New Member-Advise Needed

[Vanbassin]

Hi Guys

 

I just wanted to introduce myself, my name is Werner, I am form South Africa and I love reading the Bassing Tips, especially the ones on Facebook!!

I have been bass fishing for a good 10 years now, but I still learn every day.

 

I have quite a bit of questions for anyone willing to answer them for me? I do most of my fishing off a fishing Ski or what you guys would call in the States a kayak. I fish big lakes off it or small dams and ponds on private farms. Majority of my fishing is on the private dams or small ponds on the farms. Now I have been fishing here for years,I have seen the big fish, caught them and seen my brother in law catch them too. But i stopped fishing there for about 3 years and I am back there now and the fishing is good, but all of them are between 500g and a 1kg. The odd one is about 3-3.5lb, but I am just battling to get the 6-8lb ones and I know they were there the last time i fished there and I know nobody else fishes here as it is not public dams they are privately owned by a friend of mine and he told me no one else fishes here.

 

I need advise on what could be the problem, I have tried all tactics that I know and that I have read up on on catching large bass, and i have been very patient.The fish cant go anywhere so they must still be there.It is currently mid summer by us and the area i fish in can reach in excess of 37-40 degrees celcuis mid day, now I am an early bird and I am there 4:30 in the mornings at first light.

 

Any advise and help would be appreciated!

 

Cheers

 

Werner

[HoosierHawgs]

They may be deeper because of the heat... Lucky you still getting to fish right now! A large silent running crankbait can trick big fish pretty good. Big fish really like to eat jigs for some reason too... That would be a good option, or a big swimbait. If you are going to target big fish you need to be willing to get less bites, and fish baits that will only get bit by big fish. Good luck!

[roadwarrior]

Welcome aboard!

 

We have an extensive library with both aticles and videos on nearly every aspect

of the sport. Access these sections highlighted in green at the top of the page. If

you want to advance your game in the shortest time, read the articles and links,

watch the videos and take notes.

 

 

 

[Senko lover]

Swimbaiting is an extremely popular (albeit expensive) way of pursuing bigger bass. I'd suggest bigger worms and lizards or deep diving crankbaits as well.

[Felix77]

Already mentioned ... For warmer temps I would test the waters deep using jigs and cranks if possible.  Don't forget about finesse techniques like drop shot or the weighted wacky senko as well.

 

Welcome and good luck!

[gulfcaptain]

Just a thought, but are your fish skinny?  The private waters you fished may not have the size fish in them as before or fewer of them since it seems like you have a lot of smaller fish. Pond maybe overcrowed with that year/size fish.  Like posted above, read all articles that pretain to your type of conditions, and could try fishing larger profile baits, fishing a bit deeper, maybe in the nastiest cover you can find.  But if it's overcrowded then the size fish you're looking for will probably be in short supply.  Sounds like you got spoiled before with the larger fish, welcome to what most of us have to go through to find the nicer ones.  But still sounds like you have great fishing.

[HoosierHawgs]

Just a thought, but are your fish skinny?  The private waters you fished may not have the size fish in them as before or fewer of them since it seems like you have a lot of smaller fish. Pond maybe overcrowed with that year/size fish.  Like posted above, read all articles that pretain to your type of conditions, and could try fishing larger profile baits, fishing a bit deeper, maybe in the nastiest cover you can find.  But if it's overcrowded then the size fish you're looking for will probably be in short supply.  Sounds like you got spoiled before with the larger fish, welcome to what most of us have to go through to find the nicer ones.  But still sounds like you have great fishing.

If this is true, corrective management may be in place... If you need to, take out bass 14" and smaller (not all of them, but just some, don't over harvest). Have a fish fry or a shore lunch, they are lots of fun! Also, it will remove small bass that compete with bigger bass for food, allowing those bass to grow larger!

[Darren.]

Hi Werner, and welcome aboard!

 

I agree with others that the big ones may be in 

deeper waters.

 

What tactics are you using? Dropshotting, wacky, 

cranks, swimbaits, jigs? All of the above?

[scaleface]

Try it at night. Use a buzzbait. I fish a small lake that I didnt know held so many  big bass until I fished it after the sun went down. My experience is , it takes about two hours of darkness before the bite really picks up .

[Catt]

Welcome

Roadwarrior is dead on!

Gulfcaptian maybe on to something!

I have a question, what is working right now?

[Crestliner2008]

Welcome aboard! There are a lot of great folks here that can and will help you. However, there is also a lot of great reading to be had here, as has been stated. One thing though, do you have a sonar on your kayak? If not, you may want to invest in one. This way you can verify structure positions, find baitfish (which will direct you to the best fishing), and actually find fish at times to target.

