Hero to Zero

[wapak ice dawg]

Did you ever have one of those days when you caught fish like crazy and everyone was coming by and asking you what you're using, how deep, jigging it or dead stickin, you were the one with all the fish and answers. Then the next day you get up way before dawn, 1st guy on the ice , grab those "secret" baits and hit the ice. Two hours after sunrise you step out of the shanty scratching your head wondering where in the heck did the fish go, you slide over to a guy 50 feet away and his bucket is overflowing with fish and now your asking all the questions. To make matters even worse I walk off the ice with only 2 fish on an all day trip and several guys were close to bag limits. Makes you wanna toss all the gear in the garage and call it a season.

[Fishingoat]

Yep that's fishin.  99% of us have had bad days.  The 1% does not fish. 

[30inthabucket]

I'm with you wapak. Probably drove 150 miles walked 2 miles, drilled 25 holes. Marked tons of fish... caught one big gill. Ughhh!

[snowcone]

you are not alone there are more bad days sometimes , but then its like you are the fish wisperer and an empty hook is your hot lure   ?  eh

[davidhoheisel]

That's what CRV say's everytime we go out together.

You should have heard him last week yelling at me, what are you doing as I landed my 3rd fish and he could not get a bite. We were in his back to back shanty and he could not catch one!

[megan66]

I like to be the guy catching fish. What I've found out is there are active fish somewhere on any body of water, sometime during the day. The window may be small but its there! I was fishing NF yesterday and could only muster 2 fish. Instead of beating a dead horse, I made the decision to pack up all my stuff and make a major move! 

As of 5:55 last night I still only had 2 fish. Made a small 25 yard move to deeper water, ended up with 3 keeper saugeye and 5 slab crappies in the next hour!

people call me an idiot for punching to many holes but it was my 27-28 holes with a hand auger that put fish in the bucket!

I give bluegills 5-10 min. I give crappie 10-15 min. I give saugeye an hour then move!

Saturday I drilled 40 holes!

Im about 75% successful days on Indian this year to 25% non-productive!

Having friends and that fish daily also is a good equalizer!

[Saw guy]

The best fishermen I know have bad days. Don't feel bad. None of us are earning a paycheck. I love catching fish, but I also like being out with friends, enjoying the company, and the solitude of being out on the ice.

 

[slabslayer]

I've been on both ends of this deal before. Obviously I prefer to be on the catching side, but there's a lot to be learned either way. I haven't zeroed in the last 5 years on the ice, but my first trip on open water this year was watching a guy on the bank with a oversize bobber, at least in my opinion, busting bull gills while I got only 1 bite in 4 hours and didn't catch a fish. My second trip, again not a fish.  Third time out I finally got into some nice panfish.  You never can win them all, even KVD didn't qualify for the Bassmaster Classic this year. The important thing is to learn from each trip, sometimes the lessons are fun other times it just humbles you.

[g]

Last Fri. at Indian I got 5 throwback saugeyes and my buddy got skunked. He said he needs to relearn how to fish and I told him that fishing is the easy part. It's catching that can be difficult.

[30inthabucket]

Well i don't know about you guys, but as much as i love to fish, not catching em makes me nuts, especially now that i have a lowrance and can't just blame it on no fish being around.lol. i plan on returning to hero status this weekend... i can just feel the fish ready to bite... look for me on the ice. I'll be the guy with a bucket full of 12 inch crappie ...I've been looking in the mirror telling myself I'm still a great fisherman. Positive reinforcement you know. It's bound to work...