Fish Arent Biting, What Do You Do

[kms399]

when you hit the lake every thing looks like it should be a good day but after 2 hours you still haven't caught anything what do you do?

[Bluebasser86]

It depends where I'm at. Deep, clear water I'll usually go to a shakeyhead and slow down. Dirtier water I'll either slow way down with a jig or plastic bait or try coving lots of water with a spinnerbait,crank,trap, ect and look for aggressive fish.

[Catt]

Keep fishing

Two hours aint enough time to determine anything, I can spend two hours on one piece of structure without a bite & load the boat in the next fifteen minutes.

Sometimes the bass are on a morning bite, sometimes the bass are on the middle of the day bite, & sometimes the bass are on an evening bite.

One of the problems with today’s society is everyone want instantaneous results

That don’t even work for KVD!

[quanjig]

Very broad question with very little background info. A very good fisherman once told me most fish will be in one of two moods, feeding up or feeding down! Take what you know about the body of water you are fishing - water clarity, depth, season and by process of elimination, tailor your abilities to the area you are fishing. Two hours is just the tip of the iceberg. Fish hard and move on. Sometimes they just won't bite. Eliminate water but don't miss opportunities to find that honeyhole due to frustration that you cannot get bites where you think they should be!!

[NBR]

Prespawn, spawn and post spawn fish location is generally easy. When they start migrating to summer patterns it can get tough. A lake I fish from early May to early July has the fish shallow and easy to locate. Lots of hook ups and quality fish. After early July they just disappear. I go from 20, 30, 40 fish days to 5 or skunked. I think they suspend and feed on smelt in deeper water but I haven't been able to prove that. I just change lakes except for an occasional trip to work on a solution.

It could be me but everyone I talk to agrees the lake is super tough in the summer.

Locating the fish is a lot tougher than picking the right bait. Sometimes they are just negative which makes the postive days so memorable.

[5bass]

when you hit the lake every thing looks like it should be a good day but after 2 hours you still haven't caught anything what do you do?

Load up the boat and come back after the sun goes down.

[ww2farmer]

Some times it takes me more than 2 hours just to figure out what is going on that day, a bad 2 hours don't mean anything. Now if you only have 2-3 hours to fish, don't worry about finding a solid pattern, let the pattern find you. Go with your gut and just junk fish, hit high % spots, with productive baits you have confidence in, and cover water, usually works for me. When you find something good, stop and fish it like you would if you had all day to fish.

[BASSclary]

when you hit the lake every thing looks like it should be a good day but after 2 hours you still haven't caught anything what do you do?

Go home.

[flippin and pitchin]

I'm with Catt, especially with smallmouth. Some of the time a small depth change or even a change in wind direction will spark the bite. Be persistent and fish your strengths but change areas and depth. Stay optomistic you will get on some active fish. I fished one day for 8 hours with three largemouth. I changed areas the last hour of the day and spanked the smallies with my best 5 well over 23 pounds. I forgot about the 8 hours and relished the last hour. The next day we fished the same largemouth area and moved out deeper after the sun got up and spanked them good. Just keep and open mind and fish through slump.

[Nitrofreak]

I agree with Catt also, but flippin and pitchin offered some real good advice as well.

But it really depends on a few things for me.

The water clearity the weather and the time of year.

If you really think they should have been there then they most likely could have been, But those are the days that make us better understand what we could have or should have done differently.

Mostly what I do in that same situation is just make mental notes and try to learn from that and keep fishing in a broader circle maybe with some baits that cover a lot of water in a hurry and at different depths to see where they did go.

Also I have fished an area that yeilded no fish the first time around and came back to a starting point and switched tactics and caught fish that otherwise I would have missed.

Keep an open mind in times like that and always try to make mental notes and don't be afraid to change it up and hit it again...I just wouldn't wait as long...LOL.

Good luck and be safe!!!

[Ratherbfishing]

Two hours isn't enough time to throw in the towel. I've had lots of days where it's taken over that amount of time to locate catchable fish. One of my favorite lakes (where a buddy and me have caught over 60 bass a day), things usually don't start picking up until early afternoon and if we gave up before then, we would've missed out on some outstanding fishing. So I just keep trudging along until one of several things happen-either I find some catchable bass or the bass start biting or both. If, however, after many hours of unproductive fishing, I might pull out my fly rod and chase some bluegill for awhile.

