A Friday Night Question

[Mobasser]

On the days when the fish are feeding aggressively, almost anyone can catch a few.                           The real skill for a bass fisherman is catching the fish on the days when they're not feeding aggressively, on the toughest days.                                                True or False?

[Smells like fish]

I’ve always thought somebody like KVD could go anywhere and catch fish under any conditions. 

[Bird]

If they are not feeding heavily and aggressively, I don't go. 

 

[A-Jay]

2 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

On the days when the fish are feeding aggressively, almost anyone can catch a few.                           The real skill for a bass fisherman is catching the fish on the days when they're not feeding aggressively, on the toughest days.                                                True or False?

True I guess.

 But in advance of catching bass, aggressive or not,

one must first Locate the Bass. 

This is where I'd say The Most Skill is required.

Well, without Live Scope that is . . . .

A-Jay

[Ski213]

8 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

True I guess.

 But in advance of catching bass, aggressive or not,

one must first Locate the Bass. 

This is where I'd say The Most Skill is required.

Well, without Live Scope that is . . . .

A-Jay

Great point. No matter how accurate your casts, no matter how good your bait/lure choice, and no matter how perfect your presentation, if there are no fish there it’s just casting practice. 

[papajoe222]

1 hour ago, Bird said:

If they are not feeding heavily and aggressively, I don't go. 

 

? How do you know if they aren't?

[N Florida Mike]

This ^^^

[Ski]

I have fished the stickmarsh for 15 years with several 100 fish days, usual is 30ish, knowing darn well that there are 100's of fish per acre on this water I have still gotten on this lake and caught 1 or 2 after fishing every known area. Sometimes Ya just cannot make em eat.

 

[Black Hawk Basser]

I second A-Jay's notion.  I'm confident that if I am in the presence of bass, I can catch some whether they are in a feeding or neutral mood.  I think even the best sticks struggle when the fish are in a 'negative' mood.  Evidence of this shows in some pro tourneys in which some don't even get a full bag.

[Catt]

The bass are always biting somewhere...it's our job to find somewhere.

[scaleface]

We were all poor anglers at one time . If I could stress one thing to new anglers that would be to choose lures that cast well with their equipment and  make low trajectory sidearm cast or pitch too cover .  Those Hail Mary overhand lobs at ninety degree angle toward the shore doesnt equate to a good day on the water .

[Tennessee Boy]

I tend to agree with @Catt that the bass are biting somewhere.  
 

Call it a hunch or superstition but I’ve always felt like the better lakes make you earn it more than the lesser lakes.  Takes Guntersville for example,  I’ve had some of my best days on it and my PB came from it but it’s always been a challenge to figure them out there.  Kentucky Lake and Pickwick are other examples of lakes that will reward you but make you earn it.  Compare that to Old Hickory Lake,  it’s easier to figure them out but you’re not gonna see many 25lb limits there.

[Catt]

@Tennessee Boy 

Ole Tom (WRB) loves to tout his hero Dee Thomas & his dramatic win on Bull Shoals but that wasn't his first tournament. His first tournament was the week before on Toledo Bend where he failed to make the top 50 & the next year he failed to make the top 100. Dee said of Toledo Bend, "I was awestruck, that lake has such a target rich enviroment that I tried flipping them all."

 

In 2001 while pre-fishing Toledo Bend for the up coming Top 150, Kevin VanDam said, " if you can not catch 25-30 bass per day on this lake you can't fish". KVD's average finish after 5 events on the Bend is 30th place.

[DitchPanda]

So much of it is attitude...what I've referred to as the ability to grind. Not everybody has this in them. I'm confident in my ability enough at this point that I feel like even in poor conditions I can get a bite or two. Just gotta stick to it.

[Koz]

I've seen MLF tournaments where the leader catches 60 pounds one day while other guys end the day with a big fat zero.

 

That should tell you what's important.

[Captain Phil]

Sixty years of tournament results are proof someone always finds a way to catch fish.  Some years ago I spoke with two State game officials who were sampling the Harris Chain bass population.  The shock boat pulled up beside a small pad island that I often fished.  When they hit the generator, bass to eight pounds popped up all over the place.  I had no idea there were that many fish in those pads.  This doesn't mean fish are everywhere.  Successful bass fishing is finding fish that will bite the way you fish for them. 

[Bird]

17 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

? How do you know if they aren't?

Forgot to add a lol.....was kidding. 

 

[papajoe222]

3 hours ago, Bird said:

Forgot to add a lol.....was kidding. 

 

Me too

[padon]

On 5/7/2021 at 9:50 PM, A-Jay said:

True I guess.

