Fishing Q&A

Bass fishing question #2?

Again same as before, I already have my answer to this question wrote down on notepad. So the first that can get the closes to it will get the best answer. Also again, I am not doing this for my health, lol. There are alot of young Bass fishermen/women out there in Yahoo land that may acually learn something from this. Seeing everyones different techiqunes, etc... You are fishing a lake that you never fished before. The lake is man made, dam at one end, creek fed on the other with several shallow coves. The lake is only 340 acres, electric motors only. Its mid May water is clear, temp 63 degrees, weather: cloudy with a chance of showers 65 degrees. Predominately largemouth with some perch, walleyes and some smallies. The lake has no structure what so ever, like fishing a cereal bowl. Although 30% of the lake is full of hydrilla grass in depths from 6 to 2 ft. Bass are in pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn modes. What would be your best approach for the largemouth?

Public Comments

1. Although I never knew Bass could be in all three modes at the same time, I'd be finding those beds & trying to bait them off with worms.
2. I would without question use one of my mini-king spinnerbaits and lay it right over their beds and irritate the hell out of those bass...they get so protective that theyd probably hit a stick if it was swimming across its nest...right before rain is amazing for practically any fish and that mini-king spinnerbait has caught me this nice perch with that lure on a cloudy day but slightly hotter water temp http://s182.photobucket.com/albums/x240/eszeppelin/?action=view¤t=Close-upofPerch.jpg I would fish the section where the creek is feeding into the lake massive fish lay and wait in those areas for creek chubs, minnows, small sunnies, small bass, and whatever small fish are native to that lake. I wouldn't be hesitant to fish the shallows since the bass have no cover they have to rely on that creek fed for an easy and efficient food source without wasting energy.
3. Some people would try a big Zara Spook lure. I didn't understand what you meant about the depth of the lake but I would be fishing in 15 feet or less. I would start with a rattletrap lure that dives to 6 feet working at the edge of the grass to try and entice the pre-spawn fish that might bite at anything. If I was getting strikes without hooking a fish I would switch to soft plastic baits. Probably a grub at first and work on a slower retrieve slowing and pausing at times. Depending on what the grass was like I would venture into it with the grub. With the rattletrap I would work it with a moderate speed. I know from fishing cold water that sometimes you can't fish them slow enough to get proper action and still have the fish be able to catch them. I would have some jigs, plastic worms, crawfish, and floating worms to use as jerkbaits.
4. I would head to the creek fed spot where there is current and trhow a perch colored floating minnow (since that would most likely be their primary diet) and do some slow trolling in, around, and near the little current from the creek. I would also throw a perch colored strike king mini king.
5. first i'd try a 6inch watermelon seed lizard texas rigged. It would make the spawning "BIG MAMA'S" really ticked off and send them in an attacking frenzy on the lure.....2nd id try on the post spawn bass with a large spinner bait. I'd cast it right over the spawn site where the big bass usually stay for about a week or two.......The bass that have Spawned will try gathering larger fish rather than alot more smaller fish. Thats why you use a large spinner bait
6. Get a topo map first! I will be checking those shallow coves out for beds(63 is still a lttle cool) but I would hit some deeper water just before to hook up some waiting fish(males if females on beds or both in pre mode).I would then move in to sight some beds if any with grub or tubes! Going to check for bottom and see which is what so to fish the warmer water areas for possible beds! Hit hydrilla edges for fish moving up to make beds if they are pre but also hit for during spawn males! I will ratltrap or spinner the the creek mouth first then move to a worm or craw and move in slowly! Next hit the dam with crank bait and if no luck change up to rigged worm!
7. i would use a crank bait andcover a lot of water till i found where the fish are andthen switch to a tube and work the weeds nice gloves carol
8. My first thought would be to start off chucking topwater. It's cloudy and bass are eating. Buzzbait or spook/popper. Start at main lake points(wind blown) and work toward the shallower water. Fish will be staging here getting ready to move up. As you move shallower you target the fish that are in spawn mode. After that intial run. Check the area for bedding fish. Clear water would make it a easy approach to sight fish but you have to be in stealth mode or you could spook the fish on bed. Flip a white tube to bedding bass, and you will catch them. If that doesn't work out switch back to topwater if it produced earlier. With it being cloudy you might catch fish all day on top. Last resort, head to the hydrilla, tie on a spring craw pattern Rat-L-Trap and rip it through the grass. When you catch a fish. Start casting a soft plastic (worm, craw, tube) or jig and pig in that area. Fish it out slowly. Repeat.
9. I would do exactly what Addicted2Fishing said. The spinnerbait would work magic in the spawn. A spinnerbait can also cover allot of water so finding the fish is easy because I've never fished there.
10. Well, I noticed alot of answers dealing with fishing the largemouth on the bed. Largemouth will be in post-spawn at a water temp of 63, in May. With cloudy weather with a chance rain, they will be very active. I would go topwater early in the day around the shallow grass, and a jerkbait over the deeper grass as the day wore on. The conditions you describe are classic topwater, if the clouds remain pretty thick, the topwater bite might last into the early afternoon. I've had it to last all day under these conditions, not throwing anything but a buzzbait. Of course I'm biased when it comes to topwater, I'd rather FISH with a buzzbait than CATCH with anything else. Have a good one.
11. That is an almost perfect description of a very favorite place I fish (although we call those ponds here) and have caught bass over 9 lbs in, the only difference being this pond is surrounded with cat-tails, has several floating islands of weedy mats and crappie instead of waldo's, instead of creek fed it's on an irrigation canal way and gets run-off from an irrigated maize field. I always have the best catches on these 4 baits: 1) 6" Zoom lizard pumpkinseed/firetail 2) 7.5" Culprit Original worm crawdad color 3) 6" Power Worm Motor Oil/metal flake straight tail 4) 3/8 oz Denny Brauer rubberleg jig/Larew salt craw trailer black/gold glitter (hard to find these but I have a good stash) The soft baits work best in this shallow water pond with a small 3/16 oz bullet weight and 3/0 VMC bronze finish worm hook, sometimes I use a EWG 3/0 but the shiny finish on them I believe has a negative effect at times. These best bass are always in a place where there is some current, whether it be from the canal (this is not always running) or just from the wind blowing and creating current by wave action, the good ones are very predictable. Anywhere current is funneld into a bottleneck they will be on the outside edges of those floating mats/bullrushes and a quiet pitch will usually catch them without having to wait. They are there ambushing anything worth eating. Other places I target are standing isolated patches no bigger than 3 foot in diameter in otherwise open areas. Bigger fish seem to hold well on those spots. There are a few areas with small sparse stickups and a few submerged mesquite bushes that produce decent fish but not as good as the other areas I mentioned. I haven't had much success at all with crankbaits other than a very few on a Mann's -1 over large hydrilla beds. They just don't seem to relate to the hydrilla that well unless it is adjacent to the bullrushes. Fishing topwater here can be fun but anytime after dark the mosquitos are so bad (These mosquitos get a good buzz off Deet products and nothing keeps them away) that it isn't worth fishing. The fishing is great anytime during the day (bluebird skies have no ill effect) but cloud cover is a bonus. Anyway that's how I fish in my soup bowl. I hope some of this is useful to you. BTW, my little 14' Jon with a bow mount Minn-Kota and I have put in several years on this pond.