First Post - How Patient Must I Be? 2025
68camaro reply :
I am very new to bass fishing, I have a zillion questions but the most pressing is how long do you stick with a presentation or technique before moving on? Is it bait or technique specific?
Basically, when fishing how long will you use same lure or fish same spot without hits before deciding to switch? I really don't know if it 10 minutes or 2 hours?
Also, I discovered hollow body frogs and love it, have had a bunch of slaps/attacks but not landed any yet? Do you need more patience with frogs?
Thanks all
Chuck
John M. reply :
When I really started getting into bass fishing and learning new techniques I would spend a week just fishing that one presentation. Learning the basics about each one. Example, when texas rigging learn what the bottom feels like, what weeds feel like, what strikes feel like etc etc.
Obviously you wont learn everything in that time but it helps when going to new waters and being able to use a presentation for 15 mins or so and seeing if its productive or not. If not, switch something up.
Frogs can be tricky. Basic rule of thumb is if you see a bass blow up and take your bait under: lower your rod and reel in the slack and count to three before setting the hook. Once I started doing this my hook up ratio with frogs was a lot better.
jbarnard reply :
On 9/21/2015 at 4:11 AM, 68camaro said:I am very new to bass fishing, I have a zillion questions but the most pressing is how long do you stick with a presentation or technique before moving on? Is it bait or technique specific?
Basically, when fishing how long will you use same lure or fish same spot without hits before deciding to switch? I really don't know if it 10 minutes or 2 hours?
Also, I discovered hollow body frogs and love it, have had a bunch of slaps/attacks but not landed any yet? Do you need more patience with frogs?
Thanks all
Chuck
there is a lot that goes into bass fishing ill start with your first question.it depends on fish behavior for example your fishing a white spinnerbait and say a bass follows it without trying to eat it you have multiple options here 1 try a different color if that dosent work you can try a different size bait if that dosent work try different blades my point with giving this scenario is the fish can be interested in your bait type but may not bite because of the color or presentation. another example of this: i was fishing a tournament on old hickory in the late winter/early spring. i was fishing a suspending jerkbait and was getting the occasional follower but no strike. i then put a bit of wire around the front treble so it would"nose down" and boom i brought a 3lb fish in. my point is that a simple change can cause a different reaction.as far as your question with fishing frogs is that you need to give them a chance to get a good hold on the bait ill usually drop the rod tip and reel down tight before setting the hook.bass will also miss the frog part of the time making you think the fish has it when it dosent.i hope this helps
hatrix reply :
Well knowing when to change lures or switch spots is the million dollar question. I guess it all depends on the angler and when they finally decide it is time to change something. I will say that making 5 casts with a lure and changing cause you didn't get bit is not a good plan. You should try and have confidence in the bait your using as long as it seems reasonable and what your fishing apllies to what your using. That's not to say I never ever won't make a few casts with something then change. When that happens it's usually because I came up to something that might require a different presentation. Like say a downed tree so I pick up a rod with a T-Rig and make some pitches all around it then keep movin and go back to what I was doing.
RB 77 reply :
Staying with a presentation or technique or switching it up varies greatly for me. Sometimes I give a spot, presentation a few minutes, sometimes quite a bit longer. I rely on instinct to let me know how long to stay with something. Time on the water is really the only answer to help dial this in. Sometimes I still strike out. It happens to the best of us. I know that answer is somewhat cryptic but a good rule of thumb to follow is that the more active the fish are the quicker you can switch things up, and the less active the slower I go. IE; if the fish are actively feeding in the warmer months I will switch rods/ techniques presentations fairly quickly. If it’s the middle of the winter and I know fish are around I will stay with them for quite a while. Dragging a jig or worm for hours on end in 40+ foot of water on a long tapering point is not out of the question or even uncommon for me if I know some fish are stacked there...
deep reply :
Depends on the spot actually. (how do define a spot? 90% of the fish are in 10% of the water- or something like that).
If I'm out to have fun; I'll fish the same lure/ presentation in one spot for maybe 15 minutes (unless I'm catching). I don't like to leave fish to find fish. If I'm fishing for big fish, one retrieve can take 15 minutes.
Do fish the top, middle and the bottom though, before moving.
Fisher-O-men reply :
Fishing in a tube is a tedious task, so I try to fish every likely-looking spot throughly. Sometimes I will use this approach: Top, Crank, bottom/plastics, in that order.
edit: The post above was submitted while I was typing.
68camaro reply :
Thanks all, I pond bank fish so I really try to have a plan, I fish the close in bank from side to side then expand out. I do try top, middle, bottom as well, I usually only get to fish for 1-3 hours at a time so I need to make my casts count. I do have a reason for each cast.
