Fishing A Shallow Lake With Little To No Structure

[rick1973]

Hey guys I'm new on here but could anyone tell me how to fish a hulla popper my wife just got me one and I only fish with plastic lures. I need help learning how to fish this so I can add it to my fishing tools.

[WRB]

Hey guys I'm new on here but could anyone tell me how to fish a hulla popper my wife just got me one and I only fish with plastic lures. I need help learning how to fish this so I can add it to my fishing tools.

Welcome, you need to repost your question in the Tackle forum.

Tom

[Paul Roberts]

That fact that there are large panfish makes this interesting. This speaks to the overall productivity of the lake and its ability to grow fish. If there are good numbers of these big panfish, it indicates an abundance of small prey. With the large panfish and good numbers of small bass, the lake sounds like a great place for fish to get a good start in. But small prey sources –even lots of them– do not usually grow and sustain large bass. Bass generally need a lot of appropriately sized fish in their diets to grow large.

 

Likely annual production of fishes in your lake gets cropped down with all the competition and their having few places to hide, leaving relatively small populations of mid-sized prey fishes left over for the following year. Those small panfish that do manage to survive grow quickly, and beyond the gape size of all those small bass. When bass run out of food, or the food is expensive to capture (as has been seen to be the case in open water environments), the bass basically hit a wall to growth, maturing at a smaller size and potentially resulting in a population of small bass.

 

While those big bluegills and crappies are likely too large for the vast majority of bass to eat, there might be individual bass that have left their cohorts behind and grown big enough to eat them. I’d check this out by bringing a rod or two dedicated to up-sized baits like swimbaits, BIG spinnerbaits/buzzbaits, and topwaters like a full-sized Zara, wakers, or a Jitterbug. Expect fewer catches overall but greater potential for finding those individuals that have broken through the wall. You can always get your rod bent with the small bass by down-sizing when you need the boost.

 

Undoubtedly there are some big bass in the lake, but whether they exist in worthwhile numbers is an obvious question. Such fish will certainly show up occasionally in community catches so it pays to keep your ears to the ground. You are right in questioning whether your acquaintances "big bass" was truly a BIG bass. People don’t often actually weigh and measure, and guestimates are too often more about the excitement of the moment, or relative size, than reality. When assessing a waters potential, reality is a big help. The fact that the man mentioned “a mouth he could stick a fist in” is promising at least. The photo of the bass you provided is not one of those BIG bass that snarfs 7” and 8” ‘gills like popcorn. But it does show a quality bass in good body condition, which is promising. Post-winterkill years, if the kill was not too widespread, can put in motion conditions for rapid bass growth due to reduced competition -possible "cracks in the wall", so to speak.

 

Your new home lake sounds like an interesting enough place. Let us know what you find. There is a trip reports section here.

[BigmouthForever23]

I would scale down in tackle size.  (but as anyone who reads my posts knows, I'm biased towards light tackle )

Maybe 4 lb test line and weightless slow sinking soft plastic worms, senkos etc.  Or add maybe a BB size split shot or two to get the baits down without burying them in the muddy bottom.

 

I bet the bass in your lake are eating mostly insects since, as papajoe mentioned above, there likely aren't many bait fish present.

Topwater fishing with anything that looks like a big bug should get you some good action.  Perhaps one of Rebel's 1/8oz Crickhoppers or 3/16oz Crickpoppers.

 

With shallow, cover-less lakes it would definitely help to look around the bank and see what type of creatures might fall into the water for the bass to feed on. Match the hatch, as they say.

Also look to see what other species of fish are present...maybe bullheads, bluegills, etc. 

 

I'm going to try and switch from my texasrig set-up with my worm and instead try a small split shot. I think you're right and that this might help reduce the chances of my worm getting berried in that algae/muck bottom. I actually use to troll with this set-up with my dad on a lake I grew up fishing. We had amazing results. We'd go out at noon, bright sun, and be catching 5 pound bass in the middle of the day with a lake full of ski boats and jet skis. All we'd do is troll over drop-offs and we'd be pulling them right out of the weeds that they'd be around to get away from the sun. I will try this for sure next time I'm on the lake (hopefully tomorrow.)

[BigmouthForever23]

That fact that there are large panfish makes this interesting. This speaks to the overall productivity of the lake and its ability to grow fish. If there are good numbers of these big panfish, it indicates an abundance of small prey. With the large panfish and good numbers of small bass, the lake sounds like a great place for fish to get a good start in. But small prey sources –even lots of them– do not usually grow and sustain large bass. Bass generally need a lot of appropriately sized fish in their diets to grow large.

