Does Getting Skunked Bother You?

[midas0]

Last week I went to Rice Lake for a fishing trip on a boat with my girlfriend and her father. It was my first time fishing freshwater in like 6-7 years, and the first time I've ever spent some time with her Dad. After fishing from noon-7PM, her Dad caught 5-7 largies that weighed no more than a 1lb+1/2, my girlfriend caught a sunfish, and I caught nothing. I didn't mind, it was fun to get out and I had a good time. 

 

On Monday we went out again, this time to Presqu'ile Bay and the Quinte Bay channel on the boat. Her Dad caught 3-5 largies that all averaged around 1lb, her brother caught a 1lb Walleye, and my girlfriend and I caught nothing... We fished from 1PM-9PM. 

 

Today I went out with just my girlfriend to the Otonabee river. We fished from 2PM-4PM - she caught a 1lb Bass, and I got skunked AGAIN!!!

 

3 times in a row!!

 

I've tried everything!!!! Senkos; carolina rigged, wakky, and texas rigged. An assortment of top-water crankbait with colours ranging from white/red, to gold/red, yellow/white (some with/without rattlers). I've tried pad crashers in the late evening in areas with lily pads. Jitterbugs.. Top-water poppers... I've honestly every combination in my tackle box at least twice. 

 

I still have a great time while I'm out there though. Better than staying in all day and I always have a good laugh... but **** man, I'm starting to get frustrated. What's a guy have to do to catch a bass around here? We're going out again on Sunday to the Bay of Quinte. 

 

Wish me luck!

[CayMar]

Good luck buddy. I could use some myself. My problem is a lack of consistency. I haven't been able to get out very much lately and I've been trying a bunch of unfamiliar places.

[mddrew88]

Best way to not feel so bad about it is to only go at peak times, sunrise and sunset, and probably better if you go only at sunrise. Stay a few hours and leave before you waste all day. After a while you'll realize when its just not gonna happen, especially if you've gave multiple lures a shot and no bites.

 

I got skunked this morning by a double digit. Bass-tard ate my hula popper for the third time and snapped my 12 lb test. I saw his massive head come up out of the water and he exploded under and popped that line like he wasn't even trying. That was my third hula popper I've lost in about 2 weeks. Needless to say, yeah I'm ticked. Time for some new line.

[AK-Jax86]

getting skunked didn't bother me but NOW in the August FL heat it does lol

[midas0]

Got skunked for the 4th time straight yesterday. To be fair though I only went shore fishing for an hour, and there was a funny incident too...

 

So on my last cast I decided to try and cast my Rapala Shad out as far as possible. I lean back and I sent that thing FLYING... well I think there was either an imperfection in the line or the bail closed while the line was being cast out but in the end the line snapped. So I just see my crankbait floating there, along with the line still attached to it.. As I'm watching my lure float away, something, I think it was a walleye, comes up and hits it! Talk about bad luck man... he couldn't have hit the other 50 times I casted out? Hahaha

 

Headed off to the docks today with my girlfriend's Dad to fish on the Trent River. Wish me luck!!!

[midas0]

After getting skunked 5 TIMES IN A ROW, I have finally done it!!!!

 

I started the morning off with a small Pike! About 18" in length, and around 2-3lbs I believe. After that I got a nice Perch followed by a 3lb largemouth, and a 1-2lb smally. Man do those smallys fight!! Fought way harder than the largy thats for sure!

 

A great time was had by all. The record for the day was set by my girlfriend's brother - 30" Pike weighing in at almost 6lbs!

[tugsandpulls]

_{i get mad}

[Dcheek]

Absolutely and anyone that says differently is fibbing

[SirSnookalot]

I don't expect to do well this time of year catching bass.  It's always nice to land a good sized bass, but if I haven't landed it I really don't know how big it actually was.  I'm a fun fisherman and the only thing that matters to me is the hook up and the fight, fish slips the hook it doesn't bother me much.  Day before yesterday I hook into a tarpon fishing off a sea wall, too big to get into my net, can't gaff it, but I can fight it and that's why I'm there.  After maybe 5 or 6 jumps and getting it about 50% of the way in I give it slack to slip the hook, that's what we call a Palm Beach release, for me a successful day.

[trupp30]

    When I am fishing tournaments and get skunked I do get upset. However, when I am not in a tournament I do enjoy just being out on the lake. Yet, I enjoy those days much more when I am on fish.

    Also, a previous post made a great point about getting skunked. They said it makes them question what they are doing. This is right on point. I know if I go without catching any bass I will question my tactics and fishing choices all the back home.

[DogBone_384]

Sometimes.

[BridgerM]

Yes. Sometimes more than others.

 

There are many things I love about fishing aside from catching fish; being on the water as the sun rises, learning about electronics/wiring/boat/truck repair, freshwater ecosystems, reading and watching (flukes) videos to learn new techniques and learn from each outing. Im sure there are more i can't think of right now, but yeah all of those things are nice and I can tell myself "i didn't catch anything but i got to see a kick ass sunrise when i was the only person on the water." Or the old saying 'a bad day of fishing is better than the best day at work'. However, I didn't spend all this money on a boat, gear, gas, time learning about bass and how to catch them, get three hours sleep just to watch the sun come up. The point is to catch fish. There are cheaper ways to do the above. That stuff is like a participation award, its better than nothing, but not why you do it. So yeah, not catching does bother me especially if I can't figure out why I got skunked or its multiple times in a row.

[JakeBassMaster]

I just enjoy being out there on the lake/pond. I always have a slimmer of hope that I will end up catching a fish. Just something weird about me I guess.

[Diablos]

After fishing 3 days in a row of complete blue-bird skies and winds under 5 knots, I officially got skunked today. Each day the fishing was getting worse. The fish kept getting slightly deeper and held even tighter to structure and cover. I put a drop shot right in their face with zero takers. I threw swim baits along deeper weed lines with no takers.

 

Just one week earlier I was consistently getting 2-4lb'ers on a Culprit fat max worm

[aquaholic]

I havent been skunked in a couple months. It was starting to get the best of me. I stopped fishing new spots because i didnt want to break the streak. Today The weather was about 15 degrees hotter than normal, extremely humid and windy.  It was the perfect storm, i knew the fish would be impossible to find from the banks of the river. especially with about 20 yards of solid weeds.  I went out there for about 2 hours and got skunked. Now i feel as if a weight has lifted off my shoulders. 

[wngan9447]

I havent been skunked in a couple months. It was starting to get the best of me. I stopped fishing new spots because i didnt want to break the streak. Today The weather was about 15 degrees hotter than normal, extremely humid and windy. It was the perfect storm, i knew the fish would be impossible to find from the banks of the river. especially with about 20 yards of solid weeds. I went out there for about 2 hours and got skunked. Now i feel as if a weight has lifted off my shoulders.

Keep using the Vanish and skunks will come more often.

Just gave away a spool myself. Told a friend to practice tying Alberto's and double uni knots.

Keep up the good work. Summer has been rough. Just started catching fish again in the past two weeks. With the looks I'm getting from other guys fishing, everyone else had the same bad luck I did for a couple of weeks.