Ugh

[CAdeltaLipRipper]

Have any of u guys ever just been on bad fishing streaks where u wood just have bad trips one after another or maybe some freak good one in the middle but still just terrible fishing?And it gets to the point where u think it would be a better decision to just sleep in sometimes because things are so slow? Out of the this whole year,ive only had 2 or 3 decent,good trips. Its getting really depressing. A lot of times i know weve hit the lakes the wrong times, atleast 3 times we have fished the day after the full moon. But still, i dont know what to think sometimes it just gets really bad. How do you guys make it through these "action droughts"

[Fat-G]

Yep, my ponds are just about dead right now with an occasional five or six. I do have one new pond that only one other person on here knows about that is a GEM and will be fished VERY little by me to keep it good. There's a very strong possiblilty of a 12-13+, no doubt. I mean just a gem. I'm fighting myself to not go.

But to answer your question, yes, fishing can blow. You just need to take that time and try new baits and techniques. Or you could take my approach and use it as an excuse to buy new rods and reels.

[Sam]

To get through tough times fishing I do the following.....fish!!!!

And read, watch DVDs and study the bodies of water I am fishing and ask friends what they are doing and then rearrange my tackle.

I try new or old baits; consider mastering one specific technique such as flipping and pitching with a baitcaster. I also go out before sunrise and throw topwaters and then go back at sunset and throw topwaters.

If the bass are in the places you fish and you are positive they have not moved out of the area or are deeper, you just have to experiment until you get the correct pattern for that day.

Moon phases, water temperatures, cold fronts, weather conditions, cloudy or sunny, thermoclines in lakes, baitfish movements, time of day, structure, cover, fishing from the bank or in a boat and the baits you are throwing and the techniques are the variables.

Consider making notes each day you fish and include the above data so you can see any patterns that develop on the bodies of water you fish. Keep the notes in a binder for future refernce and graphing the data.

Good luck and post some pics when you start to catch those big ladies!

[Bluebasser86]

You know what they say about a bad day of fishing! Trust me, I would rather be having a bad night of fishing than a quiet night at work like I am now! Sometimes if I'm having a slump I hit some ponds. They don't have to have big fish, just lots of fish. Kind of a confidence boost to remind me that I really do know what I'm doing, I just have to keep doing it!

[ww2farmer]

Welcome to my season so far. It is what it is. Ice didn't leave till the 2nd week of April. Both April and May's weather sucked. It seemed like it rained every other day, and the sun came out just to tease. My spring stuff never really got going like it usually does, I 'd get 2-3 days in a row where it would start to get rolling, and then another massive front and a week of rain would ruin it. I only had a handfull of days up to my standards. June has pretty much been a blur, since we lost so much time on the farm in April and May , we have been trying 2 cram 6 weeks worth of work into 3. Back to Back to Back 75-80+ hour weeks, don't leave much time for fishing,and when I do get there, the timing is off. Combine that with one of your buddys seemingly being there every time the bite is on and sending you pics on the phone of big fish all the time, and I have just about been ready to toss my gear in the lake and sink the boat. I'll have a good day, an average day, 3 bad ones, etc.... Tournament season has started, my first tournament I was out of the money by just a place or two, had 2 fish jump off that might have helped, in the second tournament, I caught a 5-11, and a limit of 3 lbers to go with it..............they day before. At tournament time I had 4 bites all night, and non of them were over 3 lbs, on top of that I get to the place I want to fish, I was there first, and 2 other boats come right in on it and park there as well. I didn't say much, cause if this place is on there is plenty of fish to go around, but it wasn't. Oh well, that's how fishing goes, I have also had long periods of time where I could do no wrong, just not this year LOL.

[tholmes]

Yeah, sometimes it just gets ugly. Yesterday, I went out around noon, fished for three hours and didn't get even a tap. By the time I packed it in, the temp. was 108. And to top it all off, I lost my favorite deep crankbait on a snag .

