The weather in S. Texas lately has not been conducive to good fishing. Every time I have opportunity it’s either been a cold front moving through, or heavy rain. I haven’t had a dry spell like this in a long time. 
 

My wife went back to Maryland to spend time with our daughters for Mothers Day. I fished a different pond and yep, skunked. So even though the fishing report says Lake Raven is listed as Slow, I’m headed for bigger waters tomorrow and hope to catch something. 
 

Oh well. At least I had the chance to clean and lube two Fuegos and change the cracked clutch bars. I have fun regardless. 

You are just building up the tension for a monster trip!

Hang in there, man. Keep throwing those lures in the water, and I the fish will come.

Make it 4 lol. Not one darned bite. Didn’t see anyone else catch a fish either. 
 

See what happens tomorrow.  

Just the calm before the storm.  Hang in there and things will break your way.

Welcome to my world. I enjoy fishing and being outdoors. Catching a fish is a bonus.

We’ve had a relatively slow transition into spring this year so I’ve had a similar experience. Fortunately it only seems to last two trips max. 
 

So let me ask you this - do you stick to your guns and throw what you know? Or do you switch things up in a dramatic way?

If you're fishing by yourself, position your boat parallel to the bank and cast a Mepps #3...... wave bye bye to the skunk.

3 hours ago, raydomz said:

We’ve had a relatively slow transition into spring this year so I’ve had a similar experience. Fortunately it only seems to last two trips max. 
 

So let me ask you this - do you stick to your guns and throw what you know? Or do you switch things up in a dramatic way?

Well, I tossed a spinnerbait today, so that tells you something! 😂 I would have tried a few crankbaits but that hydrilla was unreal. Most I’ve ever seen. NOTE: the “weedless” on my trolling motor is a bald-faced liar! 
 

 

2 hours ago, Bird said:

If you're fishing by yourself, position your boat parallel to the bank and cast a Mepps #3...... wave bye bye to the skunk.

Don’t have one. I haven’t fished a Mepps spinner in decades. 

4 hours ago, ike8120 said:

Welcome to my world. I enjoy fishing and being outdoors. Catching a fish is a bonus.

You're a natural born muskie fisherman my friend. 😉

You're a consistent angler, Brian. You're like @Team9nine, i.e. you launch and catch. Therefore, I think the weather is foiling you. 

 

However, I like the Mepps idea. I also like the parallel to the shoreline cast. That's a money cast for me and has been for nearly 60 years. However, sometimes I run the lure a foot from the bank. Sometimes two feet. Sometimes three feet. Depends upon what they want that day.

I firmly believe it’s the weather. I refuse to believe anything else! It’s not me, dammit! 😂

 

On a good note, at least I know both Fuegos that I changed clutch bars on, and cleaned and lubed, worked flawlessly. Well, at least as far as casting and retrieving. 
 

Maybe tomorrow I should not use any of my standard baits and just use ones I hardly ever use. If I can overcome the anxiety! 😆

Hang in there.  When the weather settles down you'll be catching them like crazy.

Well, the skunk has been unfunked. Caught 7, but 6 were dinks. But it’s better than a zero! The first one was the biggest by far. 
 

I started off with a spinnerbait. I rarely fish spinnerbaits and never as a first option. Never. Didn’t catch anything, but I figured I’d shake the tree. Fished a jig next. Same result. I had a Zoom Z Craw worm on a Texas rig and tried that and also zilch. Took it off and put on a Rage Craw. That caught the first two. Caught two more on a weightless Zoom Trick TR and 3 on a weightless Senko TR. 

 

Looks like the weather helped improve things.  I see some lighter skies in the back ground.

Nicer, and less wind! 

Glad you got over the funk. I've been 4-5 times getting skunked before. It can be a confidence killer for sure.

 

I always go back to basics when that happens, slow down and really concentrate on presentation. I tend to get sloppy when the fish are really biting.

17 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

 

I started off with a spinnerbait. I rarely fish spinnerbaits and never as a first option. Never. Didn’t catch anything

On 5/10/2025 at 1:43 PM, Bird said:

If you're fishing by yourself, position your boat parallel to the bank and cast a Mepps #3...... wave bye bye to the skunk.

True!

Way to hang tough, Brian, and boat some bass.

On 5/11/2025 at 12:25 PM, BrianMDTX said:

Well, the skunk has been unfunked.

 

phew!!  I was just about to burn some sage and kills a chicken...for you.

 

the chicken is grateful to the Rage bait.