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Changing spotlight settings
In spite of careful consideration of the season, the weather and the time of day, the selection of the right spots is a regular failure, even after testing different animations and different types of lure.
If you don't see any signs of fish activity or presence, you'll have to opt for spots with other characteristics. It's difficult to pinpoint exactly how fish work, as they are living beings with instincts that differ from our own. Their way of thinking diverges from ours, and there will always be a certain amount of data we don't understand.
Rotate lures and vary presentation
If you're convinced you're in the right zone, in the absence of bites, vary your animations, heights of movement and speed of presentation. All this while rotating the lures at your disposal.
You then have to play with sizes, colors and sounds and try, by trial and error, to target the right animation and the right lure, in particular by identifying precisely which parameters triggered a follow-up, a hit and the quality of the hits recorded.
Varying angles
It's not always possible, especially for shore anglers, but it's always a good idea to change casting angles regularly. For reasons we don't know, or depending on the sun, the current, the angler's habits or the configuration of the spot, predators will sometimes be more inclined to attack a lure that sails one way than the other.
Working with extremes
When fishing is really complicated, you often have to go off the beaten track to produce a few reactions. So it's often useful to play with extremes and surprise fish with unusual presentations.
Try to fish very big or very small, with very aggressive or very discreet lures and set up extremely fast animations or, on the contrary, animations close to immobility. Burning animations, in which the lure is reeled in as fast as possible, or "do nothing", in which the lure is left motionless for several seconds or even tens of seconds, can be decisive.
Targeting another species
Finally, because it's quite possible that your favourite species is completely off, you often have to be opportunistic. Maybe you won't catch the pike you'd hoped for, but there's some great perch fishing to be had that day.
