Gin Clear Water

[Quarry Man]

I will be fishing my favorite place on earth this weekend. Conditions are looking perfect. The lake is 60 acres, mostly developed shoreline, except one side. on that side there are several pine trees in the water. The lay downs are picture perfect. To make it even better, it is all rock and sand, with a little bit of hydrilla in the sandy areas. There are several docks. there are drop offs humps and points. The water is 25' visibility. I watch fish eat my drop shot every cast in 20' of water. Have had 3 consecutive days where i catch fish every other cast all day long. 

 

I know i will catch fish if i stick to a drop shot in 20'. Im going to try some new stuff this time though. I have experience with jerk baits, and want to put them to the test up north. I will be using a suspending clear purple lucky craft pointer. I have other jerk baits that i will try. What I am most excited about are the laydowns and docks. I consider myself an advanced dock fisherman. I will use swim jigs and wacky rigs.  I want to try flipping the wood. I went diving there in the summer and saw a legit 15 fish per lay down. I am not sure what to flip with. I will likely be in a kayak. Hook sets will be hard. I have a 7' XH, and two 7'3" MH casting rods. Reels with 15 lb flouro, 30 lb braid, 50 lb braid, and 30 lb mono. What line should i go with, the 7' is micro guide but the 73 aren't. What rod? Also what baits will work best? any other tips?

[Airman4754]

If you are in water with 20' visibility don't go over a 6lb leader on your drop shot.

[Angry John]

I would take the 7'3" mhf rod and the 15lb flouro and pitch with that.  I used something very simular a st croix LE70MHF with 15lb p-line 100% and it worked just find.  Baits that worked well for me was a green pumpking with blue flake super hawg on a 4/0 mustad flipping hook and 3/8ths tungsten weight.  I got a lot of nice fish on that setup.  I got most of my bites when i got into the cover between branches and under docks.  In WA in the open water 6lb was just about all i could get bit on but cover changes a lot.  Never got a braid hit in my first year so i just stopped trying.

[A-Jay]

Fish at night and you can use whatever line you want.

A-Jay

[clh121787]

If the lake has big fish in it. I'm throwing a 250

[Cgolf]

When I fish clear lakes, my go to baits are still a tube, AC killshot, and kalin's 5" grub rigged on a slider head. The Rage menace did well for me last year on a slider as well. I just try to match the colors to the situation and prey on clear water and those baits really seem to shine in clear water.

 

Does this lake have reeds? Bass really seem to like this kind of cover on clear water coupled with a sand bottom. I will catch them in 5-6 fow in the reeds early summer to august.

 

As for line, I use 10 or 20 lb fireline for my spinning reels and 50 lb PP on my baitcasters, many times with a steel leader. Growing up near a gin clear lake and fishing XT solar a lot has me unconvinced that line color and size matters. I have played around with flouro leaders and not noticed any difference in catch rate, including when deadsticking stickbaits. That being said I will continue to try it off and on and see if it makes a difference.

[Hillbilly Bennett]

If there is clear water, I will be throwing a jerkbait. No matter what time of year, no matter what the conditions, a jerkbait gets bites for me in clear water. You just have to play with the cadence to figure out if the fish want something wild and erratic, something subtle or something in between. Also, I use good topwater lures in clear water all day long. If a bass can see a disturbance on top of the water, a lot of times she will come from deep and slam it. They can produce around docks and laydowns all day long as well. Some of my best days of fishing and my biggest catches have come from running topwater plugs all day long in clear water. If you're just throwing topwater at just dawn and dusk, you're missing out. 

[Skunked again]

I'm curious also. Mainly fish muddy water. Clear water throws me for a loop.

[smalljaw67]

First of all you aren't going to flip clear water, you just aren't going to get close enough without spooking the fish or putting them on alert. The next thing is the baits themselves, look for more natural offerings, if you have sun try using green pumpkins, pumpkin seed, and black with no type of reflective glitter or flake, green pumpkin or pumpkin seed has black flake and that is perfect for clear water. A MH-F or H-F in a 7' to 7'3" will work fine as you'll either be making short casts or long pitches depending on how spooky the fish are, those lengths will allow nice pitching distance with still keeping some accuracy. For the shore line cover, if it is possible make a cast or pitch to the bank and ease the bait in the water, you'll probably have to cast as you'll need to be further away if the fish are spooky. For baits use compact soft plastics, sweet beavers are excellent in that scenario, brush hogs not so much. In fact I think craw imitations are best followed by the Senko and T-rigged worm. A bait for pitching or casting to that type water that doesn't get used much is a lizard, lakes with clear water like that often have Newts living in the grass, a small lake I use to fish had super clear water and Newts living in it and a 5" lizard fished T-rigged with a 1/4oz weight was the most productive bait you could use. The last thing is a small 1/4oz spinnerbait with small willow blades, silver in sun gold for overcast, with a translucent color skirt and a white, silver, or gold head color can be deadly if the fish are active at all, the key is to burn the bait just below the surface, good luck on your trip.

[blckshirt98]

How about a phantom Hudd? For a dropshot I would use a Molix Sator Worm in Seducente, or a Reins Bubbling Shaker in Morning Dawn or Oikawa!

