By Capt. Cefus McRae, Nuts & Bolts of Fishing Series
Raise your hand if you’ve ever spent the entire day on the water without getting a bite.
Be honest. Now look around the room at other people who are reading this Angler Magazine and see who else has their hand in the air. Probably all of them.
It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Deer hunters spend countless hours in the woods, waiting patiently for a big buck to come along, and often never get to pull the trigger. It’s certainly happened to me. But we still come back for more, and that’s a good thing.
So what can you do on those days when the fish simply don’t want to bite? The obvious answer is, ‘Pack it up and go home’. Before you throw in the towel, there are actually some tricks you can try that can fire up the bite, and here are a few that have helped me put a fish or two in the boat.
Now let me start of by saying some days are just going to be fishless…no matter what you do. But remember, if you’re down to these maneuvers, you really don’t have anything to lose, do you? You can still go home feeling good about the fact that you weren’t stuck in the office all day.
To me, there are three key components to reigniting the bite…location, presentation and bait choice.
The first one… location, is pretty obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people will sit on a spot and continue to flail the water because they ‘know’ there should be fish there. Well maybe there is, but after 152 casts beside the same stump, that fish is probably not going to bite on cast 153. So move. But before you crank the engine, get a game plan. Look at your chartplotter and pick a spot that you feel has a high percentage of being fishy. Creek mouths, structure, river bends, etc. Set your waypoint based on some intelligent thought and then hit the throttle.
The second factor to triggering bites is presentation. Remember, what worked yesterday, may not work today. Consider water clarity when choosing the color of your lures. Clearer water typically calls for lighter colored lures, and dingy, darker water calls for dark colored lures. Again, this isn’t always the case, but it’s a good rule of thumb. Also remember, as you go deeper, light penetration diminishes. It could be a bluebird day, but 50 feet down, it might be quite dark where the fish are at. Speed and action go hand-in-hand. Extremes in temperature can make fish sluggish. Super-hot or super-cold water will slow down fish activity, and you have to do the same with your presentation. When conditions are perfect, you can really ‘work’ a lure and fish will travel great distances to attack a plug or bait.
Finally, in my top three, it’s bait choice. Whether you are fishing in a farm pond or 50 miles offshore you need to determine what the gamefish are eating Crustaceans? Minnows? Bugs? And then mimic those food sources with your lures. Trout anglers will look under rocks in a stream to see what’s hanging around and then match the hatch. If you know threadfins are thick in the area, tie on something small and shiny. Just because the lure is small, doesn’t mean you can’t catch big fish. Remember, elephants eat peanuts. And, if you have the option to fill your baitwell with frisky, local, live baits…do it.
Some days fishing is easy. You can load the boat in no time. But on those days when fish won’t bite, change up your tactics and it may just change your luck.
Tight lines and calm seas.
Capt. Cefus McRae – Nuts & Bolts of Fishing