sppatton1

Thanks everyone for the insight

I am making a move in the next 4 months from Central PA to the Raleigh-Durham, NC area because my love of bass fishing has turned into an ever-growing passion and a huge part of my life. I know after reading that last sentence some already think I am in pursuit of a professional bass fishing career.. and although its a dream for most of us, that is NOT my goal. My goals for this move is to be in a warmer area more conducive for bass fishing, network with other anglers, learn as much as I can about how to successfully catch em', and fish local tourneys (at least to start). To get a feel of what level of angler I am, I would consider myself at an moderate to advanced skill level and fished only a couple club tournaments so far up in PA. I planned on fishing every local tournament this year with my current club, but.. well.. I'm hoping to get my 2015 deposit back! I wanted to throw a post up because I am looking for some help on what to expect, good local bass clubs, resources, or anything else to help me out before getting on the water. I've done some research about the surrounding lakes and its awesome to see all the water within a 30 minutes' drive. As you may know, in Central PA, (other than the Susquehanna River) it takes hours to get to a waterway the size of Falls or Jordan. Other than the 3 obvious Falls, Jordan, and Harris, I saw others such as Randleman and John H. Kerr around an hour's drive away. So any other recommendations on preferred waterways in the area would be a huge help. And just for more specifics, I'll be living in Durham and will be hauling along my 14' aluminum Tracker with a 15hp prop and 55lb thrust electric. So when it comes to lakes, it would be nice to know which waterways or areas where it could be unsafe to run my little rig. Not that I can't handle some turbulence, I just don't want to get myself into a bad situation if I can help it. All in all, I'm just looking to enjoy this experience and do some serious bass fishing while learning all I can. So any help would be much appreciated!

I usually fish Pinchot, Marburg, Blue Marsh, and Marsh Creek.

Just wanted to see who had some insight on this. I am located in Central Pennsylvania and am an avid bass angler. I am having trouble locating bass in the lakes we fish during the dog days of summer (late July - August). The lakes around us are smaller reservoirs that are usually elecric only or have a limit on outboard power and the water temp now is around 80 degrees. I have been running into a wall when it comes to finding bass in the heat of summer and can't seem to even trigger a bite down deep. I have been working all angles by targeting points at various depths by running swimbaits or cranking at different speeds. I'll also throw a dropshot, carolina or mojo rig working a lizard, tube, worm, or creature of different colors without a single nibble. The only thing that seems to give me success is working on the top or running a spinnerbait shallow early morning or twilight hours. I know everyone is saying that the bass are deeper during the summer but I still can't seem to trigger a bite down there. Obviously, it is hard to be confident spending all that time casting in the depths without any success and I understand it can be exhausting. But I have spent a good chunk of time concentrating on putting my bait in front of bass down deep and still haven't had success. My fishfinder will show me what I want to see with groupings down deeper on a flat or holding above a steep drop off so it seems as if my presentation is flawed. The only other thing I think may be the problem is that I may need to throw a smaller bait. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!