Where'd We Go Wrong

[Preytorien]

Had a chance for some fishing last evening. Found a great spot, or so we thought. It had all the makings of perfect bass habitat. 3'-6' depth, weedlines, structure, mats, lillypads, the works. A storm front had just passed about 45-60 minutes prior. It was a "finger" off the main lake body and it was pretty sheltered by forest etc. You could see it wasn't very well visited by non-fishermen. It looked like something you'd see on the beloved TV bass fishing shows. We could see them feeding on the surface as the sunset drew closer, and it got our blood pressure up when the big ones would explode on something a ways off.

 

Didn't seem to matter though what we threw at them, topwater, stickbaits, chuggers, plastics, shallow cranks, med' cranks, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, even live bait (minnows and beemoths), they wouldn't take any of it. Tried multiple colors, varying retrieves, alternated depths, etc. Everything I know to do. But.....nothing. Not even a slight tap.

 

Really frusturating, we had pretty much ideal conditions and got skunked. I've had my share of days where they proved me wrong, but this seemed like such ideal conditions it makes me think we, ourselves, had something to do with our luck running dry.

 

Any ideas?

[EvanT123]

Zoom super fluke. Twitch twitch pause. Then again that's my answer for everything.

[deaknh03]

perhaps it wasnt bass busting on top. 

[Shane J]

Yeah, coulda been carp.

[Crestliner2008]

Shane has a good point. Have you seen bass in there? Depending on the pH of the water and other environmental issues, it may not support a balanced population of predators & prey. But then you'd know more about that than we would. If you know there are bass there and the top waters are not working, then a jig w/trailer or a Senko should get you bit. A stealthy approach may be another aspect you need to look at as well. JMO.

[MarkH024]

That's why it's called fishing and not catching. Sometimes it just doesn't go your way. If you threw the kitchen sink at them with no results, I'd question if they were even bass.

[Jack Fate]

Don't know your location, but I have dealt with that scenario before. Down here it was a case of it being saltwater stripes busting minnows.  I quit trying once I figured out what they were. 

[Bankbeater]

Crappie do that around here. In the morning they will be hitting anything on the surface and if you didn't know better you would swear its bass.

[don53]

welcome to Bass Resource Phil

[scrutch]

Throw out the minnow net and catch some bait, put one on a hook, then you will know the species of the predator fish.

I'd be hoping it was stripers! That's a blast!

[bigfishing85]

I am sorry about your bad luck. I agree with some of the others, in weed lines I will  try topwater around the evening too; however, it doesn't mean the bass aren't there if they dont bite. A senko (stick worm) either texas rigged weightless or wacky rigged around the weedlines are your best bet in this situation. I also noticed that you stated there was a storm front that had moved through.

 

It was probably better if you would have fished before the storm. The barometric pressure dropping will cause a feeding sensation in the bass and they will bite a heck of a lot better. The rains could have cooled the water to the point of giving them some lock jaw. Also, I fish Lake Lanier in GA and the carp are ALL over that lake. So close to the shoreline I have touched them with my rod and had them swim off and they bite on top more than anything else I have ever seen so I typically ignore the topwater strikes because it is mostly carp causing it and not bass.

 

It sounds like  you were in the right spot because I fish around the same areas and catch bass too. Sometimes, you have to downsize your lures or slow the presentation in order to get them to bite. Try either a weightless senko texas rigged, wacky rigged, or a shakey head worm and you will more than likely get bit next time.

 

Try changing your location a little too. I have fished in  an area with no strikes and moved about 15 feet and caught them all day. Good luck.

[emjaysmit]

 "A storm front had just passed about 45-60 minutes prior" if you were on the water about an hour prior to this it would have been magic...

 

[Preytorien]

Yea come to think of it since we never saw a fish in the boat there's nothing to say it was definitely bass, I've just never seen carp jumping out of the water to hit something on top. Maybe an aggressive surface disturbance, but this was more of a surface detonation.

 

Time was not on my side concerning this front, so I only had time to fish after it, but I agree I sure wish I could've hit it before the rains.

 

We tried being as stealthy as we could, trolling motor was our only propulsion, so hopefully we got that right.

 

As far as retrieves and lure size/colors, believe me when I say, we tried about everything in our bags/boxes. Senkos, craws bounced on the bottom, lightweight Spinnerbaits, plastics run slow, etc. On this lake we can usually light it up with chartreuse RoadRunners, but not even that worked. So I'm hoping to rule out the lure selection

 

I'll be hitting this spot again soon you can bet on that. If I have better luck you'll know it.

 

Thanks for the help guys, gives me food for thought and a good list of expert's advice to follow on the next outing, I'm hoping for better luck!

[PABASS]

Old timer tells me that carp jump out of the water to clean there gills, what I used to think was bass from shore was really carp, they make huge explosions.  I don't agree with everything he says because I have seen "on tv" Bass jump out of the water on bait balls, he claims bass do not jump out of water when they are not hooked.

[prjavelin]

you had to go finesse. small plastics, drop shots or shakey heads. If there were bass in there, they were going to bite. 

[emjaysmit]

All species jump out the water, in actual fact we fish a local farm pond with regular sightings of 5lb bass jumping at forrage literally landing on the reedline flopping around, last year during a recent trip to Mteri we saw bass in the grass literally jumping in the boat, we get various species of Carp in South Africa, Silver Carp, Mirror Carp and Giant Carp as we call them, they clear out of the water completely with massive splashes, during the rainy season when the flying ants fall on the water surface you regularly see bream, carp barbel and bass giving some air....