work your crank baits right next to any vegetation. If using frogs, creature baits and worms, cast into pockets in and around the vegetation.

If nothing else is working, cast out a small live bait fish under a bobber at late in the afternoon/sunset. If there are any bass in there, you will know pretty quick.