them days

[pig n jig]

What do you do on them days, when nothing is working ? Do you stick with your best technique, or do you think outside of the box ?

Last year, I have a good amount of success by changing to a big Lucky craft LVR D-15 trap ticking the deeper weed edges, or burning a spinnerbait. Cranking it fast 4-6" under the water surface, but not letting it bulge the water surface. Them hard jerkbaits fished erratic as you can get them to fish have produced when nothing else seemed to, but they still don't come easy. There was alot of fishing, for the fish I got.

I used to stick with what worked,no matter what. I cannot tell you how many times I have lived by the jig , only to die by the jig. I have so much confidence, it never bothered me. I knew the longer I went without getting a bite, the closer I was to catching the motherlode. Unfortunately , sometimes you run out of time, or daylight. P N J

[zooker]

or do you think outside of the box ? what box ? where? you mean theres a box??

i have learned that conventional wisdom when it comes to bass fishing aint worth a sh!t. the bass don't get the memo's or internet..

nuff said


zooker

[ROBZILLA]

I try to use a new technique, or use a bait I haven't used in a long time. I also go into shore and see whats swimming around that could tell me what the fish are feeding on. It's an good indication in shallow water what fish are feeding on. there might be a bug or fish that is coming in to season I.E dragon fly larva when I see these I know thats a good bait to switch to. Nature has a funny way of telling you things indirectly whats the bait of the day. you just have to take the time out to look.

[brushhog]

I used to stick to my best for far too long, Texas rigged plastics, lots of different plastics, but always t-rigged. Towards the end of this season, thanks to you guys, I switched things up more often, fished the conditions and the structure more than just what i like.... So on a slow day I'm likely to throw almost anything thanks to y'all!

[WallStreetAmigo]

I was also guilty of staying in my comfort zone too often and for too long. I learned that just because I have confidence in a certain lure or technique doesn't mean the fish will miraculously like it all of a sudden. My approach now is that I don't lock myself into one way of thinking. Rather than starting out with my favourite technique, I will usually start with a few techniques I am trying to get better at first. If the bite is still not happening after a few hours, I will go back to my confidence technique for awhile. By approaching it this way I find that I quickly learn new techniques and I don't become such a one dimensional angler.

[carolina-rig-01]

when this happens to me i have to realize something, i am my own worst enemy when it comes to fishing. in fact i would say that the same can probably be said for all of us when you stop to think about it. i mean no matter how good or bad the bite is, there are always fish being caught. it is what we do, or don't do that limits our success. for me, my biggest fault is that sometimes i get to complicated too soon. for example, when i pre-fish a tourney the front deck of my boat is loaded for bear with as many rods as i can fit on it. all having a different bait tied on and too many different colors. when i start having problems getting bit i will kinda back up 10 and punt. i will go back to the basics and here is what i mean. in my mind east to west and north to south bass will always eat 2 things regardless of water color and light conditions. they will eat shad and crawdads (there are a lot of other things they will eat but i go back to these 2). so i simplify my approach by throwing a shad colored crankbait (maybe a few different sizes but stick with the shad color pattern to keep from confusing me, and a few jigs in different weights but sticking with crawdad colors. now i will look for the types of places i would expect to hold crawdads to fish my jigs, and places that look like shad could be hanging around to fish my crankbaits. based on what happens with these two patterns i will expand from there. i may just make color adjustments or may end up throwing different baits all together. but to me it makes sense to make it as simple as you can when you are struggling and fish will always eat shad and crawdads so this is where i begin.

[keithdog]

When I've been beatin the water to death without results for a few hours, often I will try to think of something totally different from what I have tried. Maybe a technique that would be the totally wrong approach for the situation. Sometimes, the wrong thing to do ends up being the right choice. Except when liquor is involved, but thats for another post.

[WallStreetAmigo]

Originally Posted by keithdog

When I've been beatin the water to death without results for a few hours, often I will try to think of something totally different from what I have tried. Maybe a technique that would be the totally wrong approach for the situation. Sometimes, the wrong thing to do ends up being the right choice. Except when liquor is involved, but thats for another post.

I hear ya keithdog......isn't it funny how the quality of our ideas improves with the amount of alcohol? Of course that is until the next day!

[1FASTLASER]

Definately go with outside the box. As stated they aint got internent or the memo's so when all the "SUPPOSED TO's" aint werking go with something that aint supposed to werk right then.

[BigBassin144]

I'd have to agree with "think outside the box." This is kind of like how people would fish a very pressured lake. Ask around about what's working and use something completely different. If all your tehniques aren't working, use something completely different.

BB

[3dkicker]

For me it is a process of elimination. Eliminate what isn't working (lure, speed, location, etc.) until I found out what is. Sometimes you find it and do well while others don't. Sometimes I don't figure it out until there is just one hour left or so and can't finish out a limit (this happens too often). And then you just don't figure it out at all. On these days I pay attention to what the others have done (if it's a tournament) and then ask a couple questions to see if I missed something in my process.
Worst thing is going in with a pre-existing idea of where, what, and how and spending too much time trying to make it work when it won't .
And then there is blind luck.......