I don't get it!

I don’t get it! When out on Thursday at 7am, put in at wappoo cut and headed towards JI creek. Saw menhaden everywhere, threw the cast nest and and filled it. Took about two dozen and went to fish. Hit one spot by some docks and nothing but two stingrays. When around the bend and saw the reds splashing at the top of the water. Anchored off and again nothing. They where everywhere but could not get them to bite. I read this forum like its my job, and I cant seem to get it. All day I tried Carolina rig with shrimp, menhaden, mudminnows, and cut bait. When that didnt work, I went to popping cork with shrimp, menhaden, mudminnows, and cut bait. Then I remembered reading about mudminnows on a jig head. I figured that this was the ticket and once again…nothing. Not even a bite! And the thing was is that I saw the fish, so I knew they were there. All day was like this, everywhere I fished, and I just don’t know if its something that im doing wrong, or just not in the right spots? I read everything on this fourm, do my homework on low tide as much as I can, google earth to look for creeks ect. I had a ball out there don’t get me wrong, I love being out on the water, but I would just like to start catching something besides sharks and stingrays. Thanks for your advice and I apologize for the novel I just wrote.

happens that way more often than not for me! Somedays are just like that. Maybe it’s the atmospheric pressure, maybe it’s the clarity of the water, maybe they just weren’t hungry. Who knows, I know I don’t! But you just keep on trying until you hit it just right!

I know people say this a lot, but trust me, it will all come together. Whatever you’re fishing, don’t work your bait/lure too fast, and don’t get stuck going to the same spots that haven’t been producing for you. You sound like you’ve got the right pieces such as fishing structure, what you’re fishing with, etc. Just stay out there and you’ll start to bring it together. I’ll say it again, do not get stuck fishing the same unproductive spots, even if you’re sure they will eventually work. I was in the same rut last summer, constantly fishing the same spots and I didn’t start catching fish until I changed my game plan.

EICID,
I am in the exact same rut. I even have a laptop w/gps on Google Earth so I can get to some good looking spots and have hot spot map coordinates loaded in. I have spent countless hours on the boat to get sharks, rays and sometimes a mud cat.

I have always been successful freshwater fishing which is throwing me for this loop. I am starting to believe all these fish pics are computer generated. :smiley:

I know I will get into a mess of fish one day and it will make it all worth while.

Reds will shut off and will not hit anything.They may take a crab chunk??? I have had a hundred swim around my boat with dorsal fin pulling my lines.I just sit and look.One time for 3 days they were at the spot and would not hit anything???

Stonoman

Cut mullet, silence, and patience…

i have seen them there and not hit anything and come back a few hours later and they were on fire. it is the nature of the beast and that is just how fish are. just cause they are there doesnt mean you can catch them and just cause you dont catch them doesnt mean they arent there. keep knockin man you will get it.

  • I’d rather be a free man in my grave than living as a puppet or a slave.

Just a thought, are you sure what you saw were reds? Because gar will roll on the surface and drive you friggin nuts thinking they are something worthwhile, but no, they are gar.

My advice to you would be to net some hadens or mullet or shrimp. Put them on a carolina rig and pitch under docks around low tide. Try using live and cut under the same dock. If you dont get a take in 10 min, move and try the next dock. When you find a productive one, note the tide stage, and they should be there at that stage all summer.


2000 SeaPro 180CC w/ Yammy 115 2 stroke
1966 13’ Boston Whaler w/ Merc 25 4 stroke “Flatty”

Opti just gave you one of the best tips I’ve read in a while. I know a couple of docks on the Stono with about a 1 hour window. Be there during the window and it’s on fire. You can stay there and keep fishing and maybe catch a fish or two, but nothing like when the little window is open.

Who’s Ready for a Sleigh Ride? www.KayakFishSC.com

E, reading this blog religiously will not make you an expert. Most people will only give you advice on things any novice fisherman should know. Just keep trying and it will come to you. Someone once told me when it comes to bait “if you wont eat it neither will the fish” the fresher the bait the better. Try different docks and oyster banks with different baits and methods and you will get the hand of it. Cut mullet on a carolina rig under docks works well for me when it comes to the Red’s. Good luck.

A wise man once said “Do as I say not as I do” Good advice when I tell you that.

