How many casts before changing it up???? 2025

arul reply :

Just curious,

How many casts without a bite before you guys either change up your lure to something different or change spots all together? -particularly when trying to locate where they are?

Part of me thinks that if they don't bite in 3-4 casts, then they are either not there or will not go for that type of presentation. But then other times, I hang on for 10-15 casts at the same spot, and just when I am about to bail on the lure, or go someplace else, I finally get bit....

What is your all's rule of thumb?

thanks.

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

Quote

Just curious,

How many casts without a bite before you guys either change up your lure to something different

So far it's been a month and about 8k casts

wisturkeyhunter reply :

It all depends. If I know that I should be getting fish but I'm not I'm going to look for a reason why still might not change my lure though if I'm using something I have alot of confidence in like a senko, trick worm, or fat ika.

st00pid reply :

Ive been fishing nothing but texas rigged berkly powerworms in two colors but 99% of the time just pumpkin seed. I have yet to get skunked and my avarage is 6-7 decent fish every outing. been like this for the past month haha.

Newman12Fan reply :

I will let you know when I change, been about 2 months now. I walk around the lake, but always t-rig worm

daviscw reply :

About half.

FishinDaddy reply :

2, no 4, no 3......sorry another python reference.....

If you are thinking about changing anything, change it. Throw your bait in your spot until you have doubts, then change. You will figure it out.

avid reply :

If I haven't caught a fish yet, I'll usually cruise slowly around the usual good spots throwing proven search baits like ratltraps, horny toads or swim senko's. I'll do that for about an hour trying to establish a pattern. If still no fish, I slow way down. Senko's and/or finesse worms worked very deliberately in fishy looking areas. If still no fish, then I go into the tackle box and fish fun stuff in different ways. That would be whatever I feel like at the moment. I abandon all "knowledge" and fish random areas, and start going through the tackle box. I often will get bit doing this. Sometimes even establishing a pattern I would never have thought of. One example was fishing a deep crankbait in the middle of the lake and running it into the bottom and then fishing it hard along the bottom like it was a jerkbait. Caught several nice ones doing that on a skunky day last year. Ya never know.

rondef reply :

Depends on the location and my confidence at that location. For new locations I use search baits first then switch out to my confidence baits once I locate the bass.

bchlr reply :

better try changing the lure's presentation before changing the lure itself, at least that's what I'd do in a lake I know

bass slayer 17 reply :

for me it depends on my attention span for that day. lol.. but i usually stick with one thing from anywhere between 5 min-30min without getting bit... if i know there are fish there and i picked a selection acording to conditions and water clearity ill probably fish it for a while

bass wrangler569 reply :

It really depends on how much confidence I have in what I'm using. If i'm confident that I'm using the right lure I'll throw it for hours without a bite.

djmax22 reply :

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It really depends on how much confidence I have in what I'm using. If i'm confident that I'm using the right lure I'll throw it for hours without a bite.

If you arent getting bit after two hours how can you be confident you are throwing the right lure?

Personally, early morning I am always changing. Typically I give a crank 20 cast or so before changing. Somedays I cant really establish a pattern and will catch one fish on different types of lures. My buddy is constantly changing and he does a much better job than me establishing a pattern.

bass slayer 17 reply :

i guess it really depends on the lure also... i know that when thowing a buzzbait im not looking for numbers but the biggest most aggressive fish in the area and you have to fish it without giving up... also with a finesse jig you got to really work it and show it to them a number of times sometime before they even think about bitting it. patience does pay off..

arul reply :

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Quote
It really depends on how much confidence I have in what I'm using. If i'm confident that I'm using the right lure I'll throw it for hours without a bite.

If you arent getting bit after two hours how can you be confident you are throwing the right lure?

Personally, early morning I am always changing. Typically I give a crank 20 cast or so before changing. Somedays I cant really establish a pattern and will catch one fish on different types of lures. My buddy is constantly changing and he does a much better job than me establishing a pattern.

Yeah, I am starting to side more with changing it up after no bites a lot sooner... When watching "A day on the Lake" (ESPN Outdoors). When they are trying to establish the pattern, it seems like that are constantly moving from bait to bait to search out the pattern. And they are constantly running and gunning for new spots. Sure, once the pattern is set, they slow down and deliberately fish for extended times.

I think next time I am on my normal sweet spots, and nothing is happening, I am going to change the baits a little more, and then head to a different type of holding area a lot sooner. Instead of wasting 2+ hours waiting it out...I'm going to give a spot 45 min then move on...

arul reply :

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i guess it really depends on the lure also... i know that when thowing a buzzbait im not looking for numbers but the biggest most aggressive fish in the area and you have to fish it without giving up... also with a finesse jig you got to really work it and show it to them a number of times sometime before they even think about bitting it. patience does pay off..

Yeah, I have heard that you have to stick with topwaters a little longer than other baits... Why is that?

Catt reply :

I want to know who counts casts?

detroit1 reply :

The area i'm fishing dictates to me what lures to use, and when to change. If i'm crankin a deep weedline and don't get bit, a dropshot comes next before i move down a cast. Pockets or other "different" spots may get a jig or worm. This helps me find the mood of the fish , if any, in the area.Crank-pretty active,fast retrieve.Dropshot- fish near weededge, fish a little slower.Jig-slow and tight to cover. Keep a bunch of rods rigged with different baits so when you come across a spot you can fish it before the wind blows you past it. Catt is right. Who counts?

Big-O reply :

I explain changing it up by breaking the water down into a variety of styles of fishing and then change it up.

