Thoughts on why bass are getting harder to catch...?

[Darren.]

Science behind the title/question? What says the forum? Truth, bogus, no clue?

 

https://www.outdoorlife.com/story/fishing/the-science-on-why-bass-are-getting-harder-to-catch/

 

Quote

Spend enough time at any boat ramp from Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Texas to Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota and you’ll hear a common complaint: “Man, it’s getting harder and harder to catch a bass.”

 

[Bluebasser86]

Haven't had much issue personally.

[Shimano_1]

I haven't had any problems necessarily catching fish but a couple of the lakes locally that used to be great have definitely fell off. Fishing pressure is definitely the problem.  There aren't a lot of good bass fisheries around so the ones that are get hammered on. Ive had to change my approach over the years somewhat but I've just accepted that it is part of it. Bass fishing in general has blown up and likely will continue that course.

[Sphynx]

Bass have always been hard to catch for the weekend warrior who doesn't spend all day thinking about fishing like most of us, and it isn't like fish don't get wise to seeing the same lure day after day, you can only get dragged off your comfy rock pile or log by a senko so many times in a month before you stop biting it, anglers who don't experiment and stay ahead of the fish are absolutely going to fall behind the curve and not catch many of them.

[Captain Phil]

Florida fishing pressure is relentless. Before the virus, I could look across Lake Eustis on a Sunday and see a boat once in a great while. Now, it looks like a boat parade. From January until May, there are at least 2-3 tournaments each weekend on the Harris Chain.  Some of them have over 100 boats.  Are our bass getting harder to catch?  

 

That depends on where you fish.  If you insist on fishing "community holes", you are going to have a tough time.  What you should do is find spots that are not hammered.  I have 50,000 acres of water in my back yard.  95% of the bass anglers I see only fish 5% of the lake.  I get emails all the time from tournament anglers who want me to tell them where to fish.  Seriously?

 

What if your lake is small?  Is that the only water you can fish?  Some of the best bass fishing I have seen has been in golf course ponds or residential rock pits.  Take time to scout out the 90% of water others are missing.   This may mean you don't catch fish for a while.  What you find may surprise you.

 

 

 

 

[ike8120]

In NJ the COVID has brought out people that have never fished before. These are folks are taking anything that is in the lakes, ponds etc. No matter what species or size. Also most folks do not have the proper license. In this day and age if you question someone about the license or what they are taking there is a good possibility that you may get hurt. Hopefully 2021 will be much better.

[Tatsu Dave]

Got to keep moving around finding new spots that are off the beaten trail. Small boats that can fish tiny and or shallow-weedy spots have a bit of an advantage sometimes. Shallow river outfits can find especially smallmouth, that hit with abandon and don't see pressure. I agree with the fact that when you tend to use a couple lures like we do it will catch up with you if you stay on same water all the time, although after the winter lay-up they hit well the next spring like they forget over time.

 

Covid has put at least 2-3 times the pressure on our regular areas as well this year, used to be weekends but now its all week, seems everyone is fishing and buying boats up here, most boat dealers are in short supply right now which says something. Used trader online list's and books are getting premium $ for small used boats, its a seller's market. 

 

Oh well harder to catch or less of them....... it still beats cutting grass  Our real fall turn on for fish will begin in the next couple weeks and I'm ready!

[evo2s197]

I personally think it has gotten easier over the last few years, especially with all these bass fishing YouTube yahoo's and or influencers pushing products and unrealistic expectations due to clever video editing.

 

People are using the next "MAGIC" product or "NEW" techniques constantly being pushed on social media and these fish see this day in day out, lures flying through the water column on 50.0:1 baitcasters because the newer generation of anglers are impatient and expect a 5+ lb "Slaunch" on every other cast.

 

 

Makes it easier on myself and other more experienced anglers to follow right behind them and pick up all the fish they passed up on the weekly "THE SECRET, PROS DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW THIS" lure they were told to throw on the hourly upload.

 

The over exposure of bass fishing has benefited the seasoned angler greatly IMO.

[roadwarrior]

[ww2farmer]

Man likes to take credit...and blame....for things that are not in his control.

 

Sometimes fishing is just tuff for reasons we will never know. It's easy to blame fishing pressure, fish conditioned to what were doing, weather, clear water, dirty water, boat traffic, etc.......

 

This year there are a lot more people fishing because they have nothing better to do....but these people are not hurting much, and as soon as things for them to do return, they will be gone.

 

I have had some TERRIBLE days when I'm the only one on the water, or in a small tournament....and some great days in very crowded conditions, and large tournament fields of good fisherman. Go figure.

[Mbirdsley]

Give it 2-3 years and there all these newbies will be gone and crap ton of equipment available cheap.  The only place I have seen the bite die off at has been the easy to get to places.  I’m looking forward to the cooler weather and these new people will hang it up for the year.  Deer hunting I’m predicting will be a war zone on the state land come the gun opener on nov 15th 
 

There is one place I have sworn off.  The lake is called sleepy hollow state park/lake Ovid that just has had way to many people on it for my liking. I like to be in semi solitude while I fish.  Another lake is 10 minutes from there to the west and smaller but, to do well you need pitching and flipping gear.  Most weekenders and newbies won’t invest in a flipping pitching set up to use a couple times a year like I would. 

 

[Spankey]

I’ve gotten some nice quality bass this season. I can’t kick on that note. But my numbers are way down. I’m after the larger fish so not catching dinks should not be a complaint. Not having days catching numbers of small fish does not make sense to me this season. The lake is healthy, fish are healthy, lake does see a lot of pressure. I’m gonna say I’m having a good year with quality fish and leave it at that. 

