My Beginners Luck Has Run Out

[stump1001]

I just started bass fishing about 2-3 months ago.  Before then, I'd never caught a bass at all.  My dad bought a triton bass boat and we've been trying to pretty much learn this together.  I've read the articles on here, and theres some pretty good reading.  I'm going out later to bass pro to pickup some gold blade spinners.

Our first trip out, was the most successful.  I caught one, hooked another but it got off before I boated him.  He caught two, and had another get off.  We were fishing t rigged zoom worms.  The next few outtings, we'd both catch one each but thats all we could do.  Now, we've got it down to were only one of us is catching one.  We went Monday night and fished for about 4 hours.  I never got a bite at all, and he got one bite and caught it but thats the only fish of the night.  He caught it on a Zoom Craw.  

We've started using the depth finder to locate underwater structure, drop offs and fish.  We find a good place thats about the right depth and we hit it fishing parallel to the bank.  We havent had any luck at all.   We left to go out the other night,  and fished the same time the small tournament left out and came back at the same time.  We boated 2 fish total.  We watched them weight in and most of the guys had their 5 and they were good size ones.  I've tried spinners (never got a hit on one).  I have some cranks also, never got a hit on those either.  So far,  its either plastics,buzz or poppers for me.  Thats all I've ever had any luck on.  Ofcourse the top water stuff only hits early or late so I'm left with plastics.  I can't really do any good on those, 1 fish per outting is terrible to me and I'm lucky to catch it.  I'm just asking, if theres anything any of you could tell a new guy about what to do or any tips/techniques on working the bait would be great.  Anything at all you can think of that may help, I'd be very grateful

[-HAWK-]

Welcome to the site. In the heat of summer i have heard many say you need to go with bigger baits, worked slower in deeper water.

[Stasher1]

The two words that helped me more than anything else....

slow down

Sometime the anticipation of the next strike will make you fish much faster than you realize. Patience is the key...for me anyway.

[rondef]

to the forum stump1001

[Daniel My Brother]

Everybody has a slump buster, for me it's a gulp minnow on a dropshot rig, around the weed edges in about 10+ feet of water. I can usually scare up something with this in the summer, although the fish tend to be on the smaller side.

Good confidence booster...just not a real fun technique.

[Sam]

Great to have you with us.

With winter coming upon us, maybe you and your dad can watch some DVDs on bass fishing.

The Woo Daves series is very good. Anything Kevin Van Dam or Ike are great. Denny Brauer is easy to understand.  Jimmy Houston is funny and very educational.

And all of the pros productions are full of tips and techniques.

The winter is time to organize your tackle and to educate yourself.

And there are the pros' web sites that have good information, too.

So read the articles on this site; ask questions; and just educate your self this winter.  

Now, to answer your queries:

What color plastics are you using?  Black is for night and stained or dirty water.  Are you using black on all baits, including your spinnerbaits and buzzbaits?

Tried a Carolina rig? With a creature bait?  With tail dipped in yellow JJs Magic or Spike-It?

How deep are your cranks running?

Just a few questions for you to inform us so maybe we can help you.

Thanks.  

[fishinfiend]

While you may not be doing as well as you would like it sounds like you are doing the right things. Which are utelizing your electronics, changing lures and techniques, and trying different spots. Make sure you try diffrent retrival speeds. The most important thing is that you do not get discouraged. Maybe your dad should try one thing and you try another. Try a different body of water. It can be tough this time of year with the heat so try to find some current near a dam or a feeder river or creek.

You can never fish a worm too slow. Good luck and have fun.

[detroit1]

Hey Stump, don't get discouraged. Watching tv shows & dvd's can help alot, but time on the water is just as important. BASS RESOURCE can actually better than watching t.v., there are alot of good anglers sharing their know-how, with varied opinions on more topics & tactics than you can get from a dvd or even a series of dvd's. Also, you (hopefully) can learn things even if you don't catch anything. Invite someone that you or your dad knows (that has more experience catching) to come out with you guys and fish with you. I agree with "my brother" as a drop-shot rig as my favorite slumpbuster too. Tight lines to you both....

[roadwarrior]

Welcome aboard!

This might help:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1158577137

8-)

[skillet]

WELCOME to the forums!!!

                            As Ever,

                             skillet

[stump1001]

Great to have you with us.

With winter coming upon us, maybe you and your dad can watch some DVDs on bass fishing.

