Bad Fishing Trips Happen: Here’s How To Deal With Them

People really don’t like talking about their bad fishing trips, and I don’t blame them.

It’s tough going on a bad fishing trip! Believe me, I get it. You invest a lot in tackle, equipment, the boat, a truck, and lots of gas just to hit the water on your limited time off and get kicked between the legs by an animal with a brain the size of a pea.

That hurts, but I feel that bad fishing trips can actually be good.

That’s because they have the potential to help one grow. Not just as an inshore angler, but as an individual. I also feel that what we learn on bad fishing trips could benefit future trips, and can be passed along to help others who also want to go fishing (and avoid what you learned the hard way).

There’s quite a bit to unpack here, so let’s get started by defining what a bad fishing trip is in the first place.

Then we’ll cover:

What is a bad fishing trip?

A bad fishing trip is when you go fishing with the expectation of catching fish and then don’t.

This could be due to the fish simply not being there, or some kind of malfunction that keeps the fishing trip from happening, such as a flat tire or dead trolling motor.

For example, last month I went fishing out of Hopedale Marina for speckled trout and was reasonably confident that I’d do well. I figured it could be a grind, but felt good that I would catch a limit of fish.

Yeah, that didn’t happen. The fish weren’t there and I nearly broke down.

That soul crushing experience is detailed in this fishing report here. It hurt.

What I don’t mean by “bad fishing trip”:

So, with that out of the way, it’s worth mentioning that when I say “bad fishing trip”, I don’t mean when something truly awful happens, like a boating accident resulting in bodily harm or loss of life.

That’s not a bad fishing trip, that’s a tragedy. I think those are sad and that we should all take steps to ensure that such misfortunes are avoided in the first place.

Why do bad fishing trips suck so bad?

Three reasons: fishing trips ain’t cheap, they are time consuming and they require the weather to cooperate.

There’s so much that goes into making a fishing trip happen in the first place that, quite naturally, we expect to get something back in return.

It’s easy to see why a bad fishing trip is very different from, say, a bad day of bowling.

For example, someone owning a modest bay boat, truck, fishing tackle & equipment is already heavily invested in a pastime before that pastime takes place.

Then, just for the fishing trip to happen, you’re going to spend money on things like:

• 10-30+ gallons of fuel
• maybe live bait
• launch fee
• ice for cooler
• snacks & drinks
• and more

Then there’s a significant time investment that could equal nearly as much (if not more) as the time spent fishing in the first place.

As I’m sure you’re well aware, this is time spent prepping everything for the fishing trip, then cleaning and maintaining everything afterward.

I know that — for me, depending on the fishing trip — a single day of fishing could amount to as much as two additional days of work.

That’s a lot of effort, time and money just to spend anywhere from fifteen minutes to a few hours setting the hook and reeling in fish.

After that, the weather has to cooperate.

It doesn’t matter how good you are at fishing or how high-end your equipment is: if the marsh is covered in rain and lightning then you’re not going fishing.

That’s an extreme example to prove my point, but we all know the weather doesn’t have to be that bad to put the damper on a fishing trip.

This is especially tough when you only have so much time to hit the water. If the only day you can go is Saturday, and on that day thunderstorms abound, then you’re stuck with staying indoors while that boat, truck and tackle you invested in sit at home and don’t get used.

And all that tackle and equipment is depreciating. Nothing ruins a boat more than letting it sit in the open and not running it. Grease dries, gelcoat cracks, and screens fade, all without catching a single fish.

These Problems Make Bowling Look Pretty Good

The investment one puts into a tried and true pastime such as bowling pales in comparison to that of the inshore angler. It’s not even close.

I’m sure you could say the same thing about tennis, chess, golf, video games or virtually anything else you can think of. Even more equipment-centric hobbies like paintball still don’t compare.

Furthermore, many of these other pastimes are possible to do indoors, or are less affected by the weather.

After that, I don’t know how much maintenance goes into a bowling ball. I’ll admit that I haven’t done any research on this, but it’s a safe assumption that it cannot possibly be worse than greasing trailer hubs. That and I’m pretty sure a high-end paintball marker isn’t exposed to saltwater during normal use.

I’m also making the wild assumption that the bowling lanes still work when it’s thundering outside, and you can play paintball as soon as the weather clears.

Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m sure anyone who’s passionate about bowling or paintball has experienced bad days participating in their pastime, but I’d go to think an afternoon of gutterballs or barrel breaks is probably easier to get over than getting skunked after a multi-thousand dollar, 72 hour investment.

