Finding Fish!!!!?

[blackmax135]

I've been out fishing about 6 times since spring started.  I have been out once and had a good trip witch I knew it was going to be a good day because the conditions were perfect and I knew were to find the fish and how to catch them at that particular time from experience. But conditions weren't' what I wanted all the other times.  The places I fish do not have contour maps made for them yet, so I have to drive around and look for points and other types of structure.  When I do I look for fish on my electronics and when I find some I mark them. Ill go back later and throw every thing out the tackle box at them but nothing.  The only way I can find a fish is just beating the bank and pick up a straggler.  I try and use those fish to get a pattern going but its only good for 2 fish.  The river I fish has a huge variety of fish and I am not totally sure that these are even bass and I'm starting to lose the confidence to even try to find fish any more and just go beat the banks and hope for the best .  Were do you guys get the confidence to fish these spots and really know there will be bass there.   Normally ill go over a spot and man I get excited there is bait fish and bass following but never any luck.  Or is bass fishing really this complicated?

[CRANKENSTIEN]

I thought you southern guys always had good places to fish this time of year. The lake I fish can be like that but I know there are good bass in there. it can be humbling when they aren't biting. For confidence you have to believe in your knowledge and skill. If you aren't confident in the place you should find a different one. How are other fisherman doing and what are they doing. The lake I fish has been slow and we are all beating my the banks. I've decided if that isn't working I am going to work deep structure in the middle until I can master that. We all like to catch them. If you are not you have to enjoy the challenge and improve. You do look look like a confident bass fisherman in that avatar

[blackmax135]

I thought you southern guys always had good places to fish this time of year. The lake I fish can be like that but I know there are good bass in there. it can be humbling when they aren't biting. For confidence you have to believe in your knowledge and skill. If you aren't confident in the place you should find a different one. How are other fisherman doing and what are they doing. The lake I fish has been slow and we are all beating my the banks. I've decided if that isn't working I am going to work deep structure in the middle until I can master that. We all like to catch them. If you are not you have to enjoy the challenge and improve. You do look look like a confident bass fisherman in that a

 

I was with my fiancé when I caught that fish and that was that day I was talking about I knew were and how to fish.  So I was pretty happy I got to show off. lol   There is great fishing in the south but I really don't have any great places close to me so I'm stuck fishing places that are either heavily fished or like the river you have to be in a certain place at a certain time and know where they are to catch them.  The river I fish I know I could catch fish in the actual river it's self but the current is so strong I either have to tie up or find an eddie.  My T motor isn't strong enough to keep me out of trouble if the current catches me so I stay in the oxbow lakes.  These places I fish never has any bass fisherman around atleast when i'm there so theres no way for me to get any knowledge on whats going on I just have to figure it out on my own.  I love getting out and trying to teach my self my mistakes but it seems like i'm never learning how to fix my mistakes.  Everything I have ever learned has been from all the great guys on here.

[gulfcaptain]

Do you keep a log of conditions for your trips?  Water temps, fish depths, locations?  Fish are creatures of habit.  They do the same thing.  Bass fishing isn't complicated, it just isn't always easy and that's the challenge of it.  Observations are key.  Today went fishing, found the place I fished this week with a good frog bite totally changed in a day.  Higher water, 6 degrees cooler, and off color.  Went expecting topwater, and as soon as I had an accurate temp new the fish weren't going to be on top....6 degree water temp is a lot even if it's only 70 down to 64.  But the fish pulled tight to cover and knowing where to look made the difference.  Your fish may be up on beds, or may be pulling back off.  Step back, look at what gave you success before.  Where were you fishing?  What structure and cover is around that area....is there a break close by? they aren't going to move far.  Look into the details of each trip.  You will get there.  If it were easy then we'd all be professionals instead of watching them on tv making it look easy but they struggle just as much at times too.

[scaleface]

Blackmax , those offshore fish are much harder to find than they once were. Everybody knows how to find the textbook spots. read maps ,get GPS coordinates..  I have given up on places where I use to catch limits of fish  and win tournaments  . Youre not alone . I have become a much better bank beater the last few years out of necessity  . 