I have started documenting catches so hopefully I will see trends and with more time on water develop than gut instinct.
RB 77 reply :
On 9/21/2015 at 8:17 AM, 68camaro said:Thanks all, I pond bank fish so I really try to have a plan, I fish the close in bank from side to side then expand out. I do try top, middle, bottom as well, I usually only get to fish for 1-3 hours at a time so I need to make my casts count. I do have a reason for each cast.
I have started documenting catches so hopefully I will see trends and with more time on water develop than gut instinct.
The good news for you is that you have two things going for you in your favor; one, you have a pre-planned purpose for each cast. That is a crucial fundamental that will greatly help your learning curve. Two, you are documenting your catches. This will help you to develop patterns easier in the future. Keep up the good work.
Bluegiller reply :
I made a rule for myself of giving it 1 hour before switchin lure.
Darren. reply :
Welcome aboard, Chuck!
In fishing, patience is always the key.
Well, at least in my world it is 
Catt reply :
When I feel like I've covered the entire water column then I'll move!
Alonerankin2 reply :
First learn to locate bass routinely ( not exactly easy at first ) focus on a horizontal presentation & a verticle presentation.. Have fun while you learn & don't give up.. Research your access areas for feedback on bass numbers & size.. Keep records to revisit in the winter time..study local prey types & color patterns.
Good luck.
68camaro reply :
On 9/21/2015 at 5:52 PM, Alonerankin2 said:First learn to locate bass routinely ( not exactly easy at first ) focus on a horizontal presentation & a verticle presentation..
This is something I really try to focus on, but is not easy. I find myself liking jigging and throwing frogs over matts. ponds I fish in really don't have structures or trees laying in or over water to throw to. It's kinda like open water with pads and matts around edges.
I focus on shaded areas, points and wind blown sided but still seems very hit or miss. Was out for hour last night caught two in about 1 :15 minutes, one jigging right off bank in matts another with drop shot and 5 feet off back just beyond matts.
the reel ess reply :
When I was new, I only had one rod/reel combo and so few lures I wouldn't switch them. Now, I like to take several combos with lures for the 3 zones: bottom, middle and top. I usually start the day (early morning) on top or middle if the water temp is above 72. If that fails, after a couple hours, it's all T-rig bottom-bumping unless I see some activity that makes me think bass are getting more aggressive. But there are many variables.
Top: topwater baits, of course
Middle: Trick Worm, weightless, jerkbait or maybe spinnerbait
Bottom: T-rigged craw or worm. Crankbaits.
So I switch baits and presentations all the time depending on what I see and whether I'm getting any bites.
As for moving, I fish either from a boat or kayak in a smaller reservoir. I'm always moving unless the fish are just killing it in one location. Hope this helps.
Felix77 reply :
Patience is absolutely the key ...
As for how long ... to me it depends on the situation.
If you know you are around fish and not getting bit I give it 10 - 15 minutes before I switch lures/presentations to see if I can figure out what they want to eat.
If you are in search mode then the "1 hour" rule in a spot works for me too. I use a high confidence bait and give it time.
FWIW - My high confidence bait this year is a drop shot.
Felix
scaleface reply :
When I fish from bank , I pack light , generally using lures that sink like T-rigs and prerigged swim baits .If I need a top water then I just change presentations. I can take a pack of Zoom Lizards , a couple of hooks and weights and fish the entire water column. If i want to fish on top I rig it weightless and use a big heavy hook to aid in casting .
ClackerBuzz reply :
I'll take 10 min to fan cast 5-8 different locations with the same lure. if i don't get any bites it's time to make a lure/rod change. there are lots of ways to fish a senko: dead stick, slow drag, rip like a jerkbait, hop or pitch into cover like a jig, burn it like a buzzbait topwater etc. i'll experiment with the full spectrum of retrieves but if i don't get a bite it's time to change lure tactics which usually means picking up a drastically different rod (like switching from a senko to a crankbait; or from a spinnerbait to a jig; or from a frog to a drop shot).
make sure to think outside the box with all lures ie frog: yes do the usually frog retrieves but also burn it like a buzzbait, pitch it into a hole like a jig, dead stick like it a senko, pop it like a popper, cast it on shore and hop it in the water. dramatic experimentation makes it easier to provoke/figure out the bite or eliminate the lure for the time being (don't forget to try again in 2+hrs or if conditions change like clouds come, or if baitfish start busting).
the only exception is visible cover like a tree stump. if you feel like there is a bass there pound the heck out of it from top to bottom till you annoy the big girl into biting 
Alonerankin2 reply :
the only exception is visible cover like a tree stump. if you feel like there is a bass there pound the heck out of it from top to bottom till you annoy the big girl into biting
Great Advice by ClackerBuzz, I saw Denny Brauer pound a submerged tree for hours w a flipping tube ( strikeking ) he knew fish were there, he moved his boat around and methodically continued his fishing.. He won the Classic that day!
