Help Fishing In Super Clear Water?

[Bass NC]

Hey guys, I fish a ton of small lakes/big ponds in central NC and they are super clear (10 foot plus visibility). I have thrown a ton of different baits at the fish and I haven't found one bait they really hone in on. Any tips for baits? And also do I need an invisible flurocarbon leader? Any tips would be much appreciated?

[Scott F]

I fish very clear water with braid and no leader. The most important part of my presentation is long casts. Me and my boat discourage more bites than anything. It's almost unusual if I get a hit anywhere near the boat. I often see the fish following, but they turn away once they get close. Most of my hits come from out at the end of a long cast. It's another reason I use braid. The lack of stretch gives me good hook sets even from far away.

[WRB]

What are you currently using? Tackle, rod & line?

Tom

[aceman387]

I fish some gin clear strip mine pits that i can see the bottom a good 20 feet down and i use 10# power pro braided line in the moss green color without a leader. My two favorite killer baits are a 4" wacky rigged yum dinger in watermelon color and the yamamoto shad shape worm texas rigged weightless or on a drop shot. I hear guys going using a lot of natural colors in clear water but i have had great luck with a black & blue jig and a 7" berkley power worm in the blue fleck color also.

[Jar11591]

Try fishing it after dark with a black senko or lizard. I have had a lot of success fishing super clear pits after dark.

[Raul]

The main problem with super clear water is not the size of the baits, it´s not the color of your baits, it´s not your gear, it´s the fish being able to see you from a long distance so you have to fight that by reducing your presence ( like kneeling down ) and making long casts.

[everythingthatswims]

I fish very clear water with braid and no leader. The most important part of my presentation is long casts. Me and my boat discourage more bites than anything. It's almost unusual if I get a hit anywhere near the boat. I often see the fish following, but they turn away once they get close. Most of my hits come from out at the end of a long cast. It's another reason I use braid. The lack of stretch gives me good hook sets even from far away.

I had an experience 2 weeks ago that will keep me from tying directly to braid ever again. I was fishing a senko in a pond with sparse lily pads and pretty much catching a fish every other cast, it was incredible. I had a fish run me into a clump of pads and break my 12lb fluoro leader, so I cut it off hoping that the braid would cut through the pads a little better even though it was only 10lb test. All of a sudden it was like someone turned the bite off, I fished for 30 minutes without a bite before tying a leader back on, and as soon as I did, I was back to slamming them again. Keep in mind this wasn't a particularly clear pond, and the 10lb moss green power pro was keeping these fish from biting at all. I was shocked, I didn't think it could make that much of a difference. Although I know I can catch fish on straight braid, how many are looking at my bait and not even biting when I do that?

[joetomlee]

Long casts are important. I fish a clear lake nearby and my best luck has been fishing colors as close to natural forage as possible and when that fails, using white curly tail grubs or white soft plastic swimbaits.

[Munkin]

How much fishing pressure does the place get? What I have found on places that get a lot of pressure (anywhere around here) is long casts and natural colors. Watermelon and smoke are my favorite colors for clear water like you mentioned. Something else you may want to try if using hard baits is to speed up your retrieve. I have caught a lot of fish in clear water with a spinnerbait or crankbait by running it so fast they just react without getting a good look at it.

 

Allen

[BigBassLoveSenkos]

I live on a lake exactly like the one you describe. You can see the bottom clearly at 16-18' depth. It was an adjustment from what I was used to, well more like lots of adjustments.  

 

Wind is your friend, it chops the surface up distorting what they can see a bit.  

 

Just like others have said, long casts.

 

I use both spinning and baitcasters, primarily spooled with braid and a flouro leader, or all flouro.  Pro Grade Trilene Fluoro in the 6 - 12# range is hard to beat.  

 

You can go all braid, but you gotta camo the leader part yourself for best results.  Cut the head of a black permanent marker with a razor blade, then just run your line thru it for the first 10-15'. That's been good for me on my lake.

 

Tackle changes so much, time of day, weather, time of year, etc.... I wont really get into that too much.  Throw things you can throw far.  Spinnerbaits.  Weighted soft plastics.  Jigs.  I'll love topwater til I die, but on this lake it only works at night for me.   LOL - I've caught more catfish on cranks on my clear water lake than bass, so I quit using them here.  Still kill with them on other lakes, just not here...

 

One more thing, be quiet!  Use the silent version of lures, not the rattling ones.  

 

Hope all this helps

[Raul]

 

 

 

 

One more thing, be quiet!  Use the silent version of lures, not the rattling ones.  

 

Hope all this helps

 

Sorry but I have to disagree, you can use either, silent and rattling versions both work. As usual, in bass fishing there are no "rules", you try to make a "rule" and bass quickly prove you are wrong.

[Bass NC]

What are you currently using? Tackle, rod & line?

Tom

I have tried everything from square bills in all sizes and colors to lipless cranks, top water frogs, buzz and spinnerbaits. I throw soft plastics a lot and the most effective bait I have found is the jerkbait and jig but these are not killers I just catch the occasional fish with these baits. Also I use lews baitcasters with miss green power pro line.

[BigBassLoveSenkos]

Sorry but I have to disagree, you can use either, silent and rattling versions both work. As usual, in bass fishing there are no "rules", you try to make a "rule" and bass quickly prove you are wrong.

Maybe you missed the first sentence of my post, the one telling the OP that I had to adjust to clear water and these were some of those adjustments.  I don't see how you are considering that making a rule, or why you would even give a sh!t.  Rattles have also worked for me in clear, but silent works better. For me. Good night.

[WRB]

I have tried everything from square bills in all sizes and colors to lipless cranks, top water frogs, buzz and spinnerbaits. I throw soft plastics a lot and the most effective bait I have found is the jerkbait and jig but these are not killers I just catch the occasional fish with these baits. Also I use lews baitcasters with miss green power pro line.

[WRB]

Clear water isn't a big deal to bass, they are sight feeders first. If you ignore this fact it will be difficult to catch them.

Power fishing techniques may work at night, think finesse during bright light conditions.

Catching active bass is easy, catching inactive bass is difficult.....think targeting active feeding bass during low light periods using power presentations, finesse during day time.

Tom

[ww2farmer]

Speed can often be your friend in clear water. I generally fish the same reaction baits in clear water as I do colored water, but I keep the speed up (even if the water is cold) and use... Most of the time.... A subtle colored bait. But sometimes, for who knows what reason, a gawdy color burned past them sets them off, especially smallmouth. Try a few things to see what "makes"them bite.