 

Fishing is one of the few things in life , I can stay focused on. I fish for hours on end trying to perfect a pattern for the day . My goal is to catch numbers and large fish and if I have to move to the banks than so be it . I cannot force the fish to bite I can only encourage them .

[GADawgs]

I actually just watched a BassResource video on locating fish. Check it out and it may provide you with some insight. Good luck!

[Senko lover]

Finding the fish can be difficult at times. For me, fishing small ponds, I know the fish are there, I'm just required to get them to bite.

It's much harder to break down a large body of water.

I would recommend some finesse tactics. Find some spots that have worked for you and fish them with a dropshot or shakeyhead with a small worm.

That's a proven way to get some bites, no matter the conditions.

Best of luck!

[WRB]

Santee Copper lakes, lake Marion in particular, are not your typical bass lakes, they are shallow low land reserviors with very little " Structure" mentioned in a typical reply. The fact you also fish rivers makes more difficult to lcacate what we call outside structure or off shore locations. The bass where you fish are shoreline oriented fish or target bass.

Determining bass form carp is nearly impossible, the sonar returns look the same!

Pick a lure and presentation you are confident with and fish thr fish you locate, they are not always bass or the bass are not always active feeders. Return about an hour later and give those "marks" another try, they maybe bass and active then.

Tom

[blackmax135]

Finding the fish can be difficult at times. For me, fishing small ponds, I know the fish are there, I'm just required to get them to bite.

It's much harder to break down a large body of water.

I would recommend some finesse tactics. Find some spots that have worked for you and fish them with a dropshot or shakeyhead with a small worm.

That's a proven way to get some bites, no matter the conditions.

Best of luck!

I have the opposite mind set.  I find it easier to find fish on a big body of water were I can find key structure to fish.  A pond you just sling that bait out there and hope there is a fish there and you give him what he wants.  I can't say I'm to good with either of those tactics but i'm dern sure gonna have to figure them out.  Whats the typical weight you use on on drop shot?

[blackmax135]

Santee Copper lakes, lake Marion in particular, are not your typical bass lakes, they are shallow low land reserviors with very little " Structure" mentioned in a typical reply. The fact you also fish rivers makes more difficult to lcacate what we call outside structure or off shore locations. The bass where you fish are shoreline oriented fish or target bass.

Determining bass form carp is nearly impossible, the sonar returns look the same!

Pick a lure and presentation you are confident with and fish thr fish you locate, they are not always bass or the bass are not always active feeders. Return about an hour later and give those "marks" another try, they maybe bass and active then.

Tom

There are a lot of carp in the river I fish. Also bowfin and gar.  Santee cooper is one of my favorite bodys of water to fish I can go out there and normally catch some fish.  Thanks bud

[Crappiebasser]

I focus more on bait than fish. If I can find schools of shad, active bass aren't far behind.

[RoLo]

WRB  -  Posted Today, 03:54 PM

Santee Copper lakes, lake Marion in particular, are not your typical bass lakes, they are shallow low land reserviors with very little

 

Lake Marion is not your typical bass lake?  

Well…in a way I guess that's true, because Lake Marion is the quintessential bass lake, well above your typical bass lake.

Not by accident, Roland Martin boated his two heaviest bass stringers in Lake Marion, SC (not Okeechobee, FL)

We spent a vacation on Lake Marion (Santee Cooper) and that lake is loaded with structure. It has primary points, secondary points

and a well-defined river channel that snakes thru the entire length.  In addition, Marion is chock-full of shoreline vegetation.

 

 

I've been out fishing about 6 times since spring started.  I have been out once and had a good trip witch I knew it was going to be a good day because the conditions were perfect and I knew were to find the fish and how to catch them at that particular time from experience. But conditions weren't' what I wanted all the other times.  The places I fish do not have contour maps made for them yet, so I have to drive around and look for points and other types of structure.  When I do I look for fish on my electronics and when I find some I mark them. Ill go back later and throw every thing out the tackle box at them but nothing.  The only way I can find a fish is just beating the bank and pick up a straggler.  I try and use those fish to get a pattern going but its only good for 2 fish.  The river I fish has a huge variety of fish and I am not totally sure that these are even bass and I'm starting to lose the confidence to even try to find fish any more and just go beat the banks and hope for the best .  Were do you guys get the confidence to fish these spots and really know there will be bass there.   Normally ill go over a spot and man I get excited there is bait fish and bass following but never any luck.  Or is bass fishing really this complicated?

