I went fishing this weekend (for maybe the second time all year) and got NOTHING.

Those little creeps swam around and around that bait for about 20 minutes, on and off. I watched them. No bites tho.

Could it be my bait? I use herring usually, and bought from a different place this time....

There were tons of baitfish there, eating away at it. What did I do wrong?

perfume on your hands??

nope.

it happens to me last weekend. maybe u got a feb from me online and the fish probably sense it from u...

only in 2003 would fish be afraid of humans with FEB.

I was laughing about that whole thread as I was baiting my hook...

Hey Sweetie face, you didn't do anything wrong, sometimes it just hard to get them off the live bait when they are on the feedbag. Next time you might want to take a few poppers and shads with you and do some artificial lure stuff, sometimes a popper across the surface will draw a strike.

I do well "matching the hatch" or coming close to it, last year I was working schools of 30-36" bass feeding in coves full of peanuts and did extremely well using a 5" split tail in smoke/holigraphic glitter, rigged as I normally would. My old fishing partner picked a great day to get out (early Sept.2002) as we boated well over 100 fish, almost none under 26 inches.

Did the new rod happen to be one suitable for rubber? What are you throwing on it for a reel and if you don't go braid, I'm going to have to send you back to basics school. Bring a plastic rod next time, you might be surprised at the reaction strikes you get, if the bait is close to what they are feeding on.

3/4oz Chrome Rattletrap:D

Yes , her new rod is perfect for lures and plastic from about 3/4 to 3 OZ. Its a Penn 5500SS reel. No braid on that.

Sweetie , I've had them follow a lure right in and never strike. cast after cast , 6 to 10 fish not 4 inches behind the lure all the way to my feet and no bite!! hard to figure some times.

We got lucky out at Monomoy on Sunday AM hitting into some bluefish frenzys on plugs and Deadly #^&#^&#^&#^&s, but just one small striper an a live eel. It was calm going out and near death defying trying to get back in (and I lost my OTW hat to the wind). No luck off two favorites, Chapin and Crow's Pasture, last week, but spent a lot of family time baiting hooks on Bass River with abundant snappers and keeper fluke on chubs in the river and pods of some kind of baitfish and decent sized schools of needlefish all over the place. Wish I had known how to use one of those throw nets. Things are sort of slow, but persistance will catch fish.

keeper fluke on chubs plug, jimbo? what species tend to populate there?
i caught my fluke on got-cha plug w/ a bucktail. it resembles a little bit of sandeels

SF, the fish are off a little in some areas. The areas that I've been getting fish are still loaded with fish, but they weren't feeding this past Thursday and Sunday.

Thursday I had alot of fish looking at my lures, but just not takin' it. I had schoolies follow the lure right up to the boat and just look at it. I'd move it around almost like a musky figure 8 and they'd keep following.

Its been fairly frustrating.

But I have a very reliable source that says they slayed 'em the past couple days.

Keep tryin'...

Notaro, I was referring to live chubs (at least that's what we call them) from a trap. Let's just say any kind of minnow that would be found in a bait trap. All varieties seemed to work.

some times thats the way it is ! or maybe the fish were full and you were late to feading time . lol

or its the new strain of feb " virtual feb " . becareful !
isnt that like having Febuary 29 every year .

SF, when you say you've brought in a lure and had fish follow it right up, how are you working it. Is it happening frequently and what changes have you made in "how" you are working the lure to try to trigger a response. While there are times just retreiving a lure slowly or quickly will be effective, I've had more luck (at least with plastic jerkbaits) with a more erratic retreive. A few hard but short (rod tip, not much rod movement) twitches or snaps if you like, two or three of them; than a pause. I vary the twitches and also the length of the pauses, until the fish start to tell me what they want.

For plugs the situation is similar, you need to make adjustments in several things, but first in "how" you are working the lure. If it's slow and steady without pauses, try a few pauses; then a faster tempo, then start snapping it and ripping it. Then if things don't happen, change color, size, style, if there are fish around there is a good chance you can trigger a reaction strike if you play long enough. Don't be afraid to experiment, that is how you learn, nothing like making some changes and having things happen for you; those are the things that stay with you and the things that will come in handy down the road.

The best way to learn to work fishing lures is to learn to play with a cat with a string. Sometimes you can pull the string right over the cats face and nothing but twitch it just right and BANG....they pounce.

face !
perhaps you should get an underwater speaker and say sweet nothings to the fish....promise them you'll be quite gentle and assure them that there's no need to be to be afraid. :hidin: :point: :love: