Slumps

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

What do you do when you get in a slump?  

Do you walk away for short break, recollect yourself and re-assess your approach or do you "power" through it and fish even harder ?

For me, walking away works best.  Cool yourself, collect your thoughts, remember why you are out there and go give 'em another try.

How about you?

[Gatorbassman]

I sit down and eat a sandwitch, throw out every bit of local info I have heard and then put all the peices together and come up with my own gameplan. That's about as long of a slump that I usually have.

[Catt]

Slumps are something we all deal with; I've found through the years the best way to handle them is to get back to basics. I know what my strengths are and fish towards them; I suggest you should do the same. If you are good at Flipping/Pitching, Texas Rigs, Cranks, Spinners, or what ever concentrate on those techniques. If you are good at shallow water, deep water, or grass concentrate on those areas.

I've learned to down size my tackle to just the basics, it is extremely hard to be a master of all the available techniques. I'm very good at Jig-N-Craws, Texas Rigs, & Spinner baits so I fish where I can maximize these strengths. I'm not that great with Crank baits so when in a slump I don't waste time fishing them. I don't try new techniques either when in a slump.

The most common mistake I see my students make when in a slump is with the hook set. They are not sure if they had a bite & so they use somewhat of a lazy hook set. I cannot over stress the importance of a solid hook set; speed is the key not strength. If you are a smaller person or woman use a heavier rod to gain the speed needed, if you are a larger person use a medium heavy rod to limit pulling the bait away from the fish.

So when in a slump I would look for small things to change, like timing of the hook set, speed of the hook set. My partner & I have been fishing together for about twenty five years & we don't hesitate telling the other when he is not on top of his game. It is not a major change that is usually needed when you are not getting bite.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

"Back to basics", a term that saved my skiing career and a term I use often.  After a big crash (skiing), it's tough to "attack".  This is the only way you will win in the freestyle world, being aggressive.  To REGAIN CONFIDENCE, my head coach taught me to "go back to basics"

Rudimentary "Beginner" drills.  This RE-established confidence from the ground up.  Sure, at first I would feel silly doing "Stem Christy" turns with the letters U S A on your back, but it only took about 5-10 mins before I was ready to jump back in again.

Applied to fishing, it has the same effect.

Great point Catt.  

[Troutfisher]

Bring out "ole faithful" (the 12 gauge shotgun that is lying around the boat) and begin to shoot at any fish you see.  

Really though, if I've fished for a while in a convincing spot with several different techniques, I will stop fishing for a few minutes and re-evaluate the spot and what I'm using.

[Guest muddy]

Chill; listen to some Miles Davis or some Muddy Waters. Strip everything down, tie on a Rapala #11 or a 7 inch Ribbon Tail and keep it simple and just be grateful to have the blessing to be on the water in the first place 8-)

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Amen brother and may PEACE be with you

I would think the tourny anglers would lean towards pushing forward and MAKING it happen as having a time restraint adds a new variable that folks like myself and Muddy don't have to factor in.

[Cajun1977]

id go for slow down, just slow down your retrieve, your breathing and just collect your breaths.

[Tin]

Stop for a second, put the rod down, eat something, and go back to work. In that couple minutes I can usually get my thoughts and ideas back to together.

[MALTESE FALCON]

When I used to fish tournaments, as well as now. When I hit that stretch where I can't even catch a cold, I usually go back to one of the baits that we all have. One that always worked, but for some reason, we don't use it anymore. More times than not, it seems to put a fish in the boat.

Falcon

[Sam]

LBH,

I tell you what I do.

I scale down and fish for bluegills and maybe a bass will hit the bait.

At a pond last year I was having a great day. Almost every cast got a hit on the Texas rigged and the Wacky rigged Senkos.

Then the bite went away.  Nothing.  Not on any plastic or crankbait or even a topwater.

So here is what I did.  I rigged a 1/64 ounce silver jig head onto my spinning rig with 8 pound and put a 1/2 inch white grub on it.

I could not cast it out that far; only about 10 to 12 feet from the bank.

And then it happened.  After catching a few bluegills, wham! She hit it right by my feet.  27 and a half inches.  I don't know who was more surprised, her or me.

After releasing her I went back to my Senkos and caught a few more.

So now I scale down and fish for bluegills and bream with smaller rigs and then go back to fishing for bass after 10 or 15 minutes.

In tournaments, I will start to throw a Senko, Texas rigged or Wacky style, in shallow water and hope for the best.  Or throw a creature bait or a beast or Little Beaver or a jig and pig in the wood and any structure/cover around; or throw my Firetiger Bandit 200 into the wood.