 But in advance of catching bass, aggressive or not,

one must first Locate the Bass. 

This is where I'd say The Most Skill is required.

Well, without Live Scope that is . . . .

A-Jay

exactly. if most of us could travel into the water with our lures and look around i think we would be amazed at the amout of time we spend fishing where there are no bass. ive read where rick clunn kvd and many of the other best fisherman in the world have said anyone can catch bass if you put them on the fish, the truly hard part of catching bass cosistently is finding them.this is especially true when the fish are not shallow on or near the bank.

 

14 hours ago, Catt said:

The bass are always biting somewhere...it's our job to find somewhere.

bingo. one of my fishing partners always says when were struggling, somewhere on this lake somebody is having the best day of their life. we need to figure out what pattern they are on and replicate it.

10 hours ago, DitchPanda said:

So much of it is attitude...what I've referred to as the ability to grind. Not everybody has this in them. I'm confident in my ability enough at this point that I feel like even in poor conditions I can get a bite or two. Just gotta stick to it.

me too the more i fish the more i find that one of the biggest keys is just grinding it out.last week i thought the fish were gonna be on fire. they werent. we fish our tails off for 6 hours and had 3 nice fish. so we kept fishing. we tried different thing different areas and different ideas. after 11 hours of hard fishing and thinking we ended up with 15 fish and 10 over 3 pounds. for no other reason than we refused to accept defeat.

[garroyo130]

My opinion on levels of angling ... 

 

• Catching once in a lifetime fish (13+ lbs) more than once in a lifetime

Master- ability to locate the largest bass and make appropriate presentation

• Catching lunker bass (10+ lbs) more than once a year

Expert - ability to locate large bass and make appropriate presentation

• Catching keeper size bass regularly

Advanced - ability to locate bass and make appropriate presentation in all but most unfavorable conditions

• Catching small bass regularly
• Catching small and big bass occasionally
• Catching small bass occasionally 

Intermediate - general awareness of presentations and lures

• Catching any fish regularly
• Catching any fish occasionally

Beginner - general awareness of fishing equipment

[Boomstick]

On days when they hit everything, anybody can catch a bass. I have seen a ten year old girl catching bass on every cast with a wacky rigged senko, who lost her senko and had nothing but a red hook and they still hammered it. And yes, that is a lot of fun.

 

The difference between a pro and everyone else is the ability to catch a bass when they are not hitting anything that moves. And those fish can be rewarding.

[Bluebasser86]

True, those are the tournaments I thrive in. If the bite is easy, I struggle because I always feel like there's something I could be doing better, and I try to do too much. When it's tough, I'm great at grinding out bites and hitting those 1 fish spots that other guys skip over. 

[Spankey]

On 5/7/2021 at 9:43 PM, Mobasser said:

On the days when the fish are feeding aggressively, almost anyone can catch a few.                           The real skill for a bass fisherman is catching the fish on the days when they're not feeding aggressively, on the toughest days.                                                True or False?

I sort of agree with what you are saying. But some people don’t even realize they are getting bit. They are not in tune with what that are throwing. 
 

I’m not really referring to guys on this site, I’m referring to if you brought a friend, coworker, neighbor or someone like that that hasn’t seen a lot of bites. I can see them struggling some until you pointed them in the right direction. This has been my experience. 
 

I get my share of trout fish in for stocked, wild and native trout during the  year. Spinning and fly fishing. Countless times I’ve seen guys struggle to catch these stock trout. Though I realize this is not the same as bass fishing but presentation of what you are using is important. Maybe more important in bass fishing. 
 

A lot of my bass fishing is during a tough bite. I just never give up and fish hard to make things happen.  Skill? Maybe. Persistence? Most likely. 
 

I often wonder if fishing live bait like shiners or crawlers would make a difference during these non aggressive times. But I think it would be a tough bite with them also. I believe a reaction strike from a lure still may be the better approach. 

[galyonj]

On 5/7/2021 at 11:12 PM, papajoe222 said:

? How do you know if they aren't?

 

Astrology and stuff. When the moon's in asparagus, the fish don't bite. I thought everybody knew that.

 

Also it's entirely possible I'm just terrible at fishing, because the vast majority of the fishing I do could probably be charitably described as "tough." Rare is the day that I have multiple hookups from the bank at the spots I can get to easily.

 

I'd love to say something like "but it makes it that much sweeter when it happens," but, really, it just sucks to have to grind every time I go.

[Fishin Dad]

On 5/8/2021 at 3:24 PM, Captain Phil said:

Successful bass fishing is finding fish that will bite the way you fish for them.

^^^^That is well said!!!