Went to Conroe on Saturday and started in an area that I was absolutely certain that I would catch some in. I tried topwaters (whopper plopper, buzz bait, hollow body frog, Ribbit), Senko, Fluke, TX Rig, swimbait, spinner bait, flipping a craw, square bill.... you get the picture. Struck out totally so tried some totally different areas. Fished from the shore to 18' and nada.

I know that that is probably just Conroe on some days and even suspect that the fish knew it was Saturday. Question for the hammers out there... do you have days like that? How do you keep your confidence rolling and what do you try next? Stick with your core strengths or try out of the box things? Stay in familiar areas or just try someplace new? It has been a while since I have been skunked on a lake and forgot how frustrating it can be to never figure it out.

Put it on the trailer.

Have you given bowling any thought?

I had one of those days saturday on my home lake. Very frustrating considering I was on a good pattern all week. When all else fails, I hit and rocks or rif raf I can find and hammer away with a crainkbait.

I've had days like that and I try everything I can think of. I really need to get more comfortable fishing out deep. I feel like the deeper fish don't get hammered as much and aren't as impacted by all the activity on the weekends. Unfortunately, since I'm not good at it, I don't spend much time doing it.

On the way home, I contemplate why I'm spending all this money and time trying to catch a fish I'm going to release back into the water. I determine that it's too frustrating and I should pick up another hobby. I wake up the next morning ready to go back and give it another shot. And the cycle continues.......

Thanks guys.

TwoLakes: I hear you brother. I just bought a new Skeeter and driving home I was thinking of all of the other things I could have done with that money! Today I am looking outside wishing I was on a lake again. I too need to improve my deep water fishing... seems like when I try it I seldom do any good so it is hard to stick with it and get better.

I once was into playing a lot of golf. It seemed like the more I read and studied the worse I got. Bass fishing is following a similar pattern. It seems like as a kid fishing in a john boat with one rod and a little tackle and I would catch more than I catch now. Of course that was fishing on ponds in the middle of no where East Texas... and not lake Conroe with 1000 other boats on the lake.

Maybe I should head back to Fayette next trip and build my confidence up again... If I get skunked there then there will probably be a Skeeter with very low hours for sale!!!

Go super finesse 6lb line flick shake 3in senko heck even a perch will eat it.

Here's a golf analogy:

Conroe: Playing Augusta National during the Masters.
Fayette: Hitting at the driving range on mats with a tail wind.

My strategy is usually to pick up a Texas rig, Senko, or weightless fluke and fish it extremely, extremely slowly in the most likely areas I can find. But...

Some days you just don't catch them.

Head for country cafe in whitney and order chocolate pie

It happens to everyone. If Conroe is your home lake, like it is mine, it will happen even more. It's just the nature of that lake. Ask some of the elite series guys who fished the classic 6 weeks ago. And to make matters worse, once you think you have them figured out and catch a nice limit, they will be gone the next day!! There is never just one way to catch em on that lake. (Just look at the different patterns of the top finishers in the classic) They ranged from flipping brush with plastics and swim jigs, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, football heads in 20 feet, car rigs in deep water, to frogs and flipping jigs on seawalls. And NONE of them worked effectively all three days!! It happens to all of us.

Well, for one I would re-examine your thinking on where you believe the fish to be. Its almost impossible to catch the fish where they aren't.

Other than that, when all else fails throw a ned rig.

go home!

Take a picture of the sunset lol

Somewhere on that lake the fish are biting; that is why someone always find them and makes us less fortunate fisherman really feel good. Ha.

You can even narrow that down more than that, as I have found that somewhere on that lake you can have a great day on any bait that you want to throw.
- Somewhere you can load the boat on a spook.
- Somewhere you can catch them on a spinner bait.
- They are biting somewhere on a Trig.
- Somewhere you can drag a Crig in 20 ft. of water to catch a huge stringer.

It is not about throwing everything in the boat at them. It is about location for the specific bait that you have chosen. If I am going to catch a good stringer on a Spook I have to know the 3 best spots on that lake to get that done. This is why mapping a lake to find those best spots is so important. It doesn't stop there you have to have the 3 best mid-range spots to continue catching fish after they leave the shallows and head back to their comfort zone. Once they have returned home to the comfort zone, you have to have the 3 best spots for deep water fishing to complete the day. Having these 9 best spots will always assure you to be able to make a good showing on at least 2 of them.

How many fishing spots do you have to fish to find fish shallow? On every lake that I have mastered it has taken 60 spots to find 3. That also holds true for the other two levels of fishing unless you get very lucky. New technology in the right hands has shorten this learning curve for some fisherman.

How long does it take to find these 9 spots? It takes a year of hard fishing to master a lake and committing to just that one lake until you have done so. Then you will not have any trouble breaking your next lake down. I am a slow learner. It took me 5 years to master 3 lakes without the technology that we have today.