 

In uncharted waters, you're wise to keep your eyes glued to the depth sounder.

On the other hand, I wouldn't be looking for fish, but would be looking for fish-holding contour.

 

Beating the bank has been stigmatized, but bass don't keep running tabs

on their distance from the nearest shore, so why should fishermen?  A lot of offshore real estate

is barren wasteland, and most of the best offshore hotspots are generally shallow humps.

In contrast are the many honey holes that sit a stone's throw from the shore, it's all dictated by contour & cover. 

During a search for structure and cover, I think it's good to be single-minded,

and don't pay attention to whether you're out in the middle of the lake or ready to bump the bank. 

 

btw: I agree with your take on not being intimidated by lake size. The bigger they come, they harder they fall 

 

Roger

[blackmax135]

Lake Marion is not your typical bass lake ??  

Well…in a way I suppose that's true, because Lake Marion is the quintessential bass lake, well above your typical bass lake.

Not by accident, Roland Martin boated his two all-time heaviest bass stringers in Lake Marion, SC.

We spent a vacation on Lake Marion (Santee Cooper) and that lake is loaded with structure. It has primary points, secondary points

and a well-defined river channel snaking thru its entire length. Needless to say, it also has a wealth of shoreline cover.

 

 

 

In uncharted waters, you're doing the right thing by keeping your eyes glued to the depth sounder.

On the other hand, I wouldn't be looking for fish, but would be looking for fish-holding contour.

 

Beating the bank has become a stigma, but bass don't keep running tabs on their distance from the nearest shore,

so why should fishermen?  A great deal of offshore real estate is barren wasteland,

and many honey holes are a stone's throw from the shore, it's all dictated by contour and cover.

During a search for attractive bottom contour, it's best to be single-minded in your approach,

so you wouldn't know it you were sitting in the middle of the lake or about to bump the bank (immaterial). 

 

BTW: I agree with your take on not being intimidated by lake size. The bigger they come, they harder they fall 

 

Roger

The river I fish is loaded with structure but I can't fish it because I can't handle the river so i'm stuck with the lakes.  When the main structure is a few laydowns on the banks (witch is normally where I find my fish) they aren't always there.  Were do they go? To the main run(river)? These lakes seam to have little contour and the contour they have has been hard for me to dissect because it is a very slow drop except the bank witch is kind of like a bluff wall were the river used to run.  Beeing that this bank is the steepest part of the lake, is this the key structure I should try to work down?  If you can understand what I mean (writing has never been my strong point so I can be confusing).  I've heard my soon to be father in law talk about some ridiculous size stringers come out of Lake marion (where he lives).  That lake is very intimidating though; very wide open!!!

[RoLo]

The river I fish is loaded with structure but I can't fish it because I can't handle the river so i'm stuck with the lakes.  When the main structure is a few laydowns on the banks (witch is normally where I find my fish) they aren't always there.  Were do they go? To the main run(river)? These lakes seam to have little contour and the contour they have has been hard for me to dissect because it is a very slow drop except the bank witch is kind of like a bluff wall were the river used to run.  Beeing that this bank is the steepest part of the lake, is this the key structure I should try to work down?  If you can understand what I mean (writing has never been my strong point so I can be confusing). 

 

As long as we're not talking about smallmouth bass, I kind of doubt that they’d leave the lake to enter the river.

If the laydown areas you’ve found have descent depth and descent cover for shade, it's not likely they’d move very far.

In any case, I wouldn't stop looking for places with abrupt depth change (up or down).

Particularly in an uncharted lake, whenever you find a jutting ridge or abrupt drop-off you found a goldmine.

Then just run along the breakline looking for submerged vegetation and spots-on-the-spot. 

