[shaggs]

How long do you go without a bite before changing up the color/type of bait you are using.

The reason I ask is I can go 3 hours and net 2-4 fish in black pond whether it be pickeral or bass. Is this a good average?

Most likely for that pond but what about going to a pond/lake you've never been to do you keep the same bait or keep moving. How do you know when to move on?

Maybe it's retrieval speed? slow down speed up.

So I go an hour with no bites but then I get a hit...then nothing for 20 minutes. Was that 1 hit a fluke and I should change things up? or continue fishing that lure because I've gotten one hit? but then another hour goes by with nothing and then 5 minutes later when I start thinking I should change up I catch another fish.

I think it might be my presentation or something....then again we are talking black pond...I don't have much experience anywhere else. lets just say I've caught more fish this year than my entire lifetime. The last time I owned a fishing license was over a decade ago.

[slimecoat]

Great questions Shaggs.

Thats fishing, I know your fishing from shore, and that complicates things, as you cannot bring a lot of different options with you. We tournament bass guys have like 10 rods each aboard all set up for a different bait, and or technique. We can within seconds pickup a different rod with a different bait, and make multiple casts with multiple baits to the same target or area, to try to entice the fish to bite. Every angler, every fish, and every lake is different. The fish will tell you what they want, what color the like, and how fast or slow they want it. The same lake that was hot yesterday with a watermelon black flake senko, can turn off on that bait, and be hot with a black and blue jig the next day. That may result from the fish getting accustomed to seeing that bait, and learning that it is bad news to eat those colors. The fish on some days are smarter than you think, and sometimes the weather has shut the bite down, or moved the fish deeper than you can cast to.

I guess my point is, that you have to change baits and experiment to find out what the fish want on that perticular day to make each outing successfull. There is no exact science to this, that why they call it fishing not catching.

Once you get into fishing, especially for bass, you will learn quickly that you need to be willing to be flexible and change baits and tactics often.

Your on the right track though, keep asking questions because most of the guys on this site are willing to point you in the right direction for free.

Feel free to pm me with anything bass related, if I can help I will.
_________________
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[pdcrack]

Well said Slimey.
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[Just4fun]

You're really asking a couple of different questions there,....
As for the numbers of fish,...most places, I consider 2 bass per hour to be a "decent day". Above that is a "good day" ,...and when I get below 1 fish per hour it's a "lousy day". That's just me though and I'm fishing from a boat!

Like slimey said,..a lot of fishermen will keep rotating between a bunch of baits looking for something that the fish want. Then there are also others (like me..) that have just a few baits but they are fished with a very high degree of confidence (and in different ways, on different days)!

I think that at a minimum,..on any given day you want to:
1) be able to cover the entire water column from top to bottom with your baits
2) have baits for fish that will be aggressively feeding as well as those that are in a more neutral or negative mood. (Note some baits can just be fished in different ways to accomplish this).

Hope that helps a little!
_________________
"If people concentrated more on the really important things in life there'd be a shortage of fishing poles."
Mark

[shaggs]

Ok, I think I got it....

I can walk the shore with the same bait and eventually catch something; however I could switch it up, see what they hit and catch more knowing what they like.

But if you had 1 rod with you, how often would you change up? and what first, color or type?
say a pond/lake summertime water temp 75-80, fairly clean water with lots of vegetation, sunny 75-85, since summer is coming up.

30 minutes? x number of casts? I know it's personal preference but I'd like to see individual thoughts and maybe get an average.

[Phish]

Mark and Slimey nailed it with their answers, and your additional question is really answered best by saying "trial and error." Some days you'll be able to be patient, other days you'll just have a feeling that you're not throwing the right bait and make a switch. I think being able to cover the entire water column is right on. You can pretty much do that with anywhere from 3-5 baits on one rod, and here's what I'd suggest you have with you.

On 10 pound mono (because flouro sinks and you don't want that fishing on the top) and a decent medium to medium heavy rod you can fish all of these effectively:

1. Soft plastic (senko, worm, beaver) - low to middle of water column depending on how you rig/fish it.
2. Spinner bait - pretty much covers the entire water column from sub-surface to bottom depending on the speed of retrieve.
3. Topwater (popper, chugger, walker, or frog)
4. Lipless crank/rattletrap (same depth coverage as a spinnerbait and gives you some noise
5. Jig - Swim it, stroke it, drag it and you've covered the bottom half pretty well.

Change them up as often as you feel like it. The fish will tell you what they want eventually, or you'll figure out that they're not there and move. Either way, if you're changing it up, you're also practicing and getting used to different baits and techniques which will eventually land you confidence which directly translates to more fish.