 

Likely annual production of fishes in your lake gets cropped down with all the competition and their having few places to hide, leaving relatively small populations of mid-sized prey fishes left over for the following year. Those small panfish that do manage to survive grow quickly, and beyond the gape size of all those small bass. When bass run out of food, or the food is expensive to capture (as has been seen to be the case in open water environments), the bass basically hit a wall to growth, maturing at a smaller size and potentially resulting in a population of small bass.

 

While those big bluegills and crappies are likely too large for the vast majority of bass to eat, there might be individual bass that have left their cohorts behind and grown big enough to eat them. I’d check this out by bringing a rod or two dedicated to up-sized baits like swimbaits, BIG spinnerbaits/buzzbaits, and topwaters like a full-sized Zara, wakers, or a Jitterbug. Expect fewer catches overall but greater potential for finding those individuals that have broken through the wall. You can always get your rod bent with the small bass by down-sizing when you need the boost.

 

Undoubtedly there are some big bass in the lake, but whether they exist in worthwhile numbers is an obvious question. Such fish will certainly show up occasionally in community catches so it pays to keep your ears to the ground. You are right in questioning whether your acquaintances "big bass" was truly a BIG bass. People don’t often actually weigh and measure, and guestimates are too often more about the excitement of the moment, or relative size, than reality. When assessing a waters potential, reality is a big help. The fact that the man mentioned “a mouth he could stick a fist in” is promising at least. The photo of the bass you provided is not one of those BIG bass that snarfs 7” and 8” ‘gills like popcorn. But it does show a quality bass in good body condition, which is promising. Post-winterkill years, if the kill was not too widespread, can put in motion conditions for rapid bass growth due to reduced competition -possible "cracks in the wall", so to speak.

 

Your new home lake sounds like an interesting enough place. Let us know what you find. There is a trip reports section here.

 

Yeah, the size of the panfish had me puzzled. Especially considering I grew up in this area my whole life and fished another lake not more than 3 miles away from the lake I fish now. I remember the panfish there were so small, especially the bluegill. I asked my dad why they were so small and it's because he said the lake was stunted with crappie and bluegill. The bass however? Probably the biggest I've seen locally. My dad caught some over 6 pounds, those are lunkers from where I'm from. Yet, it's the opposite (so far) for the lake I fish now. The panfish are mutant big but the bass are all on the small side. I know the lake is stocked, but I wouldn't be able to comment on the rate of annual production being capped for the reasons you listed. Although, it does makes sense and I think you could be on to something here.

 

I'm gonna take your advice and "go big" so to speak. I've noticed that when I've used a Zara Spook I get a lot of very light hits, obviously from all the small bass. So, I hope if I continue to use it at some point I'll get a big hit and know I have a chance to land a "bigger" bass. I'm also going to start using a much bigger worm, 12" instead of 7.5'". Maybe that will help reduce the number of small bass I come across. Another reason I suspect there could be some nice bass in here is the one that I caught on my first day, probably at least 2 pounds or more, it looked very healthy with a good proportion of weight to length. Same with that bigger one from that pic I posted. I fished another lake nearby and it is definitely stunted with bass. Every bass I would catch there would be really long but skinny. My dad also mentioned a potential positive of that fish-kill was it might help lower the already very high population of fish and the lake could benefit in the long run, similar to what you said.

 

Thanks for the great response.

[BigmouthForever23]

I wanted to bump this thread to update ya'll. I caught not only the biggest bass so far out of this lake, but it's one of my biggest ever. Remember I live in the NW suburbs of Chicago so anything over 3 pounds is considered a really nice size bass. I think this one was about 3 pounds. I didn't have anyone to take a pic of me with the fish so it's somewhat of a close shot but I took one with it next to my shoe to give you an idea of the size (I wear a size 12 shoe). This bass was so chunky!

 

Catching this bass gave me so much needed confidence in this lake. Even if there are a few big ones and ton of small ones, I still have some hope now. And the conditions were not ideal. We've had so much rain lately the water quality was worse than it normally was. It literally looked like someone dyed the water with green color.

 

I caught this bass where a fellow poster (WRB) mentioned could be a good spot. So thank you for that. I circled the spot in yellow.

[Preytorien]

Very nice. Those smaller suburb ponds can really hold good fish. Fishing cover-less bodies of water is certainly a challenge, but can be productive.