[txchaser]

Just stories, no data, but here's my 2020 summer below. Spring was about the opposite, it was "easy" comparatively.

 

Bigger fish this summer vs last, fewer fish though. Most fish and biggest fish have been on hard to get to or otherwise non-obvious spots. Electronics and being super-hardheaded and willing to deal with trying to get the boat through a goofy amount of weeds/mats. But for one day where it was just "on" (all-day topwater bite) I feel like I had to work for every fish.

 

I haven't had a single good day of morning bite this summer. Makes it hard to roll out of bed early, as not much seems to happen until about 9-10am

 

The story I'm telling myself on the big fish is that all the fish are making me work hard, so I'm trying harder to be in the right spots with everything dialed in, even when it means busting my butt.

 

Days have been like this:

Missed a fish on a frog (user error, I didn't keep reeling) so I threw a senko at it. Nope. Chatterbait, nope. Keitech, nope. All three of those caught fish that day. T-rig with a rage menace, fish on. Shrug. Same thing happened in another spot that I was pretty sure was holding a fish. Six lures and all three columns later, it was happy to eat a lobina rico in bone on the first twitch.

Or like this:

It almost didn't matter what I threw, but unless it knocked it in the head I wasn't getting bit.

Or even this:

Water column, presentation, size, etc mattered little. No flake or flash, no bite. Took me something like six hours to figure it out. Overcast day. I guess the fish didn't read the article. Bluebird sun-blasting days in clear water and the fish were shallow mid-day. Just wasn't picking anything up deeper so I had to try something new.

 

[DitchPanda]

Lots of reasons I'm sure many of which we will never know or understand. My local pond is rebounding a little but for several years it was very tough...flooding ripped out grass and brush so the fish became nomads and were very hard to pattern. I haven't been skunked much this year and I attribute that to the county putting some brush in the pond and also a growing bass population. Maybe one of the biggest things is im better as a fisherman now than I was 3 years ago...heck maybe even 3 months ago. So for me I've actually noticed the fishing improving around me.

Biggest thing for me is the annoyance of all the band wagon jumper new "anglers" we gained this year. First of all I like fishing for the solitude as much as the catching opting to fish alone 90% of the time. At most I go with 1 buddy or my lady. So having all these morons around drinking to much, leaving trash everywhere and just practicing general jackassery has been a small deterrent to say the least. I just fish other spots that are harder to access and catch fish. As far as the actual pressure they are putting on the fishery id say it's very minimal...these people are far from fisherman and clearly don't know what they are doing so the catching is also minimal.

 

[BassNJake]

The added traffic has not had an impact on my catches.

My frustration at people who litter has grown exponentially, though.

 

Bud light seems to be the beverage of choice for the littering type.

I swear I've picked up over a hundred cans or bottles in the water and at the ramp I normally use.

Covid didn't stop the littering and now masks are a common item to see in the water.

 

 

 

[Seekingfish]

In my region (central Virginia) the water got hot early and stayed there and I think the fish are a bit stressed because of that and the additional numbers of anglers on the water right now. I don't know about you but I don't have much of an appetite when I'm hot. The fish still bite but it's harder to find them. Fish the shadows and deep offshore structure and you'll find fish and usually the best fish on the lake; they are bullies and will chase off the smaller fish if they want the area to themselves. The bite really picked up here last weekend. We caught a dozen decent bass at first light on Whopper Ploppers last Saturday on Lake Anna which is also known as "the lake of a thousand casts" and if that's not proof the bite is back on I don't know what is!

Keep at it and you'll find em!

 

[roadwarrior]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Darren.]

23 hours ago, Seekingfish said:

In my region (central Virginia) the water got hot early and stayed there and I think the fish are a bit stressed because of that and the additional numbers of anglers on the water right now. I don't know about you but I don't have much of an appetite when I'm hot. The fish still bite but it's harder to find them. Fish the shadows and deep offshore structure and you'll find fish and usually the best fish on the lake; they are bullies and will chase off the smaller fish if they want the area to themselves. The bite really picked up here last weekend. We caught a dozen decent bass at first light on Whopper Ploppers last Saturday on Lake Anna which is also known as "the lake of a thousand casts" and if that's not proof the bite is back on I don't know what is!

Keep at it and you'll find em!

 

Welcome aboard!

[TriStateBassin106]

On 9/13/2020 at 7:22 AM, ike8120 said:

In NJ the COVID has brought out people that have never fished before. These are folks are taking anything that is in the lakes, ponds etc. No matter what species or size. Also most folks do not have the proper license. In this day and age if you question someone about the license or what they are taking there is a good possibility that you may get hurt. Hopefully 2021 will be much better.

Take license pics if you see people taking bass. Busted a crap ton of illegal trout fisherman last year in North Jersey, I'm talking about buckets full of breeders and below the limit size. 

[TriStateBassin106]

2020 has been a awesome year for me in terms of catch rate. I've only been skunked less than 10 times probably and caught over 135 fish, if anything the added people pressure is an advantage for me because a lot of idiots are now on the water.

 

Bass fishing is a huge learning experience and not everyone has the capability to learn it. If you fish with a bobber and crankbait tied together and don't realize what your doing wrong I'm not helping you learn how to catch them. If anything i'll encourage you to keep doing it. It saves me fish. 

[Bankbeater]

I think it depends a lot on where you are fishing and what you are using for bait.  Earlier this year if I was fishing where everyone else was fishing near boat ramps and parking lots, then I don't think I would have done well.  The nice bass I was able to catch this year came areas that were not getting fished much.