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What should you do when the bass aren't biting?
Encouraging bass to bite when they're not actively feeding can indeed be a challenge, but there are several strategies you can employ to increase your chances of success:
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Maintain a Positive Attitude: Stay focused and believe that each cast could lead to a bite. This mindset will help you pay closer attention to your presentation and might make you more likely to detect subtle bites.
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Slow Down Your Presentation: If the bass aren't interested in chasing fast-moving lures like spinnerbaits or crankbaits, switch to slower presentations. Techniques such as dragging a jig, working a Texas-rigged worm, or employing a drop shot or split shot rig can be more effective.
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Downsize Your Lures: Sometimes, using smaller lures can be the key to getting bites. Switching to a 3.5-inch tube jig or a 4-inch finesse worm, for example, can make your offering more appealing to finicky bass.
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Learn and Experiment: Use the time when the fish aren't biting to explore new areas of the lake or to practice techniques you're not familiar with. This way, you're improving your skills and knowledge for future outings.
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Pay Close Attention to Subtle Bites: Especially in colder months, bites can be very subtle. Stay vigilant and watch your rod tip for the slightest movement, which could indicate a bass has taken your bait.
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Explore Vertical Structures: If you're fishing around wood or other structures and not getting bites at the bottom, try jigging vertically in the water column to target suspended bass.
Remember, bass fishing can be as much about patience and persistence as it is about technique. Keep experimenting with these tips, and you'll increase your chances of enticing those stubborn bass to bite, even when they're not in an active feeding mode.
Related videos
Transcript
Video00:00
01:44
What Can You Do When The Fish Aren't Biting? | Bass Fishing by Bass Fishing Tips & Techniques by BassResource → All right, here's a question we can all relate
to, but it's from a beginning angler. And he asked, "Hey, what can you do when the
fish just aren't biting? You got any tips?" Yeah. I got quite a few actually. We've all been there. It happens to the best of us, but there's
several things you can do. First of all, you got to maintain a real positive
attitude. You've got to keep that focus. You have to understand that with every cast
you make, there's a potential that you could get bit. Have that confidence and have that belief
with every cast. The reason being is it's going to enable you
to focus more on that cast, and on your accuracy, and on the presentation as it enters the water,
as well as the presentation on your way back to the boat or back to the shoreline. It's a focus thing and a concentration thing. If you are not confident in what you're doing
and you're not confident the fish are going to bite, then you're not going to be paying
close attention to what you're doing. You'll get sloppy, you may miss subtle bites,
and you may miss out on an opportunity to catch a lot of fish. So maintaining a positive attitude is absolutely
critical to catching more fish. The next thing you should do is slow down. Sometimes a fish just don't want to chase
a fast-moving bait like a spinnerbait, or a crankbait, or maybe your favorite topwater. Don't try to force it.
Transcript
Video01:52
03:18
What Can You Do When The Fish Aren't Biting? | Bass Fishing by Bass Fishing Tips & Techniques by BassResource → If they're not willing to bite it, then slow
down and move to a slower-moving presentation like a jig, or a worm, or maybe a drop shot,
or a split shot presentation, and that can often elicit more bites. The other thing you can do is downsize on
your lures. Go to a three-and-a-half-inch tube jig, or
maybe a four-inch finesse worm. I know a lot of guys that fish five-inch Senko-type
worms, and sometimes I'll move down to a four-inch or even a three-inch, and I'll start catching
a whole bunch. Matter-of-fact, I'll put those on the back
of a split shot sometimes, and I'll start catching a lot more fish when I wasn't getting
any bites before. So just downsizing your lures and slowing
down oftentimes, you can get a lot more bites. Now, if you've tried all this stuff and you're
still not catching fish, don't despair. One of the key things that I do every time
I go out fishing is I want to learn something new. I want to have a key takeaway every time I
get off the water. So even if the fish aren't biting, take this
time, this opportunity to learn some stuff. For example, if you're not familiar with the
lake very much, go out there and motor around. Go check it out. Go to areas you haven't been before, seen
before, and start taking a look at it. If you fish from the shoreline exclusively,
go drive around the lake. Look for other areas and opportunities where
you can fish from the shoreline, places you've
Transcript
Video05:26
06:53
Kissing Bass, Using Electronics, Slow Bite Tips, and More | Bass Fishing by Bass Fishing Tips & Techniques by BassResource → to bite, then you're not going to be paying
close attention to what you're doing. You'll get sloppy, you may miss subtle bites,
and you may miss out on an opportunity to catch a lot of fish. So maintaining a positive attitude is absolutely
critical to catching more fish. The next thing you should do is slow down. Sometimes a fish just don't want to chase
a fast-moving bait like a spinnerbait, or a crankbait, or maybe your favorite topwater. Don't try to force it. If they're not willing to bite it, then slow
down and move to a slower-moving presentation like a jig, or a worm, or maybe a drop shot,
or a split shot presentation, and that can often elicit more bites. The other thing you can do is downsize on
your lures. Go to a three-and-a-half-inch tube jig, or
maybe a four-inch finesse worm. I know a lot of guys that fish five-inch Senko-type
worms, and sometimes I'll move down to a four-inch or even a three-inch, and I'll start catching
a whole bunch. Matter-of-fact, I'll put those on the back
of a split shot sometimes, and I'll start catching a lot more fish when I wasn't getting
any bites before. So just downsizing your lures and slowing
down oftentimes, you can get a lot more bites. Now, if you've tried all this stuff and you're
still not catching fish, don't despair. One of the key things that I do every time
I go out fishing is I want to learn something new.
