Rough Day On The Water. Any Advice?

[cjam93]

Hey guys so Im in need of some advice. I went fishing on a lake today that 8 days ago was around 55-59*f. Today at 7:30am the water was 64. By the end of the day it was mid 70's. Im not sure why it is warming up so fast, last year it was much slower at warming up. Early on it was pretty overcast but ended up getting pretty sunny by the end of the day. We had times with no wind and then some pretty stiff winds at other times.  We had 2-4ft of visibility.

 

Anyways I fished for about 10 hours. We caught 10 bass, but the biggest was maybe 1.5lb at the most. The bites were pretty spread out. We had some hit as shallow as 1-2 ft and others hit closer to 10 ft. This lake has some 50ft deep places but mostly deep is 15ft-30ft. I also pulled out and fished some points trying to find fish that were still working towards flats, but could not get bit doing that. All in all I covered water from 1ft to 17ft. I saw plenty of larger fish cruising around slowly in shallow water on the banks, but could not get anything of size to bite. Between me and dad we tried spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, squarebills, lipless, t-rig, c-rig, weightless senko, buzzbait, spook, and mid-diving cranks. 

 

I am wondering what we should have done to try to get on some bigger fish? In those conditions what would you try? What do you do if you see shallow fish roaming around that dont seem to want to bite or chase? Can the water temp just come up to quickly and mess with the fish?

[gulfcaptain]

Sounds like you found some females that had other thoughts and found a few males willing to play.   Great thing is there are always fish somewhere that aren't in a spawning mood.  That batch of females moved up, so somewhere in a staging area the next wave of females may be taking their place.  I rarely catch big cruising fish so I just admire and ignore them for the most part and try and focus my efforts where I think they should be staging and slow down and grind it out.

[Catt]

If you believe in water temperature those were post spawn females.

[cjam93]

If you believe in water temperature those were post spawn females.

Sorry, what do you mean if you believe in water temperature? 

[gulfcaptain]

If you believe in water temperature those were post spawn females.

I'd agree with you  in most cases but as warm as our winter here has been, the water temps have been 70 at some places I fish since Feb. and the fish didn't move up to spawn until late March for the most part.  And the big females were doing what he discribed.  Then a week later they would sit on the bank individually early in the mornings and if you put a wake or topwater bait over the top of them they crushed it. So my post was off the latest observations I can relate to.  

[kingmotorboat]

Better day than me. Fished 4 hours and caught 1

[cjam93]

what do i always have tied on atleast one stick, the jig...what can i always rely on even on tough bite days, the jig...whats one of the best most universal in any conditions proven producer, the jig...what do i have the most confidence in, the jig...what generally gets the bigger bites, the jig...what bait do i see that you didn't list in your arsenal of tried baits, the jig...

 

Crap I forgot to list that. We actually did try a jig as well haha. I didnt try different trailers though. I was using the missle flip jig with a baby dbomb on the back. 

[gobig]

Some days in the spring are just plain tough because they seem to be more sensitive to the slightest changes, especially Florida strains. I do not a pay as much attention to water temps as a lot of other people do. The reason being I want to keep an open mind. I have seen the mythological rules of bass fishing broken to many times. There are a ton of variables that dictate fish behavior that need to be considered. Much of which is contradictory. What matters today may not matter tomorrow. For instance the idea that suspended fish are uncatchable. In the right situation this is simply not true. I have caught bass suspended over 200ft of water. The solution to your situation seeing cruisers that would not eat, may have been as simple as backing off and making long casts. Where the next day you could possibly catch them from 10ft away and watch the whole thing go down. I ask these questions. How often do we catch cruising fish out of sight? And does the idea that they are tough to catch come from the experience of watching them turn their nose because your to close? The suggestion of moving off shore could have been the ticket also. Those shallow fish may have been in a negative mood and  in recovery from the spawn. 

[Ratherbfishing]

Be glad you CAUGHT ten bass-of any size..

 

My understanding is that the smaller bass move into the shallows first, in preparation for fanning out nests and THEN the fat girls come in to lay their eggs.  If you go deeper and or the mouths of bays, drop offs into deeper water, etc. you might have a better chance of finding the walmart gals.  Honstly, though, this is more book knowledge than personal experience.

 

 

[jhoffman]

Yeah last time I was out the water was 41, the main channel was mud and my trolling motor the whole way up could barely maintain position let alone gain ground.