New Article: 5 Ways to Get Out of a Bass Fishing Slump

[Glenn]

Just posted: https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/slump.html

[Swamp Girl]

It's a great article. I read it twice. 

[Zcoker]

Great article! I can relate very well to #3 'Chase another species'. We have our fall mullet run going on down here in south Florida with plenty of other species to chase! 

 

[MIbassyaker]

#1, Back to Basics: "When you first started bass fishing, it may have been with simple lures like a spinnerbait or Texas-rigged plastic worm. "

 

Hey, spinnerbaits and plastic worms are not as simple as they seem -- easy to learn, but a lifetime to master!

[A-Jay]

All Good ~

My personal favorites and I'll number them 6 & 7, are:

#6 Remembering that there will be hard water for at least 5 months here.

That usually does it for me.

#7 - Take a week long trip to a world class fishery with a good buddy.

A-Jay

[TOXIC]

58 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

#7 - Take a week long trip to a world class fishery with a good buddy.

 

Truth.  Going to Florida end of January to Headwaters and we’re going to St Clair in May.  

[ak6388]

#1 really resonates with me especially this year. I was trying all kinds of new things and really wasn’t catching them a lot at the beginning of the year. I went back to my basics of Texas Rig creature and a Crankbait then I started filling the boat again. Always good feeling, great article!

[WRB]

This year 2023 was and is extremely difficult to catch any bass at my local lakes Casitas and Castiac.  Never had an opportunity to fish Casitas but did get a few shots at Castiac thanks to member Big Hands offering to take me out. Jeff ( Big Hands) has a son whom like to fish with his dad so taking me out isn’t an easy choice for him.

Jeff and I fished Castiac right after it opened when the launch ramp was cleared if tons of floating wood debris. The lake surface was inches thick of floating bark and branches, not the usual clear water conditions. We managed to find bass in the back of coves that had running water and did OK catching several decent bass in very isolated areas.

We learned later that zero bass were caught during a tournament that day and days following. Somehow we stumbled onto the bite going for the next 6 weeks.

Jeff offered again to take me out with his son on the lower lagoon and we had one of those unforgettable days catching over 40 bass between 4 to 5 lbs....off the charts when no one could catch a cold.

My hats off to Jeff for making my year👍👍

Tom

 

 

 

 

[Pat Brown]

It's been said a lot of times here and other places but in my opinion, the colder it gets, the more important it is to just keep moving while all of this plays out.  Slumps can often be a product of consistently fishing dead water and in the winter there IS a lot of dead water but when you DO find them it's usually grouped up in an area that is like a magnet to bait and bass.

 

So one more thing I will add from my humble corner is KEEP MOVING.  You don't have to burn the bank and fish sloppy.   But don't stop moving til you get a bite.

 

Go back to basics is my favorite piece of advice on the list!

 

A fluke or a worm might require you to put the ego aside and cast something simple and slow on light line, but sometimes that's all you can do to actually catch bass and catching is more fun than casting and freezing!

[Susky River Rat]

# 2, 3 and 4 are huge for me. This is my only social media I gave up everything else. I love taking new people fishing and getting them on fish. It’s almost more rewarding than me catching them. I also love trying to figure out new water. To me catching anything on a body i have never fished or fish once a year is very rewarding. 

[einscodek]

Look, theres all these articles and depressing posts this time of year about slumps and advise and asking for tips.  Fishing is not hard if theres fish in there and its harped over and over you need to find them and fall is the worst season for scattered fish.  I like that they said go back to catchers like spinnerbait and worm where I would favor the former at this time of year but you need to locate them which means moving around.  Alot of guys have a problem with the transition from the aggressive fish in summer to fall.. why?  Like bass many men are slaves to habit they like to do the same things until results force them to adjust.  I have to admit my numbers are down from summer but hey its fall .. but I'm still catching lots a fish just not as much as summer just working harder for it ..your strategy needs to shift and adjust.  Find them and work slowly.

[Swamp Girl]

On 11/2/2023 at 12:46 AM, WRB said:

we had one of those unforgettable days catching over 40 bass between 4 to 5 lbs

 

 

If I catch five four-pounders in a morning, I'm thrilled! But 40? 40????????

 

On 11/2/2023 at 4:30 AM, Pat Brown said:

 

So one more thing I will add from my humble corner is KEEP MOVING.  You don't have to burn the bank and fish sloppy.   But don't stop moving til you get a bite.

 

I moved a lot this fall and did much better than I did last fall, with some big fish and some 30-some-bass to 40-some-bass mornings. I used my canoe like a hunter would use a horse, covering water. 

[Pat Brown]

@ol'crickety I think a piece of information that I've been trying to internalize/process this year is that the most successful anglers are usually the most efficient anglers.  I am trying to learn to eliminate useless patterns efficiently and find productive patterns efficiently and it seems like the inescapable conclusion is you've got to keep moving and making little changes til you dial the bite in.  I've seen too much success happen due to a small change in presentation or location which really require intentional efficient experimentation.

 

There's like an overarching seasonal narrative one must be aware of.  An overarching local weather *recently* narrative one must be aware of.  There's an overarching *what's to come* that seems to push and pull at fish in ways that can be patterned that one must be aware of.  And then arguably the MOST important thing one must stay tuned in one WITH ALL of this in mind, is the moment.  The water in front of you.  The cast you just made.

 

It's a game of very big and very small patterns that intersect and yield WILD success when you crack the code.

[Swamp Girl]

4 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

I've seen too much success happen due to a small change in presentation or location which really require intentional efficient experimentation.

 

You're singing my song, Pat. I have shared many times at BR how I've got six or seven rods rigged (I'd take ten or twelve if there were room in my canoe.) and I switch again and again and again. I'll catch a bass with one lure and IMMEDIATELY switch to another. I'm not looking for the presentation that will catch me one bass, but 35 bass. I'll often cast four different lures in four consecutive casts. I've been rereading my 2023 trip reports and the theme is that one lure caught most of the bass one day and a different lure the next time. One trip, I caught them in shoreline notches and another time, on a windblown shore.

 

Fishing from a canoe has many disadvantages, but one advantage is that I can't go turbo. I can't summon two hundred horses to skate over the water. So, I might fish miles of water in a morning, but I'm fishing ALL of it. When I'm traveling, I'm fishing via trolling and when I'm traveling, I'm moving slowly enough (My head is on a swivel.) to study the water and I do not hesitate to stop paddling and cast when I see something that suggests bass. 

 

So, I'm always looking to dial in, to establish a pattern and then I pound them, but even then, I'll catch ten fish on that pattern and still try another to check and see if that's an eleven fish pattern.