So where did I go wrong?

[Jaric]

Hello again.

So, this weekend I went to a small lake in Poland Indiana (population 34) where we had rented a cabin. Now the lake was fairly small, but I was told the fishing was pretty good there so I figured what the hey.

We arrived Friday night around 10pm, checked into the cabin. After about a 2 hour car right I was ready to stretch the legs a bit, so I decide to meander down the dock and toss my line in.

In about a span of 45 minutes, I pulled 3 bass out of the lake all around 12-14 inches and weighing about 1-3 pounds. 1 largemouth, 2 smallmouth

Now, I'm sure that all of you are thinking in your most sarcastic inner monologues "Wow Jaric, 3 fish? It's amazing the Bass Pro tour isn't breaking your windows to get you in a boat." But this is my first year realling fishing, so 3 decent size fish for me in 45 minutes is pretty darn good by my standards.

So I'm stoked. I'm here all weekend and my first 45 minutes I'm pulling fish out of the water like I have my own outdoor life TV show. This is going to be a GREAT fishing weekend.

Well, long story short, I could have stopped there. Aside from a bat (which is not nearly as intresting a story as it might sound) I didn't catch a thing. The in-line spinner baits that could do no wrong that first night were completely useless. I tried plastics, spinners, cranks, spoons, and jigs. Hell, I even tried Nightcrawlers and minnows. Pretty much anything that was in my tackle box got wet this weekend. I fished them slow, fast, in between. I fished them shallow, deep and in between. I fished early morning, during the day, and at night. I fished from the dock. From the shore. From the boat. Pretty much everywhere but from inside the cabin.

Nothing.

Now, I'm used to being shut out. That doesn't really bother me. I just chalk it up to a learning experiance.

But what does bother me is how quickly I went from bass pro to utter bumbling fool.

So i guess my question is what the hell happened? Did the 3 fish I released that night tell their friends to watch out for me? And more importantly, does this happen to you guys too?

[Fishing Rhino]

Sounds like a simple fix to me.

Sleep during the day, and fish at night.  

At least for that pond.

:D

Were you shore bound during the weekend?  If so, my above comment might have some merit.

Perhaps the fish had been away from the shore during the daytime, moving into the shallower water in the evening.

[SoFl-native]

yeah you need to reproduce exactly what you did the first night. you could probably clean up in that lake.

[Jaric]

yeah you need to reproduce exactly what you did the first night. you could probably clean up in that lake.

Thing is, I did that.  I was using the same in-line spinner baits on the same dock the second night.

It literally felt like the 3 bass I released warned the rest of the pond/lake about my spinner baits while I was sleeping.

Off-Topic:  Sorry moderators about posting in the wrong section.  I hate to be a bother.

[Ellesar]

A month and a half ago, or so, my buddy and I were fixing to fish a tournament. HE went out on a friday and fished an area that we had been having some luck with. He spent a good amount of time catching fish like a mad man. He caught over 30 5+ lb fish that morning, the shad spawn is a great thing. We were excited the next morning because we figure if that place produce anywhere near the way it had the previous morning we would have  a real shot at winning.

We caught 2 or 3 fish there, all shorts. We had to scramble to find enough fish to manage a 6th place finish.

Fished that spot a week later and landed around 10-15 5+ lbers. I don't know where those fish went for that week, but that spot went from super hot, to dead cold, back to hot.

Moral of that story is that it may not have been you or anything you did. I know that I have a hard time abandoning a spot that has produced for me recently.

[Jaric]

Moral of that story is that it may not have been you or anything you did. I know that I have a hard time abandoning a spot that has produced for me recently.

I really can't thank you enough for posting this.  I really just needed validation that I don't totally suck lol

;D

[Paul Roberts]

I get the feeling from reading your initial post, and maybe I'm reading in, that you have unrealistic expectations probably from comparing yourself to "bass pros", magazines, and the posts of successful anglers on-line from all over the country.

Advice:

First off, drop ANY comparisons, esp at this point in your fishing life. I liked when you finally said, "I was stoked!" That's were you need to put your head.

Catching fish consistently is NOT easy, it's not cookbook -or, I take that back: The cookbook is complex and full of contingencies. Fishing will keep you thinking and learning.

You should be stoked over those three bass. When I fish it's almost never pulling em in hand over fist. I figure something out and make a run of 3 to 6 fish, then if all goes well I earn another, and so on.

Some days it's really tough and you can't figure it out. On some of those days everyone had a hard time. On others, it may only be you.

That's fishing, as I know it.

[Ellesar]

Moral of that story is that it may not have been you or anything you did. I know that I have a hard time abandoning a spot that has produced for me recently.

