What Is Wrong, Where Can I Improve?

[prjavelin]

Got my first bass a couple weeks ago. Last week I went fishing 3 times. Twice for 1.5 hours and once for 7 hours. I got nothing to show for it but experience. I went fishing today for 5.5 hours and nothing again.

I want to let you guys what Im doing and using and any tip that I can get that can help me get better(and doesnt break the bank) ill try it. Im going fishing again tomorrow and I may spend the whole day on the lake again. Please help me get on a roll and start catching fish more regularly.

Im using a medium light ugly(ugly) stick lol. daiwa spinning reel. (i dont have money to buy a G loomis for now)

15 # braid. Should I use flouro?

fishing from shore a 200 to 400 acre lake(im not sure of the size).

mostly fishing Senkos. when I get tired I fish a surface lure like a popper(im dying to catch one on a popper) I did use it today. I also fished a rapala shad rap and a spinnerbait for a while.

Usually I dont texas rig worms. I think I should. I dont know what a drop shot is, so Im reading about it. I dont use or know about finesse worms or shaky rigs. I have an Alabama rig that I dont use. I dont use the carolina rig either.

I know how much you guys love senkos but I want to go fishing with a different plan tomorrow. use different lures( i bought a bunch and I dont use half of them).

here is my tackle box

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/101053-please-someone-tell-me-to-stop-lol/

I wanna break the norm and try different things, practice other skills and maybe learn other lures.

[outdoorsman110]

You don't need a Loomis, the best set up I own is under $110, Shimano Sellus Spinning Rod matched with Model 6935 Pflueger President Spinning Reel. The Sellus series has over 10 technique specific rods including dropshot and shakey head. My favorite set up.

[tomustang]

You don't need a pricy combo, this would be a good start http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3986260&cp=4406646.4413993.4414792.4414799.4414833

[Greenstealth]

For me, I do pretty well at my local lakes but ive been up and down them a lot and I can usually get on them. A texas rigged power worm is my go to at my favorite bass lake, while a baby brush hawg is my favorite at another lake. Your equipment is good enough to catch fish (lord knows I caught plenty on an ugly stick. Basically, look for structure, look for any cover or clues- overhanging trees, stumps etc. I fish a texas rig (3/16 weight with 2 or 3 ott wide gap worm hooks with both the power worms and brush hawg) slowly with a twitch-fall and rest sequence. I catch a good amount of fish with this formula, hopefully it can help you as well.

[NBR]

A $60,000 boat, a $200 rod and a $300 reel and your catch will most likely be the same but might just find that gear makes you more comfortable. Learn to equate the time of year with the lake/stream/reservoir, develop your casting and retrieve skills and time on the water will increase your catch. Some place I read that if I fish 10 times this year and catch 20 fish if I fish 20 times next year will I catch 40 fish. The answer is no you would be more likely to catch 100 or more.

You would tie your knots quicker, have fewer backlashes, know the lake better, be more accurate in you cast etc.

[Jake P]

What type of cover/ structure is there in the area your fishing? Is there any shore structure? If your not T rigging the worms, how are you rigging them and fishing them? There are tons of variations that could go into the reason you are not getting bit. Including the water your at or the spot on water your fishing.

The Senkos IMO and most others opinions should be fished weightless. Either T rigged or wacky rigged. The senko has a very enticing natural fall. If you add weight, it wall fall vertically with no action. Senkos are a good starter worm because they do the work for you. The way i fish a senko is simple. T rig it weightless and cast it out. Let it fall all the way to the bottom and wait 15 seconds. Reel the slack up, lift your rod tip from 6 to 12 and then stop. Let the Senko fall back down to the bottom and weight another 15-30 seconds. If you feel anything at all, set the hook. They are free.

