No luck! New at fishing.

[mistreated]

Hello,
I need HELP.. I have been trying to fish with no success. I watch youtube videos and read fishing forums with no luck. I have been fishing at Rice Lake and at Island Lake in caledon. Tried fishing in morning, late afternoon, and night. Used worms, gulp, luers and spoons with no luck. Getting discouraged after the two hour drive(one way) with no luck. All I seem to catch is sunfish. What magic spell do I need to cast in order to catch something worth talking about?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dozer]

Hmmm...

First off, summer shore fishing ( over all ) can suck. Water is simply too warm for fish. Numerous species of fish seek out cooler waters during the summer months. Any body of water can be figured out, just takes time. A member here posts from Rice Lake, always has photos of these huge bass he catches and makes it look very easy. He has been fishing there for years and has cracked the code - knows the fish better than they know themselves. Its a learning curve. Even though its a simple animal ( I mean its a stupid fish right? ) they still act in a way that ensures their survival. We need to figure out how they move in order to find them. Waters too hot? Go to cooler water. Not enough oxygen? Go deeper or near running water, etc. Figuring out how they move will only get you to the fish, the second part is getting them to bite :lol:

Books, forums, internet can only get you the information but being out there gives you the experience points. Don't get discouraged, think of it as a challenge because thats exactly what it is. There will be days where all the stars align to have a perfect day of fishing, you get out and catch 1. Other days you go knowing the conditions are unfavorable and catch 50. As stupid as they are, no book or person knows everything about fish and how to catch them all the time.

The way your bait is presented in the water ( lure choice, lure depth, lure color, lure speed, etc. ) is typically called the presentation. Sometimes you need to change the style, speed, size, etc. Don't rush to go out and buy lures you think will work because most don't, save yourself some coin.

Talk with locals, set up meets with members here, observe what others are doing ( this one is huge ) and just go out and keep pluggin' away. I'm not sure if I've helped you or not though I hope you see things differently. Fishing is a way of thinking... if that makes any sense at all :lol:

What kind of fish are you looking to catch? Maybe we can focus on one at a time to increase your chances of catching a lunker.

 

[mistreated]

Hi Dozer,
Thanks for your positive response and motivation.
Your right... It's a huge learning curve. I will try to set up meets with some local members.
I did rent a boat on my two visits to rice lake but was lacking experience. At least I hooked a sunfish

 

[AaronKrick]

Try someplace closer before you do the big trek to rice. I will hopefully give you some helpful advice, but first I need to say this: Don't buy random lure. Make sure they are fairly heavy so that you can cast it far. Generally the best fish looking baits are crankbaits and jerkbaits. Other than those I have no use for any other fish like baits from brands especially rapala. I have about 15 lures that I never even use because when I first started fishing years ago I thought that they were good. They are mostly too light to cast very far.

Anyway. From my experience in bass fishing, I always try crankbaits first, unless I'm fishing lily pads or 1 ft or less of water. Sometimes the fish don't want the big, noisy bait, so this is when I switch to a spinnerbait. But first, here's my favourite crankbaits: cotton cordell in silver for muddy water or a more natural colour in clear water. For spinnerbaits I these lucky strike things with a little spinner on a wire that forms a triangle. There is a jig head on the bottom of the triangle with these plastic tentacles coming off it. The little spinner is on top. I lightly cast this into small coves. If the spinner doesn't work then you have to go to soft plastics. I like a texas rigged 6" plastic worm in the pink or bubblegum colour. Jig that along the bottom. If that doesn't work then try a wacky rigged 6" senko worm.

So this is what I suggest you buy:
-an assortment of crankbaits that are around 1 1/2 - 3 inches and in an assortment of unnatural colours and natural. So about 4 or 5 cranks is perfect
-2-4 spinnerbaits. 1 or 2 spinners like i talked about and 1 or 2 of the regular mepps spinnerbaits or a panther martin
-a package of texas rig hooks, a package of texas rig weights, and a package of bubblegum coloured 6 inch plastic worms
-a package of dark green senkos that are around 6 inches. Try to get some non offset hooks although offset ones are okay.

