Texas Fishing Forum

Breaking the new year skunk?

Posted By: Lonestar Angling

Breaking the new year skunk? - 01/17/21 04:01 AM

In December the bite was slow but I caught some nice fish for the lake that I fish. However, the last fish I caught was a medium-size drum two days after Christmas. Since then I've gone out most days for 2-4 hours with only the occasional bite. So, I thought I'd come here and see what y'all would do if you were looking to maximize your chances of catching a fish this time of year. Any fish will do, I have access to kayaks and a pond prowler with a trolling motor. The pond prowler can reach most places on my local lakes, albeit slowly. Any and all advice is much appreciated! The attached picture is a LMB that I got my dad on, it was caught the day after Christmas and I have a video of the release if anyone is interested in seeing it.

Attached picture IMG_20210102_165904771.jpg
Attached picture IMG_20210102_165911948_HDR.jpg
Posted By: banker-always fishing

Re: Breaking the new year skunk? - 01/17/21 05:54 AM

Nice post and fish. Good job. thumb



Side Note: Winter fishing can be very slow. I usually target the sunfish. Bluegill, Redear, etc. I fish in deeper water and try of fish by structure such as brush piles and bridge pillions. The key word to winter fishing is patients. cheers
Posted By: Bandit 200 XP

Re: Breaking the new year skunk? - 01/17/21 09:35 AM

Nice Fish
Posted By: Lonestar Angling

Re: Breaking the new year skunk? - 01/17/21 02:00 PM

Thank y'all! "The bite is slow in winter" is what I've told myself since my last fish. The worst part is, I've had probably a dozen fish on the line, bending my rodtip since then and somehow every one has gotten away. As far as your sunfish recommendation Banker, I think I'll give that a try asap. Should I try my typical nightcrawler-near-bottom routine or something new? I've never pan fished in the cold. There's a small lake with some good brush just a town over from me that produced numbers in summer, hopefully I can find a few hungry ones there still. Thanks again for taking the time to reply, guys.
Posted By: FlyFX

Re: Breaking the new year skunk? - 01/17/21 04:22 PM

Nice way to start off the year
Posted By: Lonestar Angling

Re: Breaking the new year skunk? - 01/18/21 03:56 AM

Finally broke the skunk today by going trout fishing with a friend, caught my limit of rainbows! First trout that I've ever caught, and my first fish of 2021. Felt great to get some fish after a long dry spell.
Posted By: lconn4

Re: Breaking the new year skunk? - 01/18/21 05:29 PM

Fished in water 46 to 48 degrees fishing 5 inch swimbait yesterday. Dragged it using rod tip as slow as you can go, no twitching just dragging. For the first couple of hours from 10:00 to noon each bite was vicious and the bass were hitting bait as I slowly dragged it across bottom, would pause and just as I started to pull bait again, the strike would occur. Not lifting bait off bottom, just resuming slow crawl. I think that was just as important as the speed. No sudden movements to scare fish. Never during the day did I get bit any other way. When the bite slowed I tried different retrieves, tried different baits... nothing. Went back to slowly dragging swimbait like before and noticed the bite was still going on, but that the fish were taking it much more subtly. There was never any line twitch that I could see, only less or more "weight" in bait. Swung on what I knew was a different feel and hooked up. From that point on I was setting the hook on everything that didn't feel like what I was expecting. At the end of the day I must have had 15 bites... probably more until I knew what to look for. Had one fish that I set hook on and it was like I didn't have a bait tied on, knew he was moving towards me... try to reel in all slack and set hook again... nothing. Fish dropped bait almost dead under my kayak. Later on I threw a willow leaf spinner bait to see if they were biting it and dragged it the same way. I swear the fish picked bait up laying flat on the bottom.. Only landed 5 bass, broke one off, got hung up and lost a good one. Stumps, reeds, pad stems.. the fish were up against it. Didn't expect such a fun day having experienced a skunking the day before in similar conditions. What I also did differently was use an anchor... no way to fish that slowly being pushed by the wind, from a kayak. Anyway, I learn something every time out and most of its when I'm paying attention. roflmao

[Linked Image]
This was what was working for me. 5” Fringe Tackle Swim bait on 5/0 Owner Flashy Swimmer under spin. It was the very last one I had and couldn’t believe it was still in one piece at the end of the day.

[Linked Image]
Last cast of the day.
Posted By: Lonestar Angling

Re: Breaking the new year skunk? - 01/19/21 02:55 AM

Thanks for the detailed reply Iconn4, I'll have to try your method next time I get out on some open water. With how apprehensive they are to really bite down on a bait hard this time of year I can see how it would result in more strikes. I think a lot of my issue can be attributed to spooking the fish like you mentioned in your post, I have had a lot of trouble getting my baits where I want them first cast with the wind being so crazy lately... At least on days like that I can just consider it a day of casting practice now that I've finally caught a fish this year grin
Posted By: Phis0n

Re: Breaking the new year skunk? - 01/26/21 01:14 AM

Great catch!
I'm trying to break the skunk off as well.. Been since September that I haven't caught a dang thing!
Posted By: Lonestar Angling

Re: Breaking the new year skunk? - 01/26/21 11:32 PM

I would recommend going to a place where there are stocked trout with some powerbait if you're looking to break the skunk Phis0n. It worked for me last week and then broke the new year skunk for my cousin yesterday. We went with some friends that didn't want to take their fish home so we ended up coming home with our possession limits yesterday! I definitely clean a trout 10x faster than before after all that deboning... But we have a lot of fried fish to look forward to! food
Posted By: banker-always fishing

Re: Breaking the new year skunk? - 01/27/21 03:37 AM

Nice fish. Good job. thumb
Posted By: dbell47

Re: Breaking the new year skunk? - 01/27/21 07:38 PM

thumb
Posted By: d75bender

Re: Breaking the new year skunk? - 02/02/21 03:36 AM

Did ya weigh her?
Posted By: Bandit 200 XP

Re: Breaking the new year skunk? - 02/03/21 11:11 AM

thumb
Posted By: Lonestar Angling

Re: Breaking the new year skunk? - 02/09/21 04:51 PM

I did Bender, she weighed 6lb 11oz. Didn't get any dimensions since it was far bigger than any LMB my dad or I have ever caught and we really wanted to send her back as heathy as we could. Nobody asked for it but I can't help but post the release video so here it is: https://youtu.be/ZzALLb6kO48

It was an awfully cold day so she had some serious lockjaw.
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