I'm in a fishing funk (I know it's all relative, but for me, I'm catching less.), having caught 11, 7, and 4 bass on my last three outings. The quality is still good, with a majority of the fish ranging from 17 to 19 inches, but I'm just not triggering the strikes I typically do. I watched @Glenn's video about September baits and how we need to downsize our baits. I did throw a couple smaller topwaters last night and I could only trigger the bass to bump my baits. I've been using 4" swimbaits on my underspins, both casting and trolling, and whereas I'm quite happy with the size of the bass they catch, I don't understand why I'm not catching what I typically catch. Are my swimbaits too big? Glenn suggests crankbaits, but they foul with weeds so often for me. I'm thinking of using a crankbait that runs 2-3 feet or even trolling a little Rapala floater. What would you suggest for my style of fishing, which is fishing lakes that are 8' at their deepest and weedy and I both cast and troll?

Have you tried a weedless rigged swimming worm? The missus loves swim Senkos and recently I've been doing well with Strike Kings Cut R worms. Speed them up or slow them down, the tail moves with good activity.

2 minutes ago, jbmaine said:

Have you tried a weedless rigged swimming worm?

 

I haven't and I'll rig one today. What depth, please? Most of my bass have been coming off-shore.

Swamp Girl, I think all those fish have been caught by you more than once! I think in your more than 1000 fish so far this year you have counted 1/3 of them 2 or 3 times because you caught them more than once! (kidding of course) They are wise to you now!

 

Those fish KNOW you. They see you coming and they run in fear for their lives!

 

Just don't fish for those that KNOW you! 😁 You gotta go out and meet new fish!

 

 

I'm curious about if you change positioning from trip to trip, or do you follow a kind of set pattern in how and where you fish from the kayak? I was thinking maybe the fish have moved and some adjustment in location and positioning might find them?

Weedless spoon.

Tom

42 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

I'm in a fishing funk

 

You've caught 1000+ (in Maine, where the season's abbreviated) bass this year and you're in a funk?  😆

Weightless Fluke Jr

Light/small spinnerbait 

40 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

I haven't and I'll rig one today. What depth, please?

I'll put a small bullet weight on, 1/16 or 1/8, and cast and burn, cast and bump, jerk, pause, what ever gets hit. That set up is great for covering all your water depth. Also, do you fly fish? That opens up a whole new range of things to try.

Just switch it up and see what gets bit. I’m going on a kayak float tomorrow to green bass town and am gonna have a Rage day to start. One rod has a Rage Craw(which has yet to be proven to me), and the other a Rage Bug; both t rigged with 3/16oz tungsten weights. I’ll likely stinko my way back as I often do, but who knows…maybe I’ll get a little crazy and throw top water for the first time all summer 🤷🏽‍♂️

1 hour ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

I'm curious about if you change positioning from trip to trip, or do you follow a kind of set pattern

 

I'm always changing where I fish and the sequence. Wind speed and direction decide where I fish, as well as the season and where I think bass might be. I also consider where I caught them a year ago at this time. 

 

Based upon how many bass can be found per acre of water, my pond should have about 17,000 bass. My pal's pond should have about 35,000 bass. I don't think I'll ever catch them all, even though I give it my best try!

 

1 hour ago, WRB-2.0 said:

Weedless spoon.

Tom

 

Do I pitch it into weeds and do I use a trailer, Tom?

 

1 hour ago, ElGuapo928 said:

Weightless Fluke

 

I haven't tried one of those in a while. I'll rig one of those too for tomorrow morning.

 

1 hour ago, ElGuapo928 said:

Light/small spinnerbait 

 

I've been trying a spinnerbait here and there, but not for ten days or so. So, I'll launch with one of those too.

 

1 hour ago, jbmaine said:

Also, do you fly fish?

 

Yes, but poorly and I have no fly fishing rod of my own.

 

 

Johnson Silver Minnow weedless spool you can attach soft plastics using a CPS spring. The Nemire Redfish spoon doesn’t need a trailer as it has a skirt.

I like to cast over weed beds into open water and retrieve up and over the mat swimming into any open pockets. Also along weed breaks or trolled over submerged weeds.

