Guys I’m located in CT. As a new angler, what happened today totally blew my mind!

I started fishing a month ago. Quickly i got quite obsessed with it, and I have been fishing almost daily since I started. In the first 7 trips, I got nothing but gained lots of experiences by learning from mistakes. And since last week, I have been catching fish every other trips. (Every time I fish for around 1.5 hours.) My usual fishing spot is a flat bottom shallow water (5 feet) near a point. 

Today I had only 20 min to fish before sunset. So I went to check out a new spot where there is a laydown. I used a 4 feet deep square bill (bluegill) on a medium heavy power rod ( I think it works better with a medium power rod but I snapped that one :-/). When I started I had no idea how it was gonna work out. And guess what, after the first cast I have been catching a fish almost every cast! It really blew my mind because my most productive day before was 1 fish per hour. The fishes went really aggressive for my squarebill. On my third cast. I got the line hung on a branch, and as I went to untangle the line, a bass swallowed the square bill. I didn’t even set the hook or anything, and just pulled the fish out of water after I sorted my line out. After casting around 7 times and pulled out 4 fishes, my square bill got hung up so I concluded my short trip today. 

I am still very excited about what happened today, and kept wondering what if I could have stayed longer than 20 minutes. I have also been wondering if I just got super lucky today to find a location with lots of fish. Or it is within expectations for such a location (laydown) and timing (right before sunset, water temperature 50 degree). Do you guys had similar experiences? If so please share ?

Edited May 6, 20206 yr by Ming

It happens like that sometimes. Sounds like you had the right combination of timing, presentation, and location to get a good bite.  I caught 4 or 5 in about 10 minutes this morning off one spot and only 3 or 4 more the rest of the 2 hours I fished. Not sure why they liked that one spot but they did.

 

I've got to agree with blue, sometimes when the timing is right and you are throwing what they want where they want it you'll have those type of results. I've had that happen a few times in the last few weeks on shallow wood where you'll catch one here and there and then run across a laydown and catch 3. It just means there's something right about that one condition wise at that given time. I think my best off of shallow wood under some special conditions was 12 fish off the same laydown. 

When my uncle was still alive I got to fish a private farm pond in Auburn Kansas bass every cast it was great. They were good size too 18"-19". Wasnt any real skill involved they hit anything.

During pre-spawn fishing for smallmouth, we often find the bass schooled up. Catching them on every cast for half an hour to an hour for two guys in a boat is not uncommon. They kind of start a feeding frenzy and you can get two at a time on a single bait. 

Now the real mystery begins when you go to the same spot under the same conditions, same time of year and day and get no bites 

12 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

It happens like that sometimes. Sounds like you had the right combination of timing, presentation, and location to get a good bite.  I caught 4 or 5 in about 10 minutes this morning off one spot and only 3 or 4 more the rest of the 2 hours I fished. Not sure why they liked that one spot but they did.

 

Thats an interesting story! Were you fishing at the exact same spot?

5 hours ago, WIGuide said:

I've got to agree with blue, sometimes when the timing is right and you are throwing what they want where they want it you'll have those type of results. I've had that happen a few times in the last few weeks on shallow wood where you'll catch one here and there and then run across a laydown and catch 3. It just means there's something right about that one condition wise at that given time. I think my best off of shallow wood under some special conditions was 12 fish off the same laydown. 

Wow, that’s impressive! What’s your favorite bait for a shallow laydown?

2 hours ago, Scott F said:

During pre-spawn fishing for smallmouth, we often find the bass schooled up. Catching them on every cast for half an hour to an hour for two guys in a boat is not uncommon. They kind of start a feeding frenzy and you can get two at a time on a single bait. 

That’s good to know! Although in our state (CT) it’s mainly largemouth. How do you get two on a single bait? Was it like a hard bait with multiple treble hooks?

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

Now the real mystery begins when you go to the same spot under the same conditions, same time of year and day and get no bites 

Haha I thought about the same thing. I’m going back to the same spot later this week. Let’s find out. Hope they still there?

6 minutes ago, Ming said:

That’s good to know! Although in our state (CT) it’s mainly largemouth. How do you get two on a single bait? Was it like a hard bait with multiple treble hooks?

We use Lucky Craft Pointers that have 2 treble hooks. 

My favorite bait for shallow laydowns depends on what the fish are biting, but if I had to pick 2 favorites it'd be a jig and a squarebill. 

Sounds like you had a good day of fishing. I have been very fortunate and had many days where the fish where biting the whole time I was fishing. Some of those days I caught +100 fish, all on lures.