I hardly ever go on long fishing trips where I fish all day, or even for more than two or three hours. I fish very often at the ponds that are close to my house. I usually go for a couple of hours. They are close by and there’s not much of a commitment. I can go after work, at lunch, or whenever I have a couple of hours free. Sometimes it’s only for 30-45 minutes. So, I do fish very often, if only for short periods of time.
At the time of this writing (4/9/2025) I have gone fishing 19 times. I’ve caught 5 bass, 4 catfish, and 1 bluegill. That’s a pretty low average. I caught all those fish on only 5 of those trips. As fun as fishing is, it’s frustrating to go fishing that many times and catch nothing. A couple of those times I had some bites, so even though in a way those time are even more frustrating, but at least I have hope. Getting bites keeps me interesting and I know there’s something down there in my vicinity that I have the potential to catch. The other times where I don’t get any bites or nibbles can be really frustrating.
Are the fish not there? Are they there, but not biting? Are they there and would bite if I presented the right bait? Is it that I’m not presenting the right bait in the right way? Granted, most of my trips so far this year have been in cold weather. Is it that all those things (location, bait, presentation) are different in the winter? That’s probably the case, but I’m fishing in small ponds, so they don’t have very far to move, or much choice in water depth. I of course try different baits, location, depths, and presentations in the Winter, but I didn’t fool any of them into biting.
All the bass I’ve caught have been in the last week or so, so I’ve caught them in warmer weather/water than the trips in January and February.
Maybe I’ll try again today!!