There Goes My Confidence...

[Catch and Grease]

Last weekend I was killing it and now this weekend I've been skunked two days In a row, and next week I'm fishing a tournament on this lake! There goes my confidence lol!

Ive been fishing since 6:30 till now and haven't got a nibble... I've tried everything almost everywhere.... I have been flipping the majority of the day but I tried a drop shot, squarebill, swim jig, flukes, etc etc... The crazy thing is I could see bass busting the surface every now and then but I just could not get them to bite, well at least I can say I tried! Days like these let you know just how little you know about bass fishing!

[Catch and Grease]

Haha and the worst part is as I'm loading the boat up a guy pulls up with like 8 keepers in his live well... So I just knew he had to be using live bait, so I asked him and he said he caught them all on a BLACK TRICK WORM! hahaha

[retiredbosn]

I had a similar thing happen not long ago 2 weeks ago Clark's Hill. They were busting the top everywhere, totally ignoring my offering, finally saw a dead bait fish on the surface. I immediately knew the problem the super fluke was too big. Switched to a small fluke and bam. I started catching them on the small fluke, they were so tuned in on the bait fish that I had to match the size.

[Catch and Grease]

Make that three days in a row lol

[BooyahMan]

Have faith. Even the best anglers go on cold streaks every so often. You know you're more than capable of catching the big ones so try not to sweat it. Besides, better to be skunked now than during the tournament, am I right? 

[gulfcaptain]

Look into the details!  What are the conditions?  Water temp from this week from last, were they spawning or are they spawning now?  Are they no longer fry guarding?  If not I would say they are then feeding on the fry or smaller baitfish.  Are the bluegills bedding yet?  If so they may be keying in on them.  Did the water color change?  These are all things you need to be aware of when you go.  The first thing you should do is look at water color and temps EVERYTIME.  It can clue you in quickly if things changed.  I've had 6 degree temp swings with off colored water.  Went from 70 and clean water to 64 and off color. It shut down the topwater bite.  Had to go to fishing a slow 4" creature bait tight to cover and the bank to get the bites and abandon the topwater and shallow crankbait bite that was working great 2 days before. Details, pay attention to the details and adjust.

[Catch and Grease]

They are keying in on small baitfish I believe, a high pressure front with bluebird skies/little wind came through and it killed the bite. The water is more clear than normal in this lake but that normally improves the fishing. I tried fishing flukes, small minnow jerk baits, grubs, bluegill swimbaits, and all sorts of stuff since I knew they were keying in on minnows and probably feeding on some bream too but I just couldn't buy a bite so I went and flipped matted grass for awhile since I figured if I did happen to get one to bite it could be a hawg. Everyone was having trouble, some people caught some small bass on trick worms but I couldn't.

The front should move through and I have high hopes that it will get better by the tournament. This lakes tournaments are won with bags between 7-12 pounds usually...

[*Hank]

If you fished in some of the skunky lakes i fish you would lose your mind. 

[garvin]

I've skunked out on Fayette County Reservoir and Sam Rayburn both this year. The worst part is the second burn when your wife asks you how you did and you have to admit you drew a big, fat goose egg and she laughs and goes, "Really!? Not even one? You could have stayed home and mowed the yard and caught that many!"

[einscodek]

Haha and the worst part is as I'm loading the boat up a guy pulls up with like 8 keepers in his live well... So I just knew he had to be using live bait, so I asked him and he said he caught them all on a BLACK TRICK WORM! hahaha

Thats the trick of fishin.. its a puzzle of sorts you gotta figure them out .. first you gotta find em

Sometimes they prefer something else.. in a certain color.. in a certain size.. in a certain presentation.

[stepchild]

I've had this happen to me a few times and all I would think about is matching the hatch and using a bait as close to what you think they're feeding on as possible. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't...and when it doesn't, you need to re-evaluate and sometimes throw everything upside down. You might be thinking more finesse is needed, when going to a faster, flashier and bigger bait will get one to strike.

 

You can't force-feed fish into biting, but you can surely get them to react if you don't give them much of a chance to look at your bait.

[geo g]

Tough days happen to everyone that fish regularly.. It even happens to guys on the tour. You need to do something that will stimulate sluggish fish. When things are very tough I will often go to a trick worm and fish it slow, either Texas Rigged or Wacky. I often use black, June Bug, or purple. It has saved many a day during tough times. Let it fall and sit still on the bottom still. Then snap it off the bottom and let it settle back down for 30 seconds. Repeat this all the way back to the boat. Snap it up for 3 or 4 feet. They often hit it on the way back down. As long as the vegetation is not too thick, wacky rig it through the egg sack.