Getting into a rut

[WestCentralFisher]

This post isn't a complaint, just a self-observation. I've noticed since about mid-October my fishing ventures have been in what I'd call a serious rut. All summer I fished just about everywhere I could in the Ozarks, but since it got chilly and the smallmouth have retreated to their winter holding areas, it's like every trip is groundhog day. 

This isn't a bad thing. I'm consistently catching trout and smallmouth bass every trip out, in the same few holes of the same couple rivers. It's not that I'm struggling, it's that there is no drama. I know pretty much what I'm going to catch, how I'm going to catch it, and there remains but little mystery in either. I've found myself passively hoping I'll get skunked once or twice to build some anticipation. 

It hasn't been unenjoyable. I find myself leaving the river after a couple of hours and going for hikes, scouting for deer sign for potential future outings, or just generally exploring. But I think I need to expand my horizons a little. Might be time to visit one of the particularly challenging wild trout creeks or go try and find the wintering holes on a smallmouth stream I don't know well.

It's just a strange feeling I don't know if I've really experienced before, mostly because I've spent most of my life as a pretty mediocre fisherman, and I've generally had to scratch and claw just to catch fish. 

[jdmidwest]

I always enjoy a new adventure and change things up some.  My buddies like to stick to the tried and true and we hammer the same things over and over most of the time.

This fall, I took some of them on a upper St. Francois float in kayaks, now they keep asking when we will go back.  It was something I did as a routine growing up since it was close to home.  But they were not with me at that stage of life.  None of them have been on the Jack's Fork, I will probably get them back on it this year.  Its been 10 years now since I have been on it.

Thanksgiving trip this year, I picked Wilson Lake.  It caught my buddy completely by surprise.  His boat was stored an hour from it and we had always wondered what it was like there.  Had heard good reviews, but we had back to back front flopping around over us the 3 days we were there, so fishing was horrible.  But, I am sure we will try it again after we explored the area.  Like you, our trip was spent scouting ramps, looking at local attractions, driving up to the next one on the chain Wheeler Lake.   We spent one afternoon hiking the Dismal Canyon in Russellville, a unique area that was interesting.

Its not always about the fishing.

[Johnsfolly]

I would suggest to down size and microfish those same areas and see what other fish are there. Whe I first started microfishing that opened up so many new fishing spots and new fish from old ones. Any small creek could offer up some cool and overlooked species.

I still enjoy catching trout and smallmouth, but am always looking for that next new species.

[Al Agnew]

Winter fishing almost by necessity is less variable than warm weather fishing.  In the summer, I can and do fish by wading, floating, or jetboat on small creeks, floatable but not jetboatable streams, and the jetboatable rivers.  I can and do catch fish on topwaters, all kinds of fast-moving lures, or just about any other kind of lure I want to fish.  I can experiment with lures I make.  I can fish for bass on streams close to home, or make road trips to streams in a different part of the Ozarks or a different part of the country.  I can fish for trout in all those different ways and places as well.  And that's not even touching on all the other fishing I COULD do for all the other species, but don't because I'm not as interested in it.

In the winter, I am limited in speed, techniques, lures, and spots.  90% of the bass will be in less than 5% of the water, and they will be susceptible to being caught in a relatively few ways with relatively few lures.  Trips to other places are less desirable because you are driving for hours for just a few hours of fishing per day, and you have to spend much of the time on the water looking for fish instead of fishing to them.

So yeah, it takes a different mindset.

[Flysmallie]

On 12/13/2025 at 8:02 AM, jdmidwest said:

Its not always about the fishing.

 

15 minutes ago, Al Agnew said:

So yeah, it takes a different mindset.

 

Two totally different ways of looking at it. Neither is wrong. Neither is what I would probably do.  

Getting in a rut is easy to do. I found myself in one several years ago and I think I'm just now coming out of it and finding a renewed drive in fishing. Not that I haven't always gone, but it got stale somehere and while I still did it, I wasn't working to change anything, or be any better. Trips planned for the future has created a lot of new drive. Not only am I looking forward to what is to come, I'm also more interested in the fishing I'm doing locally. It's brought everything around except my bank account. 

I used to be a lot different. I had to catch every fish. There was no time to take a break. There was no time for lunch. You just fished. And I had to catch the most and the biggest. I would be the best out there. Now I just want to catch one fish. I don't really care what it is or how big it is. Catch one and you are succesful. Then I feel free to do whatever I want. Catch more. Try new things. Take some pics. Or just sit and watch the world go by. 

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

Excellent discussion and viewpoints.   I feel like I agree completely with each one mentioned including the original post.  @WestCentralFisher I believe you are far from alone in your experience. 

We all enjoy things for different reasons. I don't believe anything I could contribute would be different than previously posted.  

I hope you're able to find a spark with something enjoyable. 

 

[Al Agnew]

On 12/15/2025 at 4:10 PM, Flysmallie said:

 

 

Two totally different ways of looking at it. Neither is wrong. Neither is what I would probably do.  

Getting in a rut is easy to do. I found myself in one several years ago and I think I'm just now coming out of it and finding a renewed drive in fishing. Not that I haven't always gone, but it got stale somehere and while I still did it, I wasn't working to change anything, or be any better. Trips planned for the future has created a lot of new drive. Not only am I looking forward to what is to come, I'm also more interested in the fishing I'm doing locally. It's brought everything around except my bank account. 

I used to be a lot different. I had to catch every fish. There was no time to take a break. There was no time for lunch. You just fished. And I had to catch the most and the biggest. I would be the best out there. Now I just want to catch one fish. I don't really care what it is or how big it is. Catch one and you are succesful. Then I feel free to do whatever I want. Catch more. Try new things. Take some pics. Or just sit and watch the world go by. 

I know what you're saying.  I went for many years fishing just as hard as I possibly could.  Thousands of casts a day, never missing a spot as I drifted down the river, trying all kinds of different things if I wasn't catching enough, stopping and pounding the best looking water.  Seldom stopped for lunch, or to swim, or even just to get out and stretch my legs.  Halfway through the day, my butt would be agonizingly sore, and I'd have this stabbing pain in the middle of my back between my shoulder blades.  When I would get out of the canoe for something, I'd have to walk like a bent over old man for a dozen steps before I could even straighten up.

Then one day, I started out the day telling myself, "You don't have to catch every fish in the river."  I started stopping and walking gravel bars, paddling gently and easily through the dead water instead of fishing it, stopped working myself to death to slow the canoe in fast water long enough to make a couple casts.  I stopped experimenting all the time if the fish weren't cooperating; I was either going to catch them on what I wanted to fish, or not catch them.

I still probably fish harder than most, but I don't fish nearly as hard as I used to.  No back pain, and I take care of the butt pain by getting out and walking every hour or so.

[Seth]

This is why I need variety when I fish. I rotate between white/hybrids, black bass, crappie and trout throughout the winter. I enjoy fishing the Osage the most in the winter because you can catch such a variety of fish. It's not uncommong to catch all three species of black bass, whites, hybrids, sauger, walleye, crappie and drum in a single trip.