Quarries and pits

[Fishingintheweeds]

Where I fish most of the time, there are almost too many river and lake spots to count. I've also realized that there are a decent number of old pits around and I could get to some of these on a lunch break at work or some other times when time is tight. 

 

I've checked some of them out a bit and it seems they're pretty typical; 6-10 feet of moderate sloping away from the bank and then they seem to drop off pretty quickly to what "feels" like 15-20 ft. The shallower areas seem to have some vegetation, the deeper areas mostly don't. I have heard/gathered that most are around 30+ years old. They do have fish that I've seen, lost or others have confirmed. Of course, the really great looking spots are completely grown in, around where you'd get to the water...and unless they were specifically cleared on purpose, the whole shoreline has reeds that go out a few feet before hitting the drop off. 

 

So, my question is...how do you fish these? Coves or inlets are hard to really get a feel for, if they exist. Points on the shore aren't even necessarily points in the water, they're mostly featureless on the bottom, it seems...some spots you can't get to without a machete and tractor...speaking of tractors, the features that ARE there near the bottom, so I've been told, is old equipment that they couldn't get it before the pits filled...

 

So, I'm having trouble with how I think of these things and my own ideas about them. Are there any solid plans for attacking these or do you really just feel these out over time as you fish them? 

[DINK WHISPERER]

I fish some of the Mosaic phosphate pits here in central FL. They are deep with steep drop offs and very little vegetation on the banks. I approach them like a regular deep lake. I first focus on the piles of spoil material left behind by the draglines that excavated the pits. They form islands and humps everywhere. Those spots are magnets for schools of bass. I usually start with deep diving cranks or a Carolina rig. Then if I can get a couple bites I'll throw a big 8" magnum flutter spoon or a big swimbait. The only times I have ever caught anything on the banks is during the spawn. They're are some monsters lurking out there though that's for sure. 

[Mobasser]

I fish an older 7 acre qaurrey lake quite a bit. As DINK WHISPERER has said, look for humps in the main lake areas. I've found some by looking for weeds growing in these spots.Good sunglasses help. Also there may be some shelves within casting distance of the bank, which drop off into deeper water. Use a search type lure first.Crankbaits may work well. Then, fish these areas with a slower worm/jig to look for more or bigger bass. Qaurries can hold some good size fish

[papajoe222]

It sounds like your access to the water is going to be very limited. Once you find access, check the area out. First look  at the type of vegetation, how far from shore it grows and if there is any mix or transition to another type. Is the weed line straight or are there points or indentations within reach? Is there any baitfish activity? Then, figure out the depth where the vegetation stops and again ten yards or so past that spot (if you can reach it).  This will give you the information you'll need to put together a game plan.

About the only difference from fishing a lake or pond from shore will be the quick drop off that many pits have. Keep in mind that bass will often suspend out past the drop at a depth close to where it first starts.

[Fishingintheweeds]

20 hours ago, DINK WHISPERER said:

I fish some of the Mosaic phosphate pits here in central FL. They are deep with steep drop offs and very little vegetation on the banks. I approach them like a regular deep lake. I first focus on the piles of spoil material left behind by the draglines that excavated the pits. They form islands and humps everywhere. Those spots are magnets for schools of bass. I usually start with deep diving cranks or a Carolina rig. Then if I can get a couple bites I'll throw a big 8" magnum flutter spoon or a big swimbait. The only times I have ever caught anything on the banks is during the spawn. They're are some monsters lurking out there though that's for sure. 

Good points. I THINK there are areas that are shallower that I may be able to reach and not sure how, but I can look for what you're describing. I never even thought about that. There must be some kind of mounds or humps or something SOMEwhere. 

 

Ha, ha...this may be a good opportunity to try some of those crankbaits that I never touch because they don't make sense for me from the shore (not compared to other things I could throw). So far, I've thrown a chatterbait, nothing. A wacky rigged Senko, nothing. Some other random rigged plastics, nothing. A shakey head, I did have picked up and run with but I didn't really react because I wasn't really paying attention (I don't think I expected anything in that spot because I've never felt anything there but the drop off/no vegetation. I was just making the rounds). And running a little 3 inch pit boss along the bottom, dragging it, sometimes hopping. I actually saw that fish but it jumped and came off. I do believe that was either IN/on top of the vegetation or between two patches of it. And the chatterbait may have been grabbed in the same area yesterday...it was hard to tell. 

 

Other than throwing at the vegetation, I've tried to parallel the drop offs or fish from shore towards and over them.

13 hours ago, Mobasser said:

I fish an older 7 acre qaurrey lake quite a bit. As DINK WHISPERER has said, look for humps in the main lake areas. I've found some by looking for weeds growing in these spots.Good sunglasses help. Also there may be some shelves within casting distance of the bank, which drop off into deeper water. Use a search type lure first.Crankbaits may work well. Then, fish these areas with a slower worm/jig to look for more or bigger bass. Qaurries can hold some good size fish

I think I may have been thinking along the same lines. I've heard they're in here but I haven't seen them. I don't know how many there are or if I'm even within 20 casts of them...ha, ha...it's all a guessing and investigation at this point. 

