Need advice for this time of year. 2024

BASS fisherman reply :

The past 4-5 times that I've been fishing I didn't even get a bite. I try fishing ledges, shallow weeds, and deep weeds using everything! Crankbaits, rattletraps, hard jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, worms, jig & craws, jig & pigs (the pork ones too), drop shot, texas rig, carolina rig, big lures, little lures, you name it I've tried it. Fast, slooooooow, and in between. Shallow and deep, I even tried a couple topwater lures. I just can't get bit! And I varied my retrieves too.

What are some suggestions to try for the next time out on the water? Im loosing all hope. :'(

Supposedly bass hold deeper than usual around this time of year, and also in or near any weeds that are still available. Tried all over the place...nada.

Please Help!!

BassBest reply :

I've got a solution......

EA SPORTS Bass fishing game. I always catch a fish. lol,. don't worry I am having the same luck. Spring cannot come quick enough.

liquidsoap reply :

I got a solution....

Start fishing for these (caught wednesday)

Or these (caught about 45 minutes ago )

Steelhead 7 1/2 lbs

Walleye almost 9lbs

Cant argue with that!

BASS fisherman reply :

I have the Rapala game, but Id rather actually go and fish. Plus with that game, after the first tourney, I can't land any fish.

Nice fish liquid soap. I used to fish for trout, but I was never any good at it. No good teachers, plus I didnt like it like I do bass fishing. Never walleye fished before.

Catt reply :

Quit changing lures

Pick 1 or 2 then stay with them

What did you depth finder show, fish on or near the bottom, suspended? :-/

BASS fisherman reply :

No fish finder, I was shore fishing today. Boat isn't ready yet.

Catt reply :

As I stated quit changing lures so often, all that does is shake your confidence, and make you want to change even more.

What I do is to fish a Texas Rig because that is what I have the most confidence in, I'll have 2 set ups one with a craw worm & one with a creature.

Fish real slow!!!

BASS fisherman reply :

Thanks Catt, Ill do that tomorrow when I go out.

Catt reply :

You're welcome

The hardest part when fish aint biting is keeping a positive attitude, you lose your concretion, & start fishing faster.

You might think Senko or Wacky

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

Yup, when things get tough, somthing I learned in skiing after a bad crash, is a thing called "back to basics" Bring it back to being simple, like in RW's post for new members.

1 rod, 1 lure.

Forget about your goal,....catching a fish after 4 times of getting skunked. Your new goal is to learn that 1 lure like it was the tip of your nose. You may get surprised and have somthing pulling back

Good luck, stay at it.

OT-what's left to do on your boat? I see the pic of it in the avatar but havn't seen any other pics or threads about it. did I miss a thread?

justfishin reply :

Other than spring, this is the best time of year my friend. From the beginning of Nov-1st few weeks of Jan. I live in Western Maryland and fish for smallmouth 99% of the time on the Upper Potomoc and the Susquehanna in Harrisburg PA. Up, muddy and 38-45 degree water temps are optimal as well as the river being on the rise. Just fish anything blocking the current flow. Small islands,shoreline trash, etc. The small eddies are the best. Use a green pumpkin red,dark melon purple flake,black red flake big gitzit on a quarter oz. head or a black hair jig. Start at the very bottom of the tail of the eddy and work your way up. Fish slow and slower. Let the gitzit do the work. Don't look for a big hit. Usually you will just feel a mushy ( like you are on some grass) feeling and set the hook hard. Use a 6-6'6" med to med heavy rod and 8# test. I like a rod rated for 8-17#line wt. and one eighth to half oz. lure weight. I have been doing this for 35 years and this formula will work for you,trust me. This is the time of year for a nice 5-6# smallie. Good luck my friend.

justfishin reply :

