Interesting Situation, How Would You Fish This?

[Brayberry]

There is a state owned area around my area, that has around 15 lakes in it.  The lakes vary from 5 - 500 acres.  All were old mining pits, and have been lakes for around 30 years.  All are very deep (for the area at least) with max depths of around 80 ft, and a average depth oround 22 ft.  The lakes all have steep shorelines, where even right next to shore, the depth is 20 feet or so.  There is no vegetation to speak of, lots of fallen timber but again it's deep.  The lakes have Largemouth Bass, Channel Catfish, Crappie. Bluegill, Carp, and Shad in them. Along the shoreline's in every lake is overhanging vegetation growing over the lake extending to about 6 - 10 feet over the waters edge.I recently talked to the local Fisheries Biologist that checks the lakes, and he says the thermocline in all the lakes is between 10 - 12 feet deep, so my question is how would you fish these lakes?  It's my understanding that if the thermocline is at best 12 feet deep, then there would be no bass below there, correct? Beating the bank is virtually non existent with the steep shorelines, the lakes have many big bass in them, but they always seem suspended, not relating to much.  I believe the bass generally suspend just following baitfish, with the young/smaller bass occupying the little shallow water available.  There hasn't been much activity here lately to read, so I thought I'd add this to gather others opinion. 

[Cryoglobin]

Get out the lipless crankbait, chrome and blue is my color of choice, and try to find out what depth they are holding at.  Without cover, they are probably holding up against the steep banks, so I would start by casting parallel to them.  Sounds like some of the Southern Kansas quarry ponds I have fished.  When it gets a little warmer, I have had success with topwater spooks and hula poppers in lakes like this.

[Nitrofreak]

You are correct to assume that the bass will not be below the thermocline , in most cases , this is a true statement , bass will venture below the thermocline but they in essence would have to hold their breath , it's just too uncomfortable for them , the ways you can fish for suspended bass will vary , me personally I like to use "countdown baits" and suspending baits , when using these baits it's important to understand the fall rate of each , and the maximum depth as to which they get , how many feet per second on the countdown baits , Senko's , Flukes , etc... suspended bass can be suspended for a variety of reasons , one reason could be that they are suspending simply to rest , no interest in chasing or feeding , the longer you can keep that bait in front of them the more likely your chances are at getting a strike , crank baits are a good bait to use as well but with suspended bass the depth the bait runs becomes very critical . 

[WRB]

I spent a lot of my youth fishing gravel pit lakes, lakes formed as a result of escavating sand and grave.

There is usually a road bed entering the pit creating a shallower area on one end.

Are you shore bond or using a boat?

Tom

[Nquince79]

Considering they have shad and they are following suspending baitfish get out the Alabama rig and count it down to different depths and throw it around

[geo g]

I like Nitrofreaks response.  I would do it exactly the same way.

[quanjig]

Fishing from shore would be a lot tougher than from a boat. Finding the fish is the key obviously, then adjusting the presentation that gets the most production. From shore I would look for irregularities along the banks and key on those areas. From a boat I would find some of the downed timber and drag bait in, around and thru the limbs.

[Bluebasser86]

I also fish the strip pits in Kansas, some of them sound very similar to what you're describing. One of the best baits I've found to just catch fish is a wacky rigged senko. Jigs seem to catch most of my bigger fish but swimbaits run along the drop offs can really work well also. Early and late or during low light conditions topwater along the edge and around the laydowns can be really good. I've never done well on cranks or traps at all with the clear water and fast drops but the same might night be true where you're fishing. 

[Fishes in trees]

Are you fishing from the bank or do you have a boat of some sort.  Anyway, in my youth, I fished strip pits quite a bit.   A boat helps a lot in figuring out a pit.  If I was bank bound, I might try different methods of  "chumming" and try to attract fish to you.  Anyway, and this applies to most, but not all, strip pits, the most important feature to find on a strip pit is the exit.  That is to say that when these pits were dug, they had to create a ramp of some sort to get the digging equipment out of the pit once they were finished digging.  That area will offer a transition area from shallow water to deep water and that is where I'd focus my search.  A depth finder helps in pit fishing a lot.  The strip pits I used to fish in central MO were famous for having humps and stuff left over from the diggings in the middle of the lake and if you didn't have a depth finder you would NEVER find them.

[Nice_Bass]

find shade from either angle of the sun and shoreline drop offs, or from visible cover.

[ClackerBuzz]

keep a slip bobber w/ wacky senko in the water while ur trying to figure them out w/ ur other rod.  adjust ur bobber stopper to various lengths to experiment with different depths.don't be shy about using live bait.  the same slip bobber rig but with a live night crawler w/ a split shot above to help it sink (or minnow).

 or drop shot with live minnow.

[Brayberry]

I do have a boat, but I also fish the lakes from shore.  I'm very familiar with these lakes as I've been fishing them very very often for the past 25 years.  I will definitely give the Alabama rig a try there, as that's something I hadn't thought of.  Also looking for the exits, another great idea I hadn't though of.  Keep the ideas coming