The Woo Daves series is very good. Anything Kevin Van Dam or Ike are great. Denny Brauer is easy to understand. Jimmy Houston is funny and very educational.

And all of the pros productions are full of tips and techniques.

The winter is time to organize your tackle and to educate yourself.

And there are the pros' web sites that have good information, too.

So read the articles on this site; ask questions; and just educate your self this winter.

Now, to answer your queries:

What color plastics are you using? Black is for night and stained or dirty water. Are you using black on all baits, including your spinnerbaits and buzzbaits?

Tried a Carolina rig? With a creature bait? With tail dipped in yellow JJs Magic or Spike-It?

How deep are your cranks running?

Just a few questions for you to inform us so maybe we can help you.

Thanks.

I usually use Junebug color.  White spinners and chart/white buzzers.  

The crank is a dd22 that is suppose to run 15-17ft and i have a couple bandits that are more shallow runners.

I never tried the creature baits or anything like that.

[=Matt 5.0=]

Time on the water is invaluable, however the actual time that you are on the water is important also. For example, are you getting on the water at noon time on a Saturday, in the heat of summer? Maybe try earlier, or later?

July and August to me mean getting on the water either at 3am, or after dinner from say 6pm to midnight or 1am.

If you can only get out in the mid day in the heat, I would suggest finding any possible cover that has shade (docks, laydowns, etc) and fish the shady sides. In the middle of the day, I like to downsize my baits and slow down. It is challenging, and sometimes mentally taxing, but it can be rewarding.  

Keep us posted, and welcome to the forums.

[stump1001]

We usually put in about 6pm and fish til about 10 or 10:30.  We never fish in the middle of the day, because we hate the heat mostly.  We got at least a couple times a week and usually only boat one fish in that amount of time, especially in the last 3 weeks.

[=Matt 5.0=]

Tried topwater in the evening? Rage Tail Shad, Black Jitterbug, Poppers?

[mrmacwvu1]

you said that you and your dad are trying to learn this together

however this might not be the best thing to do

see if he has any buddies that fish as well try going out with one of them and have your dad take out other buddies

learn from them what works and what did not

i am also a firm believer of writing everything down about the lake and how i fished including but not limitted to, water temp clarity and wave conditions, then the presentation of what i am fishing including bait color size speed of retrieve depth that i am fishing structure cover  light conditions air temp wind you get the picture

once you have fished long enough when certain conditions arise you will have a memory bank to refer to and understand how to duplicate your success

[stump1001]

Tried topwater in the evening? Rage Tail Shad, Black Jitterbug, Poppers?

I have used poppers with success.  I lost my last good one and now I have some rebels but they don't act right. I bought a new XPS and havent been able to catch anything on it yet.  Switch to a buzzbait and caught one immediately afterwards.  Maybe I suck at picking colors.

[Certified Public Angler]

Sometimes it is hard to get used to fishing new baits if you haven't fished them before or haven't often.  I like to walk the shore and test as many ways as I can when I get a new bait.  I've also rigged them up and thrown them in my swimming pool to see what kind of action I am putting on it.

I agree that you guys should take out someone more experienced, I went with my Uncle just last weekend and learned a lot from just watching how he works different baits and I actually kind of adopted his hook set style.  

My bread and butter is just a texas rigged senko worm, if I'm running in a drought I will always go back to it, and go for some smaller fish to get that feeling back.

Just hang in there, and remember to enjoy the trip even when you aren't hooking up.

[stump1001]

Sometimes it is hard to get used to fishing new baits if you haven't fished them before or haven't often. I like to walk the shore and test as many ways as I can when I get a new bait. I've also rigged them up and thrown them in my swimming pool to see what kind of action I am putting on it.

I agree that you guys should take out someone more experienced, I went with my Uncle just last weekend and learned a lot from just watching how he works different baits and I actually kind of adopted his hook set style.

My bread and butter is just a texas rigged senko worm, if I'm running in a drought I will always go back to it, and go for some smaller fish to get that feeling back.

Just hang in there, and remember to enjoy the trip even when you aren't hooking up.

I just got back from bass pro.  I got some 5inch Senko's in Watermelon/black speckle.  Will the Senko work best weightless?  

You guys are about the clostest we know to anglers.  I don't really know anyone that fishes.

[Grey Wolf]

Yes they work best weightless.