WHY is it that no matter how much I plan for a fishing trip, I always seem to miss the big catch?!?
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I’ve been fishing mainly for largemouth bass and trout for a whole year now. I have been unsuccessful every trip. I’ve worked with various lures, baits, rods, and strings. I plan trips according to the weather, moon phases, and fishing reports… but no matter what, wherever and whenever I go, the subsequent report for that given lake afterward is “oh well, guess this week’s no good!”; if I don’t go, the subsequent report is “too bad you missed out this week, this week was THE week apparently!”
How do I always miss the good weeks? How can I know ahead of time when a good fishing day will be? AND DON’T TELL ME fishing time/temperatures/places/baits/etc vary depending on the fish and the lake, etc etc.. I KNOW all this. I know fishing is tricky – please only answer if you have practical advice.
I fish in the California & Nevada regions.
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That’s why it’s called fishing and not catching.
I’ve been fishing almost my whole life, and I regularly get skunked. It happens to everyone. Even professional tournament anglers get skunked. I remember reading a walleye tournament report where more than half the boats came back at the end of the day with no fish, and most of the ones that did had one fish. The winning boat had 3 fish with less than 5 pounds total weight.
The best thing you can do to improve your catch is to learn the habits of the fish and try to guess their location based on what you know about the water temperature, time of year, etc. Finding the fish is usually 75% of the battle, because as my granddad used to say, “You can’t catch fish where there ain’t.” Once you’ve found them, it comes down to experience and trial and error to find out what they want.
My recommendation would be to check online forums specific for your area for tips, tricks, and advice. Most states have them. There’s also individual state forums on the web site below.
BTW, it’s called line, not string.
jesus is always the answer
I think the most important thing is to understand seasonal behaviors of the fish. Certain times of day and year are better, but it’s not like big bass just leave the lake when conditions aren’t good.
So instead of waiting for good conditions try to make the conditions you have work to your advantage.
Kelly-
Boy you sound frustrated. there is no magical answers, however, here are some tips for you.
Firstly, if your buying your tackle on line, try visiting your local tackle shop. There is no one who cares more weather you catch fish or not than these folks. Its in their best economic interest that you catch fish. ask questions, buy what they recommend, report back to them either way.
Second, you can always rent a guide for the day, I know it can be cost prohibitive but if you can afford it, here’s another guy who depends financially on your success
Lastly, whats happening when you go fishing? Are you the only one out there? Are you fishing from shore? If so, see what the other guys, who are catching fish, are using. this is the most inexpensive way of improving your chances. Most guys are willing to share information. Rather than focus entirely on what you are doing, look around at who is catching and how they’re doing it.
I hope this advice is practical enough, I’ve been there, and had people hooking up all around me. Don’t give up
Study up on what the particular fishes habits are and then practice the 3 P’s of fishing……as Al Linder would say…….Presentation, Presentation, Presentation. GL 2 U !!
No-one can tell when the good days will be — if you could, the water would be jam packed on those days and deserted on others. Instead there are a bunch of theories out there talking about moon phases, weather fronts, etc. But as you’ve learned, they don’t really help much.
My experience is in saltwater, but I think it applies to fishing anywhere. Years ago when I was a kid, during summer vacation I followed the catch reports in the local paper and tried to get out whenever a “bite” was on. I usually missed it.
Then when I grew up and got a job, I realized my only chance to fish most of the year would be on weekends, so I decided to fish every weekend, weather permitting. And I started making better and better catches, not because the bite was better on Saturdays, but rather because I was on the water 50+ days a year. I had plenty of slow days (and still do), but I also got into a number of “surprise” bites when the fish turned on despite the conditions, as well as the “expected” good days. And all that experience trying to scratch out a few bites on a truly crappy day forced me to refine my techniques and made me a better fisherman.
So my answer is, go fishing whenever you can. Sooner or later you’ll get into a good bite, but until then, learn how to pick off a fish or two when they don’t want to bite.
I’m going to give you some very practical advice based on a lifetime of bass fishing. Pay no attention to any prediction and just go when you have an opportunity to do so. Sooner or later you will hit it when the bass seem to be jumping in the boat. Persistence when combined with a little experience means more then any solar table or moon phase in existence. There is a tremendous amount of luck involved when bass fishing. For instance one day a friend and I caught 64 bass in one day between 2-5 lbs. The next day we went to the same place using the same lures and under the same conditions and only caught 9 small bass. No chart of any kind could have predicted either of the results we had. You will NEVER know ahead of time if the fishing will be good or terrible.You can make educated guesses depending on the local weather patterns ( passage of cold fronts, etc) but that’s about it. Just go when you can, enjoy it, and sooner or later you will hit it just right.