Rays town lake

[Julius]

plan on fishing Rays Town Lake in Sept, is there any advice about this lake ? this is my first time there

[Darren.]

Welcome aboard, Julius!

No clue about Rays Town lake, sorry.

Maybe provide some more detail about
it, and yourself, like what techniques you
use, your gear, and so on.

[JPascavage52]

I fish Raystown a good bit, and fish some tournaments there. It is quite a puzzle of a lake, sometimes you'll clean up, and other times you'll catch nothing. 

Around that time, however, you will start to see shad migrating to the backs of creeks, so, you will want to throw shad crankbaits, jerkbaits, and flukes. 

I like the area by the dam, the water is very clear here, and is a good place to catch numbers. 

[Mocktopus]

I used to drown worms with my grandfather there when I was younger. I'm hoping to make my first Bass trip there in the spring of 17. Thanks for the thread ill let you know what I turn up.

[smallieking]

Raystown is in my home lake and i know this post is too late for you. but sept is the toughest month of the year on that lake. it changes by the day. things that work one day wont work the next. the water is the absolute clearest this time the year and it really pulls the bass off of the structure and out of the cover and has them chasing bait. they move back to the bank at night so early morning is crucial to your success on raystown in september. points on the main river are usually the best bet. early in the morning you will see the bass largemouth and smallmouth eating off the surface and spooks and poppers work great. as the sun gets up the fish will start to chase the schools of bait out into the depths of the lake and you can catch a few on swimbaits scroungers and spybaits until about 9:30. fog can prolong your morning bite but if you are fishing a tournament fog delays and kill your chances. towards mid day the main lake bite can be very inconsistent.  dragging a heavy jig and dropshot out into 50-70 feet can work. but best bet to get a few bites is to move into the creek arms and up the river to try to locate a few rogue resident fish in shallow cover and grass. problem is raystown is very pressured and the resident fish are very educated so it reaction baits to get these bass to bite. squarebill crankbaits and buzzbaits are usually the ticket. along with trolling slow and making repeat casts to the targets.

[Megastink]

8 hours ago, smallieking said:

Raystown is in my home lake and i know this post is too late for you. but sept is the toughest month of the year on that lake. it changes by the day. things that work one day wont work the next. the water is the absolute clearest this time the year and it really pulls the bass off of the structure and out of the cover and has them chasing bait. they move back to the bank at night so early morning is crucial to your success on raystown in september. points on the main river are usually the best bet. early in the morning you will see the bass largemouth and smallmouth eating off the surface and spooks and poppers work great. as the sun gets up the fish will start to chase the schools of bait out into the depths of the lake and you can catch a few on swimbaits scroungers and spybaits until about 9:30. fog can prolong your morning bite but if you are fishing a tournament fog delays and kill your chances. towards mid day the main lake bite can be very inconsistent.  dragging a heavy jig and dropshot out into 50-70 feet can work. but best bet to get a few bites is to move into the creek arms and up the river to try to locate a few rogue resident fish in shallow cover and grass. problem is raystown is very pressured and the resident fish are very educated so it reaction baits to get these bass to bite. squarebill crankbaits and buzzbaits are usually the ticket. along with trolling slow and making repeat casts to the targets.

I also fished raystown and this post was very helpful. Thanks!

[Live To Fish 24/7]

On 1/2/2017 at 1:58 PM, smallieking said:

Raystown is in my home lake and i know this post is too late for you. but sept is the toughest month of the year on that lake. it changes by the day. things that work one day wont work the next. the water is the absolute clearest this time the year and it really pulls the bass off of the structure and out of the cover and has them chasing bait. they move back to the bank at night so early morning is crucial to your success on raystown in september. points on the main river are usually the best bet. early in the morning you will see the bass largemouth and smallmouth eating off the surface and spooks and poppers work great. as the sun gets up the fish will start to chase the schools of bait out into the depths of the lake and you can catch a few on swimbaits scroungers and spybaits until about 9:30. fog can prolong your morning bite but if you are fishing a tournament fog delays and kill your chances. towards mid day the main lake bite can be very inconsistent.  dragging a heavy jig and dropshot out into 50-70 feet can work. but best bet to get a few bites is to move into the creek arms and up the river to try to locate a few rogue resident fish in shallow cover and grass. problem is raystown is very pressured and the resident fish are very educated so it reaction baits to get these bass to bite. squarebill crankbaits and buzzbaits are usually the ticket. along with trolling slow and making repeat casts to the targets.

Same as I have found, my dad before  me and my grandfather before him used to fish there and I have found that the morning is the ticket for bass and when rain comes you can catch some around cover with a square bill gizzard shad strike king 1.5.