Two Bites Finally - Prjavelin's Diary Updated 10/3/12

[prjavelin]

I have been skunked the last 5 times ive gone fishing. early morning , morning, mid day you name it. anything from places with big boulders to shallow to deep clay points. I mean anywhere its the same. I get nothing. In places where Ive catched fish before I cant catch a thing now. Im doing really bad.

First thing, Im fishing mostly spinnerbaits. Second lure its hardbaits(deep divers trying to find the deep bass and jerk baits)

The main forage is shad i think. The lake has clamshells everywhere and a LOT of them. I bet the population of shellcrackers must be very healthy. Third, bass must also eat some tilapia. We Have a very very strong population of tilapia here.

the plants here are these: (both are always found in less than 4 feet of water. when covered by water these plants die)

also these:

here are two more pictures of two usual environments in the shore towards deep water, this is the usual grounds here:

clay bottom, this is the spot where I caught my first bass. it was flooded then.

now this is rocky grounds:

this is another shell we have(lots of these too) that looks like a garden snail:

the temperatures have been in the 90's close to the 100's degrees. I can see the bass splashing in the middle of the lake eating from the schools of shad but I cant seem to find them close to shore and I fish from shore.

It seems to me like im either getting a boat or something that floats or anything or when summer starts my season ends. BTW the levels are going down consistently. its getting pretty low

[Texfisherman]

As Summer kicks in, I find soft plastics to work better and better. If you're in a boat, I would work a t-rigged or wacky-rigged worm at those rocks. Cast right up on the edge of the rocks and slowly work the worm back to the boat. Take your time and give it a nice, slow presentation.

I love the picture of that rock line. Working slow-moving baits may make all the difference in this heat, even if you're shore fishing.

Just my thoughts.

[Nitrofreak]

What you may want to try is a spoon, get it out there as far as you can especially around the clam shell areas, you can fish it a couple of different ways, swim it back to you or a "YO-YO" retreive, get it close to the bottom and even let it graze the bottom if you can.

[central.PA.bass]

Hmm... you just listed 3 moving baits... spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and jerkbaits.... try a soft plastic... The fish arent going after any moving type bait so throw out a senko or something and let it sink to the bottom and slowly twitch it back in..... If there are fish there... they will eat it. Good luck

[rockchalk06]

I agree with the Majority here, try a soft plastic. Texas rig it and see if you can use it top water. I am having the same issues here in Central OK. Its hot, 104 and no wind. Bass wont hit squat below the surface. I have been throwing a T-rigged worm and using top water poppers. I have been doing really good on both but a bit better on a popper. I kinda wait around between 630 am and 9am when the bass are pushing the bait fish closer to shore with some good success.

BTW kinda off subject, that is some dang pretty county there

[dale.m]

The same thing is happening in my region as well. The fish will absolutely not bite on hard baits. I switched up to a t-rigged trick worm or senko and have been catching them steadily on that. They seem to like the watermelon seed and pumpkin/chartreuse colors in NC. Hope that helps some.

[BassinNY]

T-Rigged Senko, Craw or Fat Ika worked slowly on the bottom may be your ticket. The summer can be tough at times, but patience on your presentations should pay off.

[islandbass]

Finesse might be the way to go. I too would try plastics and use as light of a line as I can get away with, like 6# test.

5 times is not so bad. If you start feeling bad, dont'. I have gone through longer dry spells and many of us can. You might find some comfort to know that my brother went and entire season and a half before he caught his first bass by himself. It puts 5 skunk outs in perspective, lol. He lives in another state and I'd call him every time I caught one, lol.

[prjavelin]

ive tried the soft plastics once or twice but ive had 0 success with them either. I cant say ive given those a fair shake though. Ive been casting spinnerbaits non stop because they were working out before the heat went up and the levels started to drop.

Unfortunately I cant get anything that floats yet so Im stuck at shore. the life of a poor fisherman.

edit: Im making justice to my tittle of skunk master lol

[islandbass]

Just think of it as paying your dues. I too am shore bound and sometimes there are a few more trips with zero results than we want to have. Just stay with it and drop down to 6# test, flouro if you can. It just might be the edge.

[prjavelin]

how about frogs or toads? i have 3 or 4, a hollow body, a horny toad and a crankbait looking one. Can I use one on top water maybe the hollow body or the horny toad? does these work on this lake where There arent many ?

