The fish don't like anything right now. Ideas? 2025
DanielG reply :
Well, they don't like anything I've got. It's August 22, 2019 right now. I've only gotten back to fishing the last two years. Maine, roughly May to October season, realistically, give or take. I've had a great summer on the lake I live on. Crappie, bass, an occasional trout. I fish nearly every other day from about 6 am to 9 am and sometimes at dusk. I mostly troll and sometimes cast in cover areas. Like I said a great summer. I've tried lots of new (to me) things, I moved from swim baits to a lot of crank baits with a lot of success. Then I tried wired spinner baits and chatter baits with some success. I moved to learn wacky and texas rigs. Fishing has been good to really good from May until about two weeks ago. All has stopped.
My lake is a flooded river valley. About 5 miles long and 1/4-1/2 mile wide. Deep spots are 60-80 ft with rolling ups and downs in some areas. It's not like a sediment filled natural river. It's like the regular rolling land but filled with water. Some rocky areas with some large shallow areas 10-25 feet with thick weeds reaching up towards the surface but just below the surface as you troll over them. The water temperature has only dropped 5 degrees from about 80 to 75. Regular rain, no floods, no droughts.
So, that's the lay of the land..er lake. The past few weeks the fish on the finder are pretty much still there but they won't look at anything I put before them. I've done light and dark, small and large swim and crank baits. The same for spinner and chatter baits. I spent a few days deciding to see if they're hiding in the weeded areas and tried jigging them. All this stuff worked great or to some extent all summer.
So, can anyone shed any light as to what might be up that I, with only a couple of summers fishing under my belt can remedy? Is there a usual lull this time of year in Maine lakes? If so will it pick up again in the fall or is this it for the season? Is there anything I'm missing or that I could try? I know it's hard to diagnose via a forum post but any ideas would be appreciated. Thnx.
JediAmoeba reply :
I see a lot of talk about trolling, crankbaits, spinnerbaits...all moving baits.
Looks to me like you need to slow down, pinpoint some key areas of structure and weeds and get into the thick of it with some finesse baits. I.E. Texas rigged worms, grubs on jighead and ned rigs for starters.
scaleface reply :
Excellent description . How close are the weeds to the surface ?
Harold Scoggins reply :
DanielG reply :
On 8/23/2019 at 1:25 AM, scaleface said:Excellent description . How close are the weeds to the surface ?
They're in about 14-20 ft of water and grow so they're about 3-4 ft from the surface. Pretty thick this time of year. And they're just in certain areas.
On 8/23/2019 at 1:27 AM, Harold Scoggins said:
That's interesting. Is this actually good indications of good fishing days or more like farmers almanac stuff? Any science behind it?
On 8/23/2019 at 1:25 AM, JediAmoeba said:I see a lot of talk about trolling, crankbaits, spinnerbaits...all moving baits.
Looks to me like you need to slow down, pinpoint some key areas of structure and weeds and get into the thick of it with some finesse baits. I.E. Texas rigged worms, grubs on jighead and ned rigs for starters.
You're probably right. I've been doing that some but at this point to no avail. Probably me though..
NYWayfarer reply :
Time for a drop shot with some kind of finesse worm. Roboworm, Biospawn Plasmatail, Strike King Dreamshot, etc.
scaleface reply :
Have you tried speeding up ?Burning a spinnerbait by vegetation will often trigger strikes . The bass dont have time to examine it and chomp it .
CHIP-MAINE reply :
i took my biggest smallmouth ever ( over 6 lbs) on the androscoggin river here in lewiston last week. was catching smaller fish near shore and around weeds. about dark i put a top water on and cast it to deep water. this isnt the first time this has worked for me in this river sometimes thinking outside the box seems to help with me. around dark and on overcast days are always best. fished one pond in oxford that wasnt worth fishing during the day but every night during the summer a big bug hatch would start just before dark.
Fishin' Fool reply :
FishTank reply :
Well for me, I have an old rule of thumb, its just an opinion and it works> sometimes....... July and August the fish are in two places, small ones are shallow and the big ones are in deeper, cooler water but somewhat further away from the bank. The bite is slow and fish tend to nibble. The usual single hook baits (most soft plastic and regular jigs, etc) are often pointless when the fish are not biting or striking. So what is my go to..... Deep suspending jerkbaits. I fish them slow and I make sure to pause for a few seconds. I go for the darkest spots in the water I can find.
My next go to is a swim jig with a zoom chunk trailer or a 6-10 foot depth crank bait.
This guy usually has some good tips.....
I caught this one and 6 smaller ones last Saturday on a Megabass Live-X Leviathan.
WRB reply :
Largemouth or Smallmouth ? Maine you have both species in different locations.
You memtioned trolling and changed to Senko's and T-rigs with some success for a few months.
It sounds like your basic bass behavior knowledge is limited and trying to solve the bite with lure selection in lieu of bass location.
Tom
RichF reply :
Throw the ned! 
WRB reply :
On 8/24/2019 at 11:28 PM, RichF said:Throw the ned!
Where?