I really can't thank you enough for posting this. I really just needed validation that I don't totally suck lol

;D

I think its all a learning process. When I first started fishing Guntersville I had some spots that would seemingly be hot and cold and I had no idea why. I didn't know if it was me, was I using the wrong lure, wrong color, etc. One day I would go and kill them and the next I wouldn't. To me, it seemed like everything was the same from one day to the next, but it wasn't. When the damns on Guntersville are pulling water to make electricity it really turns the fishing on during the summer. I didn't know that at the time, but that was what was causing the change in behavior.

This past saturday they were pulling water and the fishing was incredible. Same spot 24 hours later was hardly producing fish. The reason for the difference? No current. I think this kind of thing can really effect you when you are unfamiliar with a body of water and haven't learned those kind of things yet. Sounds like there may be something on that lake you were at that effects the fish but you may not realize what that is.

Besides, if you totally sucked, you wouldn't have caught fish the first night.  8-)

[Ellesar]

I get the feeling from reading your initial post, and maybe I'm reading in, that you have unrealistic expectations probably from comparing yourself to "bass pros", magazines, and the posts of successful anglers on-line from all over the country.

Advice:

First off, drop ANY comparisons, esp at this point in your fishing life. I liked when you finally said, "I was stoked!" That's were you need to put your head.

Catching fish consistently is NOT easy, it's not cookbook -or, I take that back: The cookbook is complex and full of contingencies. Fishing will keep you thinking and learning.

You should be stoked over those three bass. When I fish it's almost never pulling em in hand over fist. I figure something out and make a run of 3 to 6 fish, then if all goes well I earn another, and so on.

Some days it's really tough and you can't figure it out. On some of those days everyone had a hard time. On others, it may only be you.

That's fishing, as I know it.

Come fish Guntersville in the summer Paul, I'll show you how easy fishing can be!

I lost a Curado and St Criox rod a few weeks ago. I grabbed my ledge worm rod and took the worm off and tried to use the weight and the hook as a dredge to see if I could snag it by some miracle. We were in the middle of the usual schooling actiivty and I actually caught 2 fish on an empty hook.

[endless]

Hello again.

So, this weekend I went to a small lake in Poland Indiana (population 34) where we had rented a cabin. Now the lake was fairly small, but I was told the fishing was pretty good there so I figured what the hey.

We arrived Friday night around 10pm, checked into the cabin. After about a 2 hour car right I was ready to stretch the legs a bit, so I decide to meander down the dock and toss my line in.

In about a span of 45 minutes, I pulled 3 bass out of the lake all around 12-14 inches and weighing about 1-3 pounds. 1 largemouth, 2 smallmouth

Now, I'm sure that all of you are thinking in your most sarcastic inner monologues "Wow Jaric, 3 fish? It's amazing the Bass Pro tour isn't breaking your windows to get you in a boat." But this is my first year realling fishing, so 3 decent size fish for me in 45 minutes is pretty darn good by my standards.

So I'm stoked. I'm here all weekend and my first 45 minutes I'm pulling fish out of the water like I have my own outdoor life TV show. This is going to be a GREAT fishing weekend.

Well, long story short, I could have stopped there. Aside from a bat (which is not nearly as intresting a story as it might sound) I didn't catch a thing. The in-line spinner baits that could do no wrong that first night were completely useless. I tried plastics, spinners, cranks, spoons, and jigs. Hell, I even tried Nightcrawlers and minnows. Pretty much anything that was in my tackle box got wet this weekend. I fished them slow, fast, in between. I fished them shallow, deep and in between. I fished early morning, during the day, and at night. I fished from the dock. From the shore. From the boat. Pretty much everywhere but from inside the cabin.

Nothing.

Now, I'm used to being shut out. That doesn't really bother me. I just chalk it up to a learning experiance.

But what does bother me is how quickly I went from bass pro to utter bumbling fool.

So i guess my question is what the hell happened? Did the 3 fish I released that night tell their friends to watch out for me? And more importantly, does this happen to you guys too?

sadly it does happen same to me at this pond where i go and everytime i catch something. well i went sunday nothing for the day same lures. even tried other like plastic worms texas and carolina rigging,spinners. different frogs. a few bites but no takers.  it happens. you just move on and try again. ive been to one lake over ten times till i finally caught a fish.

[Jaric]

I get the feeling from reading your initial post, and maybe I'm reading in, that you have unrealistic expectations probably from comparing yourself to "bass pros", magazines, and the posts of successful anglers on-line from all over the country.

Advice:

First off, drop ANY comparisons, esp at this point in your fishing life. I liked when you finally said, "I was stoked!" That's were you need to put your head.

