When Fishing Gets Tough.

For all of you out there who think "Catching Bass When They Won't Bite" means throwing on a stringer of bare hooks and shank hooking the fish in the side, I am not being literal. The purpose of this article is to provide insight on lures and tactics you can use to MAKE the fish bite when it seems that they won't bite. Largemouth and Smallmouth bass alike are opportunistic feeders, meaning that if you drop the right thing in their face at the right time, they will eat it. So, our objective is to figure out what that is, and put it in front of their face.

We have all experienced it, a horrible day on the water, or a good day gone bad. For whatever reason it may be, fish just turn off in some situations making it nearly impossible to get them to bite using our usual tactics. This is when we need to think outside the tackle box and alter our approach and lure selection. In this situation a few approaches have been known to improve your catch on even the slowest days of bass fishing.

The first thing you need to understand is to not let the lack of action get to you. Believe it or not bass fishing has a strong mental component to it, and if you are to assume that you aren't going to have any luck, well, than you probably aren't. Our attitudes towards catching fish cause subtle changes in our approach and presentation. One who has decided in their head that they aren't going to catch anything before the lure even touches the water will often have a much more anxious, forced presentation like they are just trying to get their cast over with. For those of you who play first person shooters; you know this feeling. At first you take your time to aim, but after missing with your focused aim several times you get frustrated and just hold the fire button down and spray. You know that if you took the time to aim you would hit your target far before spraying would, yet in your frustration you spray... and get killed... and throw your controller through the window. Do not let this defeated attitude overcome you because all it will get you is an empty livewell and an expensive fishing pole at the bottom of a lake. So remember, take it one cast at a time! When fishing tough water persistence is key. (Disclaimer: The shooting example was purely an ANALOGY, do not bring your rifle on your bass boat and try to shoot the fish).

As far as tackle is concerned, the best generalized advice I can offer you is to downsize your lure and slow down your presentation. Understand that when the bite is minimal, throwing the ordinary baits that work on every other day just won't cut it. If you decide based on conditions that the lure that is going to produce for you that day is a 7 inch stick bait yet have no luck with it; try downsizing to a 4 inch and slow down your presentation by wacky rigging it.

The fact of the matter is that on most fisheries a bass will see any given lure in your tackle box multiple times, and perhaps has been caught on a handful of those lures in the past. This means we must give them something different to look at, something out of the ordinary, and simply downsizing your lure selection is a great start. What I do, which I suggest to any angler I have this conversation with is keeping a separate light gear tackle box labeled "Go To Baits." I picked up this idea from Mike Iaconelli and it has done me a world of good. I keep this box stocked with Berkley 4 inch power worms, 4 inch YUM Dingers, 1/8 oz jigs, etc. Furthermore, understand that when fishing gets tough, fish are more likely to hold deep in heavy cover, thus fish these smaller baits in heavier cover. My favorite rig to fish in these situations is a 3 inch sluggo. This lure is great to drop into small pockets and rig weedless so you can penetrate the heaviest of cover and pull out some real lunkers.

If you are just skimming through his article and are looking for a final thought on how to catch bass when they won't bite here it is. When you are out on the water and the fish just seem to not want to bite there are four main things to remember. Firstly, do not let it get to your head, take it one cast at a time and focus as if you have a good chance of landing a lunker on every cast. Secondly, downsize your lure selection a size or two, this will give timid bass something different to look at making them more inclined to bite. Thirdly, slow down your presentation, leaving the bait in the strike zone for longer allows a bass that is in a negative feeding pattern to exert less energy chasing the bait. Last but not least, fish heavier cover than you are used to. Bass will retreat to more guarded, heavier cover during negative feeding times so focus on these spots. Remember, be persistent and optimistic and you will always be sure to put some quality fish in the boat.

-Happy Bassin' (Discuss This Article and Much More On The BASStard Forum!) 

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