Tom

The fish are moving, I'd lean hard on a Spinnerbait & weightless Fluke.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I'll follow them and let you know. I'll be thrilled if I can catch 20, but anything over ten will feel like a win.

 

There were four other anglers fishing my pond last night and this was their total catch: 0

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I've been trying a spinnerbait here and there, but not for ten days or so. So, I'll launch with one of those too.

This time of year is when I really like to throw a small spinnerbait, like a Pond Magic or an H&H. Seems to trigger strikes when their bigger brothers won’t. 

Fluke would be what I'd be looking at. Weightless, and worked fast just below the surface has been producing for me, here.

I've been digging through my lures and so far have found a couple small spinnerbaits, little flukes, a Rage Bug, and swimming worms. I'm still looking for some weedless spoons. I know I own some. I also found a skinny popper that I've never cast and I'm thinking that it might fit @Glenn's advice to throw smaller baits. I also found a small, shallow-running crankbait. 

 

Fingers crossed!

 

No more suggestions, please! I have enough lures to try, but thanks for the all the suggestions so far.

49 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

I'm still looking for some weedless spoons

Johnson Silver Minnow with a black pork frog or chartreuse twister tail grub for a trailer 👍

2 hours ago, JonB2 said:

Johnson Silver Minnow with a black pork frog or chartreuse twister tail grub for a trailer 👍

 

I'm looking for the weedless spoons that I already own. I can't remember where I put them.

5 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

There were four other anglers fishing my pond last night and this was their total catch: 0

 

Maybe the pressure is getting to them.

 

I don't know how big this pond is but 4 other anglers seems like it might apply some fishing pressure, along with you.

1 hour ago, gim said:

 

Maybe the pressure is getting to them.

 

Could be. Hope not!

I’m with some of the others.  Sure it is later season and the fish are doing different things, but we talk about pressure and educating bass here all the time.  I have a firm belief that when you fish the same fish and same lakes all the time with the same lures that the turn off to them.  There are studies that support it and I’ve seen it with my own eyes on the lake my dad loves.  The fish were fresh stocked a couple years ago so basically unpressured like you had.  And then you fish a set of things that they love (in his case a bladed jig) and they love it.  And then they don’t.  So you rotate through the similar things that trigger the fish in the same way until you find what they will eat.  Plastics always work.  Other baits rotate through.  You become a victim of your own success, i.e. you become the pressure you’re trying to avoid.  

 

Knowing you and what you fish, you have fished a lot of underspins, craws (lately), ploppers.  Going to the subtle or brash versions of those would be squarebills, speedworms, frogs, buzzbaits, grubs, spinnerbaits, and some others.  I bet a Ned rig would work well for your waters and you like to fish a spinning rod also.  

 

 

12 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

 

You've caught 1000+ (in Maine, where the season's abbreviated) bass this year and you're in a funk?  😆

 

 

The bass I've been catching have either been out in the center or along the bank.  Check to see what the forage is doing also.  Some of the sunnies are still spawning here.

11 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

I have a firm belief that when you fish the same fish and same lakes all the time with the same lures that the turn off to them.

A couple of years ago I was fishing a tiny golf course pond quite frequently, and over the course of three months my catch rate went down from 5-6 fish in an hour and a half to one every two trips. It was so weedy I could only fish a frog and I felt like they got wise to me. Over the years at my favorite spots I have definitely needed to tweak my approach to get the same number of bites. I do think that after a while of less pressure they return back to their initial patterns, and some lures really do cycle between effectiveness.

 

18 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

No more suggestions, please! I have enough lures to try, but thanks for the all the suggestions so far.

I think the main reason your fish haven't been biting is because your tackle box isn't big enough, erm I mean, I totally relate to having too many lures to try. Next up for me on the experimental chopping block is an A-rig and a mini buzzbait.

Thanks again for the suggestions, guys. I launched with every suggested lure, but they wanted to feed up. I caught two on a popper, 27 on a Duo Realis Pencil walking bait, and only one on a spinnerbait. I did have one hooked briefly on a fluke. 

Thirty bass.. what a horrible day. 😁😁😁 good job Katie.