Catching fish consistently is NOT easy, it's not cookbook -or, I take that back: The cookbook is complex and full of contingencies. Fishing will keep you thinking and learning.

You should be stoked over those three bass. When I fish it's almost never pulling em in hand over fist. I figure something out and make a run of 3 to 6 fish, then if all goes well I earn another, and so on.

Some days it's really tough and you can't figure it out. On some of those days everyone had a hard time. On others, it may only be you.

That's fishing, as I know it.

While I do read bass magazines/books/articles, I have no illusions about where I am in comparison to the professionals.  My quip about going from bass pro was merely hyperbole.

And yeah, I am stoked about the 3 bass.  Even the bat that flew into my line, got tangled, and pretty much landed him.  I always have fun fishing, even if I don't catch anything.

But still, I do try to use my time fishing to try and learn as much as I can.  My biggest obstacle at the moment, is knowing what to cast out, and how to present it.  I suppose in this case, I got over excited assuming I had figured out the lake, and then had a cold dose of reality smack me in the face.

But I always remember, a bad day on the water, is better than a great day at work.

[endless]

I get the feeling from reading your initial post, and maybe I'm reading in, that you have unrealistic expectations probably from comparing yourself to "bass pros", magazines, and the posts of successful anglers on-line from all over the country.

Advice:

First off, drop ANY comparisons, esp at this point in your fishing life. I liked when you finally said, "I was stoked!" That's were you need to put your head.

Catching fish consistently is NOT easy, it's not cookbook -or, I take that back: The cookbook is complex and full of contingencies. Fishing will keep you thinking and learning.

You should be stoked over those three bass. When I fish it's almost never pulling em in hand over fist. I figure something out and make a run of 3 to 6 fish, then if all goes well I earn another, and so on.

Some days it's really tough and you can't figure it out. On some of those days everyone had a hard time. On others, it may only be you.

That's fishing, as I know it.

While I do read bass magazines/books/articles, I have no illusions about where I am in comparison to the professionals. My quip about going from bass pro was merely hyperbole.

And yeah, I am stoked about the 3 bass. Even the bat that flew into my line, got tangled, and pretty much landed him. I always have fun fishing, even if I don't catch anything.

But still, I do try to use my time fishing to try and learn as much as I can. My biggest obstacle at the moment, is knowing what to cast out, and how to present it. I suppose in this case, I got over excited assuming I had figured out the lake, and then had a cold dose of reality smack me in the face.

But I always remember, a bad day on the water, is better than a great day at work.

now aint that the truth,!! especially im a brick mason. so when is construction fun? less your a plumber! lol they always seem to be having fun

[cart7t]

Those first 3 bass, feeling ashamed of falling prey to a fishermen, went and met with the lake's headmaster bass.  Usually the largest fish of the lake.  After explaining they fell prey to an In-line spinner,  the headmaster scolded the 3 fish for not paying attention to the "Lures you'll most likely see during tourist season" class lesson that was held in the spring when the bass were schooling.  

He then told them to go forth and spread the word.  

[Paul Roberts]

I get the feeling from reading your initial post, and maybe I'm reading in, that you have unrealistic expectations probably from comparing yourself to "bass pros", magazines, and the posts of successful anglers on-line from all over the country.

Advice:

First off, drop ANY comparisons, esp at this point in your fishing life. I liked when you finally said, "I was stoked!" That's were you need to put your head.

Catching fish consistently is NOT easy, it's not cookbook -or, I take that back: The cookbook is complex and full of contingencies. Fishing will keep you thinking and learning.

You should be stoked over those three bass. When I fish it's almost never pulling em in hand over fist. I figure something out and make a run of 3 to 6 fish, then if all goes well I earn another, and so on.

Some days it's really tough and you can't figure it out. On some of those days everyone had a hard time. On others, it may only be you.

That's fishing, as I know it.

Come fish Guntersville in the summer Paul, I'll show you how easy fishing can be!

I lost a Curado and St Criox rod a few weeks ago. I grabbed my ledge worm rod and took the worm off and tried to use the weight and the hook as a dredge to see if I could snag it by some miracle. We were in the middle of the usual schooling actiivty and I actually caught 2 fish on an empty hook.

That's ... unheard of in the small public ponds I fish . I earn each and every fish. A run is 3 to 6 fish. At peak periods I can get runs of 6 to 10. Then...I've run out of water, and re-visit spots for diminished returns. No complaints though. Plenty going on to keep me interested. And maybe I just suck lol. But I bet if KVD was turned loose on one of my ponds, he'd find he'd rather be at Guntersville, or ...