Sooner or later something has to give.

[Jake.]

If the bass fishing is really slow, I will take out my ultralight rig and fish a Rapala Original Floater FO3. It will catch just about anything, from small bass to bluegill, crappie and catfish. It reminds me how fun fishing can be.  

[George Welcome]

What's a slump? :

[.dsaavedra.]

i go thru slumps so much its not even funny.

it all really depends on the situation.

if im fishing with my dad i usually just stop concentrating so hard on fishing and have a fun time with him and laugh alot.

if im at the park, i'll usually just grab and ultralite and mess with the bluegills for a good while and then shoot for bass again.

if im at the farm, then the case is most likely ive fished out the pond (very small pond) so i'll go to the other pond which is always more aggressive, and fish that one for a good while, then i'll go back to the first one and it will have recovered and the fishing will be better. if nothing is working, a F-11 seems to squeak out a few fish everytime.

and generally, no matter where i am, i will just chill and fish as slow as possible, i'll find a place to sit, and i'll just dead stick a trick stick or crawl a 7-10 inch ribbon tail worm back. this gives me time to think, and it is often quite productive.

just a few of my strategies. probably the one that works the best is just to chill out and stop trying so hard and just have fun and laugh. cuz even though the fishing sucks at least im having a good time! ;D

[George Welcome]

"cuz even though the fishing sucks at least im having a good time!"

Fishing never sucks, only the catching does.

[.dsaavedra.]

mmmm i might have to disagree with that ;D

on a slow day its usually the fishing that people dont like and they are thrilled with the catching

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

mmmm i might have to disagree with that ;D

on a slow day its usually the fishing that people dont like and they are thrilled with the catching

that's what GW meant.  Fishing is always great, it's the lack of catching that can suck.  

[fourbizz]

I pick up the drop shot.

If the dropshot doesn't work, I pick up the beer.

I repeat those steps until I am too drunk to care, or catching too many fish to drink.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Now there's a game plan......

[.dsaavedra.]

fourbizz: NICE ONE!!!!

[ww2farmer]

I don't walk away.........to me...........and this is just my opinion, don't want any one to get offended, that is a quiters attitude. Slumps are largely often mental. The fish will cooperate if you figure them out. I went through this last summer, for the better part of 2 months this summer I was on a strong flipping bite, then it just stopped, no matter what I threw, where I went, fish were few and far between. Slump......maybe some would say, but things changed, the fish moved, or were keying on a different presentation and I didn't adapt, so the slump was self imposed.

[tfisherman]

I started fishing tourneys with my dad at 15yrs old we had good success and I wanted to turn pro at 18! Well poor people can't make it on the Bassmaster circuit and me and my dad started spinning our wheels on the water and bumping heads so I quit fishing completely :'(

I maybe fished 5 times in the next 5yrs as well as getting married and having a baby.A couple years ago the bug was to much to handle and me and a buddy started fishing again after catching up on the latest trends I went out and started slaying them! I even zeroed my buddy on his home lake from the back of the boat. I had all these new ideas and Zen thoughts about bass and started to realize how small minded I was as a kid about everything. Well the reason I'm not holding up a 100G check is mostly because my buddy sold his boat and ended our tourney dreams.I still fish just not as much and at 30 I hope one day I to can afford a boat with 2 kids and a stay at home wife!! :

The point yes a break is needed to get your head back in the game.Some of us can take longer then others!!

[Guest avid]

I put on a senko.

[Matt Fly]

A slump means alot of things to different people.      There are some guys who guide and a slump may mean loosing a customer, or not getting a repeat customer.   Then you have various levels of pros, some don't have to count their change and others who look for change!  lol  Trying to make it on tour.

Since most of the time, there is no pressure to perform or find fish, a slump simply means some or alot of days gone unfruitfull, to wit:  not many fish to show for your efforts.

     On those days, I simply go after another species willing to cooperate, wether its white, stripers, or crappie.        Catch a mess or two and you forget the bass aren't cooperating.

  Gives you a renewed ability to catch fish, the very same reason you thought or felt you were in a slump,    Unless you are like Fish Chris or Randall, then your slump may be a temporary lapse in not catching a DD often enough.

[ILfisherman]

I can't walk away, I'd fall off the boat!  ;D

Actually, I could care less about catching anything. The whole reason I fish is to get outside and enjoy the outdoors. If there's no bite, I'll tie on another bait. If that doesn't work, I'll just keep casting and practicing my accuracy and distance and just take a look around and enjoy God's creation.

Hope this helps somebody