What Would You Have Tied On?

[GADawgs]

I fish a 535 acre lake from my kayak.  I carry a 7'6" Powell Diesel MHXF 5 power with 50 lb braid & Lews SS 6.4:1, Powell Endurance 7'1" HXF 4 power with 50 lb braid & Lews TPSS 7.1:1, BPS carbonlite 6'6" MF with a 6.4:1 BPS PQ, and a *** Black 7' MF Spinning. 

 

The lake does not have heavy weed growth but does have some downed trees (intentionally by DNR) and structure added to the lake for habitat. I am not looking for specific name brands but more a suggestion such as *** = shakey head, Endurance = t-rigged creature bait, Diesel = Frog, BPS = Shallow crankbait. 

 

I post this because I have been getting skunked lately.  I have thrown some spinnerbaits and crankbaits but mostly plastics and jigs.  Water temp is in the mid 60's with air temp in the 70's.  Most days I have been going out have been 2 or 3 days after a front and the skies have been mainly clear.  All of the fish I have caught this year have been on plastics (most likely becaue that is what I mainly throw).  I am just looking for some ideas to help in addition to reading a bunch and fishing everywhere I can think of on the lake.

 

Below is a link to a DNR map with the structure that they have added

http://fishandboat.com/water/habitat/mgmt_plans/lake/marsh_creek.pdf

 

Lake is 60' at its deepest.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

[Fish Murderer 71]

Drop shot around the down timbers and LEAVE IT THERE AS LONG AS YOU CAN!!!! C-rig the structure till you find some fish and then experiment...

[gnuisance]

I would throw a frog around the timber with your baitcasting set up and a weightless fluke with the spinning combo. Also try a creature bait on a shakey head and experiment with the retrieve. Sometimes they want it swimming and sometimes they want it bouncing on the bottom.

[WIGuide]

If the water is in the mid 60's the bass should be up shallow spawning or preparing to. I'd be fishing in the 1-5' range in places with a harder bottom composition. If there's any pea gravel flats, that'd be a great place to look first as well as the bass spawning structures they have in. You may not hit it when the females are up there but there should be some males both before and after the spawn. If you're catching males off the beds and no females, move out to the first quick drop and fish that ledge for a while. Baits for bed fishing would be something like a wacky rig, creature bait, or drop shot. If they've yet to start and are still feeding up, a spinnerbait would be hard to beat. 

[speed craw]

Finesse jig with crawl trailer , dropshot setup again leave as long as possible , also texas rigged lizards . You might even try a slow chatterbait bite , depending on how active the fish are . 

[Gaerith]

What kind of bottom and water clarity?

Spinning rod = drop shot, weightless or 1/8 oz trig

Diesel = 3/8 or 1/2 oz jig black and blue, your choice in trailer (or chatterbait if water is dirty)

Try a square bill around timber? Just a guess, I'm not good at picking cranks, but seems like it would be good to bang against logs.

Last rod tie on a top water of your choice - spook, buzzbait, or frog

Just got done kayak fishing in a reservoir with lots of trees and I got all but 1 bite throwing to shallow timber with a 3/8 black/blue jig. Other bite came on a chrome rattletrap.

[GADawgs]

The lake is pretty clear, most days 5-7' visibility. It is a man made lake and from what I can tell most of the lake is dirt bottom, at least in the shallows

[Blake2737]

I would like a square bill around the timber. Also a swimming jig worked a little slower

[Bankbeater]

Have you fished with braid in that lake before?  How much fishing pressure does that lake see?  I would try tying on a leader, and down sizing the baits a little.

[PersicoTrotaVA]

I would like a square bill around the timber. Also a swimming jig worked a little slower

I 2nd the squarebill.  Use more natural colors.  I like the ghost sexy shad kvd squarebill for clear water(5' to 7' is clear to me).  

 

For pastics I would throw a lightweight texas rigged grub or a tube.  Cast it out and start reeling it slow to medium slow speed and hang on.

[NEjitterbugger]

Try a mojo rig with your spinning setup, I'd say a squarebill for the BPS... Definitely start with those, without knowing the water clarity I don't know about braid other than flipping the trees and throwing topwater