thats what i said everyone has there ups and downs....thats what makes it so fun in my opinion ;D

Yea I know the feeling. I fished in a tournament a few weeks ago to start my qualification for this bass club. I practiced night and day fishing everywhere and everything. Im so ready for this tournament it wasnt funny. I was focused for 8 hours straight and missed 7 fish, while my partner triple limits and incedentially wins the tournament. My partner was cool though he hooked me up with the same baits I drove the boat ,short of him setting my hooks he did everything he could. Now thats frustration

All of us have days where we practice casting, I sure have my fair share.  Most of the time I can atleast catch a one-eye though.

(If someone else has given the same advice..sorry, I didn't read all the other responses)

I also know where you are coming from. Fishing is a sport where your state of mind is so important. You have to have confidence and faith. That is SO hard for me. You HAVE to believe there are fish where you are fishing that could bite your line at any moment. You have to have confidence in your abilities and techniques. You cannot have a self-defeating attitude.

Another problem is when you don't have confidence, you don't have patience. When you don't have patience, you don't fish slow. When you don't fish slow, a lot of the time you don't catch fish. It's a vicious cycle. :

Fish lowilght conditions.When it gets warmer,fish early,late,and cloudy,overcast conditions.That will improve your chances.

I take it back. I've never been skunked!!!  Ever! I don't know what yall are doing wrong.  ???

I catch a 5 lber, errrr I mean a 10 lber on every single cast!!! That's because I'm so dang good!  

Man then where you at on the B.A.S.S series????

abelfisher, since i have been fishing i have come to realize that getting skunked is just part of the game.  I have also learned however, that the more confidence you have, the less likely you are to get skunked.  Stick with a lure that always catches you fish (tubes and baby brushhogs for me) when the fishing is hard and you should do much better. There are ALWAYS fish to catch, its just a matter of finding them and establishing a pattern.  just last week my buddy and i were fishing for four hours and i had only caught a pike.  We were trying to fish a cold water pattern because the water was still only around 50.  Finally a few minutes before dark we decided to try one of our summer spots and to our surprise we started to slam them.  We were fishing a rock wall and the rocks were holding more heat then the place we were at first.  This apparently was what the fish were looking for. This just goes to show that you have to have confidence and not be afraid to try something different.  Good luck!

Well, I finally got into some today!! Found a rocky bluff area, water temp was 63 deg.  Started  using 4" green robo worms on a darter 1/4 oz. darter jig head.  They started hitting about 8:00 am.  Landed 5 , missed a couple of more, (once my bait came untied with a nice one on it.)  had some nice strikes too. Poor fish, swimming around there with 1/4 oz. of lead in its mouth. Anyway, I got off the lake feeling pretty good. At least I know I could still catch some.  I came home and my daughter said, "See Dad, I knew your fishing didn't suck! " ;D

Well it looks like the Fishing gods shinned up on both of us today!!

I didn't do as good as you but it felt good to finally over come the slumps.

Yeah, Jaggrich, that is a good feeling, more like a large sense of relief that came over me coming off the lake today.  I felt like I was still in the game!  What a relief!

Fishing Gods, Shine On! ;D ;D

Nothing makes me more pleased than to practice. Nothing makes more happy to learn. Nothing makes me happy to spend A BUNCH of money Then to get Skunked. It happens to all of us and IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN. Good Luck Fellas

Glad to hear you're back in the game. Now go for 10 next time!

abelfisher, now that feeling you got of catching fish. You have to hold on to that feeling, and not let that feeling go, whether your catching fish or not. this is the mindset these people talk about not losing. not letting your mind beat you up.

regardless if you catch anything next time u fish. keep this mindset that you have caught fish, therefore, you can catch fish, therefore you will catch fish.

again, regardless, whether it makes sense that you should be catchin fish or not.

hope I helped some.

Thanks fellas!  Sometimes is just feels better to get the frustration off my chest!  Yeah, I am sure, I will get skunked again, as we all do.  But bassackwards, you hit the nail on the head! Thanks!

well thanks, I'm glad I could help someone after all the help I've gotten...

Sounds like to me the battle is over before the war has started. Tell us about your last trip, where, how, what you used, wheather and lake  conditions. Maybe we can figure something out or find out if you really suck ;D just kidding. How long have you been bass fishing?

I used to fish quite a bit back in Indiana prior to my move out to Cal. in '97.  I only started back fishing last year.  These Cal. lakes are a lot diferent than the lakes in the midwest.  They are clearer, cooler and deeper.  (ie. tougher to fish)  At least for me.

Maybe it was just that day.

Abelfish is right. California bass are much more difficult to catch then in Florida, I can tell you that. California bass are spooky and finiky. Go to Castaic and tell me how many limits your going to pull out of there. I love Florida's bass fishing. More limits and bigger fish on average from my experience.