Ah, green bass and cold water! I live in MD. and do fish the Lower Potomoc,Deep Creek Lake,Youg. and such for LM,somewhat. I am a smallmouth fan. This time of year when I do go for greenies(non-tidal) I fish the main lake in 15-30 ft. of water. Usually on points and at the end of flats next to and in the creek channels. I always look for grass or stumps. Mostly grass. I usually use a black and blue half oz. jig, mojo a centipede,or let a 3/4 -1 oz spinnerbait fall slowly along the drop off. Small 4" ringworms and trick worms in green pumpkin, red shad,black or junebug work well also. As well as gitzits in this color. In my neck of the woods the greenies suspend a lot as well and I do use a fluke or senko with a 1/32-1/64th wt. to let it fall sloooooowly by them. I have found that creek channels with grass and trash work best for me this time of year. Fish slow and meticulous. The window is small this time of year. Go by your gut feeling. If it is in your head that " I know there are fish here", pick at it and you will catch them. Good luck my friend.

cart7t reply :

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No fish finder, I was shore fishing today. Boat isn't ready yet.

Awww. Stick the trolling motor on the thing and get that on the water. Unless you've got a garage to work in you're not going to be able to do much with it till next spring anyway.

Lady Bass reply :

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No fish finder, I was shore fishing today. Boat isn't ready yet.

what shore we're you fishing??I'm hanging up my rod until next season.I'll miss it and just have patience and wait until spring rolls around again.

BASS fisherman reply :

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OT-what's left to do on your boat? I see the pic of it in the avatar but havn't seen any other pics or threads about it. did I miss a thread?

No LBH you didn't miss any thread about it.

For the boat, I think there is alot to do to get it ready for next season. Most if not all of these things are just the items needed to make it legal for the water, and for the club I fish with.

I still need: 2 batteries and a charger

10lb fire extinguisher

throwable

liability insurance for boat

at least 1 fish finder I want 2 though

a spare tire for the trailer

and alot of the things on LBH's list from his article about boating

The boat has a couple soft spots in the main floor near the console that are BAD. For next year I plan on getting a piece of treated plywood and just placing it down over those holes, and then I'll fix it next year in the garage which is full of junk this year.

Jim Blair and LBH, great advice! Around our rivers out this way brown Gitzits seem to work the best. I didn't go out today like I wanted due to lots of stuff that needed done. But I plan on just throwing a texas rigged worm for the day. I never had much luck with it anyway, just weightless worms. So I'll throw that all day next outing, and get some confidence with that rig as well, just hoping it and dragging it around all day.

Lady Bass:

here is a rough map of the lake that is NOT to scale, but it gives you an idea of what the lake looks like. I made the map a few months bach so the green cattails are dead, but the milfoil is still there. Sparse, but there. The blue spots are where I fished from.

Lady Bass reply :

Did you catch anything today Andy?

BASS fisherman reply :

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Did you catch anything today Andy?

Nope! I didn't go today, to much to do around the house.

Maybe tomorrow, work is slow this week.

Lady Bass reply :

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Did you catch anything today Andy?

Nope! I didn't go today, to much to do around the house.

Maybe tomorrow, work is slow this week.

yeah I know what you mean.. but when the holidays roll around work will slow up.we are slow to with our businesses.it's just that time of the year when most people are holiday shopping.

BD reply :

The last two outings were fishless for me too, until yesterday.

Fishing slow, slow, and then slower is the only way I even caught the fish yesterday....and it was only 1 fish from 10am-3:00pm

Prinler reply :

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As I stated quit changing lures so often, all that does is shake your confidence, and make you want to change even more.
What I do is to fish a Texas Rig because that is what I have the most confidence in, I'll have 2 set ups one with a craw worm & one with a creature.

Fish real slow!!!

The problem i see with sticking with one or two baits is that what if you are using the wrong thing? Then your whole day was a waste. I use about 5 poles all rigged differently. If i catch fish after fish on a lure and then i try a worm and it nothng... then im gonna use the lure. I simply tried everything on the baby fish until they liked it. Then Fished it where he grown ups where and WHAM. Im just a nobie but made sence to me.