Last but not least, there is always the possibility of lockjaw (they're home but not biting).

 

I've heard my soon to be father in law talk about some ridiculous size stringers come out of Lake marion (where he lives).                                                              That lake is very intimidating though; very wide open!!!

 

I know what you mean by 'wide open', that's especially the case on Lake Moultrie. Marion is a 'real' standout,

and the same lake where Preston Clark set the all-time 4-day record (115+lb), which has since been bested.

 

Roger

[WRB]

Roger, Not your typical highland-hill land impoundment most bass articles are written about when discussing structure. Marion is a excellent bass fishery.

The river canal maybe we'll defined on maps, mostly silted in with rounded edges except hard bottom zones which are few and difficult to located when I fished there a few years ago. Good shore cover and rip rap areas, trees, train tresses, bridges etc.

The locals know this lake well.

Not much help when it comes to fishing rivers. I look for wing dams or any obvious structure that breaks current and target those areas.

Tom

[Catt]

Alright let's make one thing perfectly clear it does not matter if the lake is a highland, low land, hill land, or any other adjectives & adverbs y'all want to attach to it, structure is the same regardless of the "type" of lake.

In its purest form "structure" is those permanent topographical differences within a body of water. Structure does not have to be 10-20' differences in depth, it will be as subtle as inches in difference!

Why is beating the bank so productive for so many anglers?

Because they spend the bulk of their time fishing it!

It is hard to determine if a piece of offshore structure will be productive without fishing it multiple times under multiple conditions.

[WRB]

You can have a wonderful isolated structure element like a rock pile or creek canal a mile off shore on a man made impoundment and as the lake ages that structure can be cover with 20' of silt, no longer any good. Something's change over a few decades as lakes age, you must adjust. Marion being a shallow low land lake has siltation issues. Silt is bottom structure in the technical defination, it's not good bass structure.

Tom

[Catt]

20 foot of silt!

Do you understand the volume of water flow necessary to deposit 20' on top of structure!

If there is that amount of water flow it is not going to build up silt until it far enough down stream for the flow to slow enough to have that kind of build up. Plus the bottom & shoreline up steam would have to be soft enough to erode by the same amount deposited down stream. Plus the up steam depths would drastically change.

[RoLo]

You can have a wonderful isolated structure element like a rock pile or creek canal a mile off shore on a man made impoundment and as the lake ages that structure can be cover with 20' of silt, no longer any good. Something's change over a few decades as lakes age, you must adjust. Marion being a shallow low land lake has siltation issues. Silt is bottom structure in the technical defination, it's not good bass structure.

Tom

 

All impoundments that lie on the Atlantic Coastal Plain are gang-classified as “lowland”.

But the typical lowland reservoir is a shallow wetland lake, while Lake Marion has a maximum depth over 75-ft.

Marion has current, depth, structure & cover; which is why it vies for America's best inland fishery for striped bass.

 

On riverine reservoirs, the water current along outside bends helps to keep the drop-off areas fairly intact,

while the bulk of sediment is deposited on the downstream sides of points (inside turns).

Sedimentation causes a widening of shelf areas but that's not a bad thing; Santee Cooper is living proof.

 

Roger

[ClackerBuzz]

when all else fails head for the weeds.

[blackmax135]

when all else fails head for the weeds.

No vegetation!!! 

I have to go way up the river to find any grass witch sucks

[blackmax135]

You can have a wonderful isolated structure element like a rock pile or creek canal a mile off shore on a man made impoundment and as the lake ages that structure can be cover with 20' of silt, no longer any good. Something's change over a few decades as lakes age, you must adjust. Marion being a shallow low land lake has siltation issues. Silt is bottom structure in the technical defination, it's not good bass structure.

Tom

Did you mean 20' thickness?