[Quarry Man]

5 hours ago, Hillbilly Bennett said:

If there is clear water, I will be throwing a jerkbait. No matter what time of year, no matter what the conditions, a jerkbait gets bites for me in clear water. You just have to play with the cadence to figure out if the fish want something wild and erratic, something subtle or something in between. Also, I use good topwater lures in clear water all day long. If a bass can see a disturbance on top of the water, a lot of times she will come from deep and slam it. They can produce around docks and laydowns all day long as well. Some of my best days of fishing and my biggest catches have come from running topwater plugs all day long in clear water. If you're just throwing topwater at just dawn and dusk, you're missing out. 

 

I couldn't agree more. Jerkbaits work awesome, just haven't tried them at this lake yet. I have seen the bass in there hit frogs in the middle of november.

[Fishin' Fool]

Second the Reins Bubbling shaker on a drop shot or neko rig. I want to eat it!

[kickerfish1]

Did someone say gin

[A-Jay]

36 minutes ago, Fishin' Fool said:

Second the Reins BubbRing shaker on a drop shot or neko rig. I want to eat it!

 

Me too ~ btw , I fixed that one for you.

A-Jay

[Fishin' Fool]

20 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

 

Me too ~ btw , I fixed that one for you.

A-Jay

 

It's a great drop shot lure isn't it?  I bought some of the 5" and 7" I want to try on a Neko. Looks good in the tub test

[A-Jay]

Just now, Fishin' Fool said:

 

It's a great drop shot lure isn't it?  I bought some of the 5" and 7" I want to try on a Neko. Looks good in the tub test

 

If there is a better Neko Rig bait than that 7" deal - I haven't found it.

A-Jay

[Fishin' Fool]

37 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

 

If there is a better Neko Rig bait than that 7" deal - I haven't found it.

A-Jay

 

I bought some of the swamp movers too. They have a bigger profile but not as much action as the shakers. I've bought a lot of things lately. I'm thinking that I might have a problem

[A-Jay]

Just now, Fishin' Fool said:

 

I bought some of the swamp movers too. They have a bigger profile but not as much action as the shakers. I've bought a lot of things lately. I'm thinking that I might have a problem

I have them as well- They'll produce.

Give them a shot ~ try moving the ring down a little closer to the head.

A-Jay

[Hot Rod Johnson]

Most fish are predominantly visual feeders, and in clear water they are even more aware of their surroundings...The thinner the line, the more freely the bait will move, which will look more natural to the fish and likely result in more bites... Keep the sun in front of you, concentrate on fishing into the sun, so your shadow is cast behind you. This becomes extremely important when fishing in shallow water... Try a Green or Brown jig that resembles a Crayfish. As a rule, in clear water Greens, Browns, and Translucents will be more effective... One of the most effective techniques is to "Target Shade". Shade acts just like Cloud Cover and decreases visibility, increases activity, and relaxes all fish species... It’s important to provide them a realistic profile, often that means decreasing the size of your presentations...

[A-Jay]

17 minutes ago, Hot Rod Johnson said:

Most fish are predominantly visual feeders, and in clear water they are even more aware of their surroundings...The thinner the line, the more freely the bait will move, which will look more natural to the fish and likely result in more bites... Keep the sun in front of you, concentrate on fishing into the sun, so your shadow is cast behind you. This becomes extremely important when fishing in shallow water... Try a Green or Brown jig that resembles a Crayfish. As a rule, in clear water Greens, Browns, and Translucents will be more effective... One of the most effective techniques is to "Target Shade". Shade acts just like Cloud Cover and decreases visibility, increases activity, and relaxes all fish species... It’s important to provide them a realistic profile, often that means decreasing the size of your presentations...

Solid advice ~

A-Jay

[Bankbeater]

I can't stand it, but the best thing I have found to help with clear water is wind, and thick vegetation. 

[Fishin' Fool]

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

 

If there is a better Neko Rig bait than that 7" deal - I haven't found it.

A-Jay

 

Oh no I see Yamamoto is making a Neko worm for sale on Tackle warehouse now.

[RoLo]

7 hours ago, blckshirt98 said:

How about a phantom Hudd? For a dropshot I would use a Molix Sator Worm in Seducente, or a Reins Bubbling Shaker in Morning Dawn or Oikawa!

 

 

Reins Bubbling Shaker is a real sleeper!   

 

[iceintheveins]

Bass generally hang deeper in gin clear water, often in the 25 - 35 foot range. They can still be caught on hardbaits and spinnerbaits in low light or windy conditions, and topwaters still work in the cloudy and low light conditions, although they can work all day when schooling pelagic forage like shad are around, and you find a school busting on the surface. When conditions are calm in clear water, it's tougher, but drop shotting with colors that mimic the natural forage, shaky heads, ned rigs, and carolina rigs (especially centipedes and ring fry type baits) will still get you into some good fish.

Since you have them on heavy cover as well though in the shallows, I would use compact or finesse jigs in green pumpkin or watermelon with a subtle trailer like a zoom super chunk junior, or a somewhat more aggressive trailer like a double tail grub or a paca chunk. The more wind and the lower the light, the more you can get away with bigger and more high action lures. Don't overlook senkos and flukes either in natural hues.

[papajoe222]

I agree with small jaw about flipping in clear water. You can still target the laydiwns from a distance. If they're totally submerged, a floating minnow bait twitched above them can be effective. 

One piece of advice for fishing super clear water. Go small, or go fast and sometimes you need to do both.