Why No Success?

[Mobasser]

What, in your opinion is the main reason that some fisherman catch bass consistently, and others seldom, or not at all ? Is it the wrong tackle? The wrong bait/ presentation? A lack of understanding bass, and how they live? What's the number one reason for a lack of success in bass fishing? What's your opinion?

[Bird]

Equipment, presentation, bait choice for conditions, knowledge of weather patterns, quite a list.

 

#1  my guess would be presentation but all play a role.

[PourMyOwn]

Lack of attention to detail

[Bird]

Like to add.

 

My interpretation of success may be wildly different than others. 

I catch 1 fish in 40* water.....I'm throwing a party.

[MassYak85]

I rarely feel I'm consistent but IMO it's just an intimate understanding of your local waters. I believe success is 85 percent understanding the bass and the lake. 10 percent tackle and equipment and 5 percent pure luck. 

[Armtx77]

Throw more Senkos and there would not be this problem you speak of.

[roadwarrior]

Location is the most important consideration.

 

[DitchPanda]

I honestly feel like I'm pretty consistent in my home waters especially and it's taken me a long time...so I'm proud of that

I would agree that lack of knowledge regarding location is for sure the number 1 reason...some people seem to be able to read water and the signs easier than others and how they relate to seasonal patterns

Presentation is also a huge one...can't tell you how many times I've fished with someone when the water is 40 degrees and see them burning a moving bait...I look over and say if you sat in your fridge for 12hrs would you get out and Sprint after something? When they say no I say ok..well slow down then

The next one is seldom mentioned but I think is also very important...handling adverse conditions/ability to grind

This is a very important aspect of success and failure as an angler especially in tough times of year like the coldest and hottest water periods when fish are not in peak condition. It is very easy to go out throw a few baits and when fish don't jump on it get discouraged after an hour and say screw it I quit. But it takes a more determined angler to lock down and say I don't care if it's tough I'm gonna grind until I figure at least one out. I embrace that struggle and almost enjoy the feeling of pride I get from even moderate success on a seemingly hopeless outing. I believe this is why I sometimes catch fish when others around me are not.

[Grim_Reaver]

Location, location, location. You can have the best presentation ever but you can't catch a fish that isn't there. On the same note, there are plenty of ugly lures/presentations that sometimes don't represent anything in a bass' natural environment and they'll gobble it down like there's no tomorrow. Imo, some guys give the fish too much credit.

[WRB]

Some people are gifted anglers and other never get it. We are not all cut out of the same cloth, we are different. 

You get out of fishing what you put into it.

Tom

[Ksam1234]

Not dedicated enough to learn, location and presentation.. also not being aware of what’s going on and surroundings. This recently just happened.. this “associate” of mine I tried to help fish.  I took him on my boat once and kinda showed him where the fish are and we had a good day.  Next thing I know he is on his kayak fishing the same spots .. kinda.  We were catching fish in 5 feet of water on this isolated submerged tree.. so instead of casting to the tree and sitting outside it he literally places his kayak over the tree and then complains how every fish is biting right at the boat and he can’t set the hoook.  I wait about  30 minutes while he gets frustrated and moves away so I position my boat about 30 feet away and cast past the tree and bring my bait into it , next thing ya know I pluck about 8 fish off where he was.. he didn’t take the time and patience to learn. 

[Stephen B]

While some people are more gifted, I personally think there is a learning gap. Like everything, It's important to have a mentor who can teach you what to look for and how to apply knowledge. Reading about things is important but application of what you read is more important IMO and that's why I learned with people who were more knowledgeable than me. 

 

Understanding bass behavior, bass movements, and putting time on the water. Understanding this and utilizing baits that are appropriate are key. When you catch a bass, mark a waypoint and date the catch. Keep track of your catches and try to understand why you had success. Putting the time on the water is so valuable as you can track shad spawns, mayfly hatches, bass spawn, winter and summer transitions, etc. It can be beneficial to apply this knowledge year after year. You can then apply this knowledge and replicate this around the lake. 

[NHBull]

Understanding water temps and structure go a long way in catching fish

[WRB]

I have been at this for a lifetime and always had a passion to fish and was a curious boy.

My curiosity lead to my career as a engineer, not everyone is anyalitcal thank goodness, drives my wife crazy. My point is I am different from you, not better just different.

Aaron Martens is the most gifted angler that I have every met. As a young teen he could located active bass and catch them faster then anyone I have ever known. Aaron would hang out at the launch ramp looking at what bass anglers were using, being shy he rarely engaged in conversation, just taking everything in. Dick Trask befriended Aaron and taught him how to finesse fish. The next season Aaron was winning most local tournaments....gifted.

My 2 older fishing partners were good bass anglers but on there own struggled to catch bass, they just couldn't put it together on there own. Both had state of the art tackle and bass boats, occasionally they had a good day fishing together as partners.

Tom

[DanielG]

Stupidity...

 

Works for me.

[Fishes in trees]

Whenever I have a day that is less then my expectations ( which is most of the time ) first I go back to the old In-fisherman formula that they published religiously the first few years they were a magazine ( not so much lately)

Fish + Location + Presentation = Success.   There is almost always, in all three dimensions of the formula, little tweaks that maybe/probably would have caught you more fish.    The catch is fishing in the moment, being mindful and having the correct tweaks occur to you at the correct time.  Easier said than done, but that is how I try to approach figuring out what happened when I have an underwhelming day fishing.

