1 year slump

[SOCALSWIMBAITS]

2 hours ago, VolunteerSwimbaits said:

Not trying to steal your post, but for me I can catch fish on conventional gear, but cant for the life of me catch on a swimbait.

Im on 6 months without a fish, but I HAVE gotten a couple of bites. Heres what I have gathered...

By not catching a fish for a while you do lose a lot of confidence, and you start throwing without meaning. What I mean by that is you start "chucking and winding" without thinking about your casts. For example just going down the bank throwing a paddle tail by just throwing and then reeling.

What helps me get bites is #1 downsizing, and #2 throwing in key spots with confidence. For me that is skipping a 6" citizen under trees, or docks. That is how I get most my bites (which is only 1 bite every 10 trips or so). 

Just try every style of bait (glide, wake, paddle tail, vortex tail, swimmer, etc.) And find out how your fish want it. I have thrown a 7" slammer, 9" slammer, g2 shellcracker, and other "go-to" wakes, but I have not gotten bit on any of these. I have had follows, but no bites.

So for me I spent a long time chucking big-ish glides, because it is fun! But the fact is that the fish did not want that. Seems like they want soft paddle tails, and swimmers.

In conclusion, find out what/how your fish want to eat, and fish every cast with confidence in key areas.

Also dont forget, Matt Allen went 3 years without a fish, but then caught 3 DDs in one day. Just wait for it all to "click". I am still waiting for my "click"

Thanks man i really appreciate it. This is a great reply with a great confidence booster for me. Thank you so much

[bigpoppabass]

It took me six months to get bit on my first slammer. I was as the proverbial last straw when it happened. Hope it clicks for you. Fish in wind and prefrontal (early part of rain storm) conditions. 

[Doomlurker]

7 hours ago, bigpoppabass said:

 Fish in wind

This. 

 

Look for wind blown points and try to not over complicate things by bringing out a ton of different baits and you’ll get em. Good luck 

[bassbass]

You have fish in those ponds and lakes.

Not sure on your background but I feel it is always better when a person fished regular tackle and has a ability to catch a fish in any water on any day and then transitions into swimbaits.

Like a mentioned before you have your basic baits to cover each water column. Use the experience you have from fishing regular tackle and change it to which swimbaits match it the best.

Some of the time frames mentioned seem very long to me, but that is my option and not putting anyone down in any way.

My suggestion would be to only bring a couple of baits. A six inch hudd or similar, a smaller billed count down or crank down, a wake type bait, and a small glide. I would assume your main bait would be trout colored baits.

Fish your main structure first, weed edges, drop offs, point, and flat, but also be willing to try some not so fishy areas. Start casting parallel to the shore and then cast every 10 degrees until you cast perpendicular to the shore. This should be 10 casts. Add stops, pops, burns, and pulls to the baits when working them. Not knowing your fish I would start off fishing slow, from what I see the CA fish a consistent retrieve instead of a stop and go. One thing that may help is try to cast down wind and retrieve up wind. Also try and which the noon phases, 3 days before and 3 days after a full or new noon, give or take. Also think about the clarity of your water and down or up size your line and/or color if needed.

If it will help you buit conference, fish the regular tackle fish. Keep it simple, 4 to 6 inch work with a 1/16 oz bullet weight not pagged, a crank bait similar to a storms wiggle wart, a top water similar to a storm chug bug or pop-R, and a 3/8 oz double willow blade spinnerbait. Fish the same spots.

Keep at it and I am sure you will get on them, also if possible try to go into your fishing with a positive feeling and let everything else go. If you are thinking about something else like getting home to work or do something you may fish different or faster then you should be.

Post em up when you get em!

Remember this is jist my option and means nothing.

Brian

[SOCALSWIMBAITS]

40 minutes ago, bassbass said:

You have fish in those ponds and lakes.

Not sure on your background but I feel it is always better when a person fished regular tackle and has a ability to catch a fish in any water on any day and then transitions into swimbaits.

