Fishing Trips: Fish vs. No (or few) Fish

I enjoy to see pics and reports from when you guys have successful fishing trips. They keep me motivated and I'll surely have some pics and positive reports to post sooner or later. However, how often do you guys that regularly post of successful trips (CrappiePro, CMJ, Nimrod, etc), have unsuccessful trips... Particularly in the times of the year when fishing is or can be a little tough ? Knowing that information would also keep me motivated and help me understand that maybe "I'M" not always the problem, maybe the fish played a small part in my dismal trip ! Thanks to you guys, I'm learning new techniques, learning crappie habits, and routinely having slightly more success as time goes by. I do still have days like yesterday where I find baitfish, black bass and white bass, but only 2 crappie. Just curious how often you "good fishermen" encounter the same.

Well, I am by no means a pro, but since you included me in your post, here are my thoughts.













One thing that every consistently successful fisherman has in common is that they know their area lakes well, and they know when each one is at its peak season. If you live in central Arkansas, then you can stay on a pretty good bite year round without having to travel very far. If you aren't as fortunate, then you either have to travel to get on a good bite, or you have to settle for sticking with a local lake that may not be so easy. Either way, it takes time to learn how to fish any lake, good bite or not. There will be transition periods even on a hot bite, and those days can be a struggle to put fish in the boat. On a lake like Conway, a good day in the Summer could only produce 8-15 keeper fish. A bad day could be 0-5. Those days are common, even for someone that knows it well. Now, in the Spring and Fall, that's an entirely different story.













So, most of us try to hit lakes when they are at their peak. That cuts down on the bad days, but we still all have them from time to time. If you are bound to one lake, well you are going to have more bad days than good, at least at first, no matter how good you are.

I am no means a PRO! But I will add my experience. What he said above 1st off! Learn your lakes! And the best way to do this is, more importantly keep logs of everything. I have been keeping logs for 7-8 years. But after just 2-3 years you pretty much have it figured out which lakes are going to be HOTT and when. Then you will notice a big change in your catch rates!!!!!! Only way to know is to go, so even the unsuccessful trips can teach you alot, just log them! Log weather, water temps, wind, barometric pressure, fish and game graphs, where you caught the fish and what on, or didn't catch fish. I still have ALOT of unsucessful days and try to post them on here when I do, but those days have decreased dramatically after I started my logs. I started off using calendars to log my stuff, but I tend to run out of rooms in the little squares. Then I found a logging system made by FISHSWAMI. I google it, then print it off. I still do my calendar logs of everything I do EVERYDAY (not just fishing) but use the FISHSWAMI logs for even more details of my fishing trip. You WILL notice a difference. There are alot of WAY better fishermen on this site that can give better advice than I, But the info I shared personally has helped me so much. And also the info other fishermen on this site has given me has added alot of fish in my freezer as well. Good Luck! FISH-ON!!!!

First let me say welcome to the site. I don't consider myself necessarily a good crappie fisherman. However, I was asked once what I thought the key to consistently catching crappie was. My answer is pretty simple, know a lot of other crappie fishermen. More importantly know those that are willing to help you catch fish, and be willing to help them catch fish too. And this site has a lot of people who are willing to help. However, it's my opinion that you need to be a contributor as well as a consumer of information on this site, most people don't contribute much, if anything. When I get ready to go fishing I often get on the phone and call a few friends and see if they have any good reports, as to where and how they are catching them. Then it's pretty normal for me to drive 2 or 3 hours one way to fish, fortunately for you, you live smack in the middle of some of the best fishing in the state. I also think to be consistent you need to learn multiple ways to fish, adjusting to the time of year, where the fish are located at that particular time and make adjustments as necessary. I say that even though I'm the worst at making changes quickly when what I'm doing isn't working. I think one thing that makes some of these guys excellent crappie fishermen is that they really know the habits of crappie at different times of the year and move with them. Best of luck to you.

EXCELLENT ADVICE MAC!!!!

There is alot of help here and alot of people eager to give it!

Thanks to you all I needed this.

CJ and LowePro (or others) ..... Would you say a person would reduce the learning curve faster by: Chasing the hot bite on a hot body of water ? Or, trying to apply similar hot techniques from a hot body of water to a lake you're familiar with. Let me elaborate:

Report says: Crappie are biting well on jigs fished around stumps in the mouth of creeks in 10 FOW on "Lake ABC"

So, would a person be better to run to "Lake ABC" and fish jigs in the mouth of creeks in 10 FOW and possibly learn a hot spot or two there ?
Or, would there be greater benefit to go to their familiar water "Lake XYZ" and try presenting jigs around stumps in 10 FOW ?

I hope you see the difference in the question I'm asking... I guess my point is, I'm not looking for a quick way or tip to fill my cooler "today"... I want to truly learn to fish so I can routinely catch fish whenever, wherever. I'd like to wean myself from needing the "hot tip" and be able to trust my own knowledge.

The fishing log is a great idea, that will begin this Saturday when I next hit the water !

Thanks for the help, hope more reply and I hope others benefit from the info provided. !

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Originally Posted by Mac Daddy

fortunately for you, you live smack in the middle of some of the best fishing in the state.

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I'm very fortunate in that regard ! Even a novice like myself has some really good days if only for that reason alone !! Sometimes all you gotta be is in the right spot at the right time, I working hard on making that combo happen more frequently !

Ok. If you are wanting to truly learn fish, there is a lot of literature out there about crappie and their habits. Another way to learn is to just get out there. And it's better if u log ur experiences so u can study them without getting confused on "what time of year did I catch them on lake x?"

Wanna good hot tip to start ur studies on Saturday..... Go to lake N (nimrod), use double minnow rigs on the marked channel ledge, at 0.3-0.5mph, and hold ON!!! Hahaha