Getting very frustrated - need help !!!

[Rupert]

I was out on Stubblefield again today and once again caught no fish. None.

This is an ongoing issue - I am losing any confidence in being able to catch fish since I haven't caught anything for weeks despite a lot of outings. My total "bag" lifetime is one cat, one crappie and a bluegill.

I've tried spinners, worm, beetles, frogs, various fish looking lures, in numberous shapes, sizes and colors. I've thrown it at weed, lilypads, stumps, open water, shallow, deep, etc, etc. All I catch is weed and sunken branches. Academy is getting rich off me buying replacement lures.

The other week I was fishing for an hour on a spinner, some dude pulls up in a yak, throws what looked to be a chartreuse spinner (same as me) for about five minutes, hauls a bass out, says "now that's what I'm talking" and paddled off. Apart from being a funny story to get my friends laughing at me, it was damned depressing.

So - before I give up on this - I clearly have no f'king clue about what to do - can someone suggest how I can get me a fish. I don't care what it is, whether its a keeper, eater, record catch, etc.

I plan on floating around on Huntsville Sate Park tomorrow after lunch - any suggestions ? Please don't assume I know anything at all - obviously I don't !

[honjyak]

i have never fished lake raven, but i would guess that you could not go wrong with some minnows under a bobber for some crappie and/or catfish. just my .02

[pitontheprowl]

Try live bait till you find them and then thow some arties.

[Rupert]

Well - I tried shad and worms under a bobber with various lengths of line. Tried in the middle, at the edge, around the stunps over towards the dam, near the weed, near lily pads, etc, etc. Once something took a worm off the hook apart from that I caught nothing.

I got bored with that - too much effort - and kicked back to watch the birds on a hot and pretty afternoon. Had a gorgeous green heron fishing near me plus a kingfisher diving in for fish. They didn't seem to catch much, either, so I don't feel too bad.

Oh well - I'll keep trying !

Thanks for the ideas.

[yanker]

Hi Rupert,
Try fishing smaller spinnerbaits such as roadrunners, beetle spins, etc and try fishing them at different speeds. Fishings slowly and bouncing off the bottom sometimes helps--other times--the need to be fished faster--but once you figure what the fish are taking you should catch at least small bream, crappie and bass. Night crawlers will also get you started for live bait to find fish and then switch to the arties. Although many on this site will likely disagree with me, summer is known as dog days and fishing lakes and ponds can slow down during the heat of the day. Frequently, if you are patient, try night fishing around structure--or from your yak near the bank. the trick here is to throw the bait, let it sit until no more circles are moving from its splash (and you cant see that at night--a good minute or two) then give it a very slight twitch and let it rest again. Top waters are slow fishing but very exciting. The main thing is to have patience and learn to fish a lure or two really well.

Keep trying, you will have a lucky day--

[Doug Poudre]

Haven't been fishing long and I don't fish fresh water, but pick two or three lures and really play with them. Work on placement and retrieval. Vary it up with those three things you throw until you find something that works. You can add more as you gain confidence.

[Ripface]

Mepps #5 inline spinner with hair (you want some chartrousse color). It was the best lure I ever used in freshwater (and I have at least a dozen of them), and caught all species big enough to bite it. Also, get you a 1-bladed topwater buzzbait. Find some slough areas, weedy areas, piers and try those two lures in there, preferably in the early morning. If that doesn't work for you, it probably means the fish (bass) are a bit deeper, in which case you can try deep-diving crankbaits, or soft-plastic jigs. For the last two, you should try to find deeper structure, points, or drop-offs, fishing as deep as 15-20 feet or so. Freshwater fishing kicks buttock once you learn it.

[Panfisher]

Yanker's got it. Get some smaller baits, especially roadrunners and beetle spins. Fish places that indicate change (e.g. the edge of weed beds, an isolated stump or blow-down, the lee-ward edge of submerged points). Cut your teeth on the sunfish and you'll hang a nice bass every now and then.

[sharkayak]

Another thing you may not have thought about, Time of day.Low light conditions give you a little more of an edge. The fish can't see as well. Early mornings & late afternoons typically are more productive than mid-day. During the summer I'd do the morning thing as water temperatures being high sometimes make fish reluctant to move around alot. The opposite holds true in the winter.
Good Luck.

[Rupert]

Time was probably against me on Saturday and Sunday - both times were late morning/afternoon.

