Miller's Ferry 8 Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 I have a tournament coming up this weekend. I haven't had a lot of success in practice but I have seen huge groups of spotted bass in 40 feet of water. They are anywhere from the bottom to about 10 feet off bottom. The water temperature is around 48. I've thrown a lot of different things at them and no luck. Any ideas on what to do? Keep in mind the water clarity is always stained on the Alabama River. Current is normally from 10pm to 8am then no current the rest of the day. Quote
papajoe222 Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 By spotted bass the same as Kentucky and are you sure the fish you're marking are spots? Between the cold water and the depth you're targetimg I'd opt for a C-rig with a small, floating soft plastic or a drop-shot with a heavy sinker. Either way, load up your choice of plastic with a water based scent that will disperse better than an oil based one in the cold water. JJ's would be a good choice if not available. Visibility and scent will tilt the odds more your way when it comes to the number of bites. Hope that helps and good luck. Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted February 24, 2015 Global Moderator Posted February 24, 2015 A rig if it's allowed. If not I'd be trying baits like a jigging spoon, flutter spoon, dropshot, swimming grub, boot tail grub on jighead/scrounger/fish head spin. 1 Quote
Super User Crestliner2008 Posted February 24, 2015 Super User Posted February 24, 2015 Drop shot, jigs, and blade baits. Something along these lines will work for you. 1 Quote
Super User scaleface Posted February 24, 2015 Super User Posted February 24, 2015 You already know what hasnt worked . Thats a good start . 1 Quote
Mainebass1984 Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 I love targeting fish under though conditions. Usually happens around me in late Oct and Nov. With the water temperature in the high 40s and fishing 40 feet deep I would go with a silver buddy and a jig. Under those conditions I usually get more bites on a silver buddy but if you get a bite on a jig it usually is a quality fish. Fishing the jig painstakingly slow is key. I would assume you will get a few bites on the initial fall with a sliver buddy. I prefer to cast my silver buddy out let it sink and then very, very, slowly hop it back to the boat sometimes waiting 30 seconds or so in between hops. You can fish the silver buddy vertical as well but like I prefer to cast it. I do believe that they had an Elite series event on the Alabama River last year or perhaps the year before. I just watched the show. I think that the winning pattern was fishing the small ponds just off of the main river channel. Quote
fish365 Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 In addition to baits already mentioned, a small swimbait or fluke on an erie jighead. watch it go down on your electronics and stop it above where the fish are and barely twitch it up. Bait like a Damiki Armor shad works great this time of year. Quote
bassin is addicting Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 I like what others have suggested.... one that hasn't been.. a hair jig (in particular, bear hair) with a pork trailer. a great bait for me under those conditions. I picked up some bear hair jigs last year and had a lot of success in my 1st tourney...water in the temps that you have now. not as deep ...but all mine were caught in at least 8-10ft of off-color/stained water. the bear hair "breathe" and the pork stays pliable, get some scent (jj's) to help also. good luck. 1 Quote
Super User Choporoz Posted February 24, 2015 Super User Posted February 24, 2015 I thought everybody would be throwing and recommending underspins....at least for the next few weeks 4 Quote
Super User roadwarrior Posted February 24, 2015 Super User Posted February 24, 2015 I have had very good luck with the Sworming Hornet/ LFT Live Magic Shad. A few years ago I had the privilege of fishing with Dinky at Pickwick during the BassResource.com RoadTrip. We both caught a lot of fish and I had my best day ever in terms of numbers: 78 bass. Nearly everyone was caught on the Sworming Hornet. 1 Quote
Miller's Ferry 8 Posted February 24, 2015 Author Posted February 24, 2015 Thanks guys. I'll be making a trip to Basspro this week sometime to grab some of these. Even though I'll pay an arm and a leg for them. And papajoe222, to answer your question, I'm about 99% sure they're spots. On the Alabama River the spots are almost always on the main river drop. Also, one of my buddies caught one down there on a shakeyhead. 1 Quote
Super User everythingthatswims Posted February 25, 2015 Super User Posted February 25, 2015 Swim a light jig/grub through them Light will not be the name of the game in 40 FOW Quote
matuka Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 Spro Phat fly. I/8 oz on really skinny line. Quote
gobig Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 Matuka gave a killer suggestion for targeting spots that are deep like that. The other things I would try are a dropshot, an ice jig, spoons, heavy arig, lipless bait ripped off the bottom or a swimbait. Did you look for shallow fish. Those are perfect temps for a float n fly. Quote
bassinyea Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 I would say try to find some shallower fish. Are you sure that the fish you are marking in 40 ft are even bass? Sounds like you didnt catch any to verify. If the water is heavily stained I would think even if those are bass they are gonna be hard to get to bite. Not much light penetrates that deep in stained water so it is hard to get a bait to have a good "presence" at that depth meaning you're only chance will be to literally hover it right in front of their noses. Bass that are up shallower are doing so either staging for spawn or to eat and will be a lot easier to catch in my opinion. Just my 2 cents. Quote
MainelyBASS Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 I thought everybody would be throwing and recommending underspins....at least for the next few weeks I already own a bunch, but out of curiosity I checked TW and some other similar sites and they are sold out. I know thats an obvious discovery, but still cracks me up every year people don't have confidence in what they are throwing themselves on their home lakes. 1 Quote
sarcazmo Posted February 26, 2015 Posted February 26, 2015 Blade baits or a jigging rap. Seriously, jigging raps are amazing. Normally considered for ice fishing, they work really well for bass. Quote
Super User scaleface Posted February 26, 2015 Super User Posted February 26, 2015 Found this... spoon.JPG Might just help. You think that was for snagging. ? Maybe snagging was illegal and this way that could say they were fishing a lure ? Quote
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