 

From what you've said, it sounds like you could be dealing with a deeper population of bass than where you are currently fishing. But you have to have the right tools, set up the right way, to be able to find them. Again....WELCOME!

[Vanbassin]

Hey guys, wow thanks for all the advise, great responses!! There is one that stands out to me though,GulfCaptain I think you are spot on and I think the smaller fish are overcrowding the water!! Some of the fish are quite skinny, and the majority of the bigger fish I am getting on Punching Mats with 1 1/4 ounce Vike Tungsten weighted Missile Baits D-Bomb, there is some great mats to punch but there is def a shortage of the Monsters that use to patrol these waters!!!

 

I am however not giving up and I will continue to hunt the the big daddy's!! I will keep you guys updated, and again thanks for all the advise!!!

[smalljaw67]

Welcome to the board!!!! I'm siding with Gulfcaptain as well, it sounds as if the fish are becoming stunted, in 3 to 5 years a large population and deplete the forage base and then over time, the bigs ones show up less and less and are replaced by smaller fish. If there are larger fish left, they may be exclusively night feeding but if I wanted to see if any big fish are there I'd do what you already do, I'd show up at 4:30am with a big topwater, a buzzbait is my choice as it draws big strikes most of the time, and after that it would be a super spook, if you can get them early on a topwater like that, you may be seeing a population of stunted fish.

[Vanbassin]

This pic is of a Fish i caught at the one Dam recently, its just over 3lb, biggest so far in a while. I am convinced i Lost a really decent one last weekend, must have been close to 6.5lb The big ones are few and far between, its a shame but i will have a chat to the farmer to start thinning out some of the small ones to make space for big ones!

[primetime]

^{IF LARGE FISH ARE IN THE AREA, AND A TON OF SMALLER FISH, A GREAT WAY TO FIND SOME LARGER FISH  IS TO SIMPLY MOVE OFF THE SHALLOW AREA INTO A DROP OFF WITH SOME COVER NEARBY LIKE YOU MENTIONED PUNCHING, AND OFTEN I FIND A LARGER 3/4-1 OZ ONE KNOCKER LIPLESS CRANK OR RED OR BLUEGILL COLORED LIPLESS CRANK DIFFERENT THAN WHAT EVERYONE THROWS IN TERMS OF SIZE AND SOUND IF PRESSURED WATER, KEY BEING ELEMENT OF SURPRISE SINCE FEMALES ARE NOT ALWAYS HUNGRY THIS TIME OF YEAR.}

 

^{FOR SOME REASON RIPPING THEM FROM GRASS, OR SIMPLY USING A CHATTERBAIT IN SIMILAR WAY IS A GOOD WAY TO GET BIGGER FISH WHILE MOVING FASTER AS PUNCHING CAN GET OLD AND TIRED THIS TIME OF YEAR. EVERYONE SAYS IIZARDS, I SEEM TO LIKE A GOOD OLD RAGE RIGGED CHIGGER CRAW SINCE FEMALES CRAVE IODINE THIS TIME OF YEAR....I SEEM TO BE DOING BETTER FISHING FAST AND AGGRESSIVE RATHER THAN USING FINESSE TACTICS TO FIND FISH AND ONCE I FIND THEM I LIKE TO CHANGE ANGLES, LOOKS, AND FOR SOME REASON SOUND IS NOT USUALLY GOOD FOR ME ONCE I LOCATE FISH THAT ARE SHALLOW SINCE THEY SPOOK EASY WHICH IS WHY 1 KNOCKERS, SILENT, AND VIBRATIONS ARE MORE THE WAY I GO LATELY. NO RATTLES FOR SOFT BAITS FOR ME, SCENT FOR SURE, MEGASTRIKE IS KEY DURING SPAWN AND PRESPAWN, BUT JUST GET OUT THERE AND DO WHAT IS MOST FUN FOR YOU.....WELCOME ABOARD...THERE ARE NO RIGHT OR WRONG ANSWERS AND READING ARTICLES IS GREAT FOR STRATEGY BUT I LIKE TO ALWAYS THROW IN FUN WRINKLES AND 1 TOPWATER STRIKE IS WORTH IT FOR ME IF IT IS A BIG FISH AND THEY WILL RESPOND TO BIGGER SWIMBAITS THIS TIME OF YEAR.}

[Vanbassin]

Thanks for the info Primetime, will def give your suggestions a bash, going bright and early tomorrow morning, looks like it will be a good day tomorrow!! Will let you guys know how it goes.