13 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

It sounds like your access to the water is going to be very limited. Once you find access, check the area out. First look  at the type of vegetation, how far from shore it grows and if there is any mix or transition to another type. Is the weed line straight or are there points or indentations within reach? Is there any baitfish activity? Then, figure out the depth where the vegetation stops and again ten yards or so past that spot (if you can reach it).  This will give you the information you'll need to put together a game plan.

About the only difference from fishing a lake or pond from shore will be the quick drop off that many pits have. Keep in mind that bass will often suspend out past the drop at a depth close to where it first starts.

There are other smaller fish around the bank, yes. And that's a very good point about them suspending. I was debating what depths to try and fish but I may try this next.  Either that or my most obnoxious topwaters, on a fly...

 

So far, I've been eliminating spots on the left. Although the upper, left corner, is where I had the one on and the other that I didn't see. The far right LOOKS better but that's quite a hike for me...this is just a lunch time experiment. But I have fished the right side, from that circle. Very briefly. A few casts out and some along the shore. 

[flbassmaster]

I have some quarries in my area that I want to fish. what would be best for this area? deep diving crank bait? or swimbait?

[Fishingintheweeds]

I really have no idea...I would say it depends on what's around you in the area that you're fishing (contour, depth, cover). I guess in the right spots it wouldn't be bad. 

 

The reason I made this post is to get input from others who've had more luck on these things. For me, in the meantime, I'm trying to rule things out. Both of the fish I had on were on the bottom. One was a decent sized worm on a shaky head and the other was a small crawdad type bait, weighted as a Neko Rig...and since I've been using it, ha, ha, ha...I've found out that I wasn't the first person to do this! 

 

I will probably find something that I can try to bring through the middle of the water column now, and try to see if there are suspended fish...and then some kind of obnoxious topwater. 

 

I would say do what these guys have suggested for targets and also continue to try to eliminate patterns. This particular spot is in Michigan...but I can't imagine the things that may work would be a whole lot different from what would work in yours.

 

Good luck!

[greentrout]

 

make sure your pfd is on or very near...there's no return...

[Fishingintheweeds]

To me, those things are fascinating and also very strange to stand there and look out knowing what bad news is out there. I stand several feet back even from the water. There's no fish or cast worth taking that bath. Say what you want, but I don't even go onto the docks at those places.

 

This particular place had been made into a park and there are a lot of signs that say no swimming and that it's dangerous. There is another similar pond in the rec area that is smaller but has been made into a beach. They have all kinds of diving practices and classes there. One of the guys that dives there regularly said that there are *** drownings there nearly every year. Those guys have also told me the monsters they see down there...but again, even the safe ones aren't really safe. I've contemplated taking my lunch-time fishing back to the river...at least the biggest risk there is getting piked. 

 

As for the wacky rig worm, that sounds about like what I was thinking and sure enough, like DINK WHISPERER said, the action is in the spawn and not many other times. It's tough. 

[Fishingintheweeds]

1 hour ago, greentrout said:

 

make sure your pfd is on or very near...there's no return...

pfd = "life jacket"

[WRB]

Keep it simple, Texas rigged with sliding bullet weight and 6" to 7" worm. Don't randomly cast instead 180'degree fan cast pattern whatever area you choose to fish. Parkers wacky rig would work but it's a very slow precise presentation to bass where you know where they are located and little feedback to what is under the water.

Small lake you should be able to cover fishable areas in a few trips and know exactly what is fishable and where the bass are located.

Tom

[Fishingintheweeds]

Well, I have feedback from other people who have fished there that said they know the fish are suspended pretty often and they've had good luck with crankbaits. 

 

I had two on, on bottom craw deals (jig head and a jika type rig), they both got off. I've had two on a shaky head that I reacted badly in and lost. One landed on the shaky head. One landed on a spinnerbait about 1/4 under the surface in pretty deep water. 

 

I think the takeaway is that most of the advice and suggestions given here seems to be pretty good for this place too. I haven't made errors like this anywhere else probably because I wasn't really expecting much action the first few times I went there. But I think I'm starting to get the place figured out now. Ha, I could probably have even more fun if I had more than a part of my lunch break to fish there. 

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Fishingintheweeds]

And a couple on the jig. On longer casts. Half of the fish I've caught now have been where I knew there was still green vegetation, half have not. All of the water has been relatively deep, from feel and what others have said, more than 12 feet.

 

With the exception of the spinnerbait, darker colors seem to work better. The green pumpkin/go candy craws do get bites, the plum "ish" variation of the shaky head trick worm was better than that and the brown jig/trailer seems to be better still. What worked earlier in the summer seems to be what is still working now, in October. 

 

The key for working on the bottom seems to be to work slow. Painfully slow.