I can’t catch fish

[Brett Stair]

I’m recently back to fishing and bass fishing and can’t catch a dang fish in Texas. I’ve been on Cedar Creek three times in different areas in the south, Athens once, and bank fished at Eagle Mountain and Cedar Creek. I’ve had one bite at Athens on a Texas rigged worm but lost him when he jumped out of the water. (With right handed reel I set the hook left and left the rod high trying to reel... two no no’s)

 

I’ve fished the following:

on Cedar Creek - tx rig worm/craw/lizard/baby brush hog/magic shad, spinner bait with Colorado blade/ Colorado/willow blades plain and with craw trailer/magic shad trailer/baby brush hog trailer, square bill, zman Chatterbait plain and with magic shad trailer, and even a top water frog.

on Eagle Mountain - tx rig worm/craw, spinner bait, Chatterbait 

on Athens - tx rig worm/baby brush hog/lizard, spinner baits with and without the magic shad trailer, top water devils horse, Chatterbait, and a drop shot swim bait.

 

I've slow rolled, crawled the bottom, burned, twitched, bounced.... just about every way to retrieve I can think of and covered the water column as much as possible.

 

Mostly been fishing from the back of the boat and my father in law has only caught three fish in these trips as well all from the front.

 

We’ve been fishing the shallows and creek channels with no idea if they’ve spawned on Cedar Creek because the water is so muddy to deep stained. It’s post spawn on Athens because we saw a lot of abandoned beds.

 

We’ve been fishing from predawn to afternoon or late evening. 

 

What the the heck do I have to do to catch a dang fish?

[CroakHunter]

There's a good write up on how to catch bass anywhere written by @roadwarrior. Not sure how to link it maybe someone could help me out there. It's a very simple way to get bites of you follow every step. You'll either catch bass or realize there are none in the area

[roadwarrior]

 

[scaleface]

On 4/1/2018 at 10:36 AM, Brett Stair said:

What the the heck do I have to do to catch a dang fish?

Post spawn , I would try some points with cranks and worms . I dont know what its like in texas but here , if i can figure out the depth the shad are by watching the depth finder  theres a good chance that bass will be set up at that depth on points .  Its a pretty simple way to fish .

[TOXIC]

Senko time.  Use that to get your confidence up and then branch out to other baits.  

[burrows]

It’s the weather crazy weather in Texas lately from what I’ve heard.

[FishDewd]

On 4/1/2018 at 11:34 AM, roadwarrior said:

 

I've tried that... never caught me anything. :P

 

On 4/20/2018 at 7:26 AM, Burros said:

It’s the weather crazy weather in Texas lately from what I’ve heard.

This ^^ The weather here has been weird, just like it has been everywhere. Winter in spring, then summer in spring. I think the fish are confused and don't know what they want.

 

My best results so far have been a plopper topwater and crankbaits. Granted, I've only caught like 3-4 bass so far this spring, none much over a pound I don't think. Course, I also only fish ponds so that's a separate issue all together.

 

[iiTzChunky]

When the bite is tough for me my go to is a t rigged Senko. It's a slow playing bait but if I'm gonna catch anything that's gonna be the bait I catch em on. Seems like the Senko has the right action to almost always trigger a bite 

[Brett Stair]

Update:

 

I’ve caught a few but only enough to make me realize I’ve still got a lot to learn and patience better be my best friend.

 

@road warrior ... read the article and did exactly what it said caught two each in two neighborhood ponds on the same day. The 5 inch Senko on a 3-0 ewg weightless  T-rig did the trick that day. 

 

Since then I’ve caught some on a spinnerbait, chatterbait, T-Rig baby brush hog, and a wacky rig jig head from MTB. Missed a bunch on a Spro Frog one day and am convinced I can’t tell the difference between a bite and vegetation yet but also that hooksets aren’t free because I’ve lost my fair share of baits and rigs in trying to set on everything.

 

Baits I want to catch fish on but can’t seem to get a bite while Texas Rigged:

7 inch Senko, Zoom Ol Monster and Magnum Ol Monster on a 4/0 ewg ... can’t seem to get a bite on these which is why I think I’m having trouble detecting a bite.

[MarkK76]

Try the Ned Rig, Ive been watching youtube and they all say its excellent for finicky fish that are not biting anything else.  I just placed an order from tacklewharehouse for some ned rig stuff and should be here today, gonna be trying it out this weekend since I haven't had the best of luck with the normal stuff "chatterbait, spinnner, wacky rig, jig, lipless" hope this helps ya out

[Todd2]

On 5/23/2018 at 8:05 AM, MarkK76 said:

Try the Ned Rig, Ive been watching youtube and they all say its excellent for finicky fish that are not biting anything else. 

I jumped on the Ned wagon this Spring and it's been my #1 producer of fish in all sizes. It is not just a small fish lure as some say. However, last weekend, I couldn't get a whiff on it after fishing it for a while. I pull out a crankbait and they are on fire. The difference? We had a lot of rain last week and our lake was stained more, plus I fished about 12 miles down from my normal areas (away from the dam toward the river) so the water was even more stained...not muddy, but stained pretty good. But in clear to medium stained, the Ned has been a beast for me.

[Brett Stair]

Caught a personal best today ... yes not terribly big but is for me this year. 4lbs and 22 inches on a Booyah Buzz with Zoom Horny Toad trailer. Great top water explosion and thrill to bring this one in!! I’m starting to recognize bites more on T-rigs and am not getting skunked as often when I go out. 

[Marco Rodriguez]

Ive recently started as well and have been trying the different lures to learn them, but only depending on conditions. Only been using topwaters, spinnerbait, crankbaits, jigs, etc. My only catches have come from a T-rigged Zoom trick worm on a spinning rod... and only one on my baitcaster on a Optimum Bait Co swimbait from MTB. Go figure lol.

[papo]

Man at least I’m not alone I moved from Miami to dfw and in Miami I wasn’t the best, but I would never get skunked wether it was peacock bass or  LMB. In Texas I can’t catch a break but it’s that I’m fishing with the same technique I used in Florida -.-

[LVFishing]

Brett,

 

Since you live in Ft. Worth, you and your father-in-law might want to check out Private Water Fishing, a club out of the Dallas area that allows you access to managed private ranch tanks all over Texas and parts of Oklahoma. I think they are running a membership special till the end of the year.

 

good luck

 

[Troy Rankin]

On 4/20/2018 at 7:26 AM, burrows said:

It’s the weather crazy weather in Texas lately from what I’ve heard.

It's been wild this year with all the cold fronts and rain