NEED FISHING HELP! D:

[Deevooo]

Hello everyone! First time posting here! 

 

I am pretty new to bass fishing and this is my first year with a bass boat (finally!) and I’m having some difficulty. I’m addicted to every kind of bass fishing video and I do a lot of research but.. can’t really find any helpful advice that applies to my problem. 

 

So.. I live in Upstate NY, on Chautauqua Lake. Surface water temps just hit upper 50s lower 60s and the water at the moment is very clear. 4-5 ft visibility with even more at certain places. This lake is VERY VERY weedy and I’ve found a good spot that I’ve been doing pretty well on lately. Yesterday, I was out trying to duplicate what I thought was a pattern, and I came across probably 50-60 bass roaming around above the weeds. I threw everything but the kitchen sink at them.... not one single fish even looked at my bait. I would put the bait right in front of them and even run my bait into them sometimes... they wouldn’t even care. 

 

This really got me scratching my head thinking that maybe my retrieves were bad or.. I’m not using the right color ? What do you guys think ? Below I’ll put a list of the conditions and the baits I tried. I fished this expanse of weeds for 4-5 hours straight with not a single bite. TOUGH day  

 

Conditions - 

Sunny

Clear skies

4-5 ft Viability

Weeds / Weed lines / Weeds to sand bottom transitions 

58-63 water temps

Pre-Cold front (yesterday was in the 70s and today it’s in the mid 50s. Gonna be like this for a few days)

 

Baits - 

Chatterbait - green/white / blackblue 

Swim Jig - blue gill

Jerkbait - translucent greenish

Drop Shot - pink plasma tail 

Spinnerbait (I know it wasn’t the best idea, but had to give it a try lol) - chartreuse/white

Jig - green pumpkin/orange

Texas Rig - Worm Junebug

Lipless - red eye shad bluegill color

Shallow Squarebill - sunfish / red craw

 

 

That’s just about everything I have on my boat to fish in the weeds. If there is a bait I missed let me know because I’m lost... 

 

Thanks in advance and I’m happy to be here ! 

 

[Tennessee Boy]

Are you sure they were bass?

[Deevooo]

Oh yea, I could see them clear as day. They were roaming around in small schools of 4-6 fish with bigger fish in smaller groups. They weren’t super skittish unless my shadow moved over top of them.  

Also.. there were a lot of bluegill and perch in the area too. A LOT Them. 

[Tennessee Boy]

Not a situation I've ever been in.  I'm almost never in water that clear.  My experience with roaming bass is that some of them will at least check out a lure even if they don't hit it.  Very odd.

[Largies4Life]

Maybe try a senko, wacky rigged or t-rigged. I would go weightless and fish the weed lines if possible. Instead of a junebug color try something more natural like a green pumpkin of some sort due to the water clarity.

 

Another option would be a ned rig. This could do very well in your situation with finicky bass in clear water. Best of luck!!

[WRB]

What you witnessed was pre spawn bass transition to spawn cycle or what is referred to as cruisers. The bass are not interested in feeding, they are checking potential bed sites.

Not all bass in the lake are on the same cycle, what you may have seen were early birds.

Tom

[dodgeguy]

Wacky rig senko this time of year. They could also be looking to make beds like previous poster said.

[fishballer06]

Never even through a Senko.... Shame, shame. 

[TOXIC]

In addition to the Senko, try a Yamamoto DShad on a 4.0 EWG hook weightless.  Even if they were roamers, it's hard for them to pass up an easy meal with the DShad.  

[GreenPig]

I fish a lake with similar water clarity and have learned if I see the bass they will not hit my bait. If I want to try to catch them I'll move on and circle back  in a .5 to 1 hour and hang back and make long cast to their location. I'd try a weightless stickworm or fluke type lure. But with that many bass together, WRB is likely dead on.

[scaleface]

 Reminds me of all the post that people have made about bass jumping all over the place but they wont bite . Sometimes you just have to ignore them , go about business like they are not there and concentrate on nearby high percentage spots .

[CrankFate]

7 hours ago, Deevooo said:

Oh yea, I could see them clear as day. They were roaming around in small schools of 4-6 fish with bigger fish in smaller groups. They weren’t super skittish unless my shadow moved over top of them.  

Also.. there were a lot of bluegill and perch in the area too. A LOT Them. 

 

 

7 hours ago, WRB said:

What you witnessed was pre spawn bass transition to spawn cycle or what is referred to as cruisers. The bass are not interested in feeding, they are checking potential bed sites.

Not all bass in the lake are on the same cycle, what you may have seen were early birds.

Tom

 

Could be cruisers. I (all by myself) consider cruisers to be small pods that travel over more distance. I call the bass described here “farmers.” They school up the blue gills and keep them concentrated in one area. Then occasionally eat a small one here or there. The only way to catch them is keep throwing things to them. Or catch a 2” bluegill, swim it down out of the school and wave it in their faces. One will usually get mad and eat it.

[BassNJake]

Finding fish is great but if they are not feeding your just practicing your casting

 

Like others have said weightless wacky worm, neko rig or a ned rig would provide a more finesse approach.

There is a reason they are holding somewhat close to this area at this time of year.

It's either to eat or to breed.

I would try finding the transitional area that they used before moving up to these weeds. 

Some sort of drop off, point, ditch, drain, slough.... whatever they call it in your area

 

Another approach is to keep moving until you can catch a couple fish in an area

this will often lead to finding areas where the fish are more active

 

When the water is really clear, the wind and the sun are your friends

The wind will break up the surface a little allowing for you to not be seen as easily

The sun will heat up the shallower areas making it a more viable option for spawners and will also position bass in the shady areas