But I'll go out again today

Tom

[CAdeltaLipRipper]

You know what they say about a bad day of fishing! Trust me, I would rather be having a bad night of fishing than a quiet night at work like I am now! Sometimes if I'm having a slump I hit some ponds. They don't have to have big fish, just lots of fish. Kind of a confidence boost to remind me that I really do know what I'm doing, I just have to keep doing it!

No lol trust me ive been hitting ponds to revive me and theyve been bad too!lol the only thing thats really kept me going is our friends pond is overgrown with bluegill and i catch them on my secret technique on light tackle lol.Other than that,ive not had much pond luck. Theres this place called kistler ranch that has 3 awesome ponds,cost 20 bucks to fish it,its an annual thing me and my friend do, and it sucked.40 mph winds i kid u not. The morning wasnt that bad,caught 2 buzzbait fish and a frogfish right of the bat geting blow ups left and right thinking,man this is gonna be sweet.NOPE. I scrapped like 3 more senko fish for the rest of the day.My friend managed like 3 fish lol.I was POed

[CAdeltaLipRipper]

Welcome to my season so far. It is what it is. Ice didn't leave till the 2nd week of April. Both April and May's weather sucked. It seemed like it rained every other day, and the sun came out just to tease. My spring stuff never really got going like it usually does, I 'd get 2-3 days in a row where it would start to get rolling, and then another massive front and a week of rain would ruin it. I only had a handfull of days up to my standards. June has pretty much been a blur, since we lost so much time on the farm in April and May , we have been trying 2 cram 6 weeks worth of work into 3. Back to Back to Back 75-80+ hour weeks, don't leave much time for fishing,and when I do get there, the timing is off. Combine that with one of your buddys seemingly being there every time the bite is on and sending you pics on the phone of big fish all the time, and I have just about been ready to toss my gear in the lake and sink the boat. I'll have a good day, an average day, 3 bad ones, etc.... Tournament season has started, my first tournament I was out of the money by just a place or two, had 2 fish jump off that might have helped, in the second tournament, I caught a 5-11, and a limit of 3 lbers to go with it..............they day before. At tournament time I had 4 bites all night, and non of them were over 3 lbs, on top of that I get to the place I want to fish, I was there first, and 2 other boats come right in on it and park there as well. I didn't say much, cause if this place is on there is plenty of fish to go around, but it wasn't. Oh well, that's how fishing goes, I have also had long periods of time where I could do no wrong, just not this year LOL.

Ya the summer weather didnt even start happening until like 3 weeks ago.I swear from the start of march itd be a week of sun BAM rain wind.Repeat all through months

[CAdeltaLipRipper]

Yeah, sometimes it just gets ugly. Yesterday, I went out around noon, fished for three hours and didn't get even a tap. By the time I packed it in, the temp. was 108. And to top it all off, I lost my favorite deep crankbait on a snag .

But I'll go out again today

Tom

Ya well to top my last trip off,(fishing the delta)it was majorly slow in the morning,not even a tap,then we hit some mats and within a couple minutes a get a huuuuge blow up by a 3+ and it amps us up, and about 20 minutes later im putting my frog down and i mess with my friend for a second,kinda tap him in the face a few times with the tip of the rod and he laughs and grabs the tip and starts messing with it like twisting his wrist around and right when im about to tell him to stop you hear a small snap. I just gave him this ... look. he loosens his fist and you just see my rod tip slide down my line.Great.

[SirSnookalot]

Not complaining as the first 4 months of the year were pretty good, caught tarpon, amberjack, kingfish, cobia, sailfish, not to mention some 8# and 10# bass. Seems as there is a bit of a lull in the action now, I've caught nothing memorable lately. Took a 50 mile ride this morning and fished for snook, not a strike for 3 hours, some guy walks on and 2 casts later pulls in a 20 pounder off the beach, just the way it goes ! I read nothing into it, it always turns around, but no complaints.