Like a mentioned before you have your basic baits to cover each water column. Use the experience you have from fishing regular tackle and change it to which swimbaits match it the best.

Some of the time frames mentioned seem very long to me, but that is my option and not putting anyone down in any way.

My suggestion would be to only bring a couple of baits. A six inch hudd or similar, a smaller billed count down or crank down, a wake type bait, and a small glide. I would assume your main bait would be trout colored baits.

Fish your main structure first, weed edges, drop offs, point, and flat, but also be willing to try some not so fishy areas. Start casting parallel to the shore and then cast every 10 degrees until you cast perpendicular to the shore. This should be 10 casts. Add stops, pops, burns, and pulls to the baits when working them. Not knowing your fish I would start off fishing slow, from what I see the CA fish a consistent retrieve instead of a stop and go. One thing that may help is try to cast down wind and retrieve up wind. Also try and which the noon phases, 3 days before and 3 days after a full or new noon, give or take. Also think about the clarity of your water and down or up size your line and/or color if needed.

If it will help you buit conference, fish the regular tackle fish. Keep it simple, 4 to 6 inch work with a 1/16 oz bullet weight not pagged, a crank bait similar to a storms wiggle wart, a top water similar to a storm chug bug or pop-R, and a 3/8 oz double willow blade spinnerbait. Fish the same spots.

Keep at it and I am sure you will get on them, also if possible try to go into your fishing with a positive feeling and let everything else go. If you are thinking about something else like getting home to work or do something you may fish different or faster then you should be.

Post em up when you get em!

Remember this is jist my option and means nothing.

Brian

Thank you it is greatly appreciated

[FishDr]

Lots of good suggestions here - I went something like 3 years and about 20 trips between getting a big walleye (or small walleye, for that matter) on swimbaits and when I did get one, it was a teener PB.  As others have said, it will happen, but you've got to go out there with the thought "it's going to happen on this cast".  It's hard as heck to do that skunk after skunk after skunk, but if all you're doing is checking the boxes, and you're not focused, you might just miss that critical cue that gets you your next fish.

One possible tactic to try, if you've got some sort of watercraft (float tube, pontoon boat, kayak, hard-hulled boat) is trolling.  If you take something like a Slammer or Hudd and slowly troll it around your local ponds and lakes, you can cover a ton of water and likely cross paths with some active fish.  I've used this approach a few times when I just don't know where the fish are and it can work.

Keep grinding, but be sure to grind with focus and purpose - the fish will come.

[NEbucketmouth19]

23 hours ago, VolunteerSwimbaits said:

Following, I totally can relate.

Same, this has been my worst year of bass fishing by far since I started getting into it. I just caught my second biggest fish of the year on a slammer earlier today....

It was 3.2lbs. 

 

But the couple times I have gone at night this year have been lucrative so that would be my advice. And also going out before a front/storm like someone else said. It seems to get them chewing. I caught two of my biggest fish last summer literal minutes before a line of thunderstorms rolled through. (I was 500ft from the ramp with no close strikes, make sure to be smart). 

Edited September 9, 2019 by NEbucketmouth19

[SOCALSWIMBAITS]

Thank all of you for your intel and ways to approach. It is really appreciated and it gave me a boost

[SOCALSWIMBAITS]

Thank all of you for your intel and ways to approach. It is really appreciated and it gave me a boost

[chevro1et]

10 hours ago, FishDr said:

Lots of good suggestions here - I went something like 3 years and about 20 trips between getting a big walleye (or small walleye, for that matter) on swimbaits and when I did get one, it was a teener PB.  

Man, growing up in Saskatchewan, one of my all-time fishing goals was and still is to catch a double digit walleye. Teener walleye is a goddamn monster, congrats sir. 

[FishDr]

27 minutes ago, chevro1et said:

Man, growing up in Saskatchewan, one of my all-time fishing goals was and still is to catch a double digit walleye. Teener walleye is a goddamn monster, congrats sir. 

Thanks!

Sent you a PM.