HELP! Am I terrible at fishing? Or is it my location?

[Bass Turd]

Please try the Neg Rig with actual Z-Man products. Glenn has a nice video on fishing the rig. Glenn also put together a section on everything you need to know about it but I can't seem to find it. If another member knows where it is would you please link to it? Hundreds of video's on YouTube also. It catches everything from Blue Gill to Bass to Catfish. If I ever want to know what fish are in the area or IF there are fish in the area I throw out a Ned Rig.

[blckshirt98]

I'd have a tough time detecting a bite in a river if the current was fast enough.  Definitely try to get to a lake or pond if you can, plus you'll have a better feel for each lure you use!

[iiTzChunky]

46 minutes ago, blckshirt98 said:

I'd have a tough time detecting a bite in a river if the current was fast enough.  Definitely try to get to a lake or pond if you can, plus you'll have a better feel for each lure you use!

I'm a pretty novice fisher and once I figured out what the bite felt like I was able to detect it in a river current. 

[Sam]

8 hours ago, Hog Basser said:

Confidence starts by catching fish and a lot of them.  The best way to do that is to fish smaller bodies of water.  I fished a lot of ponds and small reservoirs growing up and it really built my confidence and helped me get a feel for the bite.  I still have a lot more trouble on large lakes and rivers to this day, it takes a lot more patience and know-how.  On some large lakes I may only get a handful of fish all day (bank and dock fishing).  On a pond or small lake without much pressure and an overabundance of fish, I could hook up with a hundred in a day.  My advice is to hone your skills on smaller waters, then move up and use that knowledge to attack the larger lakes and rivers.  

Hey Hog, after a tournament when I don't do well I drive an hour south of Richmond during the following week to a friend's Double Secret Farm Pond and clobber those bass with the same baits, techniques and equipment that I used on the lake or river in the tournament.

I helps me realize that I am not the problem. That darn little green monster is the problem!!!!!!

Good post. I agree with you 100%.

[moggreen]

No amount of experience, technique, advanced lure technology, or nevermind general dark magic will catch a bass where there isn't a bass. Also, it seems you are in the boat I was when I started.100+ techniques, baits, presentations with video footage on all of them being successful. I'd recommended focusing on two or three techniques that are extremely general and will target  bass in a wide variety of scenarios, I.e., Texas rig worm(black, junebug, green pumpkin,) a hollow body frog(black, white, leopard/natural looking,) and a 1/4 to 1/2 ounce black and blue or green pumpkin jig.  Darker water, darker bait. Clearer water, natural bait. Check out Bassresource on YouTube,  Glenn's getting kinda popular which kinda detracts in my book but he generally knows hat he's talking about. Don't give up, once you catch one or two I'm sure you'll be beating them off with a stick just to keep your line loose. If you don't just get addicted to bass fishing like the rest of us lol p.s. Bank Anglers Unite!

[daviswill]

I don't know where you are fishing, but if it has smallmouth the water is probably way too clear for 17lb leader. I'd probably go with more like a 10 or 8 pound leader but you really have to fight the fish instead of horsing them in. Hope this helps.

[BankBassing]

On 8/9/2016 at 0:24 PM, moggreen said:

Check out Glenn (BassResource) on YouTube

His were actually the first videos I came across and I've watched a BUNCH of them now.

Yesterday, for the first time I had a fish hit my frog.  It was a gar, and I missed the hook set (tried too fast), but it gave me some confidence that I was at least making it look realistic enough to fool a fish.  I really feel like I'm not far off now.  We'll see.

Oh, and BANK ANGLERS UNITE indeed!  There aren't enough out there.

