Deep Mountain Lakes - How Do You Fish Them?

[fishballer06]

I have a tournament coming up in late June here in PA (once bass comes back in) and it's on a deep mountain lake. By deep, I am talking that you're 20 feet from shore and you're in 35 feet of water. If you look at the attached map, anything that is white is water deeper than 30 feet, anything in blue is less than 30 feet deep. Most of this lake out in the middle is between 50 and 80 feet deep. The giant flat up north that is all blue is a silt basin and is only a few inches deep, and isn't fishable water. And most of those little tiny fingers that come off are extremely shallow, as in 1 to 3 feet deep. This lake is mostly smallmouth, with a few largemouth in it. I have found a few area's where the transitions aren't quite as steep, and there looks to be some fishable 10-25' of water. Not many spots, but a few. Obviously everyone knows to fish humps and transitions,  but on a lake that is literally all humps and transitions, where does one start and decide which humps are holding fish? And more importantly, what should I use to approach fish in these 25-40 foot deep areas? Jigs, spoons, drop shot, shakeyheads? I'd love to be able to throw cranks in those crankable water areas, but given that there will likely be 20+ other boats out there, I probably won't be able to get on those spots the entire time. Or is it best to approach a lake like this to cruise around and look for suspended fish and attack them that way? My boat has two HDS10's on it, so I have good electronics to help me out. 

 

I'm curious to see how everyone else would approach this. Thanks guys. 

 

 

 

[WRB]

Assuming the dam is at the south end of this lake the left side looks better because of the larger deep flats and underwater points or ledges that associated with the 30' or deeper breaks.

First thing to remember or determine is what seasonal period is this lake in now?

Smallmouth bass like current, only current will be wind generated. Prevailing wind direction is important.

30'-45' isn't too deep for this lake and working at uphill angles be a good presentation.

IF the lake is still in the spawn cycle (it could be) then the points leading into coves and coves should be good.

Jigs, drop shot and deeper running jerk baits and underspins maybe be good choices. Any isolated structure holding bait or bass will be good. Small table top size flats areas along deep steep walls will be good.any small streams with running water will be good. Any wood you can find should hold a few bass.

Tom

[stkbassn]

If there are trout in this lake it wouldn't hurt to have a Huddleston 6" trout tied on. We slay the smallmouth on this bait on a mountain lake here in Va. The smallies absolutely choke the Hudd, believe that! Good luck. I wish it produced as well on my home lake but haven't had a bite on the Hudd at Smith.

[fishballer06]

Assuming the dam is at the south end of this lake the left side looks better because of the larger deep flats and underwater points or ledges that associated with the 30' or deeper breaks.

First thing to remember or determine is what seasonal period is this lake in now?

Smallmouth bass like current, only current will be wind generated. Prevailing wind direction is important.

30'-45' isn't too deep for this lake and working at uphill angles be a good presentation.

IF the lake is still in the spawn cycle (it could be) then the points leading into coves and coves should be good.

Jigs, drop shot and deeper running jerk baits and underspins maybe be good choices. Any isolated structure holding bait or bass will be good. Small table top size flats areas along deep steep walls will be good.any small streams with running water will be good. Any wood you can find should hold a few bass.

Tom

 

My buddy was down there Sunday and the water was around 49-50*. Given that our tournament isn't until late June, I'm sure the fish will likely be in post spawn (65-70* if I had to guess). There are actually 2 dams on this lake. You can see the big, main one at the very south end, and then right above it on the right (tiny, skinny finger), there is another really small one as well. Interestingly enough, each of those little fingers on the left hand side of the lake has a creek running into them. Not sure how much water will be flowing from them in late June, as the mountain run off will likely be done by then. 

 

 

If there are trout in this lake it wouldn't hurt to have a Huddleston 6" trout tied on. We slay the smallmouth on this bait on a mountain lake here in Va. The smallies absolutely choke the Hudd, believe that! Good luck. I wish it produced as well on my home lake but haven't had a bite on the Hudd at Smith.

 

I know they used to stock trout in it, but I don't believe they have done that since 2001. I think they got tired of feeding the musky and walleye. 

[Paul Roberts]

Forage?

 

What do your fisheries people have to say about it? That's where I'd start.

[everythingthatswims]

S-Waver 168 will be good when fished adjacent to any rock on the bank or in shallow water. Even if they don't eat it they will show themselves and you can return later with a finesse presentation.

[Rented Mule]

Looking at it from google earth, where you say it's silted in, I'd start there. From GE you can see a nice logjam that's probably in 3-4 ' of water, Guaranteed to hold a fish or two. Plus, there's a fairly well defined creek channel there as well. If there's any weed beds in the lake, they'll probably be there. Plus if you can cruise around with your TM, stand on a cooler or something with polarizers on to get a better view, and look for isolated pieces of wood or rock. If you can get there first thing in the morning, I'd work it with a spook or a devils horse and throw a trap in that creek channel.

 

I'm a shallow water guy, and would start there and work my way deep only if I had to. I live in PA in the summer, Florida in the winter, so I know PA bass, there's probably still going to be some late spawners in late June, especially if it stays on the cool side.

 

If it's overcast , and or breezy, I'd stay shallow all  day long. I'd much rather work a 5-10' water column than one that's 30-40'. My trolling motor would be kicking up mud all day long if need be.

 

There's some interesting PFBC biologist reports about the lake if you look.

 

Good luck with it

[WRB]

Musky and Walleye, that is interesting. Both of those predators eat a lot of larger size bait fish like perch, Cisco, suckers, chubs and herring. You need to determine what baitfish this lake has. Musky will dominate the prime feeding areas, smallmouth tend to be more Rocky structure and roam a lot. The LMB mostly stay tight to any cover and shallower structure in this type of lake with larger predator like musky.

Larger size lures like swimbaits may not be a good choice where musky is present unless you want to catch them.

This lake should be in the spawn cycle in 5-6 weeks if the water is now in the low 50's, if there are bluegill they will be spawning very shallow. I would add a shallow running crankbait or bluegill color spinnerbait for targeting pockets where bedding bluegill may be located.

Smallmouth prefer gravel bottoms to spawn, not soft bottoms, largemouth would be in the transition areas where harder bottom have rock with wood and some weed cover. I think it is too early for the bass to relate to pads and top water frogs etc.

Tom

[retiredbosn]

With the larger predators in the water I wouldn't automatically discount the silt area. That area, unless completely stagnant, should have allot of microbial life which gets the food web going. I would think there would be a larger food supply going on there. I've pulled some good sized fish out of places that I don't know how they even kept their back under water it was so shallow.

 

edit:  After looking at the lake on Google Earth the upper end of the lake should definitely be fished, there is a clear creek channel running throughout, unless the pictures on Google Earth are very old, it appears your food web for that lake starts up there and in a couple of the creeks.  The island has a nice slope going off to the north meeting a slope from the bank that area will hold fish, easily to move up shallow and feed and the deep water is right there for escape.  Good Luck

[fishballer06]

Looking at the PFBC reports, it looks like the lake is full of emerald shiners and rainbow smelt, which would probably be the main forage of the bass. A spoon or kastmaser on those deeper ledges would probably be my best bet if I can't get anything up on some of the shallower flats and banks. 

[Rented Mule]

as for the lake being " full" of shiners and smelt, I wouldn't count on that as a forage base for Bass. That might hold true for the other predatory species in there, but just like most all other lakes in PA, the main forage for LM & SM is going to be crawdads no matter how you slice it.