First level structure like Shallow flats use spinnerbaits, topwaters, jerks, flukes and shallow cranks. Shallow weed edges, run presentations parallel to edges when possible with same choices. Concentrate on the points and finding the differences in obvious structure that is available. While on flats, look for brush, sticks, laydowns and anywhere grass or moss beds are in unusual places. On flats, never assume that the bottom is completely flat and watch the depth finder for irregular bottom like ditches, creek channel near by etc. once you locate fish slow down and pitch or tx rig etc. to pick'em off.

Second level structure like points, drop offs, timber, brush or mossbeds near shoreline. Can be fished with same baits as shallow flats but might change to deeper running cranks if needed and jigs. Follow same patterns of looking for changes that are around. when you locate fish in one area slow and pick on'em.

Third level structure like mouth of creeks and secondary points. Always start with quicker moving presentations to cover the water as locators but always slow to pitch or tx rig, etc. on best looking spots. This level of area is where you want to be a bit more diligent in covering your water and look for changes more closely because it is usually holding fish year around and finding the nitch baits and presentations is very critical for really honing in on their locations and numbers.

Fourth level structure off shore humps, timber, road beds, creek channel bends, old man made structures, rocks, mussel beds etc. are often the most productive areas available for large schools of fish that are hungry and ready for a hook. Deep cranks, Carolina rig, Tx rig, jigs, jiggn spoons etc. will normally let you know whats going on pretty quickly. Good electronics are also a must to be consistently finding these haunts. But still there is an importance in finding the changes even in these deep water spots to find the best opportunity for success.

With everything discussed here, one thing is standard and that is "Change". Find the changes in any given level of structure and change your presentation as often as you feel necessary until you hit paydirt.

Once you have found the bait presentation and the particular type of structure that is holding fish, it is only a matter of repeating that structure and process over and over.

There is no replacement for experience and having good knowledge of seasonal bait patterns in the variety of waters that you fish, but until you have those things solidly under your belt, fishing the above levels of structure accordingly will normally fill your livewell.

Big O

S I G M A reply :

until i run out of presentations or my confidence level goes to 0... whichever comes first

NitroMan reply :

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If you are thinking about changing anything, change it. Throw your bait in your spot until you have doubts, then change. You will figure it out.

I agree with this 100%. Whatever your gut feeling is, go for it. If you are wrong you will end up going through your tackle box but somedays it is well worth it. You will find yourself throwing lures you have zero confidence in and they will be the ones that bring in the fish. I learned this from experience. I never liked throwing a deep diving crank until this year. Iwas bored of throwing my worms and everything else I had so I decided to throw on a crank. Whne I did the second cast out I landed a good solid 2lber. I was happy and ever since I find it hard to put down. I am definatley a power fisherman and hate slow presentations but I have been working on that a lot. 8-)

Catt reply :

I do not set limits on myself like counting casts or time limits on how long to stay on one spot; this does nothing but kill your confidence.

Many people start with search baits a term to which I invasion someone aimlessly making repeated casts in areas not holding bass.

Any searching I do is done with my depth finder and then I go straight to high percentage baits appropriate for that particular form of structure.

Sam reply :

Catt's post has some valuable information.

First, many people use crankbaits as their "search" baits and they run, usually fast with the trolling motor on high, by many interesting places to fish.

They make one cast and if nothing hits they keep on moving along the bank passing up great locations that could hold bass if they knew what the bass were looking to eat.

Second, it is not the "number" of casts but the type and targets you are casting towards that are important.

I try to fan cast to trees and wood, going to the deepest part first and then working back towards shore. After fan casting the area twice, left to right and right to left, I will change up and use another presentation and fan cast that one from left to right and then right to left.

Sometimes I have been known to throw my Senkos or finesse worms back and forth, in the cover, around the cover and over and under the cover many, many times. If not bites on the T-Rigged Senko, then go to a Wacky Senko and then to a finesse worm and then to a creature biat, etc.

I also have looked at the maps; read about the fishing at the location on this site, blogs and other web sites; spoken to people about the places to fish; studied the weather; looked at the tide charts if a tidal river; and have segregated about two to three miles in each direction from where I put in unless I really want to run down the river or lake to fish a specific location.

When fishing the upper James River last month, I started fishing the wood with Senkos; then went to a finesse presentation; then threw some crankbaits. All at the same target!

The target? Dropoffs about 20 feet from the northern bank as the bass were following my crankbaits back to the boat and I saw where they were starting to follow them up about 15 to 20 feet off shore.

Caught four smallies and four bream. All on the crankbaits fished 20 feet off shore on the dropoff.

So now I had the pattern had I wanted to continue fishing but it was getting hot so I went home.

YOU HAVE TO FIGURE OUT THE PATTERN.

After you have the pattern you can then count your casts! ;D

So don't worry about the number of casts.

Worry about the territority you can cover with a specific bait and then change the bait and cover the terrority again and then change your bait and do it again and again until you find what they want and the PATTERN.

Have fun hunting.

Handy reply :

Well for me it rarely is a number of casts, it's more of well I have done this for a while with no bites then I change. Some days i change allot others only a few. I just go by my gut feeling about when to change or move.

NitroMan reply :

Great info Sam!!!!

kbkindle reply :

if i have been to a spot on lake that i have caught fish before will hit it with about 12 cast and change baits. and will go both ways maybe 20 ft from bank next time 30 ft from bank back and forth. place i never fished before i will give it a little more time maybe 25 cast each bait and be sure to go back over same place have caught a lot of bass the second time i guess just coming from a different angle kb

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How many casts before changing it up???? 2025

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