 

Sometimes though, it is other stuff.   Tuesday, conditions seemed nearly perfect for early April, got on the water by 11 AM ( long story about why I was late getting to the lake ), then I fished all day til dark thirty, caught 4 fish - 1 around 2:30 and the other 3 half an hour before it was time to go.   Last fish was a solid keeper, so that improved my attitude a little.

I don't know, I remember when I was in Pee Wee league baseball and the five coaches we had ( 1 official coach and 4 very involved Dads we were required to call coach) were very concerned that we would play the game "right".   That meant, on every play, we were supposed to be at a specific place.  Occasionally, as a 10 year old outfielder I would forget to come in some and watch for an overthrow at second, or as a corner outfielder, run to center if there was a hit toward center, backing up the center fielder should the grounder get past him.

 

Anyway, you wouldn't always do it right, sometimes you'd get benched but most of the time the coach would ask (they were pretty good about not screaming at you when you did something wrong )  "What were you thinking?"   I would reply, "I'm trying."   Then you'd just get that look from the coach, sometimes smiling, sometimes not, and they'd say "Try harder."   

So, 50 some years later I try to apply that to fishing and what that means is that I just got to try harder, try something different, look at the situation a different way, something.

[scaleface]

At one time we were all new to fishing .A couple of reasons  I catch more bass now than I use to are  because 

 

: I'm better at choosing  what lures to use for various cover. I'm not wasting time switching lure after lure  trying to find that magic bait .

 

: Boat positioning is crucial .I keep my lure in the strike zone longer .

 

 Yesterday I went fishing and caught 31 bass with 5 over the 15 inch min limit . Another angler I spoke with afterwards had little success and we were both chucking spinnerbaits at the same cover . I was mostly pitching the lure at small  pockets in buck-brush , he was casting .  It was difficult for me to hit those small targets casting . 

 

 

 

 

[JustJames]

My new fishing buddy always beat me at fishing. He beats me even on my own game, crappie fishing with my lures, my spot on his first time fishing for crappie. All he did was listen when I told him

where to cast and how to move the lure.

 

What he has over me is patient, adjustment and flexible.

 

[Tennessee Boy]

@Mobasser asked two good questions.

 

1) Why do some anglers catch bass consistently?  This is the more interesting question.  They have the necessary knowledge which is available to everyone but only a few take the time to acquire it.  Also they have put in their time on the water which there is no substitute for.

 

2) Why do others seldom catch bass consistently or not at all?  There are endless ways to not catch fish.  Everyone does it differently.  We've all taken people out that don't fish much.  You take them to the spot,  you tell them what to do, you catch fish to show them how it's done,  and still they struggle.  It's what I call "rod in hand skills" and I think people underestimate how important they are. 

[Alex from GA]

Location, location, location.  If they aren't there you can't catch them.

[MartinTheFisherman]

8 minutes ago, Alex from GA said:

Location, location, location.  If they aren't there you can't catch them.

X2

[Bird]

Casting accuracy is another.

 

Since moving from a bass boat with the nice standing platform to a seated position in a kayak, my accuracy has suffered some......miss that stump, miss that fish.

[WRB]

9 minutes ago, Alex from GA said:

Location, location, location.  If they aren't there you can't catch them.

Location is 1 factor and misunderstood. The right place at the right time using the right lures, at the right depth and pace. If the bass are at that location and not active you or I have a difficult time catching them. Knowing the location and returning at the right time is usually better then pounding a location that isn't active.

Most anglers go back to where they caught bass the last time on the water thinking location is everything, find the spot and catch bass but they don't. The location didn't change, the timing did.

Tom

[TAFKABCF]

A complex question with a complex answer. For years I was the "no success" guy. I was what I now call a "contributor". I would show up at a tournament, pay my money, and someone else would take it home. My biggest failure was that I was a one trick pony. I launched my boat and beat the bank, and I wasn't even good at that. Then one day something clicked. I found an offshore weedline and won my first tournament. 

 

Since then I have won quite a few, I'm trying not to sound full of my self but I have finished first in more than fourty tournaments since. I would attribute that success to learning to find fish in different areas and mastering new techniques. Here is another wrinkle. Learning new techniques doesn't mean you have to try them all. I have fished against people who always have to try the latest hot bait or presentation. Learn a few things and perform them well.

 

This doesn't mean not to try something new, It just means that you should have a varied arsenal that you feel comfortable in throwing. For example, my must haves include a jig, which is my go to bait, a senko, dropshot, c-rig, topwater, and a ned rig. I always have other baits and presentations ready but I probably win most of my tournaments with those. I'm not saying that you should use the same ones, just that you should have a half dozen or so rigs that you have confidence in.  

[Stephen B]

27 minutes ago, WRB said:

Most anglers go back to where they caught bass the last time on the water thinking location is everything, find the spot and catch bass but they don't. The location didn't change, the timing did.

Tom

Spot on! Locations can change hourly, daily, etc. Bass fishing isn't just about locations, it's about patterns and knowing when to go to a specific location