Hattrick7 reply :
Start with a spinnerbait to locate bass. Once you've found em you can try other baits. With a spinnerbait if you're not getting bit in like 3-4 casts then move on.
Willis reply :
According to the text books available today, **** sapiens (man) first appeared about 200,000 years ago. Fish first appeared during the Cambrian explosion about 530 million years ago. Man invented the wheel between 6,500 and 4,500 years ago and has since (among other things) invented the steam engine, transistor, placed a man on the moon, invented the internet (thanks Al Gore), and has increased technology at an exponential rate. Fish, on the other hand, have yet to invent the wheel. They do have a Lazy Susan but they didn't invent it - it's due to water currents in a stream typically called an eddy.
My point is, "fish are stupid." The brain of the largest bass or trout is about the size of an overgrown pea. They are not wily. They are not cunning. They are creatures of habit and are subject to inbred instinks (misspelled on porpus) and not intelligence.
I am a gregarious person. I enjoy people and absolutely love women! Except when I fish! The problem with public fishing areas (city parks, ponds, public accesses, etc.) is the people/brats/idiots you have to put up with. Like I said, “I enjoy people.” But, when I am fishing, I also enjoy the solitude. I think so do the fish! I don’t like ice but I will fish just before the river freezes if it means I have it to myself.
Now to pond and bank fishing:
I caught my first fish, at the age of five, in 1955 out of a little pond/tank in D’Hanis, Texas. My parents (now deceased) captured the event on film. I still have a copy which was transferred to video cassette – I think VHS format. Since that time, fishing ponds and rivers from the bank has changed dramatically. In that day, and through my late teens, permission to fish was generally granted assuming one was not of a threatening appearance or known to be ‘trouble’. Today, many prime spots on rivers and almost all farm ponds are subject to ‘no trespassing/posted’ signs and permission to fish has become increasingly hard to come by. So, while the ability to fish may have changed, the fishes catchability has not.
Fish cover if there is any. Fish shaded areas. Fan cast with ‘confidence baits’ that cover the water column. Fish top water, spinner baits and bottom bumping cranks – all with varying retrieves. If you are able to locate fish, try a jig. . . . . Now I frankly do not enjoy fishing jigs for the most part. I suffer from Adult ADD so my attention span suffers greatly. Jigs require a lot of attention. I have, however, caught many fish with jigs, and, to be frank, if the fishing gods granted me one and only one artificial that I could fish with for the rest of my life, it would be a jig. They catch fish year round, and plenty of them, (even through ice, I’m told) if you can maintain focus.
Now to bathtub fishing:
I once put five bass (10” to 12”) in a bathtub full of water. Actually, it was a spa/hot tub at outdoor temperature, but you get the point. I got into the spa/hot tub with them and began fishing with a worm threaded onto a paperclip fashioned into the shape of a hook. Within about ten minutes after I sat down and remained still I began catching the fish (some more than once). That should tell you how smart fish are.
Ponds dug out of the earth without any natural cover are a problem. The fish could be anywhere. It is like fishing in a large, nondescript, bathtub. So keep moving. If you find them, fish a jig (or a worm on a paper clip). Sometimes there simply are no fish to be had. So, you are far better off fishing ponds that are known to have fish. If it is big fish you after, then you should fish those streams and pond know to harbor big fish. It only improves your odds.
Now to ice fishing:
I don’t do it. I think jigs would work nicely, but I was born in the South. When ice is outdoors, I try to stay indoors. The only ice I want to see is in my glass of Jack. Daniel’s of cource. Misspelled on porpus.
MFBAB reply :
Great first post Willis!! I'm going to be the first in with "What you talkin bout Willis??" 
to the OP:
This thread is a couple of months old so you may have already figured things out. If not, here's some general advice.
When learning a new pond, a great strategy is to use your search baits (Buzzbait on top, spinnerbait/chatterbait/squarebill etc. in the middle, to locate active fish.
The trick to this is to use these baits when the conditions are optimal for them: Windy, cloudy, low light, early/late, stained water helps.
The idea with these baits isn't to slow down and saturate an area, the idea is to cover water and pick off the active fish.
