Frustration - Give Up or Get Help!

Have you ever been to a lake that consistently whips up on you? No matter how hard you try, no matter what baits you throw, nothing seems to get the attention of those darn old bass! Too bad it’s not football where you can backup, regroup and punt. We’ve all been there, confused, tired and just about ready to give up, but wait, there are fish in that lake, so what can you do?

When approaching a situation like the above, several strategies may work. The most important part of any planned fishing trip is to gather as much information as you can. Call surrounding area marinas and obtain local patterns, depths and baits that will work. Another suggestion is to make friends at the launch ramp. Explain your situation and hope and beg for someone to throw you a bone that might improve your success. If you’re very lucky, one of your newly found friends might mark a map or possibly go out with you and show you areas of the lake that are holding fish.

The method that works for my husband, Norman, and me when the situation gets desperate, and it does from time to time, is to seek out and pay for the advice and knowledge from a professional guide. After all, they are on the water nearly every day, in all kinds of conditions. They follow the bass’ movements and their knowledge has been gained over many years of practical experience. Granted, you do have to pay to play, but you can justify the expense over the number of trips you plan to return.

Case in point. Norman and I have been fishing Richland Chambers together for four years. The first year we fished, we did respectably well, but things went downhill afterwards. The last year we fished Richland Chambers, we didn’t even catch a keeper fish and we knew something had to change.

This year, since we had three upcoming tournaments on the lake, we decided to seek out assistance and try and learn some new areas and strategies. We searched on the Internet, called all the stores and marinas near the lake asking for referrals and finally, found a reputable and willing guide, Dale Bankston. Dale owns and operates St. Elmo’s store on Hwy. 416 on the south end of the lake and has only been guiding full time for a little more than six months. However, he has been fishing the lake four to six times a week for more than six years and his speciality is Black Bass.

When we talked on the phone, Dale was quite knowledgeable about the lake and said he had been catching quite a few "nice chunks" in the four to seven pound range and had even caught a ten pound beauty earlier that week. (We knew this was true, because one of the other stores had referred him and told us about his big fish.) That sold us and we booked our trip immediately. We called to confirm our trip the day before we were to meet and make sure he knew we were planning to go out in our 21-foot, Boots Follmar Marine Pro Staff Skeeter 210 with a Yamaha 225 EFI. The reason for using our Skeeter was 1) our boat was bigger, and 2) so we could mark the spots he showed us on our Lowrance GPS Global 2000. We also called to ask about any special baits we needed to bring. He assured us, all we needed were buzzbaits, spinnerbaits and an assortment of worms.

We arrived at the lake a little early and had made arrangements to meet up with him at Midway Landing. He was there early, the weather had turned off cold, the winds were blowing out of the north, it was cloudy, water temperature was in the mid-60's and, as usual, the weather man was 100 percent dead wrong! In spite of the conditions, Dale proved that there were good, quality fish and that they could be easily caught. He was using buzzbaits and spinnerbaits and caught one over seven, one over six and several three to five pound "chunks!" Norman also caught a quality fish, one that went over six and a half pounds on spinning gear, light line using a centipede. Of course, that made our day.

Dale showed us four areas that were holding quality fish and said he didn’t mind at all if we went back to them during our tournament the next weekend. In fact, he was so excited for us, he said he’d stay out of those areas before our tournament so the fish wouldn’t be disturbed! Very commendable for a guide who makes his living off his customers catching fish! He also told us to call before our tournament and he’d let us know if anything changed. This really made us feel even more confident and secure in our new found abilities to capture fish on a lake that for years had been eating our lunch.