Need Help For This Afternoon..

[Mccallister25]

I dont normally ask these kind of questions, but Im sorta going out of my comfort zone today, and need some advice from you guys.

This afternoon after work a buddy and myself plan on taking my Jon boat out to a little lake. We normally bank fish, and typically fish very shallow. Im talkin, 90% of the time, banklines unless throwing cranks. The place were going to gets down to about 10' Id say, give or take.

I plan on only taking two set ups with me out there. A jig, and maybe a weightless bait, that I may or may not switch over to a t-rig if needed.

So here's my question for you guys. I have no electronics, and have no clue where to find the fish. Summer weather is in full swing, so I know theyll probably be deep. My jig size the vast majority of the time is small. 5/16 oz. should I try throwing around the banks like I normally do with a smaller jig, or a larger profile jig? Then, if I decided to fish open water, should I try a larger 1/2 oz jig, or the regular 5/16 oz?

I'm having to type this in a hurry, so sorry if its confusing. Thanks people!

[BassinBryce]

Ok I fish a similar way I usually look for the normal fish holding spots lay downs, points, drop offs, underwater cover (large rocks, trees grass, docks, etc). Any of these are good but If you can find a combination of these things or just one of these things along with forage (minnows, small bluegill, crayfish, shad, etc.) you know you've got a winner. The crayfish are usually in the rocks so that's where you throw those imitators the baitfish are usually in the grass, frogs are obviously in the slop and everything lives in fallen trees. The best spots will probably be fallen trees both above and below the water leading to a drop off or docks leading to a drop off.

[JickleFish]

Use lipless cranks, and square bills, they work great as search baits. Cast around some cover, and try to find the bites. Good luck!

[Kevin22]

To be honest, I'd just tie on a square bill and have at it. Crank any structure, weeds, and just fan cast. If you run 12# line you can fish from 0-6'. Up it to 14 and you can get most down to a good 5'. I doubt they are going to be out in the middle of the lake, probably going to be tucked in weeds, being that it is a shallow lake which will have no noticeable thermocline. 

[Mccallister25]

Thanks for the replies guys. I may just end up taking a squarebill. I can count on one hand how many fish Iv caught on cranks this year. I dont have a whole lot of confidence with them. Iv done well in past years, but this one had been different.

[Kevin22]

The last couple of days the fish have been reacting very well to square bills for me. Water temp is 77 and yesterday it was post-storm and cloudy. I was burning a SK series 1 (similar to a 1.5) as fast as the 7.1 would go, making it jump and deflect off any rock I could find. They were trying to take the rod out of my hand they were hitting it so hard. I caught a couple throwing to deeper water (probably 8-10) and getting it down as deep as I could then burning it with lots of rod jerks and erratic movements. 

 

They make great search baits, don't think you have to just throw them up to logs and reel back nice and slow... That works, but not all of the time. 

[WVbassin87]

When in doubt, i always have a spinnerbait handy

[Dave23]

Start in the deeper parts earlier in the afternoon. Drag a jig or t-rig and see if you can find any structure or bottom differences.The stuff you cant see. As the afternoon turns into evening start hitting the shallows/banks with crankbaits and your weightless baits. just my .02

[tcbass]

How'd it go? What did you use?