What Am I Doing Wrong?!

[mathnerdm]

So let me start by saying I just started bass fishing about a month ago, so I'm obviously brand new. The first 2 outings I caught a couple bass, needless to say it rocked... It's been about 3 weeks and 7-10 trips and have yet to see another bass. Been such a bummer. I've watched all the videos I can and read all the articles on here I could but nothing seems to be working. Given I'm in texas and it's only just starting to cool down (below 90) so I'm not sure if that's a factor. As an example, today I was out fishing at a lake for about an hour and absolutely nada, one bite and I missed the hook set. The guy 100 yards from me pulled out 2 bass one being at least a 4#er. When he leaves he tells me to go try at his spot, 30 minutes later, still nothing. I mainly was throwing a weightless pearl fluke and a couple 5" weightless senkos T-rigged. Those being the 2 I throw the most seeing as I've heard how great they are. Yet to really see that though. I just need some help, maybe a reference to a magical troubleshooting guide (if that were to exist lol). Any tips for a newbie would be infinitely helpful. I honestly have been thinking I wasted my money trying to get into this hobby. Thanks and have a good day!

[coreyprashaw]

Hey buddy! Great that you're just starting to get into it! First off, it sounds like there's a possibility that maybe the fish are active and want that bigger bait. Try throwing a jig with a grub or swimbait trailer. General rule of thumb I have fishing for largemouth in upstate NY (ranked one of the hardest places to fish) is to start big and fast. Then go big and slow, then small and fast, and finally finish with a senko or finesse jig. Just starting out you catch a fish on a few lures and think they're God's gift to you Really try to expand your horizons. EVERY LURE WORKS otherwise they would not be made and distributed anymore! go to the tackle store and load up! Remember good colors are anything you'd eat! (Watermelon, pumpkin, PB&J, Sweet Tator Pie) 

[aceman387]

It sounds like you don't have much of a variety of lures. If you go to the top of this page and look under the fishing article heading and then go to lures,you should see an article entitled six must have lures (i would post a link if i didn't suck at computers) I found this article helpful when i got back into fishing. It will give you a basic variety of lures that hit all levels of the water column. I found it helpful. If it makes you feel any better i went out and wasn't very successful today either (dinks) there are so many variables when it comes to fishing,you have to hang in there and put your time in out on the water. I can guarantee if you keep at it and do your homework  (reading this site as much as possible) you will become a better bass fishermen. This site has some of the best fishermen you will ever find,they taught me al lot over the years.

[Missourifishin]

Don't give up mathnerdm. Keep trying different things. It takes time. And every fisherman has bad luck sometimes.

You caught bass there before, and you saw someone else catch a nice one, so there are fish in there. And you are fully capable of catching them.

[Sam]

Math, do you know what the other guy was throwing?

 

Any local tackle shops that have guys working there that fish the body of water and they can give you some bait selections and presentations?

 

Have you Googled any fishing reports for the body of water to see what pops up?

 

Any guides on the lake that have web pages with fishing reports?

 

Have you contacted Catt on this site and asked him for some suggestions?

 

Have you posted a plea for help in the Central Fishing area of the Forum?

 

Can't really help you without knowing a lot about the lake so it is up to you to keep trying and try to locate more data on the specific body of water.

 

Good luck.

[wakeeater]

this can be a frustrating sport.  last thursday night i hooked up 7 fish.  ALL of them threw the lure.  i was using a sammy, and two different flipping baits.  i went home ready to put on a good drunk fest.  i got up friday morning and caught a 4lber & a 5lber within 40 minutes of each other.  i caught everything i hooked.  sometimes you win, sometimes the fish win.

[pbizzle]

So let me start by saying I just started bass fishing about a month ago, so I'm obviously brand new. The first 2 outings I caught a couple bass, needless to say it rocked... It's been about 3 weeks and 7-10 trips and have yet to see another bass. Been such a bummer. I've watched all the videos I can and read all the articles on here I could but nothing seems to be working. Given I'm in texas and it's only just starting to cool down (below 90) so I'm not sure if that's a factor. As an example, today I was out fishing at a lake for about an hour and absolutely nada, one bite and I missed the hook set. The guy 100 yards from me pulled out 2 bass one being at least a 4#er. When he leaves he tells me to go try at his spot, 30 minutes later, still nothing. I mainly was throwing a weightless pearl fluke and a couple 5" weightless senkos T-rigged. Those being the 2 I throw the most seeing as I've heard how great they are. Yet to really see that though. I just need some help, maybe a reference to a magical troubleshooting guide (if that were to exist lol). Any tips for a newbie would be infinitely helpful. I honestly have been thinking I wasted my money trying to get into this hobby. Thanks and have a good day!

You're not holding your mouth right.

