scotth Posted May 25, 2009 Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 is there anyone out there that's NOT catching anything besides me. been fishing for 3 days and i lost one on a buzzbait by the shore and that's been it..throwing spinnerbaits, rattletraps, plastics, cranks...talk about frustrating..then i see some of you guys are catching several in a short amount of time. now i know i'm not as "seasoned" as some of you, but i'm not a beginner (although lately i feel like one)...i have never given up but holy cow, do you guys have a secret or what? i'm fishing eddies, riffles, runs, slack areas, seams, behind falldowns, along falldowns...ughhhhh any tips would be helpful or i guess i will have to hire one of you for a guide.. scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Clifford Posted May 25, 2009 Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 Scott- Be sure to attend as many outings as possible. You will learn a great deal from some of the best. Put a shout out on the Let's Hook Up forum to schedule an outing, and ask for somebody to show you the ropes. When the river stabilizes, I'd be happy to show you where a few smallies reside. We're in the same town already. The Kankakee was still raging this morning, so I decided to hit Heidecke instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm M Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 Scott, Don't measure your results against what others do. Decide what makes you happy in a trip and strive for that instead. Many reports are guys on thier best days, you don't often here about the slow days, which we all experience. Don't try to do too much in covering water or different techniques when in a slump. Pick a couple techniques you either have a lot of confidence in or just flat out enjoy. Pick a couple spots you have have success in the past under the same types of conditions. Use only those techniques in those spots until you get your groove back. Once you do than it's time to explore other options. It's kinda like when you hit a slump in baseball and you pick a pitch[fastball] and location[up and away] and just try to hit that until you regain your stroke. Once you regain the confidence in yourself , good things will happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshborton Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 You're not alone. I too went out this weekend and scored a big skunk-0. I threw many flies on Saturday on the Dupe with no interest from the fish. On the bright side I only treed one fly. Plenty of summer left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev-mo Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 Scott, You are also fishing at what I think is a tough time of the year with the spawn and all. It's also complicated by the up and down water we have had and to top it off you fished a holiday weekend when everyone and their brother's brother is out. In a couple of weeks it'll be hard to keep fish off your line. I've been doing the river thing for 9 years and I there are days when I still feel like a beginner... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bterrill Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 Spawn and post spawn funk. They go in waves so you'll catch just enough to prevent putting a gun in your mouth. Norm's advice of fishing different speeds in the different water columns is very good advice. Bottom fast, slow. Middle fast, slow. Top fast, slow. Something like that. Learn as much as you can about seasonal smallmouth bass behaviour in rivers and why it makes them behave differently at times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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