First Chance. I struck Out

i have finally retired and am living just a short walk from Lake Hartwell in October County, SC. We have been moving in and today was my first day to try to fish. For now, I am just bank fishing. Today was my first chance to fish. I fished for about 3hours, beginning shortly after daylight and threw everything in the tackle box, but never caught a fish. I used 1/32, 1/64 and 1/80 ounce jugs, small soft plastics from Northland, a grasshopper type lure, etc, the fish were there. I could see them. I could smell a bream bed; the fish were there but they had lockjaw. I tried suspending a jig under a bobber at different depths. I let it sit still, and I tried a slow retrieve with gentle erratic tugs, etc. Nothing worked. And bluegills aren’t supposed to be that hard to catch. I tried a drop shot rig. I exhausted all my tricks. I tried several different locations, I tried a fish attractant on the jigs, nothing. Any suggestions?

Crickets, Red worms, mealworms or night crawlers. Gills love live bait, and until you learn the lake and the hotspots, toss something lively and wiggly at them and hold on!


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Spend more time trying to catch those you can't see. Clear water is a game changer for me . Light line, clear floats , long cast, natural baits and a really s-l-o-w. presentation .Even then some days are not productive . :juggle

A few weeks ago Cats were still under boat houses guarding some nests even in this hot weather. But not now, they have moved into deeper water. at the boat houses Bream so small they could not take a cork under were present. I had to get in water 18 feet deep to find fish. Fishing 5 hours I managed 12 smaller fish, Four went back. the fish you saw could have been small bass or shad.. You have to get in deeper water in this heat

There are times they will not hit a thing. I’ve seen it a lot over the years. I’ve thrown crickets.....worms.....all kind of jigs in beds and they would not touch it.

Regards


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Deeper waters in the heat of the summer is sometimes the ticket and in clearer waters it’s likely needed to get a summer fish to hit . The ones that’s you can see are typically the trickiest to try to ketch as well .
Live bait in deeper water off a ledge would be my choice .