My first time sacalait fishing on the Tickfaw today

Got on the water at 6:30am and went to the bridge by the public launch. Depth finder said 32fow and had 4 fish on the screen between 5-7fow. Tied to the ladder on at the base of the pylon and several more fish came by the entire time, all at the same depth as the previous fish.
I was using a 6'6" Zebco Crappie Fighter with 4lb Stren HiVis Gold line and a 2.5" 1/16th oz blk/chart shad. Casting off the front of the boat letting the jig fall to the bottom then slowly reeling and jigging back to the boat. No bites, so I tried a spring bobber set at 6' and jigged the bait as I slowly reeled back to the boat. No bites. So I tried the same method with green/blk, orange/white and neon yellow with a yellow head and a blk/chart tube. No bites.
The wife caught a 2lb catfish with a monkey milk jig within 5 minutes of us being there and then nothing else.
Switched to Canadian night crawlers with no results.

Moved to a few other spots and threw at some cypress trees in 5-7 fow with fish on the screen at 3fow. Nothing.

Caught 3 keeper catfish and a big goggle eye. Threw 5-6 catfish back. All were caught on worms 2' under a cork.

Ill take all the help and criticism I can get. I have thick skin.

What am I doing wrong????

Forgot to mention that I was also using Slab Sauce , nibbles and Power Bait.

Maybe the fish on the sonar were catfish.


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Gar - Gizzard shad - Buffalo ---- were the Cows all laying down -- Check Solar Calendar for when the last bite period was ... if they had already fed it might be not hungry

Try Southern Pro blue & bright white tripple tail.....

You're not doing anything wrong. The fish you wanted to catch weren't there. Maybe there at another time, but not then.
Move on.
Sooner or later you are going to catch one/some in a spot. Then that's gonna be one of your spots. Until you don't catch any in that spot and you find one/some in another spot and that becomes one of your spots.
It'll just build that way until you have 1,000 yards of spots in a stretch.
Then when the waters crappy in all those spots for a long period of time, you're forced to move on to another body of water/river and start that whole process over again. ......

Hope you're retired[emoji51]




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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Micropterus salmoides

You're not doing anything wrong. The fish you wanted to catch weren't there. Maybe there at another time, but not then.
Move on.
Sooner or later you are going to catch one/some in a spot. Then that's gonna be one of your spots. Until you don't catch any in that spot and you find one/some in another spot and that becomes one of your spots.
It'll just build that way until you have 1,000 yards of spots in a stretch.
Then when the waters crappy in all those spots for a long period of time, you're forced to move on to another body of water/river and start that whole process over again. ......

Hope you're retired[emoji51]




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100% great advice.


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And sometimes the fish just refuse to bite.

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Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Micropterus salmoides

You're not doing anything wrong. The fish you wanted to catch weren't there. Maybe there at another time, but not then.
Move on.
Sooner or later you are going to catch one/some in a spot. Then that's gonna be one of your spots. Until you don't catch any in that spot and you find one/some in another spot and that becomes one of your spots.
It'll just build that way until you have 1,000 yards of spots in a stretch.
Then when the waters crappy in all those spots for a long period of time, you're forced to move on to another body of water/river and start that whole process over again. ......

Hope you're retired[emoji51]




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I appreciate that. I guess I was doubting myself so much because I've heard what a great spot that's been for other people. Even the wl&f agent that checked our licenses said its a hit an miss spot. I'm no quitter. Ill figure it out one of these days.

I'd do what MS said. As for places to start, baits, colors, I would search post by me, MS, jigrig, and a few others. You'll get a few ideas. Also, just search tickfaw. You'll probably find good info there.

Fish finders should be called structure finders. I am new to this style of fishing also. Some time you strike out along the way but as long as you learn something from that day it isnt all bad. As far as fish on the screen, I look for schools of fish on structure. Not that I catch alot of fish doing that, but to find sac a lait in ones and two's on the fishfinder you would have to be verry close to shallow structure. The fish could be any fish that you saw on the FF. My most successful days are when I use the ff to only find the depth they want to be at and use it to find more spots. If i fished deeper waters I would use it to find brush piles and dropoffs with fish on them. Any water under 10 feet it is hard to see fish on the ff and catch them. Most sac a lait I catch are in cover or very close, as in treetops or flooded button brush. A single post or piling will have some on it but your would not see that on the ff.

Just keep at it and try to not get locked down at a spot fot too long because fish are on the ff. If you go enough and remember the conditions and not just the location you can put it all together most every time. Depth, watercolor, water movement, cover type, temp, all come into play and will change day to day. But there will be a pattern for that day and will have the same pattern again some other days. Just got to try until you find it.

I talk like I know what to do, but it is hard for me to find fish when I go because I dont go enough to learn the patterns. Thats why the people on this site are so helpful to me.

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