Did you try and poke your Menhaden in the eye so it swims funny, it has worked for me and I was told Trout like baits that swim funny.

fish nude so u can show off ur pole…

I will have to try cut mullet on the bottom… thats one thing I didnt try. Another thing is that I was having a really hard time keeping the haden alive. I have one of those buckets w/ the aerator attached, and they seemed to die in less than an hour. Any tips? Also yall keep saying the fresher the better, so I take it that the mullet’s not frozen? If not, do you net them just like the haden? Thanks again this is helping

Fishingsteven, are you serious about poking him in the eye… never head of that I just didnt want to poke all my haden in the eye and look like a complete idiot haha. Thanks for the tips much appreciated.

yep you catch mullet w your cast net too. i look on the edges of the bank watching for one to jump. then i ease over there and cast the net around where i saw it. you only need a few nice sized mullet to get a days bait. i fillet them and cut into chunks one fish at a time. use all of one mullet and then cut the next one up. be sure to hook thru fleshy side and out the skin side first and then sometimes i hook again thru skin side and out the meaty side for good measure.

  • I’d rather be a free man in my grave than living as a puppet or a slave.

You’ve read alot on cf.com so no sense in rehashing it. I would recommend a couple things, though. Opt mentioned keeping tabs of when & where you fished - good or bad luck. I use a tide log and note it like you see here.

Confession might work as well! Go to Chas Angler or Haddrell’s. Confess your frustrations and tell them what you are doing, and let them give you some guidance.

Your angling sounds like my golfing. 100 things make up a good swing - I randomly do 80. No clue which 20 I’m missing!

Vinman
19.5 Triumph, 115 HP Honda
“Every saint has a past, every sinner a future”

quote:
Originally posted by Too Busy

Opti just gave you one of the best tips I’ve read in a while.


word

Thanks alot for the pic vinman. I will have to get a tide log and spend some more time out on the water. Thanks guys, this was a big help! Will keep yall posted if I have a change of luck!

Thanks to shamrock f o, PM had alot of wise words that I will defiantly consider.

Cid…was fishing a creek one day tearing up the bass…caught about 30 slots and over in about half hour then they just shut off…pulled in lines and started paddling toward where we were fishing thinking they moved up river…as I approached the previous hot spot oyster bed…I look to the left and saw about 20 Bass just floating there…they never left but quit biting who knows…could not complain that day…I gauruntee your luck will change from August through the fall

Another pro tip. More often than not…when you’re in a slump the best fisherman on the boat is your rod holder. Tie on a circle hook and put a menhaden out on the bottom with minimal weight. One in the port and one in the starboard rod holders. Relax the drag a bit. Take a third rod, go up front and be as impatient as you’d like with whatever you want to fish with…just forget about the rod holders in the back. The drag screaming and rod bent in half will remind you about them when the time is right.

and yes…he’s serious about poking the minnow in the eye. He must have gone to the same siminar I went to last winter. I tried it and it works. Put a menhaden or mullet on a hook and watch it swim, pull him back up, poke an eye out and THEN watch him swim. The difference is dramatic and effective.

If you’re not effecting the world around you in a positive manner…you’re taking up too much space.

It’s all about the bite…one minute fishing could be dynamite and the next it can shut off like a light switch…Keeping a log is the best way to know when the next time you should even consider putting your boat in the water…I haven’t been doing the best job at keeping up with mine so I just go…I like the tide table logging!! That’s a great idea!! Might have to form me a book like that and keep up with it!!

Hooked on The Aquatic Narcotic

17’ Key West

“Give a man a fish, feed him for a day…Teach a man to fish, he’ll probably be in your spot next time.”

LKJ

quote:
Originally posted by LBoogie

It’s all about the bite…one minute fishing could be dynamite and the next it can shut off like a light switch…Keeping a log is the best way to know when the next time you should even consider putting your boat in the water…I haven’t been doing the best job at keeping up with mine so I just go…I like the tide table logging!! That’s a great idea!! Might have to form me a book like that and keep up with it!!

Hooked on The Aquatic Narcotic

17’ Key West

“Give a man a fish, feed him for a day…Teach a man to fish, he’ll probably be in your spot next time.”

LKJ


$16 @ the Chas Angler

Vinman
19.5 Triumph, 115 HP Honda
“Every saint has a past, every sinner a future”