Help Break Down My Last Outing

[RHuff]

On Saturday, I took the Pelican Bass Raider out to a local small lake (Plum Orchard in Fayette Co, WV) to fish the electric only section. When I pulled in around noon I was the only one there! Had the whole lake to myself which was awesome. I caught 4 LM bass total that evening until dark. 

 

The weather forecast was for mid 70s and sunny. I was counting on clear water and fishing shallow as bass should be in the fall pattern. The water should be right around the 60 degree mark give or take a couple of degrees more or less. I do not have a depth finder or any type of electronic on this boat so it was just me and my gut feelings (Which I love). 

 

 

Sure enough, I get to the lake and the water had that deep green murkiness to it. I'd visibility was around 5 to 6 feet, not sure why hasn't been a lot of rain lately. The temp forecast was way off. It was lucky to reach 60 degrees all day and was overcast, which 10-12 mph wind blowing constantly. 

 

 

First one came about 3:30pm off a Livetarget Lipless Golden Shiner Crankbait in Silver Blue color. I was slow rolling it right along the bottom of a little inlet. The strike occured about 20 yards off the bank perpendicular from the bank. My guess it happened in 12-15 feet of water.

 

 

Fish two came about 50 yards from fish one about 10 minutes later. It hit a bomber medium diving crankbait in the same depth of water on a similar cast. The primary cover around both of these fish appeared to be grass. 

 

Fish three came about 5pm in the evening on a chartreuse double willow spinnerbait with gold blades. It was off of a point that appeared to be a pretty steep drop off near fallen timber and overhangs. The bass hit the spinnerbait almost as soon as it hit the water. The strike occurred around 5-10 yards off the bank.

 

Fish four came right at dark on a wiggle wart crankbait in a crawfish pattern. I was fishing this at the dam in 5-10 feet of water bouncing it off the riprap rocks that boarder the water at the dam. This was my largest bass of the day.

 

 

 

 

Four bass on four lures on in three different kinds of structure. I went in to the day thinking clear/sunny/warm and shallow and all of the fish came on different baits in different scenerios. I'm stumped........ 

[Fishes in trees]

What's to be stumped about?  Plan A didn't work, so you went to plan B, C and you found something that did work.  It often happens that way.   Suggestions:  ( be mindful that most of my suggestions require funds)   A Hummingbird Fishing Buddy portable depth finder is pretty reasonable and will solve many problems.   The depth finder will give you a much better idea of what the bottom actually consists of, and will help you find the edges faster.   My guess is that the deeper crank fish were relating to the edge in some way, where the vegetation stops and the soft bottom starts.   You caught a spinner bait fish off a point.   If you keep throwing spinner baits around points, that will happen from time to time - that's all there is to it.  You caught a rip rap fish on a wiggle wart.  That fish was probably feeding.  Many crawdads live in and around rip rap and wiggle warts imitate craws, so ,  go bigger.

 

Fish by your gut feelings if you want to - me I find that sometimes gut feelings are real, more often they are just gas.  I find that a depth finder with a temp gauge give me more reliable info than my gut does.    I'd call 5 or 6 feet visibility relatively clear water.  To know for sure, on your body of water, you need a secchi disc and a many samplings.   That will, over time,  give you a visibility range.    This helps in that it offers info on how fish might be positioned on structure/cover.

 

In my opinion, fish that live in murky/muddy water all the time fish differently than fish that live in clear water that occasionally turns murky.   My experience has been that fish living in clearer water get turned off by somewhat murky water, while fish that live in continually murky/muddy water don't seem to as much.

 

You got to the water around noon and didn't catch a fish until 3:30.   What were you trying that first few hours that didn't work?   Fish #3 off the point.   My guess is that you caught the most active fish on that point at that moment.  My guess would be that there were more fish in that immediate vicinity.   What happens when you float a wacky senko down the deeper side of the point into the fallen timber near the overhangs?   My guess is that you get bit.   Pertaining to the rip rap fish, my experience has been that if I'm occasionally getting bit on rip rap throwing a crank, I'll get bit more by slowing down some and throwing a shaky head/bubba shaky head/ jig worm and try to polish the rocks in the same area.

 

When I had a little pond boat, similar to yours, it took me a while to realize that the wind was my friend, that I had to learn to fish with the wind and not continually fight it.  A drag anchor helps.   Mine consisted of 3 feet or so of heavy chain attached to 50 feet of half inch rope.   The reason that you use half inch rope is that it is easier to haul up and doesn't tend to tear up your hands as much as thinner rope sometimes does.  Hope this offers some insight, so you can catch more next time.