Now you see why people don’t talk about it…

By this point it’s easy to understand why anyone wouldn’t want to stand on top of a mountain and proclaim to the world their bad fishing trip.

Would you want to say out loud, “I invested all this time and money to do a thing and failed to do it”?

That’s not on people’s bucket list and one reason why you don’t see a number of fishing reports that equals the number of boats you saw on the water.

Which brings me to this next point:

We have something to learn from bad fishing trips

Bad fishing trips shouldn’t be shuffled away and forgotten. Instead, they should be used to learn and grow.

These unpleasant experiences have the potential to make the next fishing trip better, and not just for ourselves but others in the community (as you’ll see here shortly).

Now You Know Where Not To Go

The best thing about a bad fishing trip is that it starkly reveals where not to go and what not to do.

The next move is easy: don’t do that again.

I think a lot of people just do the same thing over and over, and are shocked when they get the same result.

But that doesn’t have to be the case! Stick with me and I’ll reveal how to capitalize on this. For now let’s move on to…

Bad Fishing Trips Inevitably Happen To Everyone

It doesn’t matter who you are, how long you’ve been fishing, how many fish you’ve ever caught, a bad fishing trip will eventually happen to you.

Anyone who’s been doing this for awhile and is being honest will agree.

You must also realize that, when it comes to fishing, there is a disconnect between skill and outcome.

For example, you can be skilled at bowling and there really isn’t much in the air-conditioned environment of the bowling alley to keep you from knocking down pins. It’s a place where you can focus solely on your individual effort.

The bowling lane’s surface remains the same, the pins don’t move and you’re allowed to apply your skill.

But this is not the case for fishing. In fishing you have to account for things out of your power, such as the weather. Plus, you can perfectly execute a fishing technique but — if no fish are there — you still won’t catch anything.

All you can do is acknowledge that it’s part of the game. It just is what it is.

There will be the next fishing trip, a time to begin again, and an opportunity for redemption.

How can we prevent bad fishing trips from happening in the first place?

Keeping in mind that a tough day on the water is inevitable, there are steps we can take to prevent the bad and cultivate the good.

These steps are part of a fishing philosophy I call “Long Term Success” and really dive into inside Inshore Fishing 101, but will touch upon here. They are:

• The Six P’s
• Manage expectations
• Read Past Fishing Reports
• Use your Angler’s Network

Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance

Also known as the Six P’s, this is the idea that if you give your fishing trip some thought and intention, then you’ll be able to identify all the things that could go wrong and prepare for them.

People who completely ignore this are the people who hitch up a boat on the day of their fishing trip and roll out, leaving that corroded starter wiring to doom them before they get to their first spot.

This is how SeaTow commercials happen.

Another example would be the flood control structures like the Bayou Bienvenue gates. Many a sad story began with these gates being closed and access to the intended fishing spots forbidden. If only the angler took time to consider how this could impact his fishing trip!

Examples of using the Six P’s include, but are not limited to:

• Op-checking all of your equipment
• Tying your tackle
• Choosing which spots you want to fish based upon the conditions
• Identifying safe routes to get you there and back
• Loading up your boat and whatever else you need the night before your fishing trip

Manage Expectations For Your Fishing Trip

This is especially important if you’re taking people fishing, especially if they’re not regular inshore anglers.

It doesn’t really matter if the fishing trip is objectively good or not, so long as the trip seems to be good.

And a great way to do this is to under-promise then over-deliver.

For example, if you think the fishing is going to be incredible, then don’t say that. Say you think that you guys will have to work for the fish. Then, in the event the fishing is tough, no one is disappointed.

But if the fishing is great, well then great. Everyone has fun anyway.

Remember that most people you could take fishing are just happy to be out there. Maybe you should be happy just to be out there, too.

Read Past Fishing Reports So You Know Where To Go & What To Do

The best fishing reports aren’t the ones posted today, yesterday or last week. They are the ones posted this time last year and this time during the years before that.

This is because, for the most part, fishing patterns play out in the same way every year.

The Great Wall of Chalmette will, predictably, turn on the same time every year and, predictably, the white shrimp run will flesh out in the same way, at the same places, at the same time, every year.

So, rather than waiting on some chump to post a fishing report saying he caught a bunch of speckled trout in <insert area>, it’s really better to look at past fishing reports to discern when and where great fishing action will turn on.