[Fishes in trees]

Those donut style belly boats are relatively inexpensive and this is the season and water temperatures for them. As for bait choices, I'd go finesse. 3/16 oz Brewer Slider heads, 4 inch worms, 6 lb test. Maybe some sort of 1/4 oz shaky head and a little bit bigger worm. Soft plastic, low and slow is probably the way to go on that water at this time.

[roadwarrior]

Small swimbaits: Keitech Swing Impact Fat, Shadalicious, Hollow belly or Swimming Senko

Rage Tail Baby Craw

Rage Tail 7" Thumper or Anaconda

Rage Tail Single Tail Grub

Rage Tail Lizard

GYCB 5" Senko and Fat Ika

GYCB Kut Tail in a MegaStrike Shak-E2

Bandit 100, 200 or 300

Red Eyed Shad

Norman Fat Boy (Redear)

PopMax

[prjavelin]

ill look into the floating boats. I don't know how to swim so I'm gonna be a little hesitant to get one. I will need a vest for sure.

here are a couple more pics of the lake.

many will say these look like many bass will hold there. think again. Ive never seen or caught one here(at least in the 4 months ive been fishing for bass)

are those holes bass nesting sites?

[Broke bass fisherman]

Well if nothing else you have really beautiful scenery to look at while you are getting skunked.

[ClackerBuzz]

everyone likes reactions baits b/c their more fun. when this happens to me i've learned to change my mind set. 1- i'm out there to enjoy a nice day in nature. 2- i cast a wack rig senko. 3-i look around and enjoy nature some more. 4-i set the hook when a tug interrupts my relaxation.

once you've got a bite take note of where, when, how, color etc and try to build on it.

[prjavelin]

so yes, I went fishing today again. I got skunked again and rained on too. I had to cut my trip short. Fished for one hour pretty much. All and all I got some useful infomation from someone that was coming from the spot I was going into.

the spot is a series of points and coves. most are rocks like the ones I showed in the pictures. well there was this guy coming from there with his kid. He told me he caught 2 bass. One him and his kid had another one. Both were caught from the points casting into the middle of the lake. Both were caught with a brush hawg kind of plastic in a brown color. He had hard baits also tied to the other rods but caught nothing with those.

for the hour i spent there I used a trickworm in limetreuse color. Also tried a spinnerbait for a while. Fished one lure then the other for a little while and moved. that was my day pretty much.

I got soaked in water. Now I realize how having rain gear can save the day.

[rockchalk06]

You getting rain is more exciting than if you would have caught the state record!

[mikey5string]

That water level looks low. Has the lake been drained recently?

Can you get ahold of a depth contour map?

[prjavelin]

finally Did it, after 6 trips where I caught nothing I went fishing today and the lake had gone all the way up in the levels it was when I caught my first bass. So I went to a nearby spot that ive never been to and I broke the dry spell. it was amazing she jumped out of the water, went crazy, pulled and pulled and gave me a hell of a fight and took the first bass of my new rod honors. XD it was a blast!! I had a ton of pics that will be coming up in a few minutes. Can you guys guess what lure I used to catch her?

she was a fatty one, around 15 inches.

she was a beauty for sure. I kept it on the water and held her there because she was really spooked. I left her go after I saw she was breathing again and she wanted to leave. It was awesome.

one of the inflows in the lake.

i got lost on my way out and it sucked. i spent around half an hour walking around thru thick brushes until i decided i had to go back and i finally found the way out. I was scared I may had to call for help from the houses nearby. I was 50 meters from the dirt road it was embarrasing to say the least but i found my way. next time a machete will be with me to make the road.

[Broke bass fisherman]

she was a beauty for sure. I kept it on the water and held her there because she was really spooked. I left her go after I saw she was breathing again and she wanted to leave.

That is a nice fish congrats. Hopefully your luck will continue.

[AR21angler]

Ditto On the soft plastics I've been doing very good on t rigged worms and occasionally lizard early in the morning and at about 7 in the afternoon

[Busy]

Way to stay with it!! I'm glad you had fun

[prjavelin]

i almost went fishing now. it sucks that I could have but nobody wanted to go with me and Ive never gone fishing at night. Im kinda cautious about going alone.

[MCS]

Nice catch! So what did you catch her on?