What you are learning by doing this is where they feed-the "10%" deep alluded to if you will). Once you locate the feeding stations, some of which will be obvious (points, visible cover, etc) and some not so much (straight banks with underwater cover or structure), then you can go back and slow down in these places with the worms and jigs. They're going to slide off of the feeding stations and suspend (underspin, jerkbait) or bury up in cover nearby (T-rig, Jig) when the sun comes out or the wind dies, etc...this is finesse/slowdown time.
Worms and jigs are great fish catchers, and they excel when the conditions don't allow the search baits, but they aren't great for locating fish unless you already know where the feeding stations are.
You can "loop" a pond 1 mile around in about an hour with a buzzer or a spinnerbait to get the lay of the land, then go back over the areas where you had bites slowly with the T-rig to clean up and you are maximizing your time!
If you start w the T-rig, it takes you about 3 hours to work your way around that 1 mile pond and you are probably fishing dead water a lot of the time in the process.
Hope that helps!
Willis reply :
I agree 100%.
Next year we are going bass fishing for trout. Believe it or not, the same techniques and strategies applies. Come join us.
One exception: the first week of May on the Caney Fork is prime River Redhorse season. They will take a nymph or small 1/16 oz jig on a fly rod or on an ultra-lite spin outfit. Loads of fun when they are running in the spawn. State record (11 lbs.) is possible and they are loads of fun on light tackle. Last year I had three break me off with a $9.00 Rapala on 2# line. Bet that won't happen again.
Fishing here is great. Drop me a line and let's fish.
68camaro reply :
Wow, I can't believe its been 3 months since I started this thread. I only began bass fishing a couple weeks before this thread started and was getting very frustrated with my results, or lack of results. It would take all day to quote and respond to everything people said here that helped so I will just give huge blanket thanks:)
FYI - I only bank fish in local; ponds.
Since 9/20 I have been reading as much as I can here and other places, plus watching Youtube videos. BassResource.com as been worth it's weight in gold, I need to become supporter.
Since becoming member here and to increase my fishing enjoyment and catching ability I have purchased the following rigs with forum members advice:
- Megabass Orochi for finess fishing with Stradic ci4+ (spinning setup)
- Loomis E6x with Curato 200pg reel 5.:1
- St Crox Premier with curato 200 reel 6.3:1
- Dobyns 735C with Curato 200HG reel 7.1:1
- Dobyns 634CB with Lews Team Lews LITE speed spool reel 6.8:1
I am trying to keep the artificial bait to minimum to avoid confusion and complexity deciding what to use, but I have small sample of most presentations.
Since I started I have kept a diary of my fishing and let me breakdown the results real quick.
42 Number of outings (a few times twice a day) , average outing is 1 - 2 hours, never longer than 3 hrs.
40 # fish caught and or good blow-ups. I count a blow-up as caught because I found fish at least.
18 # of outings with no fish caught
2 average number of fish or blowups caught per outing I didn't get skanked
23" biggest LMB (largest pickerel was 21")
Best day was 11-02-15, rained day before and cold front passed. in 90 minutes caught 5 LMB, lost couple other.
Worst stretches, Oct 18 to Oct 22; and Nov 12 to Nov 15 ( 4hrs on water each stretch). Both stretches zero fish.
I am learning that patience comes handin-hand with faith in your bait and presentation. While I am getting better and seeing success with my game plan when out on water I still have much to learn.
This thread continues to provide valuable advice so I thank all here and other this site.
The following are some things I have learned here: differences and importance of cover vs. structure, how bass act, different presentations for different situations, baits for specific situations, patience and trust in self and presentations, how and when to slow down and speed up, how to set hooks and when, weather patterns, bass migration and schooling patterns, importance of depth and shallows and when to fish each.....the list goes on forever.
Since I only fish 1-2 hrs each outing, I need to be very productive so I have learned to move through the water depths plus keep moving until I find the fish. This has helped greatly.
MFBAB reply :
Keeping a log, and counting blow-ups and missed strikes is VERY smart!!
I keep a spreadsheet, with columns for caught, missed, biggest, total, etc...
Those blow-ups are telling you where the fish live (or at least where they feed), and like I said, once you know those spots, you can saturate them with a mixture of presentations as conditions dictate. When the sun shines and the wind stops, they will hunker down on a drop-off or settle into cover close to where the blow-ups happened.
On ponds, we don't have contour maps and often we are limited to the bank so we can't use sonar to find the structural contours, but knowing where you got a hit tells you they probably have a hidey-hole nearby
Karsonclowers reply :
For frog fishing I suggest just focus on feeling the bait when a fish takes it. There's lots of times fish will try to injure or kill the frog before they eat it and they won't take the frog down, but bigger ones like to go ahead and eat it. Just watch your frog very closely. If it disappears, reel slack and jack'm.
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