RichF reply :
On 8/25/2019 at 12:31 PM, WRB said:Where?
Anywhere
WRB reply :
On 8/25/2019 at 1:42 PM, RichF said:Anywhere
That narrows it down!
TriStateBassin106 reply :
I understand the struggle right now brother. Been having a tough bite for the pass two weeks, had a decent bite last friday but it's been slow. I fish in the evening mostly. Hopefully it's just the summer dog days doing it's thing again.
Hawkeye21 reply :
When the bite gets tough I usually have luck with the Ned rig. I like to alternate between that and a wacky rig. If that doesn't work then I'm trying all kinds of different strategies. I'll try shallow water, deep water, wood, rocks, bright lures, dark lures, fast retrieve, slow retrieve, steady retrieve, erratic retrieve, finesse, top water... You get the point. Keep trying until something works and if it doesn't work then it just isn't meant to be that day.
scaleface reply :
I went yesterday and had my worst day of the year . Fished about ten hours and caught fifteen ,with the largest biggest around three lbs . It was tough fishing . I got the majority of my fish in woody cover using a texas rigged stick-worm . Caught three on a crankbait out on a point and a couple in vegetation with a toad . I didnt switch up lures , instead stuck with lures that work in the cover and structure available . I did break the line twice on hook sets .There is no doubt one of the fish was big because it erupted all over the toad , right at the boat. I set the hook too hard on that one,wanting to make sure the hook went in her ,lol . I think the other was a good one too . When I set the hook with the worm it was solid , it wasnt a dink unless it took the lure under a branch .That happens .
Todd2 reply :
On 8/28/2019 at 3:15 AM, scaleface said:I went yesterday and had my worst day of the year . Fished about ten hours and caught fifteen ,with the largest biggest around three lbs .
I wish that was my worst day of the year.????
Log Catcher reply :
On 8/28/2019 at 3:33 AM, Todd2 said:I wish that was my worst day of the year.????
I totally agree with you on that. My best day this year hasn't been that good.
CHIP-MAINE reply :
you guys need to vacation in maine. caught 70 largemouths with one being about 8lbs. in a 5 hour stretch earlier in the year. another day got about 40 with 8 over fivelbs (some well over) someday i will try to take pics off the phone and put them on here. not technically good with electronics. lucky i got on here-lol
Todd2 reply :
On 8/28/2019 at 7:41 AM, Log Catcher said:I totally agree with you on that. My best day this year hasn't been that good.
Lol, I see you fish the Ville...I feel your pain. If it wasn't so close to me, I'd keep on driving. I've had some good days there and some that will humble you and make you question your life decisions...lol
TnRiver46 reply :
On 8/28/2019 at 3:15 AM, scaleface said:I went yesterday and had my worst day of the year . Fished about ten hours and caught fifteen ,with the largest biggest around three lbs . It was tough fishing . I got the majority of my fish in woody cover using a texas rigged stick-worm . Caught three on a crankbait out on a point and a couple in vegetation with a toad . I didnt switch up lures , instead stuck with lures that work in the cover and structure available . I did break the line twice on hook sets .There is no doubt one of the fish was big because it erupted all over the toad , right at the boat. I set the hook too hard on that one,wanting to make sure the hook went in her ,lol . I think the other was a good one too . When I set the hook with the worm it was solid , it wasnt a dink unless it took the lure under a branch .That happens .
Cry me a river!!!! Hahaha. Sounds like one heck of a successful day to me
scaleface reply :
On 8/28/2019 at 3:33 AM, Todd2 said:I wish that was my worst day of the year.????
On 8/28/2019 at 7:41 AM, Log Catcher said:I totally agree with you on that. My best day this year hasn't been that good.
On 8/28/2019 at 8:52 AM, TnRiver46 said:Cry me a river!!!! Hahaha. Sounds like one heck of a successful day to me
Fifteen bass in ten hours ? Thats only a fish every forty-five minutes . I must b spoiled .☺️
MN Fisher reply :
On 8/28/2019 at 3:33 AM, Todd2 said:I wish that was my worst day of the year.????
On 8/28/2019 at 7:41 AM, Log Catcher said:I totally agree with you on that. My best day this year hasn't been that good.
On 8/28/2019 at 9:42 AM, scaleface said:
Fifteen bass in ten hours ? Thats only a fish every forty-five minutes . I must b spoiled .☺️
You are...my last two outings totaling 8 hours on the water produced zero Bass. My outing prior to those was 4 hours for one Bass.
I'd just like to catch a few.
TnRiver46 reply :
On 8/28/2019 at 9:42 AM, scaleface said:
Fifteen bass in ten hours ? Thats only a fish every forty-five minutes . I must b spoiled .☺️
Indeed !
DanielG reply :
Well, today I went out and the fish are biting again. I've been gone for a week. My Garmin says the water temperature is 70 degrees. It was 79 when I left. What I did catch (bass, crappie) seemed to be more active on the pole too. It was a cold, cloudy and very windy/choppy morning too. Hot water causes poor fishing in my lake in Maine? Go figure.
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