For the 7" ribbon tail worms, you can fish these a little faster. Weight them depending on the depth of the water. For 5-15 ft of water i throw a 1/4 oz weight. Let the worm fall to the bottom, reel up the slack until you feel your lure with the rod. When you have all the slack reeled up start working the worm with a few small hops with the rod. There are tons of videos on youtube and especially here on Bassresource. Go to the videos section and watch glenns video on how to fish a T rig. It is very informative. Matter of fact, check out all of his videos on Youtube, they will help you tremendously.

Spinnerbaits is where i would start if i was you. They are a good search bait that can be fished in alot of the water column. Throw them as parallel to the shore as you can and start your retrieve. Work the lure with your rod, giving it a few twitches while reeling to make your retrieve erratic. This always works for me.

If you can let us know what type of visible cover/structure there is and if there are any docks or boathouses or ANYTHING that is different from the regular shoreline, it would help us help you.

Your reel is fine for now, i would deff try and find another rod in the 6'6"-7' Medium to medium heavy rod. I would suggest a 7 mh if price is an issue. It would be a better all around setup. your braid will be fine, although i would also recommend yo zuri hybrid in the 8 -12 lbs range. It is very very durable, affordable at under 10 bucks, and will be a better all around line for your setup. Again, assuming price is an issue.

Like i said, there are tons of factors to take into consideration. But you cant learn sitting on the couch. I applaud you getting out there and fishing for long periods of time and not giving up. Keep it up, you will start catchin em'. Good luck!

[grimlin]

Forget all about the equipment and lures. Figure out first where the fish are and why they are there. My guess you may not be fishing where the fish are. There's been days when i shore fish I skunk out from time to time.Perhaps they were deeper and deeper water can be hard to reach from shore.

[prjavelin]

Thanks for all the replies. You are definitely helping me. The lake is a reservoir with undeveloped shores. There are no docks, boathouses or anything manmade except for the posts for a bridge. I've fished those a couple times already. There are underwater structures but being a reservoir those are in more than 50 feet deep right now. In the shore there are many vegetation all over the shore like overhang trees and small vegetation coming from inside the water no bigger than 4 feet.

When I talked about money I meant I can't buy an expensive rod or a very expensive reel right now. I definitely need a better rod but for now I'm gonna use the ugly. I really want to get better at this. Thanx for the help

[tomustang]

It would help us if you filled out your location

[Nitrofreak]

A lot of what is wrong are things you have posted, by not using the T-rig, C-rig, especially the T-rig.

Everyone want's to be confident when learning how to use their tools for any given trade.

I would concentrate your efforts on points, use a T-rig worm or lizard, 3/8 oz bullet weight to start with, as far as colors I would try green pumpkin, watermelon red, pumpkinseed with chartruse tail, and cotton candy, all in 6" lengths.

You say this is an underdeveloped lake, just because it has no docks does not make it underdeveloped, how old is the lake?

Find a point that has one or two other points in close proximity if at all possible, or a point where the waterway narrows just before or after it, you mentioned a bridge, fish the piling, cast your worm out past one and let it fall to the bottom, pick it up and let it fall again, rest for about 3 to 5 seconds and keep repeating untill your bait has been retrieved, if no bites then try a different approach with the T-rig, slowly drag it across the bottom with a twitch pause, twitch twitch pause technique, if you are not getting bites switch colors and try again, pay close attention to where the fish strike the bait, on the bottom, in the middle of your retrieve, or at the top, close to the surface, this will help you to understand how deep the fish are and where you need to concentrate your efforts.

The T-rig is something you should get very familure and comfortable with, it is the SUV of our sport, well that and the jig imo, and one that will open a lot of doors to learning how to fish plastic baits like the worm.

Fish the points first, where you can, and cover as much ground as you can by fan casting the whole point especially in the morning and evening hours, during the heat of the day deeper water out in front of the point will be your best option, or the bridge will be a great place to fish especially when it's sunny.

Good luck and be safe !!!