 

Keep up the good work!

[MrPeanut]

Good work! It always feels better when you've put in that much time and effort

 

As a fellow suburbanite who fishes a lot of forest preserve lakes, I know that for this area that's a good sized chunk for sure. 

[Master Bait'r]

I have access to a private lake in my subdvision (just moved here last year). I was really excided to get on the lake, it was the #1 reason I bought the house. But so far I've been disappointed. FIrst, I heard no motors of any kind are allowed, even trollling motors. Reason given is due to how shallow the lake is they don't want to "stir it up." So, boat control is hard enough withoout a trolling motor but the lake is also very shallow. I have a fish finder and the deepest water I could find so far is 7 feet. A website with some info on the lake says the deepest part is 10 feet but I haven't found it yet. Anyway, it's a man-made lake and it's practically flat everywhere. I can't find any sort of drop-offs at all. And there's also an algae problem I've been told and the bottom is made up of muck pretty much. It has very high phosphorous concentrations and very few aquatic plants.

 

As far as the quantity of bass go, this lake is loaded. However, they're all very small, less than a pound. The biggest one I caught was probably 2 pounds or so and that was on my first day on the lake. I've been told there's decent bass in here but I haven't been able to find them. How does one go about locating where the bigger bass would be located on a lake like this? Not only is there very little structure in the lake, it also lacks cover. Besides some docks and tree brances/logs in the water, there are litterally no weeds that I can find. I think this goes back to the algae problem the lake has. I've never seen a lake like this without any weeds. I think the board that controls the lake killed off weeds in the past in order to fight the algae.

 

 

If this is in Chicago, don't even bother looking for big fish- 7ft is not deep enough to avoid winter kill.  

 

It still can't hurt to Ned rig the place upside down just to see what's in there though IMO.  

[WRB]

Congratulations! Feeling better about your home lake is priceless.

Tom

[BigmouthForever23]

 

Master Baite'r,

 

I'm sorry can you explain what you mean by Ned rig?

 

And can anyone chime in on the depth of the lake and a winter kill. Is 7ft really not deep enough to avoid a kill in this area? I've talked to a lot of people in the neighborhood who've lived here for decades and as far as I know of the lake only experienced one major fish kill. But that winter was not the norm. The amount of snow we got that year was rediculous. Now, they hire someone to come out and clear the snow off the ice just to make sure it doesn't happen again.

[BigmouthForever23]

Thanks for the posts guys. It was funny when I caught this one as I thought I was caught intially. I casted right by a sunken log in the water and that's where he took it, a 10 inch worm. So after I set the hook I thought I was hooked on the dang log! haha

[RoLo]

"Fishing A Shallow Lake With Little To No Structure"

 

Welcome to Florida  

 

Roger

[vmabuck]

Fly Rod.

 

Poppers, Clousers, crawfish pattern, and Woolly Buggers...

[SirSnookalot]

"Fishing A Shallow Lake With Little To No Structure"

 

Welcome to Florida  

 

Roger

In South Florida many of them are not lakes.  They are dug out ponds (fish bowls) with little or no real structure, they may or may not have vegetation.  It is not overly taxing walking around these ponds, it's pretty easy and relaxing. Coming from the land of the Great Lakes and now spending a good deal of time fishing the Atlantic, I can see the difference in trying to locate fish.  Without a doubt fishing the larger bodies of water does require some know how, not so in a Florida man made pond.  Bass fishing in these ponds is probably the easiest fishing I've done in my life, there is really not much to it.  When I say I walk around with a couple of lures in my pocket, I couldn't be more serious, it's literally shooting fish in a barrel.  A challenge, hardly..........fun, tons of it. 

[Master Bait'r]

 

 

Master Baite'r,

 

I'm sorry can you explain what you mean by Ned rig?

 

And can anyone chime in on the depth of the lake and a winter kill. Is 7ft really not deep enough to avoid a kill in this area? I've talked to a lot of people in the neighborhood who've lived here for decades and as far as I know of the lake only experienced one major fish kill. But that winter was not the norm. The amount of snow we got that year was rediculous. Now, they hire someone to come out and clear the snow off the ice just to make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

 

 

Well the Ned Rig is really just a concept of tiny jigging with around 1/16th weights r so and small plastics.  Downsizing the shakyhead almost.  

 

In terms of depth, usually you need the pond to be deeper but perhaps 7ft is just enough or there's a hole r spring feed someplace.  If you're catching 'em you're doing alright!