Your "favorite Worst Spot" To Fish

[fstr385]

One of the jobsites I work on has a massive manmade rock ledge lake lined with a variable depth jagged coral drop off almost all the way around, murky, and almost no cover..... but it has a lot of big fish in it. Many times before, lunch, or after work, Ill throw a few cast along the ledges, get stuck, break lines, get stuck in fallen trees, ect ect, trying to find them. Many times I get one, and cant get it in. One spot on this lake has a tree which seems to be standing up in about 25-30` of water about 40` off the shore. It hold bass... usually 2+lbs. I hate this spot because I have to be so careful around it. I have to over cast it, bring the bait up to it, bang branches and feel for them and get over them so I don't drop to much between. Soooo many times Ive gotten stuck, and even worse lost fish or get break off on monsters pulling though it, or they run away and wrap me up. I like it though and hit that one tree every time knowing so because many times it pays off along with the gnarly line fraying rock ledges in front of it. I caught a few today after work there and nowhere else in the water but a couple 1.5s.. figured Id see if I could capture one on the camera to share and take a break from the spot for a second and got lucky. Yesterday I was dragging a work through bumped a branch got the line over another and the worm came out and I was trying to shake it off when a 3.5 jerk jumped out breaking the branch and unsnagged it for me lol. I call this tree "the claimer" I know you guys have little spots like this that stick out from everything else.. lets hear about em and see em!!

 

 

 

took a minute to get the hook out. Had a double hole set with no pliers.

[Tuckahoe Joe]

The creek Ive been fishing for trout in doesn't have many open spots along the bank and theres a huge tree with branches reaching down into the water right in the center of where Im always trying to fish.  You call your tree 'the claimer'....well the same could be said about this one.  Its taken a good many of my spinners and a lot of plastic worms and weights during the summer when Im going after bass.  Everytime I go there I see new lures hanging off of it and its always polka-dotted with bits of neon powerbait.  Aside from the tree, all along the banks on either side of it are logs and brush piles.  Its not so bad if its just me but if my girlfriend comes with me, I have to put my rod down every 10 or 15 minutes to try and pull a lure out of a tree.  Its snaggy as all hell but Ive caught some decent trout out of there.  I mean, hey, if your not getting snagged, your not fishing in the right place.  You can see the tree Im talking about in the top left of the first pic.

 

[Felix77]

I have a spot that I have to crawl into.  It always seems to hold a few good bass but the type of contorted cast I have to make from sure makes for some interesting moments hanging up in trees and stuff.  So much fun to fish like this sometimes though.

 

One time at this spot I tried to skip it under one set of branches.  On the cast I nicked something behind me and my lure ended up over this brush overhanging the water.  I thought I was stuck and I began tugging at my line.  When I felt it fight back I realized I caught a fish up and over this bush.  It wasn't a lunker but it made for quite the catch.

 

I did land it.  I don't know how it didn't get hung up but I got it through that crap.

 

Fun times.

[papajoe222]

There is a small strip pit among the ones that are part of my rod and gun club's property. It is accessable on foot, but the best shorline is bordered by a bluff.  It's easily 200 yards from the nearest vehicle access point so very few members even bother fishing it except in the spring when the accessable shorline becomes the prefered site for spawning bass.  I love to fish this pit at night during the dog days of summer as these fish will hammer a black Jitterbug. My solution is to carry my 'belly boat' the entire distance to the water before dark and fish for three to four hours. 

Accessability is a little difficult as I'm getting up in years, but getting back to my vehicle in the dark and tired from both kick paddeling and fishing becomes an exercise in persistance and being able to avoid getting torn up by the wild brush that grows wild along the narrow trail back.

Most nights, it's well worth the exhaustion and multiple cuts. On other nights, I've left that float tube near the waterfront and returned after a good morning's sleep to retrieve it.

[The Rooster]

I know of a strip mine pond that's deep, clear, and blue, even when the nearby lake (100 yards away) is coffee and cream brown. It has at least 5 pound bass swimming around in it, and I'd bet there's at least a few heavier than that. But these fish shut down immediately if they see you coming. And I've been there before when I started to crest the hill coming upon the pond and witnessed a very large school of sunfish on the surface all dive to the depths at once when my head came just up enough I could see them. I was still 25 yards away from the pond's edge but I know they saw me and reacted to my presence. When this happens you just have to get to your spot, sit down and give it some time, all while out of sight of water.

