Pretty new to Bass fishing, having some problems!

[johnsoft349]

Hey guys, I'm new around here. This seems to be the best fishing forum on the net from what I've found on google, so I'm excited to see what I can learn here!

Basically, I used to fish a lot for bream with bread, worms, etc. when I was a little kid, and always caught a lot. Throw it in, wait for the bobber to go under, pull up your bluegill. Pretty easy stuff. I decided, though, now that I'm 18, that I should start developing some new hobbies for myself. So, I went fishing on my own a couple of times, didn't catch a thing, but I'm totally addicted! I've since been with a friend both on a boat (caught nothing) and from his dock (got a little white perch and a decent 16" channel catfish), and have been a couple more times on my own to no avail. So, I want to get into some more serious fishing, but am having some problems.

First of all, I am fishing mainly in Loch Raven Reservoir (baltimore, MD) which is supposed to be a great fishing lake, particularly for bass. It's a very big lake, has lots of fallen trees/other cover, which I target. The majority of the lake has a lot of grass/weeds as well.

I do not have access to a boat, so I'm resigned to bank fishing for now. I'm convinced I should still able to have success. I see big fish all the time from where I stand, sometimes they even jump in front of me just to make fun.

I've got a decent Penn rod/spinning reel combo, 8lb monofilament line, and am using mainly 3/0 offset worm hooks, sometimes 2/0. I've got two varieties of soft-plastic worms, 2 safety pin spinners, and a couple of tiny torpedoes/buzzbaits. I've used each of these a number of times (was out for 5 1/2 hours yesterday) and have had no success!

I've spent a good amount of time researching how to rig these baits (I texas rig my worms, direct tie the others, no swivels, etc) and how to fish them (the worms nice and slow along the bottom, sometimes with stop-start action, spinners either fast near the top or slow and bouncy near the bottom, etc.). I just can't even get bites though. Sometimes with the worms I get nibbles from what feel like small fish, but they can't take that kind of lure.

Should I just use live bait for now? I'm not dead set on lures, for now I just want to catch some damn fish! For the future, though, I would like to be able to use artificial lures effectively. So feel free to suggest live bait, but I'd like feedback on the lures as well. I'm not sure what I could possibly be doing wrong.

Thanks guys, I'm sure you'll be able to set me straight.