[MCS]

Try to get a topo map of the lake. I know when I lived in VA the Fish and Wildlife website had very basic maps that would locate, the depths every 2 feet, docks, dams, man made structures. It wasn't the best but was helpful in locating drop offs, deep water coves etc. Also read up on what season you are in(spawn, post spawn etc.) in your area and use it as a guideline to locate the fish as well as identify what techniques may work well. And lastly, I know I keep posting it, but the big thing is to not get too close to where the fish are. if you can stand back off the bank do so, cast parrallel(forgive my spelling) to the shore etc. Hope this helps good luck.

[ClackerBuzz]

Forget all about the equipment and lures. Figure out first where the fish are and why they are there. My guess you may not be fishing where the fish are. There's been days when i shore fish I skunk out from time to time.Perhaps they were deeper and deeper water can be hard to reach from shore.

x2. are you sitting in one spot for too long or are you covering water? use any rod/lure you want...use a fan cast...completely cover one area for 10 min...move 25 feet up water. repeat. if no success after 3 spots with the same lure, change to new lure. by the time you relocate 10-15 times you should have gotten a bite. make a mental note what color, type of lure and its retrieve (vibration, silver/gold blade, soft plastic, jig, bite on vertical fall or horizontal retrieve etc). noting what got you the bite will tell you the direction to go with ur next lure (aka what they are feeding on that day, their 'mood'/sensitivity). keep a low profile. don't just waltz up to the edge of the water and cast as far as you can. stand 10 ft away from water and gently fan/pitch the closest water first. then move up to edge and cast to the deeper water. don't fish...hunt the fish. no matter how good you are and how much ur polarized glasses cost you should still be spooking some well hidden fish. if not, ur not covering enough water. if muhammad ali was a fisherman he would say 'pitch and move, pitch and move'. good luck

[Busy]

I would definately learn to Texas Rig your worms. Makes fishing the grass a lot easier. When I fish from the shore I always try to get in the grass, especially if it's hot.

[Bassun]

I personally think that ignoring any suggestions about new rods / reels / etc. right now is a good idea. Yes, things may be easier with a perfect setup; but right now I don't think you are worried about being "perfect", rather successful. There are lots of good ideas listed above. I am going to assume you have no boat, no maps, and no info about the lake other than what you can see from the bank. And from the above you see some grass, and some trees overhanging some. That gives us some clues to where the fish might be, but first: Something to think about with your location is where are the bait fish? Do you see any small fish near where you are? If not, keep your eyes open and try to find them. Once you find the bait fish, that will give you a good idea of where the "bigger" fish are. Even if you don't find a bunch of bait fish, most predator fish will relate to cover or structure. Read that as the fish like to have a place to hide...hide from bigger predators, sun, etc. They also like to use cover to allow them to ambush other smaller fish. So, all in all most fish will be caught in or near some type of cover or structure.

Now, knowing that you may have a clue where to fish... or not, depending on the set up of the impoundment. SO - here is what I think is the #1 tip to catching fish on artifical lures when you are struggling with all of them... Down size. If you have a choice of a 2 inch plug vs a 4 inch plug - right now go with the smaller 2 inch plug. You need to catch fish to find them... For me personally I think one of the best ways to pick up a few fish when you are really struggling is to fish small grubs. I keep 3 colors handy, white, black and pumpkinseed (think a dark greenish color) in a small 2 inch version (ok I keep more but those and yellow are my go to colors). I know if things get really tough, I can put these on a 1/8 ounce or 1/4 ounce jig head and catch fish. Sometimes nice sized fish! But most often just bunches of smaller fish. But, while you are just learning the ins and outs numbers of fish will be helpful since you will learn where they are.

If you are really looking just to catch a few fish one day you can always go with some night crawlers and bobbers. It's totally different than fishing with lures, but super effective. That can also be a way to help find fish... if your not getting bit on live worms... there are no fish there...

GOOD LUCK! Let us know what happens and how you got there!

Tight Lines!

[roadwarrior]

"Just Getting Started"

Guaranteed To Catch Bass

I just cant catch bass

Learning to fish on your own

[Bassun]

Yeah, read those three threads! Excellent info, great post Roadwarrior!