We used to try to go in before sunrise to get there so the fish didn't see us coming. I've been to this place as early as 4 a.m. before. Nearly the only way to catch fish is to cast into the water from a sitting in the dirt position completely hidden from view of the water. The pond is down in a hole so it's not hard to stay out of sight if you just sit down a few feet back from the edge. You just cast and watch for your line to run. Most times you must use live bait as well but I've snuck Plastic worms in before, too, and had luck. Just a bunch of 1 pound spotted bass is all that will hit it. The 5 pounders have no interest at all.

One thing that helps for hiding, but makes landing a fish a pain is that the pond is down in a hole about 6 feet below where you stand to cast. The pond is pretty long in shape but only a solid cast width across, and as best I could tell is nearly 30 feet deep in spots. Water is accessible to walk down to on each end only but cat tails grow so high you can't really fish from there. The opposite side is a shear cliff face going up about 50 feet, so you really only have just the one long side to fish from. There's not too much trouble from low hanging trees but brush is thick here so it's just hard in general to fish it. It's been many years now since I went there. I used to keep it in mind as a reserve spot for after a hard rain and my lakes were muddy. This pond is always clear. Not even murky, just super clear. It's been so long since I was there last that it might be overgrown now. Walking up to the pond from the car was a, not long, but seemingly so anyway, 5 minute trek through the woods and up a hill with chest high brush, burrs, briars, weeds, and more than once I saw a snake on the way up, too. I never caught any real quality fish there, but every time I ever went, and every time I took friends, we all each thought that would be the time someone caught a big one from it.

[strikequeentiff]

There were a couple nice sized pond's in my old neighborhood of my first house. There's nothing better than walking out your front door to a
"fishing hole" a few hundred feet away. I consider this my "favorite worst spot" b/c there'd be several times where I'd catch a bass to see holes in her mouth. Poor girl. I probably caught her 3 times. That, or all of the other fishing freaks in the neighborhood were out fishing everyday as well.  

[Bankbeater]

There is a pond I fish that you have to hike to get to.  The pond sits in an open area between trees, and is elevated.  It always seems like it is windy up there, and about 15 degrees cooler than anywhere else.

[CPBassFishing]

The pond I like to fish has a section of it with flooded trees every 6 feet or so. They nearly always hold fish but they are a HUGE PITA to get a jig into. I have to back into the branches of one tree to flip the one next to it. Worth it though.

[fstr385]

I can relate to some of these other ones too.

 

I went to this spot again today and had another break off lol. and 2 more in other spots in the same lake.

[jkroosz]

Lake Champlain overcrowded during tournament season. I love throwing keepers back while a tourney fisherman is watching. I may even hold it up for them if it is a good one.

[AK-Jax86]

Mine would be my back yard pond. Last year I was killing them it seemed like there is nothing less than 2.5# in there. But I haven't caught anything at all since last June. I'm not sure what has happened but it's frustrating. I have been fishing a lot the past few weeks but nothing I. My back yard. I have another spot that is a 2 min drive, too far to walk though, from my house an that spot I have been getting a lot of nice fish nothing over 5# landed yet, had one that was easily well over 5 or 6 but as I had it 10 feet from shore the line got snagged and cut on a log. As far as my backyard pond I hope it picks up again last year it was around May that I decided to go out back and test my luck so hopefully it will be like last year in next few months.

[Bluebasser86]

All our smallmouth lakes in the state have Zebra Mussels. If you've never tried to drag a jig or shakyhead through those things you don't know what you're missing. It's like trying to set the hook with your line across a razor blade. 

[SirSnookalot]

I go to a few spots in the ICW that are very rocky, low tide can make fishing difficult.  I have lost countless numbers of lures due to being snagged, it's worth every penny that it has cost me.  5-10# fish are the norm and not the exception, you just don't know what's going to be showing up.

[fstr385]

  On 3/10/2013 at 6:12 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

All our smallmouth lakes in the state have Zebra Mussels. If you've never tried to drag a jig or shakyhead through those things you don't know what you're missing. It's like trying to set the hook with your line across a razor blade. 

 

That would be a new one down here

[RyneB]

theres a spot on the illinois river that always produces a few smallies for me. A smaller river flows into it and it has rocks and clear water and the smallies stack up there. The only spot on the whole river i have found bass. Well on the weekends you get every bucket fisherman in the county that fishes that little area. Im talking 50+ people, all fishing for catfish,drum and carp. You cant get anywhere near it. Not to mention they leave there garbage all over the shore line. So the only way to fish it is if you are lucky enough noone is there during the week.

[fstr385]

yea I hear ya there. I try and avoid places where many people go.