That should be all you need, although if you want, you could throw in 1 or 2 jerkbaits and a hula hopper. Make sure your like is at least 8 lbs. my favourite line weight is 8 because it works for everything. Also, remember, these are bass. Ensure that every bait you get is at least 1 1/2 inches. Bass hang around structure in and out of the water like logs, overhanging trees, rock piles, weeds, or deeper water. Coves are often productive for bass too.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: oh and all of this stuff can be found of the internet or on google images. All the rigs have tons of videos on how to rig it

 

[mistreated]

Wow!!!
I know what a worm is.
I have to google all this stuff.
Thanks

 

[usernamehere]

I highly recommend dollar store lures if you are new to fishing.
They have AMAZING spoon lure colors/textures, and very nice spinner lures. Both spoon lures and spinners are better than canadian tire ones. Some spinners are even better than Mepps.

Their crankbaits are not as good, but if you are new, better to buy those and try them out, and if you lose one, its only $1, not $6-10 ones. Some perform just as good as brand name ones, some not.
They have nice topwater frogs lures too. Havnt tried those but they look good.

Their worms are........"meh". I dont use worms and all worms look the same to me lol.

If you are planning to buy, buy spoon lures (casting spoons), crankbaits (lipped) and spinner lures at Dollarama.
Buy lipless crankbaits, jig hooks (jig heads), and worms at Dollar Store (Dollarama dont have them, or very limited selection).

Topwater lures (frogs, poppers, etc) can be found at both stores, but I dont use topwater stuff so I cant give an opinion.

 

[mistreated]

Hi everyone,
Thank you in advance for your advice.
Today I went for a day hike to Mono Cliffs (McCarstons Lake). A 50 minute drive and a 1 hour hike.
I tried different lures with no luck. I decided to try a jitterbug.
Boom.... My first bass!
It was small but still fun for me.

 

[AaronKrick]

Nice! Pics?

 

[mistreated]

No pics.
I've been using a cheep canadian tire rod. Can anyone recommend a decent rod setup?
Thanks

 

[[email protected]]

fishing is easy....its the catching that hard.....just read my signature.....it boils down to experience, the more you do it, the better you get, the more you understand what they are looking for an feeding on at certain times of the year, once in a while you'll get surprised and something will throw you for a loop. for example...watching muskie hunters the other day, a walleye chased down a big musky spinnerbait through a figure 8 pattern and they landed it, was about 3-4lbs, caught in the weeds, in 2 ft of water.....very unusual for walleye

 

[Legend Boats]

Watching shows and taking in any advice they give you is a great start. I would start with what kind of baitfish is available in the lake. Perch, Crawfish typically seems like the standard meal on any kawartha lake. Keep colour choices simple, Green pumpkin for sunny days and overcast days will be your brighter colours. Exploring the lake will be one of your biggest cards you will play. If you have a GPS start marking weedy drop off and fish the edge of the weeded areas. If you notice baitfish in the area than you have some sort of idea if there is fish around.

Using search baits are key to any lake you fish. Spinnerbaits are a great way to locate fish and you can fine tune your fishing from there. Top water lures are also a great way to search fish on weed flats. Hope this helps, I'm sure your persistence and determination will pay off to that big one!

Henry Nguyen
Legend Boats

 

[efka]

start from basics. what size is your hook and your line? any leaders?

 

[CatchandreleaseKyle]

If you're looking to upgrade your rod, I'd say pick up a 6'6 - 7 foot Ugly Stik with a decent Quantum reel (4 ball bearings or more). That truly can be a Canadian Tire special but it's a good set up for the advancing beginner and the Ugly Stiks take a beating.

 

[Nick]

try fishing for bass. I love tubes and the big O crankbait.