I’ve had a bad two weeks. The skunk is with me. The force is gone. My fishing trips have either been washed out by rain and lightning, or I haven’t caught anything when I did go. What to do about it? Well there’s a variety of things you can try, and I’m personally about halfway through the list.

There’s always changing your fishing hat in case the luck has run out. Or take along a different fishing partner, go alone, take a kid, use everything in your tackle box until something works, fish deeper, shallower, slower, faster. These I have gone through already. My next options are a little more serious than the above.

First of all, find out where the fishing is hot, and considered to be “idiot proof” when it comes to success. Use quality, trustworthy reports rather than that which has been passed around by those you do not know firsthand. Don’t just stay with the same old fishing spots, when there are plenty of other options out there. I’m getting ready for a trip to Flaming Gorge right now, and will be fishing Lake Tahoe for macs in a couple of weeks. Time of day is also a factor with most waters, and must be considered when making that new choice of a place to fish. For example, I’m going to go up on the Logan River late one evening next week for some almost-dark dry fly action. I expect that to be more successful than what I’ve done lately.

Putting in the time it takes to wear the fish down, and enticing them into biting out of sheer embarrassment as to your fishing antics can also work. Don’t quit too quickly; wait the fish out. Sooner or later, they’ll go on the feeding cycle of daily life in the fish kingdom. Time is a difficult commodity for many of us, and we have to be selective in our choices. Just make sure to acquire an all-day fishing pass and make no promises as to when you’ll be home. Easier said than done, but these are desperate times that call for desperate measures.

Don’t try to lie your way out of a skunk funk, or things will likely take a turn for the worse, if that’s possible. Mechanical problems of a variety of sorts could set in, or you may lose your boat plug and try to launch without it. (I’ve been there.) Honesty is your best medicine, so step up and take it like the trooper you are. No sense getting boxed into a corner and having to take someone out to your latest honey hole when one doesn’t exist for you right now.

Don’t hit the tackle shop and buy all new gear when your current stuff has always worked so well for you. Oh, you should take a visit to a store and see what’s being said, or what might be listed on the old fishing report board. A few new items that you can place some hope in, although it be blind hope perchance, may get you going again.

Selling your boat and trading for a new one is truly a drastic measure. Think this one over hard before taking such a dire step. Personally, I can’t even think about it right now if I wanted to. And my float tube is in too good of condition to consider that either. But these are financial, material things, and rarely go into changing your luck. You won’t even be able to buy the gas for a trip after some big spending.

Take along that guy you know who can catch fish in a barrel during a drought. Yeah, maybe he’s hard to get along with, but you need all the karma you can get right now. This will likely be time well spent, and an investment in becoming skunk-less once again. Hopefully you won’t just sit there and watch him catch all the fish. Then you’ll really have something that you’ll never live down. But we’ve all had this happen in one way or another. Your partner for the day, sometimes even yourself, will do all the fish catching. There’s the staggering chore of changing lures to match the hot bait that is just killing them right now. I’ve even talked a guy into changing poles with me, and he continued to catch fish, now with my rod! Now that’s frustration to the max.

Then there’s Alaska. If the funds are there and the airlines are open enough to squeeze you in, that could get you going in a hurry, and with big-time results. But you may just come home to find the skunk is still with you in your favorite fishing holes.

If all these fail, have you thought about dusting off the golf clubs for a couple of weeks?

Brad Kerr is an avid angler who can be reached at bradkfisherman@msn.com.