Help! Can’t catch anything!

[ThrowingBaitinaLake]

Guys, I can’t catch any catfish or bass right now! I am a bank fisher and I have fished for hours during night time, morning, evening, and mid day. I do bottom fishing for catfish, live bait, cut bait, worms, shad, dough, etc. For bass I’ve been using plastics, and spinners. 
 

And I’ve been going to lakes and rivers. I’ve even taken the kayak out a time or two, and nothing. Any tips?

[roadwarrior]

 

[PhishLI]

1 hour ago, ThrowingBaitinaLake said:

And I’ve been going to lakes and rivers. I’ve even taken the kayak out a time or two, and nothing. Any tips?

Absorb what you can on BassResource, and in it's archives. Learn to read your waters. When you find the small fish you'll find the bass. One day the cork will pop and everything will change, even if that seems impossible at this moment.

[BigAngus752]

1 hour ago, ThrowingBaitinaLake said:

 right now

If you are having trouble in general and have been fishing all year (or longer) and need help then you should immediately look at @roadwarrior 's topic that he created years ago.  If you are just talking about getting skunked for the past month or two then just sit back and watch some football.  None of us are catching right now.  It will come back again.  

[FishTank]

I normally would have some advice but I am in same boat so to speak.  

 

I caught 3 fish last weekend for 12 hours out on the water and today I was out for 8 > caught nothing.  ?

 

I plan on staying confident (which does catch fish) and I'm going to enjoy it no matter what. 

[BrianMDTX]

Fact is...sometimes they just don’t bite! 

[scaleface]

Just keep trying . Thats all any of us can do . Its hard to give advice when we dont know where you are fishing , your equipment...

[Fishes in trees]

Make up your mind.   Are you a catfish guy or a bass guy?  Are you a bank guy or a kayak guy?  Bank fishing and kayak fishing are two different disciplines.  Are you aware of seasonal patterns and fishing where the fish "should" be?   Be mindful that fish position themselves differently in rivers than they do in lakes.   Is it a gear issue?  i.e. often when there is a tough bass bite down sizing your baits can have a positive effect, but it is a challenge to throw smaller baits on regular gear.   Got the right gear in general?  While bass gear and catfish gear can be interchangeable, it isn't optimal.

Rods intended for fishing bait generally have a different action than rods intended for throwing lures.  This is especially true if you are bait fishing for catfish using circle hooks because the tip has to be limber enough for the rod to load up and get enough tension for the circle hook to set itself.  Also some baits lend themselves more to using circle hook than other baits.

 

Try to analyze how you analyze your bass fishing and catfish fishing approach.  Strive to fish current conditions rather than fishing "memories" of how you caught fish in the past.   Memories are a place to start but memories about past fishing conditions are seldom the same as current conditions and this is especially true when you're dealing with rivers and current.  Hope this helps.

[Finessegenics]

55 minutes ago, Fishes in trees said:

Try to analyze how you analyze your bass fishing and catfish fishing approach.  Strive to fish current conditions rather than fishing "memories" of how you caught fish in the past.   Memories are a place to start but memories about past fishing conditions are seldom the same as current conditions and this is especially true when you're dealing with rivers and current.  Hope this helps.

This is gold. I still find myself making that mistake from time to time, especially when the bite is tough. 

[Bankc]

Keep moving.  That's my advice.  If they're not biting where you're at, try somewhere else.  Try a different depth.  A different section of the lake.  Different cover.  Different lure with a different size, color, or sound.  Different retrieval speed.  Different presentation.  Bass fishing, to me, is more about finding out what doesn't work and what you're doing wrong, than finding out what works and what you're doing right.  Try things just so you can eliminate them from the list of possibilities.  Once you find something that works, put that in your list of things to try first.  But don't be afraid to eliminate it if it isn't working.  

[Sissyfishing]

Sissy fishing!

Light line 4 to 8 lb test on spinning rods (no backlashes) 4 inch black worm, 1, 2, & 3 inch white single tail grub, purple or purple white tail scoundrels, 2 & 3 inch rapala’s small spinner baits and inline spinners, tiny torpedos, Sonics, rapala’s, jitterbugs, small pop r, Maribou jigs, 3 & 4 inch ribbon tailed worms, 3 to 5 inch twitch worms, 6 inch white ribbon tail worms weightless on top around grass, black with yellow dots 4 inch lizard, all are non-standard non-heavy line or tackle! 

[Mobasser]

If you keep getting skunked in the same areas, change your location. Location is such a huge part of bass fishing. Once you locate fish, slow down, and fish the area with different retrieves.

 

 

[mikey z]

On 10/18/2020 at 4:39 PM, roadwarrior said:

 

This. I spent two hours in a pond completely skunked the other morning. I tried a whopper plopper, a jerkbait, a jig, a lipless crank. Threw on a weightless t-rigged 5" Zoom Zlinky senko in black with blue flake (Gamakatsu 4/0 EWG, 15 lb Seaguar Red Label fluorocarbon) and I caught a 1lb 1 oz on the first cast! He hit it on the initial fall. I had to do a little searching after that, but my next catch was a 1.75 lb not too much later. Walked to a smaller pond around the way and had to search a little bit, but next catch was a 2lb 2oz.