I used to always try to catch the fish at the wrong time too. Then I read a suggestion to try to catch the fish by sound instead, and that really improved my catch rate. I keep my eyes closed so that it's a lot harder for the fish to fake me out.
As for the people who are having trouble catching bugs on stumps, do you all use the creeping motion to catch them? I only found out about that after reading this forum. Before then, I used to just take a regular step, wait for a second for the bug to calm down, take another step, wait, and then repeat as necessary. It seems to work well enough so I haven't tried the creeping motion very often.
I have also just learned about the trophies from the Bug Off and the Fishing Tourney from this forum. I'll have to put more effort into participating next time.
I think I prefer the Bug Off just because it's easier. I always have trouble finding enough time to do everything I want to do in the day so getting a lot of points quickly is nice.