So everyone often cites “bite windows”, which I think are a thing. However, I’ve noticed there are bite “days”, where the whole day is fishy. No major lulls, a good switch up is right back into fish, etc. These days are unknown until likely you arrive and instantly “feel it”. I’ve had trips where I could just tell things were active.
 

On the contrary, I’ve got there and after a few casts…I’m already antsy and on the move looking for a quick hitter to get on the board and get in a groove. I’ve quickly come to realize how a day is likely gonna go after a few casts. With bass, I don’t see the “first cast curse” like steelhead or walleye. A first cast bass is like “alright, let’s get it!”. Often relaxes you and puts you on point and purpose. The off days are the exact opposite and you fish tight, tense and terse. Anyway, that’s something I’ve often thought about since I joined this forum and finally put it into words lol. I’d rather have a full bite day than a fleeting bite window 

So much of the sport of bass fishing is in our heads.  I've often said there is a need for fishing psychologist.  They would be kind of a cross between a sports psychologist and a witch doctor.  😆

yeah, those are the unicorn days.  The days where you feel like you can throw anything, not get it anywhere near the cover, and still catch bass.  Those days never seem to line up with the days I get to be on the water though.

While I have had the occasional day like that (and the exact opposite days as well), I think there are always certain spots that will provide a quality sack. The game is just figuring out where at a given time. 

I caught 506 smallmouth once in a two-day stretch. If I had the chance to do this again, I think I'd pass. That many bass in that short a span is hard on a body.

 

Come the third morning, I slept late and I was young then. 

 

I can still manage a Bite Morning, but not a Bite Day. I had a 70 and 75-bass morning last year. They both exhausted me. Heck, my 58-bass morning with the slabs exhausted me so much that when I stepped onto the shore, I immediately fell on my butt into the mud. It sucks the sap out of me to fight bass like this:

 

17 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

I caught 506 smallmouth once in a two-day stretch. If I had the chance to do this again, I think I'd pass. That many bass in that short a span is hard on a body.

 

Come the third morning, I slept late and I was young then. 

 

I can still manage a Bite Morning, but not a Bite Day. I had a 70 and 75-bass morning last year. They both exhausted me. Heck, my 58-bass morning with the slabs exhausted me so much that when I stepped onto the shore, I immediately fell on my butt into the mud. It sucks the sap out of me to fight bass like this:

 

Katie, I've never had the kind of numbers you catch but I understand what you are saying.  It feels good to be worn out, don't it?

Success often is tied to how your day is going. Some days getting out bed goes downhill it seems nothing is going right and it carries over in the days outing. At times everything is going well you are in rhythm with the outdoors and the fish cooperating. Be grateful for the good times.

Tom 

1 hour ago, WRB-2.0 said:

Success often is tied to how your day is going. Some days getting out bed goes downhill it seems nothing is going right and it carries over in the days outing. At times everything is going well you are in rhythm with the outdoors and the fish cooperating. Be grateful for the good times.

Tom 

Very well put!! 
 

I’ve developed my little rituals to “reboot” and refocus on those days that nothing goes right. Sometimes I just have to set my rods down, close my eyes for a couple minutes, grab a drink and restart. I’ve even gone so far as to tie off and take a 15-20 minute nap on the back deck.

Unless I go off the reservation and fish for another species,

the majority of my trips for big brown bass are not bite days.

(juvenile smallies don't count)

So getting 'bites' or not does not drive how I 'feel' on the water.

I am always feeling at my very best, when I can consistently be on the water

I need to be as often as possible.

Being 'in tune' with all things fishing from boat handling to casting and of course eventually hooking and landing a few tanks.

As an example, annually, I do not fish much or even at all in July.

There's a few reasons for it but most of it revolves around lack of potential success. 

But come August, at some point, it's on like donkey kong so I start fishing - Hard.

(I do this in the spring as well but working around the cold windy and routinely unstable weather makes consistent safe time on the water a little tricky)

Usually takes several trips of getting up at zero dark thirty, making the long drive and then the long run across the lake, arriving on scene on time (first safe light) finding the bait (and staying on them).  And then being able to successfully repeat that process several days a week for up to 4 weeks.  Casting and working the rigs, baits and techniques I'll need to be proficient at in advance of actually needing to, is a real confidence booster me. 

