First time out!

[cheezledzul]

Massive failure.

 

Technique/bait color reccomedation for next time? Went at 7am rained a little yesterday. 70 degrees out. 

 

The water was very merky, maybe 2 inches visibility and a constant breeze. Started on a dock/boat launch with lilly's on my right under shade and lots of tall red, grass and lily along the shore to my left. Saw a lot of action yesterday when checking it out and today saw a lot of movement. Started with a roostertail and then 4" watermelon red flake yum dinger weighted and weightless. Fail. Tried everywhere and every speed I could think of. Wind was a huge pain in the ass. 

Then moved to a raised boardwalk on the opposite side which is surrounded by lilly's and grass type weeds under water (pictured) that was EVERYWHERE. Saw tons of pretty big bass and fish I couldnt identify. Clarity was a little better. Def were moving a lot and feeding on the grass type weed (pictured what is it?) but they wouldn't pay any mind to my worm. Weighted and weightless. Watermelon red flake and watermelon lam. 

Only lost 1 weighted rig! Thats a bonus. I could literally see them and would cast past and slowly reel it in front of them but they didnt even turn and look at it. Even when it hit them in the face. Maybe got 1 nibble all day and wasnt even sure. Also little baitfish everywhere. Thousands. Sad day. Must try again. 

[scaleface]

That looks like the type of vegetation that occurs in local lakes here . It breaks off easily and difficult to fish in . Smells like skunk too . I mainly fish spinnerbaits  and buzzbaits around and over it and lightly weighted or no weight Texas rigs in it  , like an 8 inch Jelly worm with 1/8th ounce weight .

[shovelmouth83]

usually the lighter the weight the less you will snag that crap. i tend to use a split shot. 

[LionHeart]

I'd say try a darker worm if the water clarity was what you say.  Although that's odd considering all the vegetation.  

 

I do tend to get hung up less using a straight shank hook, and smaller weight (think 3/16). 

 

The other day I was fishing vegetation that I wasn't rigged to punch through.  I wound up dragging a trigged worm or lizard over it, and then letting it drop down off the edge.  On the way down, it would usually land on submerged salad, at which point I would slowly drag the worm through.  Had a great trip.

 

Although, the water was quite clear, so YMMV.

[cheezledzul]

That veg in the pic was everywhere the lily pads werent on the shoreline. It broke off easy but the 3/16 was steel. I have better tungsten I'll use if I see that again didnt wanna lose them. Today was more of a test. Everything I have is new. 

So you just fish the edges of that stuff or you punch through too? Same with lily pads? 

I need to buy better spinners. Only had small roostertails. 

 

Worms darker than watermelon red flake pictured? That is my "dark" worm right now lol. Black blue flake? Something like that? I need to buy another pack anyways. Only have red flake, watermelon pearl lam, and bluegill swimbait that I didnt use. 

 

Figured out a lot of fish in there are carp. So I need to do a better job locating the bass I guess. I saw they were mostly carp but saw a few bass in the clearer section. 

[LionHeart]

Yeah man, in water with low vis it's always good to have darker colors.  I like black and blue flake, but can be any variant of a really dark color (plum is pretty good).

 

This used to not make sense to me at all, but the idea is that the lure needs to be darker than the water, or much lighter (white, chartreuse, etc). If the bass can't find the lure, it can't eat it.

 

Big willow leaf spinner bait, chatter bait, etc. may help because it will put off vibrations to help the bass find it, where as a worm will give much less vibration, so it needs to be easy for the fish to see. It's okay if it doesn't look super realistic because in dark water the bass don't get a good look at it. But if you have a lot of vegetation, I'd stick with something you can Texas rig.

 

You will learn to detest carp.  Look on the bright side, at least you didn't get skunked in 110 degrees.

 

I seldom punch, because I it takes gear that is pretty stout, and I almost never bring that type of gear.  If you have a fairly stout rod, try punching it with a 1 oz or so bullet weight.  Also I'd recommend heavy braid.

[Spankey]

Maybe step up the size on a couple of dark colored Crankbaits. Black, dark olive, rootbeer, rootbeer with a chart. belly, something on the carbon color side. Just suggesting if you normally throw a 3/8 oz. size 3 crank go up to some of your 4's & 5's that might be bigger profile and slight heavier. Fish the edge of that grass where it drops to deeper water.

 

You'll do better next time out. Sometimes on the first trip out of the year has a tendency to play with your head a bit sometimes.

[islandbass]

I too have dropped worms on their heads and barely even gotten a reaction.  I couldn't buy a strike.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that if you can see them, chances are that they can probably see you too. As a result, they might have been more cautious than normal.

 

It is also possible that while they were present, they might not have been active. This means we need to find other ways to coax a strike. I think you were on the right track by trying what you did. All this means is that this day, you just weren't able to find what they were willing to strike.

 

You may want to think of bringing a little bit of certain major lure types to give you more options. Doing so could increase your chances, but even that is not a true guarantee. However, I believe in, "it is better to have and not need than to need and not have."

 

Maybe not for this case, as the cover seemed pretty decent, downsizing in lure size and even line (ie, going closer to finesse mode) can sometimes illicit that strike. Like I said, that was probably not an option for you. 

