Where's The Momma And Daddy?

[rb56]

i feel like i'm catching the same fish every week. all i've been catching lately are 10-12 inch bass. i go early in the morning and am on the water before light or right at it. i have thrown everything in all depths. there is little fishing where i fish, maybe 3 boats each time i go and it's a fairly large river with depth to about 25 feet. i've tried all depths, cover, you name it. yet all i get are these babies. what's up with mom and pop? they seem to be as finicky as cats or well hid. any ideas? the water on the caddo is always clear, i try all colors, different lures, depths yet all i find are hungry children.

[RobbyZ5001]

What water are you fishing? It is possible there just are very very few larger fish? This water could have a limiting factor. Depending on things like water chemistry, amount of food, size of food, and habitat. Some waters just wont have many bigger fish...

[Zoff]

I know what you mean. I can't seem to break 4 pounds lately not matter where I fish... lake, river, or pond.

[bassh8er]

Try a different or bigger lure. I can slam 12" at a local pond with a Zoom Finesse Worm, but upped my average catch size by using a jig and bigger swimbait.

Little bass will still hit bigger lures, but it also ups your chances of catching a bigger fish in my opinion.

[wademaster1]

bigger plastics and baits; throw some spinners and cranks and burn them right along the edges of cover and structure; not just once but wear it out; sometimes it takes a few times to get a heavier fish to commit to a bite; good luck

[Jay Ell Gee]

Are you fishing in primarily moving water? I love river bass, but as a rule, they don't get as big on average as bass in a lake or pond. They fight current daily and keep lean. That's not to say that big ones don't exist... But in current, bass will generally be smaller. Try fishing the outside bend where the river erodes the bank, aka undercuts. Also, if you can anchor the boat near the big holes and fish them deep, you may have some luck as well.

Current breaks are key. Fish the DOWNstream side of any structure that is large enough to cause a current break. Throwing cranks and spinners and bouncing them off said breaks as they head downstream will imitate prey fish. This works well because bass wait in these current breaks facing upstream waiting for their food to come to them

[Bankbeater]

I know how you feel. I think that I am on a first name basis with some of these dinks.

[Zoff]

OK... broke the 4 pound mark by one ounce today...

[rb56]

thanks everyone...it's the caddo river below lake degray in arkansas. the river area is called lower lake. thespillway runs turbines and that discharge runs underground to a second dam downstream. that gives the water cooling time or it would kill everything. the river i'm on is the actual river channel and has very little current. it runs about 75-100 yards wide and depths up to about 25 ft. different cover and islands. very clean green water. in 8-10 ft depths you usually see the bottom. a lot of dead falls on the banks, grassy and rocky areas of bank. water temp has been running mid-low 80's but lately in the 70's.

as for baits i have thrown it all at them. topwater, jigs, spinners, cranks, a lot of plastics, lizards, crawdads, worms, frogs, cordell spots. what i've had luck with is green speckled and chartrouse jigs 3/8 and 1/4 oz. weedless head, medium and deep cranks, lucky 13 frog back. i usually fish an area an hour or longer and maybe the entire time. i've been catching about 4-6 each trip but they all look the same. their are a lot of baitfish for food for the bass. a lot of bream, minnows, shad.

most of the baits i've used are bigger baits, lucky 13 and torpedo. worms are fliptail 6 in. i'm going tonight and isaac's tail storms have dwindle out to nothing here now. probably be fishing at 3 am and had thoughts of black jitterbug. any good night time baits come to mind? kinda anxious to see if the dark of night wont reveal some bucket mouths. hopefully i'll post good results tomorrow. thanks for the input folx!

i even get it from these! as soon as that crank hit the water...he was all over it! he must have been thinking take out for the whole family.

[West Coast Bass]

love your caption in that last pic. that sunfish had no business going after that crank lol