I have tried very early morning (before dawn), dawn, morning, afternoon and late evening/dusk. I avoid noon to 3pm cos I'm too delicate for the heat.

Anyway, more ideas for me to try - thanks ! I will try the small inline spinners and see what happens. I'm ok with sunfish too - anything alive on the end of the line would be a blessing at this stage.

Yanker - pm sent.

Thanks all.

[pitontheprowl]

I forgot................
Try the ultra-lite set-up.
small inlines and micro cranks on 4 to 6 pound line with an ultra-lite rod.

I use mine for a lot more than it should be used.

[Randy_che]

I agree with the consensus. Small stuff will tend to catch a lot of fish. For lures, I like 2" curly tail grubs (white, yellow, chartreuse), 1.5" tube jigs (black/white, red/white, blue/white, silver glitter/white are some of my favorites), small spinner baits, and small crank baits for pond and small lake fishing. Use smaller line to get the best action. 6 lb is a good compromise. If you are using bait, and are getting bites but can't set the hook, you might try a smaller size hook. A small aberdeen hook, split shot, and 3" foam cigar float will catch about anything that eats minnows or worms if you can get it in fromt of them. Get a pair of forceps to remove hooks from small fish mouths.

Bluegill will be in deeper water right now. 10' to 15' for the big ones. Find some rock rip-rap and drop a line a couple of feet off the bottom with worms or minnows. I think you'll catch something.

[TKFStubb]

My advice will be a little different. Since you don't have a clue WHY you need to downsize, slow down, speed up, go deeper, go shallower...I would suggest that you start with the BASICS of WHY!

Fishing is the same as hunting. You have to learn the habits of your quary or you'll get skunked most of the time. THE basic book to have in your library is Buck Perry's "Spoonplugger". The techniques that Buck used to figure fish out, that is, trolling with spoonplugs, is not applicable to most of our situations, but the KNOWLEDGE he imparts IS! I think that's why this book is so relavent. You'll learn how to read topo maps, map your fishing area, find where fish ARE and know why. You'll also learn about moon phazes, weather patterns, light penetration .... just about everything you need to become a REALLY GOOD ANGLER! This book was written over 30yrs ago but it is even MORE important now with all the competition we have for a limited number of fish.
The second thing I would recommend is to find a MENTOR! Get close to someone who is really good and doesn't mind sharing his knowledge with you. This can be a paid guide or a retired tournament angler who is looking for someone to share his knowledge with. If you get a guide, ask some of his clients if he is a Teacher or a Meat Specialist. You want a TEACHER! Keep your mouth shut except to ask questions and soak up the knowledge he has for you. He will be worth 10X what you pay him in future satisfaction. When you become the angler you WANT to be, pass it on to someone like YOU who really WANTS to learn!
That's my advice.

[Juan pajaro]

I agree with Stubb, I fish and bird hunt. If you are guessing where they will be without enough knowledge to know why you won't get many fish or birds. Learning will help more than changing lures and presentations. Once you have the basics, then go with the fine tuning.

Not saying you can't fish till you learn, just don't get too frustrated and give up. I read a lot of magazine articles because they are shorter than books and still give you good info.

[Rupert]

Mr Stubb

I absolutely agree with what you are saying, and am trying to track down the book you mention. I've been looking t books, but find myself beweildered by the choice, but notice that most are geared to "improving" your catching of fish, not starting with basics, which is what I need.

Plenty of time to improve later - I need to get started.

A mentor would be nice, and I have had some offers to fish with people from here, which I will try to do time permitting (thank you guys !), but I tend to be too disorganized and "last minute" in my trip planning for it often.

Thanks for the book tip !

[Vlaude]

Rupert, I think there are some good comments on here... I would say if you want to catch fish and get some confidence with some lures & techniques. GO TO A DECENT POND! You will catch fish throwing a lot of different lures and techniques and the fish will not be as hard to locate. Ponds can provide some very good fishing opportunities and can be fun in a tube, kayak, or even fishing from the bank. That would be my suggestion to get you into fish and go from there...

[MikeSSS]

I'd rather catch minnows than not catch "fish".

A friend uses hooks that are too large for the fish in the water where he is, they might be the right size for fish that are not there though. He doesn't catch much because he's fishing for fish that aren't there.

I use small hooks with a small chunk of bait on the tip and barb of the hook. There are lots of small fish and they love to eat. I catch lots of small fish but in doing this I'm getting a feel for what works. (at least on minnows). One time I caught a dandy minnow, left him on the hook and cast him back in. Bam, a bass ate the minnow and was now hooked.