Might be like golfer making a several trips to the driving range. 

Finally I will always review my trip video looking for bad habits

and or goofball moves so that I can clean those up.

Because IME, they will eventually cost me a big fish. 

Not a fan.

Fish Hard.

A-Jay

6 hours ago, Lottabass said:

It feels good to be worn out, don't it?

 

Yeah, it's a happy tired. I remember late evenings in Ontario, crossing wilderness lakes at the last light, having danced with scores of smallies, too tired to eat, but oh, so happy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bite days happen a lot more frequently on waters that dont recieve much pressure. I've been lucky enough to fish for unpressured bass and have 100 fish days.

Bite days are when the day just feels alive. Frogs are heard, turtles are poking around, gills are popping, and you can see bass around and there’s chasing and blowups; just feels like it’s a day of activity overall. Some days everything is stale; quiet, panfish just sitting around, no bass activity etc 
 

As far as numbers or success; I have no idea what kind of waters have 100+ fish days, but I’d likely avoid them mostly. I stay happy because I stay hungry because I stay challenged. I’ve noticed in my 43 years that lots of people get good, then get jaded and lose the original simple pleasure of fishing. I’m not out for the biggest or the most ever; I’m just out to catch fish period. I’ve had a few 20 fish days on the little pressured river I fish, but despite the frustration here…leaving after having a solid day and a few good fish just feel’s different because you know it ain’t “luck”. I have zero ego and am very humble…but few things get me going than fishing behind someone and pulling fish after they just hit that spot 

2 hours ago, JonB2 said:

Bite days are when the day just feels alive. Frogs are heard, turtles are poking around, gills are popping, and you can see bass around and there’s chasing and blowups; just feels like it’s a day of activity overall. Some days everything is stale; quiet, panfish just sitting around, no bass activity etc 

To piggyback off of this, I've noticed that if the day has a lot of outside activity - birds flying, deer wandering, groundhogs hogging, the fishing is actually pretty tough compared to an active day in the water - birds diving, fish blow ups, turtles, etc. Maybe it's because on tough days I tend to look around more but idk. It's occured to me on many occasions that on the toughest fishing days I have a video on my phone that I look back on and it's some incredible nature sighting.

5 hours ago, JonB2 said:

I have no idea what kind of waters have 100+ fish days, but I’d likely avoid them mostly.

 

They're so easy to avoid. In my experience, they're down miles of logging roads with lots of standing water that only a fool wouldn't walk first in their Mucks, and there will be streams to cross and fallen trees to clear. Then you'll have to portage and there might not be a trail, so you walk it first, marking trees and clearing brush. 

 

Al @Lottabass caught 52 five-pounders one summer and that Iowa bass haven is across half a mile of pasture.

 

If you like challenges, then @IcatchDinks shouldn't fish your water. You should fish his and try catching bass between the flotillas of inner tubers. If I fished ICD's river, I'd feel lucky to catch a rock bass.

 

Of course, reaching wilderness lakes is its own challenge. 

20 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

I'd feel lucky to catch a rock bass.

 

38 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

They're so easy to avoid. In my experience, they're down miles of logging roads with lots of standing water that only a fool wouldn't walk first in their Mucks, and there will be streams to cross and fallen trees to clear. Then you'll have to portage and there might not be a trail, so you walk it first, marking trees and clearing brush. 

This. Best day of fishing I ever had was in 2010 in Alaska. We drove for three hours, hiked for another, and finally reached a small, unassuming stream. Every cast, we hooked a grayling. And this was fly-fishing: a sport I had never before in my life tried. If your fly hit the water twice in a row without a bite, you were in a bad spot: there just weren't any fish there. 

@A-Jay

 

I think your post above is one of the more insightful, though subtle, posts for bass anglers seeking larger fish.  Hidden between the lines of your post is that all important "time on the water" mantra.  To be "in tune" requires that time to be better at casting, boat handling, and all the other fishing tasks.  And that time is also required to be in tune with where the fish are, what they are doing, and how they are behaving.  Your success in catching the big tanks shows that the time you spend on the water without bites is extremely important to have those days when the bite is on.  I appreciate the reminder.