Fishing experience

Any time of the year I’ll go out and catch 2-3 decent sized bass on a regular basis, but I have a hard time catching a 5 fish limit ever. I’ve been fishing quite a bit on a boat now for about 1-2 months. How long does it take to get consistent on the water with catching a good number of bass?

I started fishing when I was 10. I just turned 55. Not yet...

This will sound very cliche, but.... confidence and practice equals more success.

Very cliche, but true

4 and 58. Nope, not yet.

more than likely you are spot fishing instead of pattern fishing, JMO.

I started to get serious about bass fishing when I was 25.
I'm now 62.
I catch fish consistently and have for years, year around.
Knowing seasonal patterns and how to read water is the key.
Stay at it.

In this sport failure can breed success.

This very well could be true. The area/areas where you are catching 2-3 fish, try and find similar areas on the lake and fish those as well. That's what they call "fishing a pattern" Also, if you find an area with a few good fish, don't be afraid to fish it slow and thorough. I have done well in tournaments doing this and "grinding" out a good five fish limit. And like others mentioned... confidence really does go a long way. Good luck

You should consider hiring James Biggs for instructional fishing. He will teach on any lake and you'll learn how to fish patterns much more efficiently. I hired him last year after getting tired of getting blanked for so long. I went from no fish to a minimum of 15 each trip. I was able to take what I learned from him and use it on other lakes with good success.

45 years of bass fishing and I can say there are times I only catch a few , there are times I catch large numbers and large bass . I am very detailed by nature/profession .
One thing that probably helped me more than anything was taking detailed notes on each trip to the water .
I would log down the following .
date , weather , wind (including direction ) , water temp ( when I started and stopped that day) , moon phase , water clarity , how many I caught , depth I caught them , lure I caught them on and lures I used that didn't work ,baitfish activity etc...
BASS used to sell a yearly " calendar " notebook with area's to take notes .
Taking these notes allowed me to pattern a lake , the time of year , and what worked best and what didn't . It also allowed me to come back each year and build off previous patterns .

Fish with others, it will help.

Spend the time learning a single lake and you can bat near 100%. It could take a couple years but you'll get there. If you bounce around lake to lake, you might wind up a more versatile fisherman but it'll take a whole lot longer.

This is the major way to become good on a lake. Add studying maps, contour lines, find the irregular features on the 20 ft contours that will hold fish. Learn how to pick the best spots on the lake. Fish that are using an area on a consistent basis will live withing a few yards of these spots. Work these spot at different times during the day. Fish them often until you learn their time table of feeding on those spots.
- Start with the shallow water spots that have deep water irregular contour lines that will bring the fish to the shallows.
- Concentrate on finding 3 shallow water spots from daybreak to 9:00 AM. Work to get a top water bite on these spots. Continue to work shallow water spots until you feel you have found the 3 best spots on your lake that you have chosen. This usually takes hard fishing on at least 60 spots. This will take about 6 months of fishing during the top water season from April through October.
- Do the same thing over to find the 3 best mid-range spots in water from 5 to 12 ft.. Start with working the areas around your 3 best top water spots out to the 12 ft. range. Again this will take 6 months and fishing about 60 spots that you have found from doing your mapping work. Learn these ares from 9:00 to 1:00. Find every bush and etc. that a fish would use for an ambush point to feed around.
- Now develop your deep water skills by doing the same thing from 12 ft. to 30 ft.. Starting as close to the 3 top water spots and Mid-Range spots in hopes that you will find the irregular features that these fish are coming from toward the shallows each day. Big Bass move very short distances to do this and live close to areas that they do not have to move very far toward the shallows to feed up. This is why not many of them are caught. Once the fish start to move from their Comfort Zone to feed you want to be there.

To develop a solid consistent system of not only catching numbers of fish, but also big fish it takes time on the water and a commencement to read, learn, fish with those that can help you and study mapping. There are not many short cuts except with those that can help you. I have been mapping for 50 years and if I wanted to learn a new lake and be one of the best on that lake it would take one full year of fishing at least 2 days per week to develop this system. Weekends is not the time to be trying to develop a plan; because the lake is crowed and the fish learn to avoid that time frame. The best fisherman I know do all their work during the middle of the week.

Same as above, I'm 55, fished for 50 years and I still have some, ok many, days that I can hardly buy a bite. Just said to my tournament partner last week, "you'd think we would just happen on a dang fish". Then, we turn around and win our club tournament on the same lake, Rayburn. My best advice is to consider the season, water temps, winds, etc. and begin breaking the lake down to a smaller section. Then, break that section down considering the time of year, water temp, depths, cover, forage, weather-windy, clouds or sunny, etc. Look for bait fish and cover, you'll find fish. When you catch 2, there will be others around the area, so slow down, and dissect that section of water. Pay attention to what the fish are eating and match the colors, size, etc. of that food. If it's sunny, fish docks. If it's hot, fish docks. If it's cold, look for the warmest water you can find. If it's hot, look for cooler water with current. Look for oddities, rocks where there are few. Sandy bottoms in grass covered areas, laydowns, creek channel swings, sharp drops, etc. If you know there are fish present and slow doesn't work, rip the bait. If you have ripped it, then slow way down. If a 10" power worm isn't working, go to a finesse worm, or senko. After all that is said, when you find a good area, still cover water. Cast, cast, and cast more. Hate to say, slow fishing isn't fun fishing. Catching fish is fun fishing.

I don't disagree that you should learn your home lake. But, once you can catch some fish, then take your experience to a lot of lakes and see what you can figure out as quickly as possible on new or newer bodies of water. They, you add a whole 'nother area of learning to fishing. Compete against yourself. Each time out, pretend you are in a tournament and you have to put a limit in the boat, as fast as you can. Then, upgrade as fast as you can muster.

And, call James Biggs!! He can teach you more in a few hours than you will learn in 10 years!!

Seeing others catch fish doing some thing different helps alot.

Biggs X3

There is a reason he is so recommended.

I feel blessed even if catch 1 fish a day, though those days are short.

X4