Ughhh I hate this time of year....

[IgotWood]

I took a beating yesterday. I fished my regular lake, but the opposite end  from where I normally fish. Water temp was consistent throughout the lake at 53 degrees. The wind was gusty, and at times, almost hardly a breeze. Anyhow, I fished the deeper end of the lake right next to the dam. The banks are steep as they drop off quickly to depths of 10-12', with very close access to a pretty large flat. 

 

I didn't have any trouble locating the fish. They were holding in 11-12', and spread out. They were not schooled up at all, and none of the marks were close together. The bottom here is flat and muddy, and the bait was hardly present. The only thing that was consistent was that I would always mark a fish right next to a stack of crappie. I kept marking crappie stacks in the typical fashion stacked on top of one another from the bottom right up to about 2' below the surface. When I marked these stacks, I would mark a bass close by and just off the bottom. 

 

I threw everything I had, well, everything that wind wind allowed me. Deep cranks, jerkbaits, tried a drop shot, tried yo-yoing and dragging a blade bait and a lipless crank...I even dragged an umbrella, and never had a bite. I hate fishing to these kind of fish. I never have any luck. I a habitual bank beater, but this time of year i try to fish other areas and use different techniques because the bank bite stops. Some day I'll learn how to get the deep fish to bite. 

[Darren.]

Time to hit the salt water for striper and the other myriad

of species that bite!  

 

One of my sons and I went out on the York on Sat, both

caught stripers, mine was 20" and 3lbs.

 

And today we hit one of the creeks off the York and he 

caught a white perch, I caught a small flounder and a nice

size red! Nice for a small creek, that is. Almost 2lbs.

[WRB]

Remember the bass are slowing down do to the colder water and it take time for them to adjust going deeper and feeding less often. 

How do you know bass are the marks near crappie without catching a few and how can you tell crappie from decomposing gas bubbles common as the lakes turnover? Do you have side scanning sonar? Down looking sonar at 10'- 12', you are only looking at about 3' to 4' bottom area.

Sorry about the questions, just trying to get a clearer picture of what may be going.

Tom

[Way north bass guy]

Don't complain too much, we got 3" of snow last night and the smaller lakes are starting to freeze up here. Put the boat away for the winter last week ?. I'll take your "problem" any day over mine ?.

[BuzzHudson19c]

Throw on some small jigs and catch the crappie. Boom, a bad day bass fishing just turned into a good day for a fish fry.

[IgotWood]

9 hours ago, WRB said:

Remember the bass are slowing down do to the colder water and it take time for them to adjust going deeper and feeding less often. 

How do you know bass are the marks near crappie without catching a few and how can you tell crappie from decomposing gas bubbles common as the lakes turnover? Do you have side scanning sonar? Down looking sonar at 10'- 12', you are only looking at about 3' to 4' bottom area.

Sorry about the questions, just trying to get a clearer picture of what may be going.

Tom

Well I don't know for sure what I was marking, but I am confident that they were crappie. The other marks could have been anything, I suppose. They were close to the bottom and gave me the usual arch shaped readings. Maybe they weren't bass, who knows... Yes, I have side imaging. 

10 hours ago, Darren. said:

Time to hit the salt water for striper and the other myriad

of species that bite!  

 

One of my sons and I went out on the York on Sat, both

caught stripers, mine was 20" and 3lbs.

 

And today we hit one of the creeks off the York and he 

caught a white perch, I caught a small flounder and a nice

size red! Nice for a small creek, that is. Almost 2lbs.

Yeah, I wanted to do that but that wind forecast the other day wasn't looking good. Good to hear you got out for them. I hear the jrb has been off and on, but with fish to 20lbs. I'm aiming for that this weekend. Inbox me if you'd be interested in meeting up.

[WRB]

Side imaging helps to solve how you could see crappie stacked up in shallow water, waters less than 20' to me is shallow, it's a regional thing.

Individual marks close to the bottom could be channel cats for example, bass during fall to winter transition, it's already winter most areas no, tend to group up. 

The 1 lure alway tied on during fall and winter is a structure spoon. 12' of water Inwould use a spoon with slower falling action that wider vs narrow shaped like a 2/5oz Little Cleo. Spoons get bit by everything including active feeding cats, bass and crappie.

Tom

[IgotWood]

You're the man, Tom! You always give solid information! I didn't even think of a spoon. Probably because i don't have any...

[WRB]

Good reason.

Structure or jigging spoons for bass fishing are a forgotten lure. Next to jigs snd plastic worm spoons are very effective lures year around.

Thank for the commits and have a happy Thanksgiving day.

Tom

 

[TnRiver46]

I have to add a +1 on the little Cleo, those thing are amazing. 

[Bluebasser86]

I'm to the point that I almost prefer this time of year. Less boat traffic, less fishing pressure, and the big fish are more cooperative. I'm still getting fish in 1-2 feet of water with 46* water temps. You don't have to go deep just because the water is cooling off. 

[lonnie g]

the spots in Alabama are really fat right now , feeding on shad. my dislike is I am in Indiana right now, my cousin is teasing me with the pics of those fat girls. 

[IgotWood]

9 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I'm to the point that I almost prefer this time of year. Less boat traffic, less fishing pressure, and the big fish are more cooperative. I'm still getting fish in 1-2 feet of water with 46* water temps. You don't have to go deep just because the water is cooling off. 

Do you change techniques, baits, etc while fishing the skinny water during low temps?

[Bluebasser86]

4 hours ago, IgotWood said:

Do you change techniques, baits, etc while fishing the skinny water during low temps?

Not usually. It's been a jig on laydowns that's been producing those shallow fish for me.

[Koz]

For me, the great thing about this time of year is that it's not 98 degrees with 80% humidity outside, Daytime temperatures are in the 60's and sometimes 70's. The only thing I don't like about this year is that it gets dark so early that I can't get any fishing in after work.

 

The alligators are still active this time of year and I'm not about to go bank fishing in the evening and take any chances. The other afternoon I was inspecting a remote (wooded) retention pond for work and I did not see the 8 foot alligator hidden in the brush on the bank just 15 feet from me. Luckily, he saw me and got scared instead of defensive. Nearly pooped my pants when he hit the water.