Bass fishing is getting harder?

[JediAmoeba]

I fish in a club and it's been a long time since I had more than a 3 bass day. Been a very very long time since I had more than a 10 bass day(2 years). The last 5, 8-hour tournaments I fished, I have caught a combined 2 bass. 40 hours for 2 bass. I fish as a coangler in mostly 20 HP restricted boats. Due to the smaller boats we go with a 3 fish limit and last year in 11 tries I caught a limit twice. Overall, I caught 12 bass tournament fishing in our club last year. I used to catch a lot more fish and they were easier to catch it seems to me. 

 

I consider myself a decent fisherman but not great. The thing that gets me is we have some absolute sticks in our club and at many of the tournaments most people aren't getting limits. Recently we had 32 people fishing in a tournament and out of those fishermen only 1 person had more than 1 fish. 32 anglers that all catch fish consistently and have been fishing most of their lives...and we can't catch more than 1. This is consistently the case - many of our guys utilize FFS and and have great equipment but we get thrashed on Saturdays. 

 

It seems like fishing on the East coast is getting harder and harder - fishing pressure is relentless and great fishing days are few and far between. I have a few places I can go to catch a bunch of smaller bass and Pickerel but you know you aren't going to catch any hogs. I know some states help bass anglers but in Pa they could care less. They are more concerned about stocker Trout and Striped Bass in the reservoirs - 2 things that don't proliferate which makes no sense. 

[ironbjorn]

Fishing pressure is at an all time high.

 

Thanks to the internet, especially YouTube, there are no longer any secrets and everyone is doing the same thing.

 

And whether or not some choose to accept it, climate change.

 

Indeed it is getting harder.

[Pat Brown]

I'm finding that I have to go outside of my comfort zone and try things that are weird to get bit and oftentimes when I find the right thing I can get bit a lot.

 

Another really important thing is finding areas that are outside of my comfort zone/ the comfort zone of the general population on the lake.

 

Stick with it and get outside your comfort zone and try to learn some new stuff.

 

Specifically things that you don't see anybody else doing. If people say it's a good lake for XXX or YYY then avoid using that at all costs.

 

Find the thing that nobody throws.  Throw it in the places where the fish live that nobody is fishing for.

[Bird]

6 - 8 fish in 5 hours of fishing is an epic day in most of the lakes I fish and buddies will beg for your secret.

 

We have several lakes that are closer to metropolitan areas that are dubbed as 1 fish wonders.

 

I'm heading to the Chickihominy in 2 weeks and will see upwards of a thousand bass boats in that week.

Fishing pressure is at an all-time high almost everywhere.

[Catt]

Bass fishing is getting harder?

 

Nah but catching is!

 

36 minutes ago, Bird said:

I'm heading to the Chickihominy in 2 weeks and will see upwards of a thousand bass boats in that week

 

Try over a 1,000 in a day!

[Columbia Craw]

Bass fishing isn’t any harder. Negotiating the increase in the use of the resources is much much harder. Ramps are over flowing, parking is impossible at times and everything seems like a competition.  The club I belong to has grown and the club tournaments are at the point it’s too crowded for me.  I don’t anticipate it getting any easier.

[gim]

Some lakes have definitely gotten tougher here too. They are usually the ones that receive regular tournament pressure and have clear water.

 

I have focused my efforts on smaller lakes with less pressure. And I’ve been getting a little further from the core “Twin Cities metro” area too, which has paid off. Not nearly as many anglers or boats on lakes that are only an hour away, or less.

 

I realize that not everyone has the same opportunities that I do. I feel fortunate to live in the land of 10,000 lakes, plus many more miles of fish-able river.

 

If I had to grind away like that for 8 hours to catch 2 bass, I would honestly question whether I should continue doing it. I muskie fish too, and failure occurs a lot more often in that realm than success. 2 muskies in one outing would be a monumental success.

 

Hang in there @JediAmoeba, sometimes these things go in cycles.

[Cbump]

Guess I’m lucky down here. 

[PhishLI]

On 5/29/2023 at 7:25 PM, JediAmoeba said:

I consider myself a decent fisherman but not great. The thing that gets me is we have some absolute sticks in our club and at many of the tournaments most people aren't getting limits.

If the "sticks" you're talking about can find them when they're simply fishing but struggle in tournaments, then the issue is probably more about pressure on them. Whatever combination of developed instincts and intuition they have which makes them good under normal circumstances is getting shut down whilst under pressure. The signal gets interrupted. I know guys who'll knock your socks off in a game of horse. All net most of the time too, but they're mediocre in an actual game on the court. They just can't put it together and hit shots. It's two different things. I imagine the vast majority of us fall into the category of those who might struggle when there's a finish line entered into the equation.

 

Another factor is particular lure resistance in heavily fished places. Northerns take sometimes 6-7 years to get to 3 pounds. 10 years for a 5 pounder on average. They've seen a lot, probably been caught or stung a lot, and have a survival instinct. Figuring out what bass in a particular body of water won't bite is as important as what they will. Figuring that out would probably take a good amount of time. Maybe months. Maybe a season. Probably longer than a practice session. Adding in the fact that there are probably a bunch of newbies chucking senkos at them all day non-stop doesn't help either.

