Fishing tip of the week

Fishing Tip of the Week

Tuesday, 23 January 2024 11:48

Not Biting, Keys

by Mike Gerry

The unfortunate part of fishing is that we all find days when the fish just won’t cooperate. There
are many reasons, and it happens to us all. The reasons are many, the solutions are few and
sometimes there is just not a good solution, but you have to be persistent!
The biggest thing I find is your mental state, you have to believe and have confidence you will succeed
because as soon as you mentally give in, you miss a fish.

Keeping the right mental state is the start. The next thing I do starts with confidence bait. We
all have a technique that we believe in, so the first thing I do is turn to my confidence bait, for
me it’s a swim bait. Sure, it changes over time, but the last few years is all about swim bait
technique and persistence.

The next thing for me is down-sizing. When you downsize and start matching the hatch with your bait size, it gives you a chance. It puts your bait in close resemblance of the natural food source and doesn’t totally rely on reaction baits. Size matters when the fish are slow and making an easy food source by downsizing makes it easy for them to feed.
Along with size I must slow down. It’s part of the process of giving them an
easy food source.

f you put it in front of the fish and let it slowly entice them many times,
they will feed out of lack of patience. Bass are not blessed with a lot of patience so dangling
bait in front of them for an extended period many times results in catching fish.

I am a big believer in my Lowrance Electronics, I constantly look for fish on Active Target and
look for bottom structure that should hold fish, like drops, trees, contours changes and more.
All this along with patience can lead to your next bite. Ignoring it is just not an option for me
as I constantly keep my eye on how the bottom is changing. Each season of the year changes
what you look for and as you use your electronics and find fish you will adapt to the changes
needed to be successful and learn from it.
Captain Mike