When We Don't Catch Anything

[Johnny wilkins]

I see struggle out there fishing for our beloved gills. I read the setups and I know the answers to fix most of the problems- we fish Derrick Rose-Style.
If you haven't seen him play, you owe it to yourself to watch a game when he is in. Bulls announcer Stacy King, when "D" Rose fires down the lane into the trees ( Rose is only 6' 3") and with speed he lifts a shot over the defenses heads before they can react. The announcer yells "too big, too strong, too fast!"
Our cold weather setups need to be the opposite when the water temps are on this side of 65 - 90% of the setups are garbage that I read for coldwater, this goes for most everything hanging on the baitshop wall. None of our lures and even live bait tackle provides chilled fish opportunity or a trigger to want to eat them. I have never seen a daphnia lure... but when the mercury dips, anglers need to take a serious look at thier tackle. I think a great test if our setups IS cold water and I would take it one step further to say if your rig catches in cold- it will catch even better in warm water. That said , my cold water rigs don't vary that much from the warm weather tackle. Do you give up when the water gets cold or do you give up because you are not catching fish? Maybe you ate fishing too big, to strong and too fast.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Good perspective Johnny....what I've taken from the successful cold water anglers is small and slow presentations......but with the exception of a few nice gills, the postings of over 2800 anglers including myself have been very limited since Thanksgiving.....This discussion came up in late December with Jeff Soto's discussion and lots of different views and opinions were shared....The best thing to do is follow your instincts and try different ideas when possible and have a little good luck on your side....my philosophy is you can't catch anything if you don't go try....Good luck to  everyone and don't give up.....

[Johnny wilkins]

p.s. - I used to struggle in 80 degree weather!

[Joe Angelucci]

Funny thing, I think the answer is here in the collective observation and experience centralized in this site. The people, geography, styles of fishing , and personal experiences are amazing to read and follow.

 

Just need to figure out how to tap it, solve the problem, and present the data

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Good comments, Johnny. I wont add much but to say that I have learned a lot from your point of view.

At the same time I find there is no magic bullet. No matter how much I try, I may still get skunked on any given day. I do find my tackle continues to shrink as the seasons go on, even as I don't!

[John Sheehan]

Johnny, do you ice fish?

I got skunked today ,first time fishin'on 2012 ice but I dont give up.  Guys were catching small Gills near me but I was stumped . I came late to the ice and the catchers were there all day I think because I cased the area earlier in the day  and they seemed to be all there when I returned a few hours later.

 

[Johnny wilkins]

I DO ice fish and my teacher also took 1st Place in the Ice Fishing World Championships of Nations so I learned from the best.

Ice fishing can be tougher and fronts do matter. The rules of small, slow and light apply even so much more in ice fishing. When the going gets tough you need to work on the drop, light, slow and subtle.

A maggot takes over a minute to drop 8 feet without a hook in it - this is the type of drop action fish need in cold water to respond, to move on it and to take the bait. When out on a video learning session with my teacher we both watched as a bluegill stared at a bait for over 13 minutes without taking it - a simple thing like the twist in the line (from the dropping grub) seemed to be the turn-off. The gill backed up away from the bait in front of its face.

All hooks are not made the same- in the going smaller scenario - abandon all lures, all jigs even mormyshka (Russian tear-drop jigs) won't do in the tough bite. Although if I had a go-to it would be the silver or gold mormyshka because it holds your grub straight out horizontal - easiest for the fish to sip it in.

You want light hooks because the physics of a winter feeding bluegill are something. You need that bait to enter their mouth easily, the thin is in and light will get your bite.

I suspect you didn't fish with a bare hook which will help when the bite dies down. Also, your split shot should be in the next zip code away from your bait. This will start you off right. You might need a size 16 or size 18 hook to hide it from our site feeders. In the winter water, where debris has settled for the season - the water can be so clear that anything outside of the bait will turn that bite off.

Light levels can be very key and there are on times, and off times to watch out for on the hard water but if you start small and then get larger with the bite, you will be better off. This might not translate to casual anglers but in competitions, we often start smaller than needed and then increase the size of the hook, the line and the bait until the fish aren't taking the baits as fast. One hook size change can shut your fishing off by 25% so it really does matter. I suspect that even every angler - not in competition will have greater success through being smaller - get small - really small!! Flyfishing shops and hooks will work - but watch out because they have several thicknesses. You want the lightest wire hooks you can find. In your favor- even big fish don't fight as hard in colder water. No need for heavy wire hooks, unless you like not catching too many fish.

 

[Leo Nguyen]

It's great approach if you're fishing in a still area, surrounded by covering to prevent your lines from tossing to and fro in the wind. Unfortunately for us boys in the southern regions, it's hard to get a floating rig that surround us on all sides, staying still in the water, and fish vertically in total calmness. Ain't gonna happen. We have to constantly adjust around here based on the time of day, and the condition of the weathers.  There are time were we have windows of calmness, and focus with just a wire/bait/mosquito/dry fly/wet fly hook, rig the bait, and let it drop slowly. Otherwise, dropshots, jig heads, and anything that can get our presentation down.

By the way, do keep an eye out for underwater current for the larger water bodies. Just a hook and bait won't deliver the payload to the intended depth and the exact location of the fishes.

[Johnny wilkins]

There are float rigs and tactics for windy days as well - my best trout day of my life was staring into a 25 mph wind with drizzle and 45 mph gusts.

The float rig was the thing! 

But - when you are not catching - the split shot needs to go way up near the float- furthest from the hook (unless you are in a massive gust).

Also - drifting in a boat will defeat most all float presentations - but then if you are not catching anything drifting - you also need to slow the boat so double-anchor and try this tactic... 

[John Sheehan]

Thanks Johnny .I could've gone a little smaller but didnt .I'll try that next time !

[Israel Dunn]

This is very interesting, I guess catching fish seems easier in the winter.  The biggest problem we have here in Madison is that we catch lots of little fish.  I am lucky if I catch 1 gill over 8 inches.  I catch fish like this morning, but all of them are laughingly small.  My setup in the cold water is entirely different in the winter.  In the summer I catch them on an ultralight rod and tube jig, but in the winter I use small jigs and big waxworms.  The only thing that I don't understand is why people setup their shanty and stay in one place all day.  I have found that I have to find the fish, not wait for them to find me.

[Israel Dunn]

The Triangle is just a big basin with a weed edge all around it.  A great place to ice fish, although the bay is the bigger producer so far this year.

[Johnny wilkins]

food - warmth, comfort and... ending up in 2lbgill's frying pan.

Your photos were taunting me to have fish fry...