 

One benefit of striking out this time is that you are building up your experiences and the as you gain this experience, you will get better at this.

 

-ib

[Team9nine]

6 hours ago, cheezledzul said:

 

Then moved to a raised boardwalk on the opposite side which is surrounded by lilly's and grass type weeds under water (pictured) that was EVERYWHERE. Saw tons of pretty big bass and fish I couldnt identify. Clarity was a little better. Def were moving a lot and feeding on the grass type weed (pictured what is it?) but they wouldn't pay any mind to my worm. Weighted and weightless. Watermelon red flake and watermelon lam. 

Only lost 1 weighted rig! Thats a bonus. I could literally see them and would cast past and slowly reel it in front of them but they didnt even turn and look at it. Even when it hit them in the face. Maybe got 1 nibble all day and wasnt even sure. Also little baitfish everywhere. Thousands. Sad day. Must try again. 

 

4 hours ago, scaleface said:

That looks like the type of vegetation that occurs in local lakes here . It breaks off easily and difficult to fish in . Smells like skunk too . I mainly fish spinnerbaits  and buzzbaits around and over it and lightly weighted or no weight Texas rigs in it  , like an 8 inch Jelly worm with 1/8th ounce weight .

 

Chara, also called "muskgrass" or "skunkgrass"... sometimes gets confused with coontail

[MassYak85]

5 hours ago, shovelmouth83 said:

usually the lighter the weight the less you will snag that crap. i tend to use a split shot. 

x2 don't overlook the split shot. You can get some TINY tungsten ones and put them in front of a big worm and get it to snake over and through thick weeds.  Also someone @LionHeart mentioned straight shank worm hooks which are a good idea in heavy weeds. You won't have any vegetation getting snagged on the hook shank like you sometimes get with an offset hook. 

[geo g]

Dark water, dark color

Low light, dark color

Thick weeds, light weight

Flipping or pitching, heavy weight

Thick weeds, heavy wire hook

Thick weeds, heavy line

 

Watermelon good for clear water, sunny conditions.

[cheezledzul]

3 hours ago, LionHeart said:

Yeah man, in water with low vis it's always good to have darker 

I seldom punch, because I it takes gear that is pretty stout, and I almost never bring that type of gear.  If you have a fairly stout rod, try punching it with a 1 oz or so bullet weight.  Also I'd recommend heavy braid.

Only have 15lb braid, medium, fast action rod. 

 

I'll pick up some black w/blue. Going on a weekend trip next weekend, not sure what the water will be like. 

 

I went back and got 2 carp lol. Brought my spirits up a tad but still not what I was looking for. I'll figure it out!

[cheezledzul]

3 hours ago, islandbass said:

I too have dropped worms on their heads and barely even gotten a reaction.  I couldn't buy a strike.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that if you can see them, chances are that they can probably see you too. As a result, they might have been more cautious than normal.

 

It is also possible that while they were present, they might not have been active. This means we need to find other ways to coax a strike. I think you were on the right track by trying what you did. All this means is that this day, you just weren't able to find what they were willing to strike.

 

You may want to think of bringing a little bit of certain major lure types to give you more options. Doing so could increase your chances, but even that is not a true guarantee. However, I believe in, "it is better to have and not need than to need and not have."

 

One benefit of striking out this time is that you are building up your experiences and the as you gain this experience, you will get better at this.

 

-ib

Although definately disappointed and discouraged I'm still excited to get out again. Next weekend is a 3 day camping trip where I know there are tons of sm.

Definately figured out a bunch of things.

For some reason found myself getting pretty frustrated with braid and the reel (spinning). Not sure if it needs to get stretched out or I'm just a noob. Just put the braid on yesterday. Hopefully that gets better. 

[islandbass]

Braid has virtually no stretch or give so you won’t need to wait for the line to “stretch” out. This is one braid’s characteristics. 

 

What did you find frustrating about braid?

[cheezledzul]

1 hour ago, islandbass said:

Braid has virtually no stretch or give so you won’t need to wait for the line to “stretch” out. This is one braid’s characteristics. 

 

What did you find frustrating about braid?

Well I'm assuming partly because of the breeze but I couldnt keep the line tight much at all. 

And besides that which was most likely the situation. It was unraveling from the reel pretty often. I kept having to cast far after just to hold the line and respool. Even when it didnt seem to unravel I'd look down and see long crosses and weird overlaps on the spool. even at night when the breeze was gone I still had difficulties keeping the line tight and spooling correctly every couple retrieves. Again I'm assuming its user error. 15lb powerpro spectra.

[Mjmj]

Do you have too much line on the reel?

[cheezledzul]

6 hours ago, Mjmj said:

Do you have too much line on the reel?

I doubt it, for 15lbs it takes 240yds. Used a 300yd spool and theres a lot left. Had around 1/8th inch left from max. 

Image when I first put line on. 

[islandbass]

That line old like the ideal amount to me. 

[EGbassing]

I would try a weightless senko and a ned rig. If you can't catch anything on those, I'd find a new spot.