FRUSTRATED!!

[primetime]

I would buy some shiners and take them out to a lake known for producing a good volume of fish, find a nice area that offer's what Bass need. Cooler water, shade, structure, bait etc...

I would free line them on plain old Mono as light as possible. If you can use 10lb test, use 10lb test mono.

If you want to use lures, I would get out early or late and fish a plastic worm on light line, light as possible, and use a smaller bait, and smallest hook possible to make it look natural. I love a 4" Berkley Power Worm curly tail or 4" Senko or sluggo fished on a split shot rig and 8lb test.

If you get out early or late, even during the day, If you can't get strikes on a Floating Rapala F-9 Size on 6-8lb test then maybe the fish are suspended at the thermocline and not feeding. 

I would ask for info when buying shiners, you can always get some action on live bait if in the right area....Good luck.

[You_Only_Live_Once_Fishing]

throw confidence baits, moving ones too

[blckshirt98]

I'm a 100% bank guy and I'm taking a break until the weather/water temps cool down some, so I probably won't go back out until early September.  You're picking a tough time of the year to fish, especialliy with this heat wave hitting the entire country.  Take some time off and wait for the Fall bite!

[papajoe222]

It isn't you. 

The biggest downside to bank fishing is the limited access to spots that are productive year round.  The fewer places that offer you access, the more your chances of getting skunked increases.  It sounds to me, like there is no reason for the fish to be where you are fishing.  Deeper water near by? Signs of forage using the area? The presence of isolated cover?  In the absence of these, there is no reason for bass to frequent  the area or even use it as home base.

Just because a spot produced in the past, isn't a reason to probe the area over and over with no results.  We call this fishing 'history'  For whatever reason (spawning, forage moving into the area, etc.), at one point the area was productive. Seasons and conditions change. To be successful on a fairly regular basis, you need to both, be able to recognize when change occurs and change along with it.  Often, that means changing tactics. Sometimes, it means changing locations.

 

 

[bigbill]

When it's tough fishing and you used up all your skills go firetiger in color. If your spot is deep go deep with firetiger.

I refused to go home skunked one-day. I threw everything in my tackle box twice but I didn't throw the bomber crank in firetiger. One bass hit it. I landed it and went home. Never give up.  I do regret staying with crankbaits and not switching to plastics. Time to change up the baits. I know the bass are there.

[JigMaster4]

I suggest fishing real early in the morning or later at night because in the summer that is when the best bass bite will be. Also maybe you arent giving the lures a chance. When I first started fishing I would throw something for 5-10 minutes without a byte, then change lures. Now I give my confidence lures more time and usually they will produce.

[Airman4754]

Spring and fall are easy. Summer and winter suck. 

Stick with it and you'll start to figure out the retrieves, bait sizes, time of day, etc. of summer fishing. Then in the winter fish the exact same way, but do the exact opposite for time of day. 

[Hogsticker]

14 hours ago, blckshirt98 said:

I'm a 100% bank guy and I'm taking a break until the weather/water temps cool down some, so I probably won't go back out until early September.  You're picking a tough time of the year to fish, especialliy with this heat wave hitting the entire country.  Take some time off and wait for the Fall bite!

I'm with you on this one. I'll hit it this last week and probably won't return till the 3rd or 4th week of September, maybe even wait till October. I'm getting 1 to 2 good fish bites just before the sun goes down in the deepest water I can reach from shore. Been throwing the Jackall Rythm Wave and those few good takes I'm getting are hitting it on the drop just before it touches bottom. 

[Ratherbfishing]

The plus side to the summer is that a fish's metabolism increases and therefore they have to feed more often.  The bad news, however, is that their food source is also more readily available and bass are more likely to feed at night and/or will move to locations harder for you to find or to fish.  Shore fishing (especially from larger impoundments) can be rather limiting in this regard.  But some bass will remain relatively shallow-which is good for you.

If you absolutely have to feed when the sun is higher, find weed edges and shaded areas where bass are more likely to hold.  Put away your fast moving baits for now.  Slow down and fish soft plastics (worms, crawdads, lizards) methodically.  If you can reach matted vegetation or moss, cast out to it with a hollow bodied frog or mouse-but be sure to use a stout rod and heavy line as pulling the fish through the stuff is three quarters of the battle.   If you haven't had so much as a bite, though, catching may be less critical than just getting bit.

Summer fishing is a challenge for most fishermen but especially for bank fishermen.  Between the heat/humidity/bugs/stinging nettle, poison ivy, etc. it can be maddening.  Determination is good but not if it means a case of heat stroke and not if it means throwing out the baby with the bathwater if it isn't working out.  Maybe it's time to put up your gear for awhile.  Find another hobby.

[Choporoz]

@Turkey sandwich is right...once you determine there's nothing going to hit your topwater, you need to put some plastic out there, IMO.  Rigging depends on depth, grass, bottom, etc.  But, a finesse worm on a 1/16 trig or jighead (or a ned rig) worked SLOW will either get bit or tell you to go home and play Call of Duty. 

   I HATE getting skunked, but I'm old enough to have gotten to the point where I can still enjoy fishing even if there's not a lot of catching.  That hasn't always been the case, but if you get to the point where you can really just enjoy the fishing, every bite will seem like a bonus.....I won't tell you it took about 50 years to arrive at that attitude, however

[fishwizzard]

OP, bank fishing in central MD is awful right now, anywhere that isnt pressured is going to be overgrown with thorns and swarming with ticks.

Get yourself to the upper Patapsco River and wade for some (small) Smallmouths.  Use a Ned/MFW stlye lures, or a small tube.  If you hit an uncrowded section and can find some shaded pools, it would be hard not to catch atleast a few.   

[Buffdaddy54]

Thanks everyone! I will keep at it. Going to be throwing worms and creature baits for awhile.

[snake95]

12 hours ago, Buffdaddy54 said:

 

Thanks everyone! I will keep at it. Going to be throwing worms and creature baits for awhile.

 

Another vote that you are not alone in terms of slow to no bite lately.  I would say I've reliably caught 1-4 bass in each 1/2 hr - 1 hr outing, once every few days for the last two months.  The last week: one dink in 4 outings.  Last week my son caught one of our biggest fish yet.  Since then, the bite has completely died off fishing the same spots, using the same methods, at the same time.  It's not you.

[YoTone]

MD should have some monster snake heads right active right now. id start targeting them, well i have but im not in MD.

[scaleface]

Summer is the time to catch lots of fish . If you're stuck on bank then find steeper banks or like previously mentioned streams . .

[bigbill]

The inline spinners work great in rivers, streams and lakes/ponds too.

Mepps, panther Martin's, joesflys ext.

[dday07]

Tough this time of year for a bank fisherman with not a lot of structure to catch fish mid morning or late morning...usually by that time they have either gone deep or if shallow found some cover..my buddy has the same problem and very tough for him..before dark not too bad a time but still need an hour or so after dark for it to really kick in...don't be too discouraged...come Fall will be a better time for  all day chances of catching some fish

[Jonathan Evans]

Get some clothes you do not care about and some old shoes. Get a kiddie float from Walmart to hold gear. Now wade out to about the waist line. That is what I plan On doing Saturday.