Use Your Angler’s Network To Get Ideas & Information

In short, I simply mean “ask your friends what to do”.

This is obvious, but some of us (such as yours truly) are incredibly hard headed about this and launch the boat without any intel.

Maybe just read fishing reports and bounce some ideas off your fisher buddies.

If you don’t have an angler’s network, then posting reports and helping folks out (who give in return) is a great way to begin building one.

Do these things and you will stave off the next bad fishing trip for a much longer time. I know that anytime I strayed from these practices is when I had something go awry.

With that said, a tough day on the water is inevitable, so let’s look at what to do when that happens.

Do These Four Things When A Bad Fishing Trip Happens

Remember how I harped on all the time and money we invest in fishing? Yeah, this is how you get it back, even when the fishing sucks.

The below are tips to maximize your investment, go on damage control and soften the blow of a bad fishing trip:

End The Fishing Trip Early

Sometimes it’s best just to call it and cut your losses. This can be a tough decision to make, because I know I’ve been on many fishing trips where we just kept going, we didn’t give up and the effort paid off when we hit the jackpot of speckled trout (or redfish or whatever).

But that’s somewhat out of your control, and I can tell you that I’ve had many tough days where I kept going and passed the point where — even the Energizer Bunny had died — with little to no fish to show for my effort.

So, if it looks like it’s gonna be a tough day, consider going home early to get a head start on clean up (or maintenance if something broke) and writing a fishing report. Those are two things that are in your control.

Write That Fishing Report

You want to write a fishing report for your personal use. There should be a narrative of how the day went, a list of the conditions, where you fished, the tackle you fished with, the patterns that worked and, if possible, a copy of your GPS tracks and some pictures to help jog the memory later down the road.

This will keep you from reinventing the wheel and identify patterns that emerge on your fishing trips. You may see that you spend too much time at fishing spots, or that your live bait dies early, and so on.

With personal fishing reports you have a reference that you can lean on in the years to come. Yes, it takes years to build them up, but that’s part of the game and it’s worth it.

Consider Posting Your Report: The Story of Joey’s Jighead

You should post your fishing report to whatever forum you participate in, whether that’s a Facebook Group for a specific area, or an online community on an actual website.

The reason for this is perfectly illustrated in the Story of Joey’s Jighead:

During spring there was the usual run of speckled trout on the Trestles in Lake Pontchartrain. There was a gentleman named Joey who just moved to Slidell and wanted to cash in on this action, so he went and fished. Sadly, he didn’t catch anything!

But Joey did something most people don’t do: he posted a report detailing what happened. One of the ingredients of a good fishing report is sharing what tackle you fished with, and Joey revealed that he was fishing with an 1/8 oz jighead.

An 1/8 oz jighead is entirely too light for fishing the Trestles. It’s sinking weight does not match the water speed and depth for that location.

Everyone saw this. It was just so obvious to Trestles veterans, but not to Joey, who was a newcomer to the area.

Fellow anglers told him to use a heavier weight, specifically a 3/8 oz jighead. On his next fishing trip to the Trestles, that’s exactly what Joey did and, as a result, he caught speckled trout.

That right there is why you want to post fishing reports, because feedback from the community could benefit you.

But, that same fishing report could also benefit others. Knowing where not to go is just as important as knowing where to go, and sharing that could help fellow inshore anglers avoid the same bad fishing trip you experienced.

For example, if it turns out the famed community hole known as the Long Rocks in Hopedale is a complete waste of time, then it’d be great if the rest of us could know that.

Just a quick note about posting fishing reports in a public space: use general areas and avoid exact locations. You want to do this out of respect for other anglers who made the effort to put in their time on water, and out of respect for yourself. If you go posting hand-outs, then the people “who ask and never give back” will wear you out.

That’s as much as I’m going to explain, you can either take my advice or learn the hard way.

Zoom Out, See The Bigger Picture

I don’t look at my fishing trips as individual experiences. Instead, I see them as steps in the path of something much larger and more important: my overall journey in inshore fishing.

There’s something to learn from each fishing trip, something to be gained that contributes to the next.

When I see that this is just one fishing trip out of hundreds, it becomes clear that it’s just time to recover the boat, clean up, take a shower, get something to eat and above all…

…be grateful that I’m able to do all this in the first place.

Thank you for reading. I know this is a long blog post, but I really felt the above had to be said.

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