[BuffaloBass716]

The only thing I can say is to keep at it. I just started bass fishing this year, and trust me, you learn as you go.  Ask local fishermen about new spots and lures that work for your area.

 

Also, try to find some really clear water with bass swimming around, throw different baits and see how the bass react (its interesting to see how they react to different things in the clear water). Change up how you present your lure (different twitches and pauses).  Soon, you will be the one teaching people about fishing and helping others learn.

[mathnerdm]

Thanks for all the replies. And about my lack of tackle, I only listed the few that I feel like I can work well (one might say confident baits, but hard to have confidence in something you've only caught a couple bass on lol) but I will also throw some spinnerbaits and other types of soft plastics. But I do agree I'm lacking tackle, although you all know how expensive this hobby can be especially when you're trying to start from near scratch. Tomorrow I'm going to go pickup some crankbaits to add to the arsenal. Any recommendations on a few types of crankbaits that you think I should go pick up that could cover shallow to deep water and just be some good general purpose lures? If it's available at Academy that'd be nice as that's where I can make it to tomorrow. Thanks again for the help and support!

[mathnerdm]

Well I ended up going to academy to pick up some crankbaits then going out to a creek by my house today... 3 casts in I landed my largest bass and my day was made. Yeah sure, catching it on my third cast with this lure was almost all luck, but doesn't change the fact that it broke my bass fishing dry spell haha! Thanks for the tips guys as now I've added crankbaits to my tacklebox and could not be happier.

[Missourifishin]

Well I ended up going to academy to pick up some crankbaits then going out to a creek by my house today... 3 casts in I landed my largest bass and my day was made. Yeah sure, catching it on my third cast with this lure was almost all luck, but doesn't change the fact that it broke my bass fishing dry spell haha! Thanks for the tips guys as now I've added crankbaits to my tacklebox and could not be happier.

Congratulations. I bet you were glad you hadn't given up when you landed that fish.

[Brian6428]

Well I ended up going to academy to pick up some crankbaits then going out to a creek by my house today... 3 casts in I landed my largest bass and my day was made. Yeah sure, catching it on my third cast with this lure was almost all luck, but doesn't change the fact that it broke my bass fishing dry spell haha! Thanks for the tips guys as now I've added crankbaits to my tacklebox and could not be happier.

Crankbaits were how I learned to bass fish. Lots of hang-ups but the bite can be detected on not so sensitive rods, like what I started with, and they aren't too difficult to fish. Glad you're having some luck!

[Pavo]

i've been having the same problem i have switched between a couple diff types of worms for my local bass but i am going to go check out that link about the 6 must haves and see if they help me out. drys spells suck but its ok i just enjoy going out.

 

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/bass-lures.html

this is the link to the 6 lures

[JayKumar]

Are you fishing from the bank or a boat?

[mathnerdm]

Are you fishing from the bank or a boat?

I've only been able to bank fish. I plan on buying a kayak from a buddy of mine though soon.

[michang5]

I'm also a bank fisherman and a noob (started in July). On the four bodies of water that I fish regularly, I would say the most important factor has been WHERE I cast to. There have been random times when I've cast into the middle of the pond and landed a random fish, but observation and trial-and-error have provided with me focused target areas. I include them to illustrate how different they can be:

 

1) medium pond — opposite bank of where I stand there are walls of tall grasses/reeds that cast a shadow on the water. Frogs and flukes have worked. Perpendicular to one of the walls appears to be a shallow bed where bass are constantly jumping out of the water to feed. Casting into edge of that area (I can barely reach it) with flukes today resulted in 4 bass.

 

2) small quarry lake — I can cast as far as I want off the bank, but nothing ever hits. But when the bait enters a rocky drop-off 10 feet from the bank, I've landed several fish. Use wacky-rigged Senkos.

 

3) tiny run-off pond — there are frequently bass that jump out close to bank. When I stand on one end and cast parallel to bank, I have success with frogs.

 

4) large creek — there are always fish jumping out on the opposite bank. I can't reach them and the opposite bank is private golf club property. I've gotten a few on a Fat Ika (which I can throw really far), but it hasn't been worth going back.

 

--

 

Net net: I've been to each body of water at least 6 times. I've been skunked numerous times at each. But watching and casting to different locations has been the recipe for success, as much — if not more than — the specific lures I've thrown.

[joeyfishes]

As a fellow Texan, I think I can suggest a few things. If you're not using it already, I would suggest fluorocarbon. I was using braid with a mono leader and caught about 4 fish from July to mid September. I recently got a new rod and threw on fluoro and got a couple of strikes immediately on the first trip. Also I do not know if you got any of the rain in San Antone but try darker colors like black/blue or black/purple. It takes a lot of getting skunked to be able to learn bass fishing.