Catt reply :

What if it's the wrong day?

What if it's the wrong weather?

What if it's the wrong wind direction?

See the point?

If they aint biting you start second guessing!

Stop & back up!

Everyone has confidence bait, pick it up, start building confidence and before you know it everything starts clicking.

Bladesmith, reply :

Andy,remember,the water is colder,the fish are sluggish.They are not going to eat anything very large because it will sour in their stomachs before they can digest it and kill them,so use small baits(lures) and fish them v-e-r-y s-l-o-w.You may have to put your bait right under their noses because they will not move far to get it.The take will be very light because the fish are not very agressive at this time of year.Deeper water is the key to finding fish in this season.They'll either be in it or very close to it.Good Luck.

Chris reply :

*I would swim a light jig 1/4 or 1/8 white with a zoom swim chunk on 10lb line. Why it will force you to slow down to maintain depth.

*I would use a wood crankbait small to medium size. Why because it will have a bunch of action even on a slow retrieve. It will also be easier to get through those laydowns.

*I would flip and pitch a light jig with a small profile 1/4 oz or less with a pork chunk or a 3x chunk. Why because it will slow down the fall and will force you to slow up.

*short arm zorro colo blade spinnerbait with a white pork chunk. Why you can slow it way down and bring it to the ends of the trees and kill it.

*dropshot (killer this time of the year)

I would target hard wood and rock and anything that is still living. (green stuff) Fish the ends of the trees bass will use them like points this time of the year and position on the ends. Small patches of green stuff will load up with bass and you can fish the edges of it with a dropshot. Drop offs will hold up bass if they are near feeding flats. Those underwater rock ledges should be prime but you might need to bring your lure from the other direction. Bass will position on the deep side waiting for something to dump off the edge. Don't overlook the dead stuff. If the stuff is dead and has broken off the bottom and is stacking up because of wind fish it. If the stuff is still attached to the bottom and has been dead for awhile fish it also because they will move back in and relate to it. They do this a bunch with cattails and pads. You need to pay attention to your lure at all times because the bite will sometimes be nothing more than pressure and if your not paying attention you will miss it. Bass are looking for a highway to deep water and that is kinda what you need to look for. A point, edge, channel, laydown (think of it as a point), are all highways to deep water.

BASS fisherman reply :

Guys I am about ready to giveup and accept the fact that I cannot catch fish this time of year. I have gone out Nov 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, and 27th and of those 6 days, I only had 5 bites, and I missed them all. I was drop shotting like a crazed drop shotting drop shotter. I tried jigs, slow rolling spinners, senkos, and everything else I possibly could to locate some fish. When I did get a bite in an area, I switched over to a Cache custom baits 4inch diamond back finesse worm which I worked on a drop shot rig, then I tried the same worm on a spot remover, then a ....... I literally tried every basic bass fishing rig under the sun. And the most productive (if I can even say that) rig was texas rigged weightless, I had 2 bites off of that. In those 6 days, I fished 3 different lakes, and a river all from shore without any fish to show. I fished points, rocky areas, laydowns, and any where I could find green weeds. Most bites came from weedy area and points.

Yestersday I went to the Allegheny river in the morning. I started fishing near a launch ramp that is shut down due to high water. I got snagged every other cast, and lost 2 drop shot rigs. I also slipped on loose gravel and dropped one of my reels which slammed down hard, which now clicks when reeled in or cast. Then I moved over to a creek that runs into the river. I ended up loosing one of the lures for Bass Hunters Custom crankbaits that I am testing. Since I bought a plug knocker, I decided to give it a try. To make a long story short, I got the stupid plug knocker lodged in the Y of the laydown, and ended up pulling the knocker off of the line and loosing it too. I switched to a jig and ended up loosing that as well. I went up to a small pond that had alot of green milfoil still lingering. I had one bite all day off of a 4 inch dinger, and that was most likely a blue gill nipping at it. I don't want to give up for the year untill I figure these fish out, but yesterday was a huge kick in the teeth. Im not going to give up until I have gotten a couple fish at least. I'll be so happy I plan on posting a pic no matter what size the bass is.