[timsford]

I bank fish a lot of dams and rivers myself. In heavy current around rocks, it's almost impossible to fish a Texas rig or anything bottom bouncing without constantly hanging in the rocks. The fish are normally feeding on shad and bait fish anyway, and I have better luck imitating that. My best tailrace baits are floating and suspending jerkbaits(rapala floating minnows, husky jerks, and xraps,  bomber long a, Smithwick rogue, and lucky craft pointers), crankbaits (a bunch of different brands but the Norman deep little n is my favorite), soft jerkbaits(zoom super fluke), underspins (fish head spin and davis baits underspins with super fluke trailers), soft swimbaits (fat impact, lunker city grubster) and in line spinners (roostertail). All in variations of shad colors (white or chrome belly with blue, black, or green back.) If you imitate baitfish you may be surprised at what you catch. I catch bass, stripers, hybrids, white bass, walleye, and catfish on all these baits below dams and sometimes all in the same trip. Stick with it and don't give up

[uncle reddog]

Hi everyone,  I've been reading posts for quite awhile, but never posted so I figured I'll make my first to help/advise a fellow angler. First off the Ohio River (all of it) is a notoriously tough bass fishery. Go and check out some of the latest tournament results (bfl) comes to mind. The pro who won had 9.6lbs. The co-angler who won had 6 lb. something. To put this in perspective, these are people who are dedicated fisherman with high end rigs with all the bells n whistles. I would definitely heed the advice of trying smaller waters. It seems that where you live there should be some strip mine ponds and those ponds have quality bass in them. Just my 2 cents. Just keep on trying and your bound to get that first elusive bass. Good luck!

[Ratherbfishing]

There is always a learning curve for every new activity and bass fishing is no exception however, since you are pretty new, please allow me to provide a few thoughts:

Just about any idiot can catch some fish in the spring.  Summer is often tougher.  Remember this.

Since you are pretty new, you don't have a strong frame of reference (successful outings) to sustain you through the tough periods.

[BankBassing]

Lookie what I got today!  On a $1 Walmart Spinnerbait of all things.  Caught him at the dam.  He's a dink, but you gotta start somewhere.  Thanks everyone for the encouragement!

[thomas15]

Good Going BankBassing!

My experience when I started was just like yours. I tried and tried and tried, no fish. First year nothing at all. Finally, deep into my second year and ready to throw in the towel I said to myself one more try, if successful I would continue, if not I would try something else.

I approached the pond in a "scientific" manner and decided to use 3 baits in turn. I went to the pond, found a blowdown with some bait fish near and casted parallel (as best as I could) to the bank. Second cast I brought in my first LMB. What is funny and similar to your experience is that the lure I used was an inexpensive WalMart FLA medium diving crank bait that cost $1.99 (about 20 years ago). I finally retired that lure so that I wouldn't lose it.

Spinner baits, cranks and texas rigs were my best baits. I was catching bass from then on a regular basis. Then we moved to PA, stopped fishing for 10 years. 3 years ago got a boat and learning to bass fish in a deep impoundment from a boat was/is like starting all over again. 15 years ago I never heard of a drop shot but now it's my best presentation. I have baits galore, some of them are expensive ($40.00-$50.00 ish) and I have sonars and TM and you name it but on those special days when I actually catch a fish it's usually on a drop shot or to a lesser extent a spinner bait.

The bad news is you are now addicted.

[JustJames]

You got a lot of good advices here.

I'm pretty new in bass fishing too. I start fishing bass like 6-7 or may be 10 yrs ago. It had been on and off bass fishing for me despite all that some years I didnt even catch a single bass, some year just all the dinks. I have spent money on all kind of lure both soft and hard bait. Still quite a lot of them never get a bite. A whole lot of them just gone with the wind. I almost quit bass fishing so many d**n times. Just recent years that I got a little more success but that not because Im better fishing but I get access to private community lake. Im still learning and learning.

All I can tell you is never give up. Find a new water if old one tough to catch. Dont go overboard about all kind of lures just a few that you can use all year round until you get good at them. I would say start with plastic in only 2 shade color light (smoke / shad) or dark (blue /black). Senko is good start, dropshot and texas rig.

Good luck to you.

 

 

[Torn Thumb]

Just have to keep plugging away at it. Fan casting is your friend when on the bank. Throw a squarebill if it's not too weedy, go early or late and throw small topwaters using advice found here at bassresource. It'll all come together with patience. I'm having my best year of bass fishing yet with the biggest change from prior years being my patience going way up. Try fishing small and slow if you're really skunking it up.

