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Why am I not catching any fish???

J

jahjahwarrior

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I live in New York state and it's been a few years now since I spent $760 of my hard earned income tax return on a lifetime sportsman license (which covers fishing and hunting in New York state for the rest of my life). Since then, I have only caught 1 fish that is somewhat edible. I enjoy fishing, but sitting all day catching nothing but seaweed gets boring and discouraging after a while. I'd like to be able to catch fish for once. And when I say "fish" and I mean real FISH (bass, trout walleye, etc.). Anyone can catch pumpkin seeds and blue gills in state parks. Whip-dee-doo! What is wrong with me? Why am I such a failure when it comes to fishing? What am I doing wrong? And please don't waste my time with stupid answers like "It's all about enjoying nature, blah blah blah". I didn't give New York State $760 of my hard earned money to catch seaweed all day (unless A&E plans to invest millions of dollars into a new reality show called "Seaweed Dynasty").
 
I don't know... I've often felt the same way. I'm terrible at fishing. My brother, dad, son, all excellent fishers of fish. Me? I've only caught two or three fish in my entire life. :dunno
 
Hi Jahja. Im a mad keen fisherman. Been getting a few nice trout lately too. I like using Berkley minnow grubs, 3" camo (red green colour) on a 1/8th jighead. I cast out as far as I can, let it sink to the bottom, give one good lift of the rod and then wind in real slow, about 1 1/2 to 2 seconds per reel handle crank. Small hardbodies, minnow shape, in rainbow trout colour pattern are good as well as dark brown type colours too. Now and then an orange coloured one will do the trick too. Not too big in the harbodies, about 3" or a bit bigger. Slow crank those too. Fish will strike a slower lure more often than a fast one. The soft plastics like the Berk's are good on ocean fish too. Same method. Though you can get freshwater ones or salt water ones to suit. I went yesterday and had a good hit form a big trout but he wouldn't take it. Then a bit later 3 good ones followed it in to the bank but turned off at the last second. Get days like that. Got a nice 1.3 kg brown trout last Friday on those camo Berk's. Tasted great. I use relatively light line for the trout, 6 lb max. Salt water I fish a bit heavier to suit what I chase. Going again tomorrow and will try a smaller lure as they seemed to shy off the ones I was using, might have been feeding on smaller things and the larger didn't fit with what they were feeding on. When you get a fish check its stomach contents to see what their feeding on and try to either match the hatch or size of it at least. Hope that helps a bit.
 
Jahjahwarrior, I think maybe you are finding out what a lot of other people have found out. Fishing, as well as hunting truly has to be about just enjoying being out in nature while still making an excuse that you were actually doing something productive instead of just wasting a day. (Or at least about some part of it that you truly enjoy rather than just putting food on your table.) Nothing wrong with that by the way as far as I'm concerned. I think to really be good at it there is a lot to learn and Free Christian's post just touches the surface of it. It truly does have to be something where you enjoy all aspects of it, learning the techniques, shopping for or making the right equipment for your area, spending long hours traveling to fishing areas and actually going through the motions of fishing, talking to other fishermen and sorting out which of their stories and advice are good and true, and which ones are just "fish stories", on and on and on. And after all that, I really think it still comes down to just having good luck (or maybe waiting for Jesus to tell you which side of the boat to fish from :) ) My dad was pretty good at fishing, but me, well other than one time in the Wyoming wilderness where the fish were so plentiful you could just about scoop them out of the lake with your hands, I didn't inherit my dads luck.

I think you really do have to do this for the love of some other part of it than just putting food on your table cheaply. I read somewhere not to long ago where someone did an analysis of the cost of a pound of meet (in this case it was a pound of venison from hunting) for the average North American hunter after taking a realistic look at all of the expenses involved in getting that meet. This means ALL expenses, not just buying a license and a gun, but includes everything from gas to drive to the gun range to practice his aim to the cost of wear on the tires of his car and the value of hours spent on all hunting related activities that could have been spent at a paying job. I don't remember the exact dollar amount per pound for the average hunter in the United States, but it was well over $100/pound! Sure, for some lucky people who live full time in a wilderness cabin by a lake that isn't fished out by tourists, fishing (and hunting too) are very practical and cheap, and then there are others figured into that study that think nothing of spending $10,000 to go to some exotic resort location for a few days of guided fishing. But for most people, I think you have to do these kind of things for the recreation aspects that you love, rather than for the resulting food!
 
Hey, I love fishing too.

I have a group of friends who love fishing and often they caught more fish than me.

I definitely know how you feel because I am also like you. Paid for the boat rental for the whole day and caught only a few and they barely hit 3kg in total.

However, my friends are catching more because of the tools they use.

Some of the things I see them using were:-

  • A few hooks on the same rod. My friend has at least 4 hooks with baits on each. He spent his night time at home setting up these hooks and prepared them in a few sets so that he can save time while he is out there for fishing.
  • Bring a few more rods, if you can.
  • Bait must be big if you only want to catch big fish.
  • Bait must be small if you want to catch more and you don't mind catching small little fish.
  • While they are fishing at night, we use underwater fishing light and it is green in colour.
  • Pull your rod straight away when you feel a few hits. This is good for fishing both big and small fish.
  • Go out there more often. The extreme angler you see on TV like Jeremy Wade spends 6-7 days in a row just to get a monster fish and it is about 24/7.

These are not universal strategies but what I have experienced in the past.


Hope the Lord bless you with more fish when you have the right tools. =D
 
westtexas said:
JahJah, its all about enjoying nature!:sorry
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If I wanted to "enjoy nature", I'd go hiking. It doesn't cost money to walk on nature trail. Fishing and hunting licenses and gear however costs money. And I sure as heck didn't pay New York state $760 just to sit on my butt and catch seaweed. Like New York state needs even more money to mishandle and dig themselves further into the economical mess they are in.
 
you seem to be blaming NY for not catching what you want. :dunno :shrug :confused

how about other fishermen? Do they have the same problem??
 
jahjahwarrior said:
If I wanted to "enjoy nature", I'd go hiking. It doesn't cost money to walk on nature trail. Fishing and hunting licenses and gear however costs money. And I sure as heck didn't pay New York state $760 just to sit on my butt and catch seaweed. Like New York state needs even more money to mishandle and dig themselves further into the economical mess they are in.
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Yep, that's what I do. I go hiking. Or I go boating. I love being out on the water on a boat and traveling to places on it. It's sort of the marine equivalent of traveling in a motorhome, only cheaper if your in the minority of boaters who know how to do it right. I'm always amazed at how many people see I have a boat and ask "So then, where do you fish?" My response (if they are obviously not hunters) is "Do you own a car? So then where do you go hunting?" For some people that's the first time they realize a boat can actually be used for something other than fishing!

Anyway, it kind of sounds like you might have rushed into the lifetime license thing a little too soon before you were really sure this was something that was actually going to work out the way you hoped it would. Sorry to hear that. I hope you are financially stable enough that it doesn't hurt to badly in the long run. I'm sure as long as you are working, in time you will get over the financial loss and just see it as one of life's rather cruel lessons. Been there and done that myself a few times. :-(
 
Classik said:
you seem to be blaming NY for not catching what you want.
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I'm not blaming New York for my inability to catch fish. I'm criticizing New York for their inability to manage the revenue they receive from state tax payers (tax dollars, fishing/hunting licenses, DMV fees, etc.). I don't mind spending money on a fishing license as long as I get my moneys worth. Otherwise I'm just giving the state more money to spend poorly on things that will only dig the state further into recession.
 
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