Need Help Catching Bass On A Small Lake

[Skever]

My dad and I fish this small lake that contains plenty of bass according to a recent lake survey yet we have a hard time catching very many.

The lake is slightly stained a reddish color and here in Indiana we have been having some unusually cold days, so water temp is pretty cool for July.

Here is the best map I could find (like I said small lake)...http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/files/fw-Riddles_Lake_Bathymetry_StJoseph_County_c_July_2013.pdf

The lake is also almost completely surrounded by tall densely packed lily pads that are almost unfishable.

I have read about fishing main lake points but cannot seem to identify them on any lake maps of lakes around me such as this one.

What techniques would you guys suggest and are there any areas that are of interest according to the map? Like I said I cannot see any points or anything.

[DevinFishing29]

If it is a stained lake I would suggest a chatterbait around the lily pads. Also try a frog. Good luck!

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

 

I brought it up on Google Earth.

 

Hit  the vegetation hard.  Use jigs, frogs, and worms with tungsten.  Don't fish; dissect the cover.

 

It looks like you have lily pads I'd kill for here around Wabash.  Punch 'em!  Frog 'em!  Jig 'em!

 

Josh

[Josh Smith]

Looking further, can you get to the inlet (or outlet..?) on the north end?  Betcha' lots of fish critters go up that way, especially when the wind is coming from the south.

 

There are three or four docks.  Skip jigs and spinnerbaits under those.

 

That lake looks like prime habitat.  So does Lake of the Woods.  LotW has a lot of docks, so if you have a boat, going there and skipping spinnerbaits under 'em would probably produce very nicely.

 

Josh

[MIbassyaker]

Densely-packed lily pads are a goldmine. Big bass sit under there all day.  Get you a hollow-bodied frog, and some soft plastics you can throw weedless unweighted or weighted, senko, fluke, trick worm, beaver...whatever. Run the frog over top and watch for blowups as you cross small spaces and holes between pads. If you can't hook up with the frog, immediately throw the other bait into  the same hole. Braided line is ideal for this.

[Skever]

The lily pads are so tall and thick like this http://www.fotosearch.com/UNT512/u10487788/ That a frog or anything that isn't extremely heavy doesn't even make contact with the water or is even close...

[HoosierHawgs]

Are you fishing from a boat? Or from the bank?

[scaleface]

Theres a main lake point with a hump on it. I would fish the pads there.  Its right there on the north side where the lake splits. 

[RoLo]

The most promising spots on any lake can usually be pinpointed with a contour chart in a matter of minutes.

Unfortunately though, the job of location isn't finished until you're physically on-site.

For example, you might find that the most promising trial site on the chart is void of suitable cover.

 

As an aside, the difference in the location process between small and large lakes is largely the same.

A huge lake is essentially a tangent series of smaller lakes, and in extreme cases like one of the Great Lakes,

you might find eutrophic bays, mesotrophic bays & oligotrophic bays all in the same lake  

 

Roger

[papajoe222]

I fish a lake in Indiana that is very similar with thick pads along the entire shoreline out to around 4ft. or 5ft. From there out to 15ft. or so there is miilfoil with a brittle, narrow leafed cabbage mixed in. The best spots are  a point that extends out to the deepest part of the lake and cuts and points in the secondary weed-line.  Looking at the map, the main point on the north shore would be my first target followed by the two small cuts on the northeast side. Both have access to deep water and that deep cut that looks like an inverted point is one that is likely overlooked by others.  If you can fish the morning or evening transition times, you could sit on the shallow end of that cut and fish the weed-line. During the day, I'd sit on the west side of that drop.or the east side of the point working my way from shallow to deep.