When the lakes are high a lot of places are flooded that are normally dry. Fish love new places. Kayaks can get you there.

I scuba dive Boerne lake, most of the water has no fish, they tend to group together. Bass hand out in the tall underwater grass. Minnows hide from the bass in the shorter grass. A minnow presented a few feet off the bottom, where the larger fish are, is going to get eaten.

Little fish love Vienna Sausages and hot dogs. Bigger fish love little fish. For dinner.

[Hardware]

http://www.spoonplugger.net/

http://www.buckperry.com/spoa.php

http://www.spoonplugger.net/spoonplugge ... letter.pdf

Go to http://www.usedbooksearch.co.uk/ and in the "keyword" box enter "spoonpluggin" without the quotes and you will find some references, here is one:

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDet ... onplugging

[Rupert]

Bought me a copy of his book from the website.

It arrived today so time to start reading in time for the wekend.

That noise you hear is our little aquatic friends shaking in terror at the prospect of being caught by me

[flyboy46]

Hello to all, Im new to the forum. Another thing Rupert can do once you start hauling them in is to keep a journal. At the end of the day record what you caught, the lure used,time of day,water clearity,temp and so on. Especialy casting/retrieving technuiqe. After you have tried it, you will have become more comfortable and able to look back through the pages for reference. I personaly did this when i got pretty heavy into bass and trout fishing. a total newbee. I only kept up with the journal for about a months worth of fishing trips, but im sure glad i did. It made me a more confident and patient fisherman. We will be reading more from you on your great days sooner than you think. Good luck and tight lines.

[ifeliciano]

Bought me a copy of his book from the website.

It arrived today so time to start reading in time for the wekend.

That noise you hear is our little aquatic friends shaking in terror at the prospect of being caught by me

Well Rupert how's the learning going so far ? Is the book worth the wait ?
I just ordered mine and i'm using it as bed time reading for my son. That way we can both learn


Ivan

[Mythman]

Mr Stubb

A mentor would be nice, and I have had some offers to fish with people from here, which I will try to do time permitting (thank you guys !), but I tend to be too disorganized and "last minute" in my trip planning for it often.

Then get organized and quit being "last minute".......the advice was to help you......and right off the bat you make excuses why you can't do what is necessary for help.

If you are not willing to make changes (even the very basic like planning and organization) then you will most probably stay in the same rut of not catching fish.

Usually advancement and success mean making changes, but you got to be willing.

[Rupert]

Yes - so far the book is very helpful indeed. For someone who knows very little about fishing so far it has some very interesting ideas and descriptions of fish habits, etc.

It is rather straightforward in it's demonstration of what I've being doing wrong up to now - not fishing where the fish are. The challenge (and hopefully fun bit) will be converting the knowledge into something useful in catching fish.


Mythman - with all due respect, I really thought I had indicated clearly that I understood the advice was being given to help me, took the advice in the spirit in which it was offered and acknowledged the validity of the advice. If I failed to do so, let me rectify that here and now. All the advice I have received has been very good, thought provoking and ultimately helpful. Whether or not I am in a position to take full advantage of the advice received is my problem, not a reflection of my opinion of the advice.

My "excuses" may be just that, but without boring you with the pointless details of my personal life, suffice it to say that scheduling too far ahead is tough, and I don't want to be one of those pain in the ass people who keeps saying I'll meet you at a set time and place only to no-show, or call the day before and cancel.

And also, paddling solo in quiet solitude is sometimes the only thing keeping me sane. It may be making things unnecessarily harder on myself, but again, that is my problem. I do not blame anyone or anything for my poor fishing record - it is my lack of knowledge and lack of experience that are to blame, which with the aid of this group and other friends I hope to rectify. In the coming months (fall and winter) I hope to be past a couple of major issues in my life, which allow me the luxury of getting out more regularly and perhaps hooking up with some people.

[t.chris]

Rupert, this is turning into a saga. I find myself checking in just to see how you are progressing. As Bobby Boshea said in that fine cinema, "You Can Du It!".

[Rupert]

I know - all we need is for my long lost brother to turn up and we'll have ourselves a soap opera !

Failed to go out last weekend (too damn hot amongst other thngs), so no fishing updates, but am reading my book.

I'll keep you informed and you can be sure I'll tell you all about the first fish I catch