 

If I were you, and I felt like you seem to feel, I'd use my tournament time as practice sessions, or cracking the code sessions, and completely forget about winning anything. Perhaps you'll find yourself in the zone eventually, like you would if you set out to find them in a known to be tough lake if you'd just gone fishing. Getting in the zone is more than simply throwing into high percentage areas. It's more than that. It's a headspace thing too, and if you're not in it, you'll probably make less than ideal decisions. That's not what you want when there's a fine line between success and failure to begin with.

[Tennessee Boy]

I would look to your state’s wildlife management agency for answers.  Do their surveys show a drop in the bass population?  Do they care? If so what are they doing about it?  If the resource is not being managed it will only get worse.

[Swamp Girl]

Being a New Englander, I follow a fellow New Englander's advice: 

 

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

 

So, rather than park my car where the other fishers' park their cars and trailers, I find overlooked water with Google Earth and go down gravel roads and launch where there are no ramps. There's a new pond that I'll be fishing soon that is reached by driving down a powerline cut. Then I'll paddle about a mile up a stream to reach the pond. Most fishers aren't willing to work this hard to reach bass, but the reward isn't just catching fish. It's reaching a pond where you won't see anyone else. That means a lot to me, but not everyone wants to take the road less traveled. 

[ironbjorn]

10 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Being a New Englander, I follow a fellow New Englander's advice: 

 

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

 

So, rather than park my car where the other fishers' park their cars and trailers, I find overlooked water with Google Earth and go down gravel roads and launch where there are no ramps. There's a new pond that I'll be fishing soon that is reached by driving down a powerline cut. Then I'll paddle about a mile up a stream to reach the pond. Most fishers aren't willing to work this hard to reach bass, but the reward isn't just catching fish. It's reaching a pond where you won't see anyone else. That means a lot to me, but not everyone wants to take the road less traveled. 

You're blessed to live in such a place. All the water here is posted private and sometimes fenced, or it is well known and managed but beat to death and has no boating signs. Can't launch in any of these ponds. You're in one of America's last frontiers.

[Cbump]

27 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Being a New Englander, I follow a fellow New Englander's advice: 

 

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

 

So, rather than park my car where the other fishers' park their cars and trailers, I find overlooked water with Google Earth and go down gravel roads and launch where there are no ramps. There's a new pond that I'll be fishing soon that is reached by driving down a powerline cut. Then I'll paddle about a mile up a stream to reach the pond. Most fishers aren't willing to work this hard to reach bass, but the reward isn't just catching fish. It's reaching a pond where you won't see anyone else. That means a lot to me, but not everyone wants to take the road less traveled. 

Kind of hard to do in a tournament that launches from specific ramps on specific lakes. 

[JediAmoeba]

15 minutes ago, ironbjorn said:

You're blessed to live in such a place. All the water here is posted private and sometimes fenced, or it is well known and managed but beat to death and has no boating signs. Can't launch in any of these ponds. You're in one of America's last frontiers.

Same here - pretty much all private mismanaged waters.

 

47 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I would look to your state’s wildlife management agency for answers.  Do their surveys show a drop in the bass population?  Do they care? If so what are they doing about it?  If the resource is not being managed it will only get worse.

The PA Fish Commission only cares about their Trout season. They don't do anything for bass. 

[papajoe222]

1 hour ago, PhishLI said:

If the "sticks" you're talking about can find them when they're simply fishing but struggle in tournaments, then the issue is probably more about pressure on them.

 

There is truth in this for sure.

We have a shocking survey done every year at one of the clubs I belong to. They do this to evaluate the management of the lakes.  For the last four years they've shocked a minimum of 18 bass over three pounds and that number includes a couple of 5lb.+ fish on the main lake and 8 bass including a 7lb. 15oz. gal on the smaller lake.  Those numbers haven't changed over that time period, but the board gets numerous complaints about the poor bass fishing.  What has changed is both the killing off of weeds one week prior to Memorial Day and the fact that everyone and their guests are throwing stick worms and Flukes and they are doing so randomly because they have only shoreline cover and docks to cast to. 

I have difficulty finding fish. Some days I'll spend up to two hours searching out baitfish because even my honey holes are void of fish.  When I do locate the baitfish, I can put 5 or 6 quality fish in the boat over the last two hours I'm on the water.  I forgot to mention, I leave the stick worms and Flukes at home. 

My point is; The fish are there, but they've adapted to their environment and the fishing pressure.  If you can figure out how, you're ahead in the game.

[LrgmouthShad]

Is bass fishing getting harder? 
 

I don’t know but if somebody catches a largemouth bass out of Lake Somerville, you might be the next KVD

 

Darn that lake to hell. I had one good day and thought I was hot stuff. I don’t want to talk about how many consecutive skunkings followed. At least it’s good for catfish and white bass

 

 

[WRB]

If you use what everyone uses where everyone fishes how do you expect to catch bass everyone else is targeting?

