My issues with a closed mind while fishing

[12poundbass]

5 hours ago, gimruis said:

Leave the confidence lures at home and just bring stuff you need to gain more confidence in.  By simply not even having a jig with, you literally can't get stuck in a rut fishing it.  If you want to learn how to wacky rig or fish a tube more, just bring that and learn that for one outing.

Reading Mike Iaconelli’s book years ago, he did this very thing growing up. He’d take one lure for several trips and fish only that lure/presentation until he became confident in it, then move on to another.

 

@August I’m just like you and get into ruts like this. I haven’t fished a crankbait in years because I was sick of hauling weeds every cast. This past weekend I threw a deep diver and it was my most productive presentation of the outing. Reflecting back on it I wanted to kick my own …. for shelving crankbaits for so long. This also opened up a rabbit hole of “what else am I missing out on because of my stubbornness.”

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

6 hours ago, Mike L said:

Did you move or stay in one spot?

If you didn’t move then yes, you should have packed up and tried something else somewhere else. 
 

Did you change your angle of entry?

If no, next time try that subtle but effective change, sometimes you’ll be shocked that’s all that was needed. 
 

Did you change your plastic with more action to enlist a reaction strike?

If no, see above

 

Did you change your rof?

If no, see above 

 

Having a bait and presentation that you have confidence in is great, we all have them. But consider why.. because they were where we were and we caught em more times than not. 

 

I’m all for having fun as much as the next person, but if I’m on the water my fun doesn’t come from looking around and bird watching for 8 hrs.
 

All these things really need to be considered before I give up on a spot or even an area. 

A wise man once said “confidence is everything”

 

But sometimes they’re just not there

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

I was moving pretty fast and fishing different weights and plastics but I just couldn’t get any in the boat until I finally tied on a frog

In a kayak I’m somewhat limited because I don’t really have space to have a punching setup and a frog but I guess I can blame it on the kayak all I want and ignore the fact that I should have still picked up a frog a lot sooner 😂

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

I remember hearing somewhere about a three step approach to fishing an area that you think looks good, first using a moving bait, then a bottom contact bait and finally something finesse. I’m curious what you guys think about something like this. 

[Craig P]

I don’t focus on baits as much as I do conditions.  I think the conditions will tell you the method and bait to use.

 

I understand finding grass or wood or whatever and gravitating to it because you may have had a spectacular day one day in that scenario.  I do it myself but only for 10-15 minutes.  If I am not catching immediately with what worked that one time, it tells me to get back to my routine of finding fish on the graph, what they are relating to, the current/wind, water clarity and color, water temps yesterday and today and if it is trending.  All of those conditions narrow the method and bait choice.

 

So I guess in a way, I don’t choose the bait, the conditions do.  Do I still continue to try to force a spinner down their throats, you betcha! but I will eventually put it down and goto the thing that the conditions dictate just to prove to myself that yes, they are indeed still biting.

 

I don’t think I am normal though.  I honestly don’t care about catching a fish, I care about catching every fish.  Put 10 fish in front of me and let me dupe 2.  That only angers me, why can’t I get the other 8 to bite?  I know I will never figure this out but I will never stop trying.

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

It is not uncommon to spend hours punching with no bites & then stick a 25-30# stack in the next 30-45 minutes. 

 

When I decide to go punching I keep only 2 setups on the deck. A punch setup & a frog setup. 

 

Wow! 25-30 pounds in 30-45 minutes...and I thought I had great fishing. 

[Catt]

53 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Wow! 25-30 pounds in 30-45 minutes...and I thought I had great fishing. 

 

That's why I fish Toledo Bend & Rayburn. With that small of a window of opportunity you better not make any mistakes.

[Swamp Girl]

6 hours ago, Catt said:

 

That's why I fish Toledo Bend & Rayburn. With that small of a window of opportunity you better not make any mistakes.

 

That's fury and flurry fishing. 

[fin]

8 hours ago, August said:

I remember hearing somewhere about a three step approach to fishing an area that you think looks good, first using a moving bait, then a bottom contact bait and finally something finesse. I’m curious what you guys think about something like this. 

 

I think that’s a good logical strategy some parts of the year, or until you figure out a pattern. I personally wouldn't do that this part of the year, I do that more in the winter.

 

It doesn’t have to be the three types you mentioned, it can be like one bait that’s noisy, one that’s flashy, one that’s subtle, etc. But I like to use 3 for some reason, and generally I use one for each part of the water column.

[Stan_The_Bass]

For me, I dont get to fish as much as I would like to. I try to do as much preparation for my fishing trips as I can to save time on the water and get to fish catching as fast as possible. I normally go out on the water with a game plan and certain baits that I think will work best for the day and the current conditions. Because of this I normally stick to what I have planned and although I have the option to switch to the various tackle I have in the boat, I stick with the plan and learn from my either good or bad decisions.

[Catt]

10 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

 

 

What are your punch set up and your frog setup?

 

Depending on where I'm fishing the setups change. 

 

Shallow water marshes require slightly heavier tackle than deeper mats on Toledo Bend. 

 

Toledo Bend punching is mostly Hydrilla, Coontail, & Milfoil in depths out to 15'.

 

Marshes are a wide variety of both emergent & submergent vegetation with max depths of 2 1/2-4'.

 

[LrgmouthShad]

Everyone seems to be finding it easiest to just share what they like to do in the hopes that it will help OP so I’ll follow suit.
 

If I don’t know what the fish are doing, I like to create a plan with a bunch of backup plans. I don’t have a set time for when I start to rotate through my backup plans. If it feels wrong, I’ll start doing something different. 
 

If I feel I know what the fish are doing, I’ve certainly been known to live or die with a lure or two. I usually only do that when I’ve been on the water frequently and feel I have a pulse to what’s going on. 

[Koz]

I alternate between having tunnel vision out there and herding cats. Sometimes it’s paralysis of analysis.

 

On the drive home I often Monday morning quarterback my day. I think what I need to do is keep a log or journal and use that info on future outings.

[fin]

2 hours ago, Koz said:

I think what I need to do is keep a log or journal and use that info on future outings.

My log has pulled me out of slumps countless times. It amazes me how poorly I remember things. It's not that I forget a lot, it's that the memories are inaccurate. It's easy to get confused on the exact time of year that particular things are effective.

[gim]

2 hours ago, Koz said:

herding cats

 

I can't believe there's an actual GIF for this.

 

[TnRiver46]

I’m the worst, live and die with the worm 

[Choporoz]

44 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’m the worst, live and die with the worm 

It's gotten so I'm that way with a Rage Bug nowadays.   Hard to put it down when it is so effective 80%+ of the time.  It has won me money in every season but winter, and accounted for most of my biggest fish.  I justify to myself by having different sizes on different weights on my deck....and it will fish as topwater, swimming and hopping to dead stick.   But, there are still occassional days when it doesn't get bit, but something else will....and it takes me a stupid amount of time to get to the right answer

[txchaser]

two ideas:

1) If you called a friend that was a good stick and said you were having a tough day, what questions would they ask you about what you saw so far? What would they be most likely to do next, given the answers to those questions? 

Using 'someone elses brain' helps me get out of lockdown. 

2) just go on tour in the tacklebox or on the map. like, take a break and just dig around without expectations. "oh dang, a fluke would be perfect here" or "wait I haven't fished this hump, lemme run over there right quick"