When all else fails...

[WhiteMike1018]

Its a bright sunny day in the middle of June 07. Sweat drips down your face as the 96 degree weather and the sun beat on you like you deserve some kind of punishment.

You've fished for five strait hours now without getting a bite. Every lure you own looks uglier than it ever did before and your confidence baits have failed you terribly.

The pattern you established the day before seems to have dissapeared as it was some type of miraculous dream pulling bass in the boat one after another.

Being an experienced angler your mind is going in overdrive trying to put pieces of the puzzle together trying to come up with something to turn Lake X's bass back on...

But how do you find these pieces?

When all else fails...finding them may be tough.

But in the back of your head once you put the pieces of the puzzle together you know that when you land that first fish, that 96 degree heat will soon turn into a cool air conditioned room and the sun not so hot.

How do you find your missing pieces?

[5bass]

Its a bright sunny day in the middle of June 07. Sweat drips down your face as the 96 degree weather and the sun beat on you like you deserve some kind of punishment.

I would first ask myself why I am fishing during the daytime.

You've fished for five strait hours now without getting a bite.

At this point, the boat would be loaded onto the trailer, seriously.....then I would possibly go back that night.

How do you find your missing pieces?

If you are fishing the same time, same place as the prior day, obviously something has changed or you just hooked every fish in the area. You should be able to pick up on your pattern falling apart pretty quick and make your switch according to what has changed (current, weather, whatever) The fish probably havent gone very far but anything weather related could have moved them deeper or if you lost your current, the fish are probably not positioned like they were when you were hammering on them. I would first figure out what changed, then go from there.

[Garnet]

It's just focus and work ethic on the days that are beating on you.

Garnet

[Cephkiller]

On those rare days when I simply cannot seem to catch a single dink, I will not go home until I absolutely have to because of prior commitments, etc.  At this point it has become a personal challenge between me and the fish and I will prevail!

[RobDar]

When all else fails...finding them may be tough.

But in the back of your head once you put the pieces of the puzzle together you know that when you land that first fish, that 96 degree heat will soon turn into a cool air conditioned room and the sun not so hot.

How do you find your missing pieces?

I think we have all had these days.

Ceph...you are one dedicated guy, staying out there till it is done...Kudo's!

...an old man who fishes our tournament club once gave me what I think is good advice. He told us...on a day very much like the one you explained..."take a breath, you are thinking too much! When the fishing sucks...FISH WHAT YOU KNOW!"

I did not really know what he meant by that at first...but I think what he meant was to fish what you are confident with,  what you fish well, and fish your GUT instinct.  Kind of a go back to basics approach. I cannot say that it has been 100% effective..but my "not a hit" or few hit days are MUCH fewer and further between these days.

I cannot say what YOUR basics would be...mine happens to be a Fluke in and around shoreline or just off shore structure and weeds. The wifes is plastics...usually french fries...fished SLOW and patient.

[Red]

i had this problem last night...we had been killin em recently on *** sticks and the like and topwaters...last night we got only a few dinks right when we got there then nothing....i threw everything in my box(dosent take long i dont have much)tried a jig,t-rig,spinnerbait,topwater... then i tied on a crank....caught five bass one real small one, the crank wouldnt even fit in its mouth, three at a lb or so and one was around 2 lbs..then we left...we had had a storm move through the area that morning and i think that may have had something to do with it...it was fun and satisfying for me, since i rarely use cranks...but i think i might throw them a bit more often now  ;D

Cliff

[Panamoka_Bassin]

If I had been out for that long a time without a fish, I'd seriuosly be thinking about hitting happy hour!  However, 3 hours before that, I would be thinking like the rest, back to basics.  If, after another hour of nothingness, I would then think unconventionally.  Try something that would normally sound insane to you, like throwing a spinner deep into bushes (just make sure you've got braided line so you can get the spinner back ) or, since the temp is so high, find the deepest, shadiest water you can find and SLOWLY work a t-rigged grub.

[gatrboy53]

lots of variables there.like fbl said if the fish were there yesterday they arent very far away today.unless something drastic has changed .if its just fishin,then i dont predicate time on the water to fish caught.if its a tx. then all sorts of variables come into play.in most situations i'll move deeper.if they were in the shallows the day before i'll move out to the first drop.

i always try to find out what they were relating to the day i caught them. bait, cover, depth,water temp,something was holding those fish and something was causing them to bite at that certain place and time.

if im in a tx. and i have caught fish the day before and they aint there tx. day which happens alot and i dont have a better place to go i'll stay there and exhaust every variable,cause those fish are there.many times its just timing.one day they'll feed at noon and the next day its 2:45 ,15 min. before weigh in.

if you werent on fish to begin w/ then its one thing but if you had caught fish the day before then thats another.dont lose confidence, thats the game of bass fishing,you against the bass.lose confidence and the bass has won.do what you know and more times than not you'll come out on top.

i fished a known good bass lake for yrs. w/o much success.others would tell me of the bass they were catchin but i couldnt ever get on a bite.a good friend who has had consistent success took me one day and we caught fish all day.he wasnt doin much different than i had been doin ,just doin it believeing we were going to catch fish.since then i have been very few times when i couldnt find fish.matter of fact it is now one of my best producers

[roadwarrior]

B-double E-double R-U-N.