[DeBassin619]

When theirs wind involved, you may want to go deep, lipless crank w/Silver or goldish flash with some natural fish coloring/patterns..

What are the conditions your faced with exactly?

[airborne_angler]

I got pretty flustered yesterday on my local pond. Was throwing a Neko Rig for the first time and the bite was slow. Along comes a guy and starts chucking a HUGE crankbait. Im thinking "Yeah,sure your gonna catch something on that."

After all was said and done he landed like 5 Bass on this HUGE crankbait.I couldnt believe it.This pond is almost dried up and well this guy showed me theres still a decent population of aggressive Bass in there.

I did end up with 1 fish and another decent one came unbuttoned. I refused to switch my tactic,regardless if a crank was the way yo go on this day.I stayed with my Senko,my XRap and My Neko Rig and almost ended up with a Goose Egg.

We all have our days!!!

My local lake is currently closed due to the Fire Danger in the forest. The Lake wont reopen until theres "significant" rainfall. Who knows when that will be. This is the 3rd time this year that the lake has been closed for either an actual fire,or fire danger....

[bilgerat]

Sounds like my year last year. Trying too many new baits and techniques + crippling heat = suck fishing season. I took a different approach and cleared out my tackle bags and went back to what worked for me in the past, you could say I went back to my confidence baits. One example were tubes, which are far and away my favorite plastic. With the help of another member here (thanks you know who you are) I expanded on the ways to rig and fish them and the results have been great.

Take the oppurtunity to step back and take a breath. Clear your head and approach it from a different angle. Work on a technique you want to improve on or refine one you're already good at. When you try too hard at it, it stops being fun. FOCUS

[Missouribassman95]

Go back to the good ole' days, and use a worm, bobber, and hook! Haha maybe catching a lot of little bass, and bluegill will bring back some confidence.

[AndyPlaysDrums]

Yeah, a couple years of it actually! Although, right now I'm on on as good a streak as I've ever been on. I'm not getting big fish, or even lots of fish, but most trips the last few weeks have not been for naught. Today, I caught a couple dinks, and I'm cool with that. I was more pleased that I got my first real jig bite today, and that I know what that feels like, and that I made a smart decision on a cast to a suspect looking stump and immediately got hammered. I snagged hard on what must've been an underwater branch and didn't end up with the fish, but I was still pleased that my knowledge and decision got me a good solid bite.

[Nitrofreak]

I am lucky enough to live close to a lake that has a nuke plant so I get to fish ALL year long and this year has been one of the best years so far since I have been going there.

For the past 5 years I have struggled and struggled just trying to catch fish that I know are there and have fought through some pretty desperate times just trying to find at least one thing that worked.

Then I found this web site and I think Sam said it best KEEP FISHING!!

One of the best things I learned from Sam was making mental notes...I used pen and paper to start with...but all of those weather conditions and different baits on different days on top of this on top of that PHEW!!!

I started to scratch through all of the things that did not work and was left with two lessons 1 being patience the other more patience.

So what do I do in times like yours...Research, Develop a new plan and try again...If that don't work, Budweiser and lots of it.

[Crestliner2008]

I am lucky enough to live close to a lake that has a nuke plant so I get to fish ALL year long and this year has been one of the best years so far since I have been going there.

For the past 5 years I have struggled and struggled just trying to catch fish that I know are there and have fought through some pretty desperate times just trying to find at least one thing that worked.

Then I found this web site and I think Sam said it best KEEP FISHING!!

One of the best things I learned from Sam was making mental notes...I used pen and paper to start with...but all of those weather conditions and different baits on different days on top of this on top of that PHEW!!!

I started to scratch through all of the things that did not work and was left with two lessons 1 being patience the other more patience.

So what do I do in times like yours...Research, Develop a new plan and try again...If that don't work, Budweiser and lots of it.

