Are My Expectations Just Off? What Is "good" Fishing?

[moguy1973]

Nice, I plan to chase smallmouth on that stretch of the Jacks next weekend. Scenery's always nice there, if nothing else.

Might see you down there. We are doing an overnighter from Alley to 2 Rivers

[jimithyashford]

Spent 5 hours at Bennet Springs trying to trout fish. I did manage to catch one small rainbow trout, which I gave to another angler who was cleaning his catch since one small trout is too little to make a meal of.

I figured fishing in water swarming with thousands and thousands of mass-stocked fish would at least yeild a productive and bad-streak breaking day. But it did not. I did catch one fish, but it hardly felt like a satisfying trip.

[Al Agnew]

Geez, I'd almost drive over to your side of the state to fish with you just to satisfy my curiosity as to what you're doing wrong that you can't catch fish.

[jimithyashford]

I figured with the rain and cooler temperatures that fish might be biting yesterday. I went to the bridge over the James on far south Campbell just north of Nixa and fished the pool under the bridge. I cast a little rooster tail out in a fan pattern, about 6 casts and retrievals. Then did the same with a crank bait, then the same with a yellow jig. Rooster tail was a fast strait retrieve, Crankbait was retrieved fast, then pause, then fast, then pause. jig was retrieved in small hops along the bottom.

No bites.

And Al Agnew....I WISH I KNEW! This is driving me nuts man. I've taken to watching youtube videos of angling tips, and trying very hard to replicate the methods, lures, and fishing areas shown in those videos, but I certainly have not replicated their results.

[fishinwrench]

My girlfriends 15 y/o son has the same affliction. I just wanna shove his head underwater sometimes.

I have hooked him up with good gear and have given him all the patient instruction I am capable of but it ain't working out for him.

He just goes thru the motions without paying attention or anticipating a strike. And although he has easily mastered every virtual reality game on the planet....including the fishing ones, he just doesn't concentrate or attempt to learn and/or react when he is actually fishing. Therefore he is only "into it" for about 10 minutes at a time, after which he just starts casting around and daydreams. I say "dude you gotta pay attention". He says "I am"..... But he ISN'T !!!!

[Pat Magee]

Why do I get the feeling we are being trolled?

I can honestly say I have never heard someone fishing with a Rooster Tail so much! Grab some Zoom Super Flukes and a pack of 2/0 offset hooks and let it "dead drift" thru the fishy spots and you will catch some fish.

[Flysmallie]

I can honestly say I have never heard someone fishing with a Rooster Tail so much!

Without catching a fish.

[Riverwhy]

One of the best trolls in a long time.

[jimithyashford]

....what the heck? Has the consensus become that I am a troll? I am faking not catching any fish? I did not even remotely anticipate this. I assure you I have been earnest and consistantly trying what I've been advised to try. I fished that Crawfish on a hook set up like 5 trips in a row. I fished the NED rig all day once, that was the day I actually caught a nice bass.

I don't know what I've said or done that has come off as trollish, other than not catch fish. Or is my ability to catch fish so abysmal that it seems I must be faking cause nobody could have THAT hard of a time catching fish? Well I assure you it's real, and it sucks.

I had no idea fishing a roostertail was a weird thing, it just seemed like a good active lure, and it gets me the most consistant hits from little bitty fish, so I usually start using it as kinda my last hurrah before I call it quits.

And as to what Fishing Wrench said, that sounds like me, in the sense that I keep casting and casting and not getting bites, and advice like "pay attention" or "learn to anticipate a strike" sounds great, but I don't know what that means. Pay attention to what? To where the eddy is? To where you see splashes? To where the water seems to have deeper channels? And what on earth does learning to ancitipate a strike entail? When I feel a bump or jolt that seems like it may have been a fish that just didn't bite hard enough to get hooked, I usually stop, twitch it a little, and then keep reeling. Is that what you mean?

Trust me, if I knew what I was doing wrong enough that me being a fake is more believable than me catching this few fish. I would have corrected it.

But I get the sense I am overstaying my welcome. I had no intention of that. I apologize.

[Smalliebigs]

Why do I get the feeling we are being trolled?

I can honestly say I have never heard someone fishing with a Rooster Tail so much! Grab some Zoom Super Flukes and a pack of 2/0 offset hooks and let it "dead drift" thru the fishy spots and you will catch some fish.

I agree.....my four year old daughter has caught three smallmouth to this point and has only fished 4 times....they were all on her own on little crappie jigs I put on for her on her Disney Princess rod and her Spiderman rod....she even caught one on a pink slurpie she chose. This guy might need to go try feeding the ducks at the park or something???