Otherwise, my #3 bait is also my "lure of last resort." Legend has it that the Gitzit (gets it done) was designed as a "do-nothing" bait. Cast it out, put your rod down and pop-a-top! A slight breeze doesn't hurt a thing either.

[Guest avid]

I am definitly getting old.

If it's 96 degrees I'm sitting in air conditioning.

On cool, breezy days where being out on the water is where I want to be, slow fishing is merely an excuse to throw all those lures I have spent too much money on over the years.

Evntually I'll tie a 5" watermelon senko on a baitcaster and drop shot a zoom pumpkin finesse worm on a spinning rod. It is a rare day indeed when one or both of these won't draw strikes.

[Rattlinrogue]

I fish early,late,and at night in this situation.But if I were stuck in this,I'd probably get on my fish finder in deeper water looking for likely structure with cover on it.I'd then drop shot the hail out of 'em.

[Brookie]

Id honestly just find another place to fish. Or take a break hang out with your buddies or something and come back.

[Taliesin]

Its a bright sunny day in the middle of June 07. Sweat drips down your face as the 96 degree weather and the sun beat on you like you deserve some kind of punishment.

You've fished for five strait hours now without getting a bite. Every lure you own looks uglier than it ever did before and your confidence baits have failed you terribly.

The pattern you established the day before seems to have dissapeared as it was some type of miraculous dream pulling bass in the boat one after another.

How do you find your missing pieces?

Hmm... Bright, sunny, 96 degrees... Almost sounds like yesterday.

Well... I probably won't be sweating much. I don't take off my long-sleeve shirt until it hits at least 90, but I digress.

I sit back, rethink what the fish are doing and what they will bite on, and move on. After only 5 hours I still have my confidence. I probably won't loose it until I hit the 15 hour mark.

Yesterday I was in a tourney that started at 1:00 and caught my first (and only) fish at about 6:00. I still hadn't gone to my confidence baits and cintinued to throw the crankbait. It banged off a tree limb and got hit by a nice 3.86 LMB.

Took 3rd and Big Fish.

As I said in another post, patience is my strong point. Life is good. I'm fishing and I'm not at work. I'm not starving and depending on my fishing to feed me. I am out there to enjoy life and the outdoors. Catching fish is a bonus.

[Del from philly]

THIS WAS YESTERDAY FOR ME!!!!

i dont know,,,,,,but i believe in "fishing karma"

maybe thats what it was???

i know, i know - "f*cking hippie".....

but seriousely, i beleive in it.....

[bored_inda_ville]

I just keep trying. Sounds simple huh. I think the key is in your mindset. When the fishing gets horrible for  me, like the scenario you described, I take a minute to be thankful that I'm out on the water fishing at all.  

[thunderstruck]

Put my sunglasses on, turn my iPod on, put a worm on a bobber, wish myself some luck, and be glad I didn't catch a sunfish 8-).

"Better a bad day of fishing than a good day of work"

[flyphisher #]

when i actually got to fish...here is what i did... :'(

I like going to the rivers/large creeks feeding the lakes i am fishing....current is your best friend.

Days like that when going and finding current, cooler water isnt an option.Points,channel bends,DOCKS,humps,...... used to be a C-rig after 10:30 if nothing was happening...small worms have produced big fish for me in the past... like the zoom c-tails and a trick worm...If I am more zeroed in on deep structure(8ft+) I will go to a t-rig trickworm or a 1/2 or 3/4 oz. jig. and a norman deep little N and a dt 10 tied on too... And a 1/2 oz. buzzbait, you will be shocked at the fish that will hit one on a day like you described. 1/4 oz. bite me shakey head with a finnese worm also...

so basically i just keep doing my usual summer pattern.

[burleytog]

When all else fails....there's always the dynamite under the carpet in the rod locker.  

[huskyjerk]

When all else fails, try a drop shot: 6 or 8 lb test fluoro, a 4 inch Roboworm on a #4 dropshot hook with a 1/8 oz. sinker... Works for me.

[Gorgebassman]

When it gets that way for me I just put the rod down and take a cool swim and try later.

[Valascus]

When all else fails, I stop and try to look at the lake as if I had just arrived there. I try to identify all of the circumstances that are affecting the fishing RIGHT THEN. Sun angle, water temp, water clarity, wind direction, available cover or structure, water depth, available forage, any impending weather conditions (such as incoming rain or pre-front conditions), transition lines and edges (such as where two different species of weeds meet, where sun meets shade, or where two differnt types rock meet). Then I try to think of which bait will meet AS MANY of those conditions as possible. If that bait fails, then I will go to my old standby and biggest confidence bait, my Rapala DT cranks. I will usually fish those until I run out of time or catch something...I'm just stubborn like that .

[cart7t]

How do you find your missing pieces?

Go to an air conditioned room and think about it.  

[Jeff H]

As an absolute last resort I will fish docks.  I would imagine we all have some pattern we hate to fish, but will when we have to and docks are the pattern I hate most.  If it is available, I will find dirty water and work those docks first then check those along shaded shorelines in clearer water next.  I absolutely detest that pattern though and will always be on the lookout for any other shallow heavy cover I can work.  This only happens for me if I have exhausted ALL my deep options.

[NJfishinGuy]

man i hate those days, sounds like us at hapatcong that day after the sun came out...