Transcript
Video03:40
05:26
Kissing Bass, Using Electronics, Slow Bite Tips, and More | Bass Fishing by Bass Fishing Tips & Techniques by BassResource → And that same thing I told you that occurred
with the thermocline can also happen with wood decomposing on the bottom. It just may not have enough oxygen down there
where the bass will want to hang out in, and plus the baitfish won't either. So if you're having difficulty catching fish
around the bases of these trees, move up vertically in the water column and vertically jig those
areas, and you might catch some suspended fish up off the bottom. All right, here's a question we can all relate
to, but it's from a beginning angler. And he asked, "Hey, what can you do when the
fish just aren't biting? You got any tips?" Yeah. I got quite a few actually. We've all been there. It happens to the best of us, but there's
several things you can do. First of all, you got to maintain a real positive
attitude. You've got to keep that focus. You have to understand that with every cast
you make, there's a potential that you could get bit. Have that confidence and have that belief
with every cast. The reason being is it's going to enable you
to focus more on that cast, and on your accuracy, and on the presentation as it enters the water,
as well as the presentation on your way back to the boat or back to the shoreline. It's a focus thing and a concentration thing. If you are not confident in what you're doing
and you're not confident the fish are going
Transcript
Video04:35
05:06
What Can You Do When The Fish Aren't Biting? | Bass Fishing by Bass Fishing Tips & Techniques by BassResource → Practice it now when the fish aren't biting,
so when the fish are biting on that technique, now you're spending more time catching fish
versus learning how to actually work the bait. So always figure out some way to at least
learn something new when you come off the lake, and that way you don't feel your day
was wasted and that, "Boy, I just blew it." You know, you can really come down on yourself
sometimes if you're not catching fish. But if you can at least walk off the lake
going, "Boy, I learned a lot of stuff today, even though I didn't catch any fish," that
will help you with your positive attitude and will help you become a better angler. So I hope that helps.
Transcript
Video09:45
10:55
7 Winter Bass Fishing Tips to Catch Stubborn Bass | How To | Bass Fishing by Bass Fishing Tips & Techniques by BassResource → you listen to the radio or you're looking
at the shoreline and what's going on, whatever it is, you're distracted. Those bites because you're moving so slow
with your baits, they're very subtle. The bass don't have to run down and annihilate
and hit and attack your bait. So the bites aren't going to be real strong
bites. For the most part, they're going to be real
subtle. I've seen it where I've had my bait in 35
feet of water and the rod tip just moves, you know, a 16th of an inch, not even an 8th. You can't even see my finger moving, I bet. It barely moves. And I'm looking at that rod tip going, "You
know, I didn't do that." So either I just pulled across a weed or a
rock or something as the boat moved a little bit or maybe something on the other end bit
it. And there's been times I've just set the hook
just to see what's there and it's a fish. The bite is that subtle. If you're not focused and paying attention
all the time, you're going to miss that. And you could miss out on the trophy of a
lifetime because a lot of these fish are really big this time of year. So pay close attention, be patient and follow
these seven different tips I just gave you, and it's going to up your chances of catching
some really nice fish this winter. Good luck. And for more tips and tricks like this, visit
BassResource.com.
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