Need Some Tips?

[Dalton Tam]

Ok, so I've been fishing a local body of water for the past few months. It was awesome pre-spawn through the beginning of summer. I caught a lot of nice fish, saw some pigs one beds so I know they're here. At the beginning of summer I caught all my good fish on secondary points fishing deep grass. Well I'm taking summer courses so I put the rods down for a while. But I went out just a few days back and this place is like the Dead Sea.... Idk what to do. This lake is super clear and basically hydrilla covers the whole lake bed. The grass is insane. Huge hydrilla mats extend 40-50 foot from the banks now that summer is here. I've tried going to a deeper pattern, staying way out and fishing the edges of deep grass and drop offs. Tried top water early in the morning, punching matts and dragging big worms down to about 20 ft. Idk what else to do. If there is anyone on here that has a lot of experience on lakes like this and can give me some ideas I would love that! Thanks a lot!

-Dalton

[Slade House]

Missle bait baby d-bombs + megastrike ewg pro shaky head 2 in 1/2 , pitch that towards a log.  

[gulfcaptain]

Look for edges, irregularities in the grass.  Also, I've said this before, idle around and watch your depth finder.  Make a note of what depth most of the fish are at.  If most of the biomass is at a certain level that may give you an idea of how deep to start looking for the bass as well and help eliminate quite a bit of water.  

[jhoffman]

Ive gotta have some indication theres a reason for predator fish to be there. If I see baitfish on my graph im fishing, I dont care if theres no big fish mixed in. A lot of guys just fish when they see fish they think are bass and or pound the bank. A lot of times Im not marking bait actively chasing the schooling baitfish when I catch them. I just need to know the fish are there, if there is bait, they are there.

 

It could be a timing thing, it could be a pressure thing. My local lake if youre there at daybreak you probably still wont be first. Around 7-8am when most have finally decided to roll out of bed you can look around and see hundreds of bass boats pounding the shore and or known holes. They just assume theres always bass up shallow and always bass on certain pieces of structure. The road beds here are famous, everyone knows to fish it and you will see fish on the graph. The problem is, they turn on and feed for a half hour, that varies a little each day. If you dont have that time pinpointed, you could fish it for 6-8 hours and never catch a fish to leave, have a guy pull up and start smoking them. You think it was bad, he thinks its a gold mine. Unless he knows better, he will be just like you and the memory of that will bring him back time and time again.

 

Ive never really been able to find grass in this lake until I started to think about it a little harder one day when I pulled up some grass. This lake gets dropped for winter, so the upper end has no vegitation. The lower end however, stays almost full pool. With the ice forming, the grass line is starting between 10-14ft. Once I found that little piece of the puzzle I started lighting fish up.

 

Try a change in presentation. Conventional and written wisdom says slow way down and go big or small. Two weeks ago, if you werent bringing a jig across at a good pace, you werent catching fish. Dont ever think for a second that bait size dictates fish size, its not even true with swimbaits. Sometimes I go so small that yes I am fighting off rockbass and crappies but once I burn them out and they let it alone I start catching the bass.

 

Im a firm believer most of us move way too fast most of the time. Slow down and really fish an area. A 100 yard long stretch of water isnt something you should burn up in five mins then dismiss. If you see the bait and youre not catching fish, its your presentation or timing. End of story

[WRB]

Fish the same areas you did during pre spawn, the bottom hasn't changed the surface is covered with weeds.

The problem is getting through the grass mat or looking for openings or seams to fish. The bass should be in those areas on the steeper breaks during the day and move up shallower at night in the same areas.

Pegged T-rig with beaver type soft plastics, jig & soft plastic craw, punch rig (skirt type) with beaver types and surface frogs should work for you.

If you can fish at night, the bite should be more aggressive.

Tom

[Catt]

One word "NIGHT" ! 

[Dalton Tam]

Thanks guys I just finished the grinding school work today so I'll get out and try it next week. But my cousin and I are gonna head to Lake Fork Next week and I've never been so I'm pretty pumped about that even though it's not the best time of year.