[Bass_Akwards]

Keep fishing

Sometimes the bass are on a morning bite, sometimes the bass are on the middle of the day bite, & sometimes the bass are on an evening bite.

Catt,

#1 I've thought the same thing before but it surely can't be true right? I mean when you keep saying "the bass" you can't mean ALL the bass right? Doesn't the "bite" have to be on for different bass at different times?

#2 My biggest weakness as an angler is not being able to determine if I should move from a piece of structure or cover(s) or switch baits. I usually sit it out and stay stubborn, sticking to the cover for what I believe is to long. I feel like I should be switching baits perhaps fishing a different level of the water column, but I don't. I stay stubborn and keep throwing a confidence bait. I hate it.

#3 Let's say you go out at noon and fish a structure you killed them on with a crank bait the last couple times you went out. You fish for 3 hours with your crank bait and catch one dink or even nothing. How do you as an angler determine if

1. You're not getting bites due to bait choice, bait color, or bait presentation,

2. You're not getting on bites because plain and simply you're not "on fish."

OR 3. You're not getting bites because it WILL BE an "evening bite or WAS a "morning bite, and you missed the bite?"

Thanks bro!

[K_Mac]

I completely agree that 2 hours is NOT enough time to determine if the fish are really biting. On a recent trip we caught a couple early in the trip (started mid-morning) and then fished 5 hours without a bite. We finally found good fish in deeper water with a light shakyhead, fished very slowly. We caught a bunch of fish over the next couple of hours, with several in the 3-4 lb range. Color was not too important, but size and speed were critical. My point is sometimes it takes a while to get it right.

As I get older I find that much of the joy of fishing is in the fishing. The catching is important, but it is not absolutely needed for me to have a great time on the water. The irony of this is now that I don't care as much, I catch more and better fish than when I was a more driven younger man. My conclusion is, taking time to relax and the enjoy the experience makes us better. Just the musings of an old guy...

[maq88]

just keep on fishing

cant give up after only 2 hours

if not switch up your lures, the structure or cover your fishing

and at times it all matters about the type of retrieve your using

[Jim McC]

just keep on fishing

cant give up after only 2 hours

if not switch up your lures, the structure or cover your fishing

and at times it all matters about the type of retrieve your using

I go home and chase the wife around the house.

[Gatorbassman]

when you hit the lake every thing looks like it should be a good day but after 2 hours you still haven't caught anything what do you do?

Add JJ's Magic.

[Catt]

#1 I've thought the same thing before but it surely can't be true right? I mean when you keep saying "the bass" you can't mean ALL the bass right? Doesn't the "bite" have to be on for different bass at different times?

Do I mean 100% of “the bass” absolutely not, here’s a prime example.

I just returned from a week on Toledo Bend & one pattern was a creek channel that made a 90 degree bend with a shallow area located on the outside bend, the entire area was maybe ½ acre. Every morning for 5 days straight I could fish this shallow area from 5:15 am until 7-8 am, I caught bass on spinner baits for the first hour & then the spinner bait bite would die completely. I could stay there for hours on end throwing spinner baits until my arm fell off & not catch another single bass. But if I changed to a Texas rigged worm after the spinner bait bite died then I could continue to catch for another couple of hours & then that area was through until evening.

You tell me what was taking place?

#2 My biggest weakness as an angler is not being able to determine if I should move from a piece of structure or cover(s) or switch baits. I usually sit it out and stay stubborn; sticking to the cover for what I believe is too long. I feel like I should be switching baits perhaps fishing a different level of the water column, but I don't. I stay stubborn and keep throwing confidence bait. I hate it.

This is not your “weakness” alone, it’s everyone’s! This is a decision that has to be made constantly by ever angler throughout the day.

#3 Let's say you go out at noon and fish a structure you killed them on with a crank bait the last couple times you went out. You fish for 3 hours with your crank bait and catch one dink or even nothing. How do you as an angler determine if

1. You're not getting bites due to bait choice, bait color, or bait presentation,

2. You're not getting on bites because plain and simply you're not "on fish."

OR 3. You're not getting bites because it WILL BE an "evening bite or WAS a "morning bite, and you missed the bite?"

My answer is 3

Do you think you catch simply because of your lure choice, lure color, or presentation?

[BrianSnat]

Fish ain't biting? I enjoy the day on the water. Thoreau said "Men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after" and I agree with that. I learned long ago to not be too concerned about whether or not I catch fish. It's life I'm catching while I'm on the water.