Lard_Bass reply :

Bass,

I have been skunked recently too in SW PA. All the ponds / lakes in the South Hills have yielded nothing. Most guys I talk to along the shores are going for trout. I got a couple little dinks about a month ago and nothing since. I was going to give it a try tomorrow before the next cold front comes in. I haven't decided where yet but your post doesn't give me much hope in this area. :'(

As far as what I have tried, I threw Senkos, Texas rigged worms, jerkbaits, Rat-L-traps, jigs, and tubes and came up empty. Drop shotted last week and no luck either. It was frustrating this weekend because my son and I saw some bass jump out of the water right after lunch on Saturday. The water was calm and they were feasting on the surface. I broke out some top water lures and no luck either.

I may just try fishing tubes and worms tomorrow and nothing else. I'll let you know how I do.

BASS fisherman reply :

Ya LB, let me know how you do.

A buddy in my bass club is going to lend me his smartcast fish finder, so maybe I will actually get a few bass hiding in the depths. He named a couple ponds that have been productive within the past couple weeks, and either tomorrow morning or wednesday morning we are going to meet up and do a little fishing before work. Never give up!, as one famous angler says.

FIN-S-R reply :

My go to for lock jaw cold weather bass is a 4 in. yum dinger rigged weedless on a 1/4 oz. rollin runner. Fish deep and slow and all that, but the key is to cover an area effectively, then move on. My last outing was 50 deg h2o and a very slow bite. I tried about 15 (literally 15) different techniques to effectively cover the entire water column from 12" to 40'. Caught 1 off an LVR in 9 ft, 1 on speed trap in 2 ft, 3 came off speed trap in 5-7 ft, and got 2 more in 18-22 ft on the aforementioned rollin runner rig. All were in areas with close shallow deep relationships, and in close proximity to bait. So the lure you throw isnt as important as the way you thoroughly cover water. There are and will always be fish in any spot with a good shallow deep relationship that has forage present. You just have to get your lure to swing close enough either fast or slow enough to merit a strike. And once you thoroughly cover an area, move on. Once you find em, then stay. I had a horrible early winter last year cause I stayed with my "confidence baits", it wasnt till I branched out and started fishing lures that covered certain sections of water that I became successful. Let the area and conditions dictate your technique choice, not the emotional attachment you have to a certain lure. Oh, and my partner blanked throwing the same two unproductive confidence baits all day long in the same spots i caught fish!! Dont get discouraged, document and learn...itll get better

roadwarrior reply :

Here are two suggestions that will improve your fishing (catching) by at least 100 percent:

1. Fish on a river. River bass are always more active than lake bass during the winter months.

2. If you want to catch fish, live bait is the answer.

Drumr reply :

I agree with Live Bait. I've been using Tuffy Minnows hooked through the eyes. Been averaging 6 bass each time I've fished this month. Try with and without a floater. Good luck.

roadwarrior reply :

Drumr,

Welcome aboard!

BASS fisherman reply :

Thanks RW. I have been advised by another expert angler to get some live bait. I almost hate to do it though. I went fishing this morning as well, and didn't get any bites. I had to leave and go to work, but just as I was walking back to get my gear and head up to the car, I spooked a couple bass that had moved up into the shallows to warm up. This weekend I will be getting some live bait and hopefully getting atleast one bass.

Drumr, Welcome to the forum!

Lard_Bass reply :

BF,

I went out today and didn't get a bite the whole day. I did bump into a guy that caught a couple of dinks on some live minnows. So RW's advice is right on. However, when I fished a little down from the guy with live bait, his luck ran out over the couple of hours that I was within viewing distance.

Maybe it's time to learn how to fish for steelhead?

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Need advice for this time of year. 2024

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