[An Outdoor Guy]

you are not terrible. I am having the same bad luck streak here in Ohio. 2 months not a single fish. even on my last resort bait which is a weightless worm (senko and trick) still haven't caught a thing.

One thing that would help you is the IBobber, or Deeper castable fish finder. I don't have the money for one or I would be using it. if you have a fish finder and your still not catching fish then I don't know what to tell you other than it is the "dog days of summer"

[bigbill]

I would fish early mornings or high noon or in the evenings till dark.

Baits,

1. Rapala original floater f7 blue or black.

2. Mepps Anglia #3 silver blade grey tail

3. Bomber Model A 05 in redapplecraw.

Don't forget the bass scent.

[BankBassing]

On 9/3/2016 at 10:06 AM, An Outdoor Guy said:

you are not terrible. I am having the same bad luck streak here in Ohio. 2 months not a single fish. even on my last resort bait which is a weightless worm (senko and trick) still haven't caught a thing.

One thing that would help you is the IBobber, or Deeper castable fish finder. I don't have the money for one or I would be using it. if you have a fish finder and your still not catching fish then I don't know what to tell you other than it is the "dog days of summer"

I was just saying yesterday that I really want to get one of those castable finders.  Most guys with a boat won't even cast until they know they are on fish, and here we are with a very limited area just throwing out blind.

[snake95]

36 minutes ago, BankBassing said:

I was just saying yesterday that I really want to get one of those castable finders.  Most guys with a boat won't even cast until they know they are on fish, and here we are with a very limited area just throwing out blind.

I have had a Deeper castable since February and here's my 2c.

They have a new line out in the last month or so - some with wifi instead of bluetooth connections, so not sure how the following applies to the latest versions:

The plots are very clear, the bottom depth is accurate, and so it has the potential to be very helpful.  The app is easy to use.   What I have found the Deeper to be best for is learning what the bottom profile is and where the vegetation is.  Sometimes I have learned where fish congregate.  

Here are the significant caveats:

First, it is like casting a wallet with $200 on it into the water.  You don't want your line to break unless you can swim for it!

It splashes down like a baseball being lobbed into the water, so you won't want to cast it out when you might spook fish - obviously, any time you are actually fishing.  For this reason, it is only really useful when you are on a mission dedicated to learning what is underwater, or, when you are in a small boat - I've used it from a jon boat.

It won't work in turbulent water, so that might rule it out for the river.   Maybe you can drift it into an eddy or pool and get good readings.

Mine has had connectivity problems.  I drop the connection a lot, particularly on long casts.  Their tech support has been fairly responsive and I am working through it to see if I can get it to work better.  Not resolved yet for me.   If someone sees this and has experience resolving it - reply to my question in the electronics thread!

In summary, the castable fishfinder is a reasonable concept and the implementation has potential.  You'll never get around the risk of losing it, or the huge splashdown effect.   It has the potential to be useful toy, but it is not a silver bullet for bank fishing.

 

[Dschouest42]

Prior to this year, every time I tried to target bass, I would skunk out badly. Last year, I caught maybe fifteen bass in my life. This year, since I started getting much more serious into the strategies and techniques of bass fishing, I have caught 24 bass and I plan to catch 24 more by years end.

Find two or three baits that you have: I recommend a Senko, a spinnerbait, and a swimbait. Take the time to fish whatever three baits you pick religiously. Learn how to fish them. Educate yourself on the tactics, rigs, etc. of the lures. Fish them constantly. You WILL learn how to catch fish!

Focus on a few tactics that would work for your area. Is it deep? Then try Carolina rigs, drop shots, and suspending cranks. Is it weedy and shallow? Spinnerbaits and Texas rigs will work wonders. Fish something long enough, and you'll learn how to catch fish with it!

I also second getting a cheap, used kayak. Kayak fishing is one of the most fun, and exerting, ways of fishing. You can lose weight, gain muscle, and cover tons and tons of water. Try it sometime, you might find a new addiction!