Do any of you own any reapers? Have you tried to drop shot a reaper rigged flat side up and nose hooked? Tried Split or Slip Shot rigged a reaper?

Few soft plastics can out fish a 3 1/2-4” Shad color reaper.

Anyone using 1/8 oz dart head jig with 4 1/2” curl tail Aaron Magic? My guess is know one tried this. 

Tom

[LrgmouthShad]

14 minutes ago, WRB said:

If you use what everyone uses where everyone fishes how do you expect to catch bass everyone else is targeting?

Do any of you own any reapers? Have you tried to drop shot a reaper rigged flat side up and nose hooked? Tried Split or Slip Shot rigged a reaper?

Few soft plastics can out fish a 3 1/2-4” Shad color reaper.

Anyone using 1/8 oz dart head jig with 4 1/2” curl tail Aaron Magic? My guess is know one tried this. 

Tom

I do my best to look for stuff that I think other people could be overlooking

 

I don’t go crazy about bait selection. That might be a mistake but that’s how I do it

[a1712]

1 hour ago, JediAmoeba said:

Same here - pretty much all private mismanaged waters.

 

The PA Fish Commission only cares about their Trout season. They don't do anything for bass. 

Amen Brother. Look at the Three Rivers Bassmaster Classic. Best anglers on the planet couldn't muster 15lbs. Brian. 

[CrashVector]

Hundreds of tournaments, prevalence of LiveScope users, etc.

[Susky River Rat]

I think lots of things go into this.  There are no secrets anymore. Social media makes you feel bad for only catching a couple. I also think many people think they have better memories of fishing then they do.

 

There is s fishing show on outdoor channel. At the end he gives how many casts he made, how many hours he fished and how many fish caught. From what I have seen his average would probably be a fish an hour.sometimes more sometimes less so just a rough estimate he breaks even at one an hour.

 

@gimruis we used to average boat two musky a day. Used to get 10-15 follows a day for the boat. Just like that it died out around here. This is why I switched to bass.

[Captain Phil]

Bass fishing has never been easy.   Tournament fishing changes your outlook.  You see other people catch limits of fish and you don't understand why you don't.  It's been that way forever.  TV makes everyone believe they can be experts.  All they need is an $80K bass boat, a $50K truck to tow it with and $5,000 worth of tackle.  When that doesn't work, they blame it on fishing pressure.    Bass learn from experience.  If a spot gets pounded by anglers, they avoid that spot.  If they are caught 10 times by hitting lure XYZ, they quit hitting XYZ.  Stop fishing where and how everyone else does.  Forget about catching fish and take the time to find your own fish.  If you are not catching fish, you are probably fishing where they aren't.  Sounds easy doesn't it?  It's not and never has been.  

[Tom Orr]

11 hours ago, JediAmoeba said:

I fish in a club and it's been a long time since I had more than a 3 bass day. Been a very very long time since I had more than a 10 bass day(2 years). The last 5, 8-hour tournaments I fished, I have caught a combined 2 bass. 40 hours for 2 bass. I fish as a coangler in mostly 20 HP restricted boats. Due to the smaller boats we go with a 3 fish limit and last year in 11 tries I caught a limit twice. Overall, I caught 12 bass tournament fishing in our club last year. I used to catch a lot more fish and they were easier to catch it seems to me. 

 

I consider myself a decent fisherman but not great. The thing that gets me is we have some absolute sticks in our club and at many of the tournaments most people aren't getting limits. Recently we had 32 people fishing in a tournament and out of those fishermen only 1 person had more than 1 fish. 32 anglers that all catch fish consistently and have been fishing most of their lives...and we can't catch more than 1. This is consistently the case - many of our guys utilize FFS and and have great equipment but we get thrashed on Saturdays. 

 

It seems like fishing on the East coast is getting harder and harder - fishing pressure is relentless and great fishing days are few and far between. I have a few places I can go to catch a bunch of smaller bass and Pickerel but you know you aren't going to catch any hogs. I know some states help bass anglers but in Pa they could care less. They are more concerned about stocker Trout and Striped Bass in the reservoirs - 2 things that don't proliferate which makes no sense. 

I always try to fish where no one else does, or use what no one else uses, and most of the time I do both of these. 

[the reel ess]

12 hours ago, Bird said:

6 - 8 fish in 5 hours of fishing is an epic day in most of the lakes I fish and buddies will beg for your secret.

 

We have several lakes that are closer to metropolitan areas that are dubbed as 1 fish wonders.

 

I'm heading to the Chickihominy in 2 weeks and will see upwards of a thousand bass boats in that week.

Fishing pressure is at an all-time high almost everywhere.

Does the lake level rise when that many boats launch?

[scaleface]

Fishing pressure. Even on the small lakes its horrible . I stopped by an 80 acre lake the spring to check it out and there were over twenty bass boats on it . Thats a lake I was frequently the only person there. Then there is the  Facebook thing.