[aeb603]

The easiest thing you can do to try and find fish on a new or unfamiliar body of water is research. check out your states dnr fishing page, local blogs, etc.. Eventually you should be able to find some info on spots, lures, presentation, etc.. I've found great success with this method seeing as I do not own a boat and mostly bank fish, which is not a bad thing as someone already mentioned. This time of year you can easily catch bass in 1-2ft of water. Just fish with whatever you're confident in and the fish will come. trial and error. Best of luck

[Felixone]

I have been in a similar situation this year.  I started out strong, but hadn't caught a bass in over a month.  I was starting to get frustrated, and began doubting whether this whole fishing thing was for me or not.  Then this past weekend I decided to hit a new lake.  I did some research, found a likely place to put in, and had one of the best days I have had in a while.  I didn't catch much, but the action was on all day.  In the end I only caught one, but I lost several, and missed even more.  Of course there was also apparently a tournament on the lake that day and I just had to choose to fish from the same ramp the tournament launched from so everywhere I fished had already been picked over.

 

The lost ones I believe had to do with the bait I was using, and my lack of experience with getting solid hook ups with that bait and that heavy of a hook.  I was fishing a chatterbait, and until this weekend I had only caught pickerel on it.  The ones I just completely missed were from me being out of practice with actually catching fish.  When the strikes came I was typically distracted and not focusing on what I was doing.  As a result it took me a second or so longer to react.  I also had a few short strikes.  The tail on my trailer kept getting bitten off.  In my experience this is usually bream of some kind, but given how hard they hit I don't think it was completely that.  Next time I head out I am going to try a trailer hook to see if I can't catch some of the shorties.

 

So to summarize, I had a very long dry spell and decided to try new water.  Although the dry spell wasn't completely eradicated it was enough fire me up again.  Given this I would highly recommend doing a bit of research and find a new place to hit up on your next trip at least for a change of scenery.  Now to decide if I want to try another lake this weekend or go back to the one from last weekend.  I am still new to all of this (FW fishing for just under a year now), but I already found myself falling into a rut where I kept going to the same spots, throwing the same baits, and just not finding fish.  Getting out on new water got me energized again, and wanting to do and try more.  It might just be the ticket you need too.

[blackmax135]

I have been in a similar situation this year.  I started out strong, but hadn't caught a bass in over a month.  I was starting to get frustrated, and began doubting whether this whole fishing thing was for me or not.  Then this past weekend I decided to hit a new lake.  I did some research, found a likely place to put in, and had one of the best days I have had in a while.  I didn't catch much, but the action was on all day.  In the end I only caught one, but I lost several, and missed even more.  Of course there was also apparently a tournament on the lake that day and I just had to choose to fish from the same ramp the tournament launched from so everywhere I fished had already been picked over.

 

The lost ones I believe had to do with the bait I was using, and my lack of experience with getting solid hook ups with that bait and that heavy of a hook.  I was fishing a chatterbait, and until this weekend I had only caught pickerel on it.  The ones I just completely missed were from me being out of practice with actually catching fish.  When the strikes came I was typically distracted and not focusing on what I was doing.  As a result it took me a second or so longer to react.  I also had a few short strikes.  The tail on my trailer kept getting bitten off.  In my experience this is usually bream of some kind, but given how hard they hit I don't think it was completely that.  Next time I head out I am going to try a trailer hook to see if I can't catch some of the shorties.

 

So to summarize, I had a very long dry spell and decided to try new water.  Although the dry spell wasn't completely eradicated it was enough fire me up again.  Given this I would highly recommend doing a bit of research and find a new place to hit up on your next trip at least for a change of scenery.  Now to decide if I want to try another lake this weekend or go back to the one from last weekend.  I am still new to all of this (FW fishing for just under a year now), but I already found myself falling into a rut where I kept going to the same spots, throwing the same baits, and just not finding fish.  Getting out on new water got me energized again, and wanting to do and try more.  It might just be the ticket you need too.

Wow that sounds so familiar.  I started my year out on these places I am talking about.  So discouraged not catching much.  I fished a tournament on a lake I have never fished before and the weather was so horrible but yet I caught more fish in that trip than I have in multiple trips to my regular places.  The problem is I would have to travel 2 hours to go to any other body of water.  Ill never give up and one day I will be the master of these lakes and I will be able to go out there blindfolded and catch my limit. That would be a sight!!!