Maybe it's because I'm older than dirt, but I seem to never have a bad day of fishing anymore, regardless of whether or not I'm catching fish. I love the sport, period. Doesn't matter if I get no fish or several anymore. There's always the swallows to watch, or a shallow swimming salamander. Sometimes I get squawked at by a pair of local swans or if I'm really lucky, an osprey might fly over. It's all good.

Every outing is a learning experience, if you want it to be. If/when it becomes "not fun", then I'll take up golf (heaven forbid)!

One more thing to think about. If you're tossing a heavy swimbait and not catching, try downsizing. If you're tossing a finesse rig, switch to a musky jitterbug! You might surprise yourself. The opportunities are endless to have fun out there.

[grimlin]

I was doing great till last weekend.....The fish are gone. I'm actually having a problem trying to locate them now.It usually happens right as Summer began too. I usually have a hard time finding the summer pattern.

I can't even get the bass to bite at my little work pond either.

[CoBass]

I feel your pain. I was killing at a local pond for the past few weeks. Weather got really hot and the bite just died. None of my summer patterns are working and it doesn't seem to matter if its morning or evening, the bite is just plain slow. Don't worry, it'll come back eventually.

[Nitrofreak]

Maybe it's because I'm older than dirt, but I seem to never have a bad day of fishing anymore, regardless of whether or not I'm catching fish. I love the sport, period. Doesn't matter if I get no fish or several anymore. There's always the swallows to watch, or a shallow swimming salamander. Sometimes I get squawked at by a pair of local swans or if I'm really lucky, an osprey might fly over. It's all good.

Every outing is a learning experience, if you want it to be. If/when it becomes "not fun", then I'll take up golf (heaven forbid)!

One more thing to think about. If you're tossing a heavy swimbait and not catching, try downsizing. If you're tossing a finesse rig, switch to a musky jitterbug! You might surprise yourself. The opportunities are endless to have fun out there.

LOL...Im not that old yet but I think im catching up with you, I absolutely love this great sport also and ditto on the period.

I am on the water every chance I get either by myself or with the family and no matter how the fishing is going I am always enjoying the moment(Fishing or not) just for the simple fact that there may not be one more moment tomorrow.

I look at it this way...Every day is a school day you always learn something new if you open your eyes and your mind.

A musky jitterbug hhhmmmm...Never thought of that...Thanx I will give it a try!!!

[CAdeltaLipRipper]

I feel your pain. I was killing at a local pond for the past few weeks. Weather got really hot and the bite just died. None of my summer patterns are working and it doesn't seem to matter if its morning or evening, the bite is just plain slow. Don't worry, it'll come back eventually.

Thats the wierd thing for us!we had the summer pattern down and its not working. We're moving to new techniques and trying stuff that we used to not do much of.But we used to get up at 3 get on the water like 5 minutes before sunrise and fish a certain slough whose name i will not release lol and throw senkos up into the current and theyd drift into the tulles and wam wed catch like 15 to 20 in that first hour and theyre all 2+ fish with even some bigger 4 and 5 pounders, and wed miss more than we'd catch.Then after that pattern died down wed go to the levees and throw speed traps and other crankbaits and wack em all day until the jet skiers and wakeboarders got to too much

[CAdeltaLipRipper]

When theirs wind involved, you may want to go deep, lipless crank w/Silver or goldish flash with some natural fish coloring/patterns..

What are the conditions your faced with exactly?

Well, its been pretty windy lately.Up until about the first of june we had really bipolar weather lol it would change so much.Lately its been sunny and temps around the 90s and sometimes theyd reach 100+.But theres still quite a few windy days. A lot of snow melt. We got a TON of rain this year, and i think we're at something like 200 percent snow pack,and thats after having a pretty big snow pack and a lot of rain last year. Its nice to see us coming out of the drought. All of the lakes that were at like 50 percent capacity are at 95 percent right now, and we still have a ton of snow melting. Theyre actually releasing a ton of water, but its not effecting the lake levels lol