Totally Lost

[Log Catcher]

The wife and I went fishing yesterday. The place I wanted to fish was closed and blocked off with no access to the water. I drove about 25 miles to a lake I had not fished in about 10 years. I had only fished it twice about 10 years ago and didn't have much luck then. It is a small lake about 114 acres with houses and boat docks around it. The water was really clear with about 4' or 5' of visibility. There is so much vegetation under the water soft plastics was all we would use. The only moving bait I tried was a soft plastic swim bait. Had very few bites. She finally caught a nice bass about 18" on a centipede. I still hate that lake. I am glad she got one since this was her first fishing trip in about 3 years.

[813basstard]

I took the wife fishing once. My urge to murder increased by 41%. It did solidify her hatred of it and

guaranteed I would never have to ask her again. 

To your question, you didn’t think you’d break the lake record with how infrequent you fish right?

go and fish it again,

and again

and again

until you figure something out

[TOXIC]

I'll bet a T-Rigged Senko would have cleaned house under those docks.  

 

Or even in the vegetation for that matter.  

[Log Catcher]

I didn't use a Senko there. I used a Trick Worm with a 1/16oz sinker. All of our bites came out away from the docks and on smaller baits. The docks with people on them we passed on by so as not to bother them. I am just not used to fishing water that clear and with that much vegetation. I try to avoid fishing heavy vegetation if I can. I hate having to pick all the junk off my baits. I got more bites around the dam area where it had deeper water. Maybe some day I will learn how to fish these type places.

[Koz]

36 minutes ago, Log Catcher said:

 I am just not used to fishing water that clear and with that much vegetation. I try to avoid fishing heavy vegetation if I can.

 

Sounds like a recipe for some good polarized glasses and site fishing. That and throwing a topwater like a frog or buzzbait and see what comes crashing out of the weeds.

[Log Catcher]

13 hours ago, Koz said:

 

Sounds like a recipe for some good polarized glasses and site fishing. That and throwing a topwater like a frog or buzzbait and see what comes crashing out of the weeds.

The problem here is I didn't have any frogs with me. I bought some years ago and never caught anything on them. I took them out of the boat and put them away. I even thought about throwing them away. I thought about using a buzzbait but the vegetation was pretty thick in some places even on top. I guess I could have thrown around the edges of it.

[Koz]

49 minutes ago, Log Catcher said:

The problem here is I didn't have any frogs with me. I bought some years ago and never caught anything on them. I took them out of the boat and put them away. I even thought about throwing them away. I thought about using a buzzbait but the vegetation was pretty thick in some places even on top. I guess I could have thrown around the edges of it.

One thing I have learned this year is that when what lure(s) I expect to be working don't work I throw something completely different. For example, we had some really, really windy days here and I was having no luck with Senkos, spinnerbaits, or chatterbaits that usually do well this time of year. So I started throwing a buzzbait out in the choppy water and the bass just killed it.

 

Now maybe someone more experienced than me already knew that was a good option, but to me throwing that topwater in choppy conditions was a last resort.

[Sam]

It is my humble opinion that you know too much about bass fishing and you are over-thinking the situation.

 

This happens in school when an individual studies, takes the exam, and walks out thinking they did poorly, only to score an A. The individual knew too much about the subject and had a hard time finding the answers they wanted. The guys and gals who did not study as much walked out thinking they aced the test, only to be horrified by receiving a C.

 

This could be happening to you.

 

I suggest you sit back and think about the water conditions, water temperature, water columns, and what baits will work best over, under, inside, outside, and around the grass. Try to keep it simple. Take two or three of each moving and treble hook baits with you, plus your plastics that you have confidence to punch through the grass or fish over or around it with you on the boat.

 

Think about the baits you don't use any more, such as your Rapala's and other smaller treble hook baits, that you can fish over the grass on lighter line.

 

Keep a log of every trip to try to find the hidden pattern.

 

You know you have to find what the bass like to eat and where they like to rest inside, under, and around the grass.

 

Good luck and be sure to let us know what you are throwing, where you threw them, and any success you have.

 

 

 

 

 

[Log Catcher]

1 hour ago, Sam said:

It is my humble opinion that you know too much about bass fishing and you are over-thinking the situation.

 

This happens in school when an individual studies, takes the exam, and walks out thinking they did poorly, only to score an A. The individual knew too much about the subject and had a hard time finding the answers they wanted. The guys and gals who did not study as much walked out thinking they aced the test, only to be horrified by receiving a C.

 

This could be happening to you.

 

I suggest you sit back and think about the water conditions, water temperature, water columns, and what baits will work best over, under, inside, outside, and around the grass. Try to keep it simple. Take two or three of each moving and treble hook baits with you, plus your plastics that you have confidence to punch through the grass or fish over or around it with you on the boat.

 

Think about the baits you don't use any more, such as your Rapala's and other smaller treble hook baits, that you can fish over the grass on lighter line.

 

Keep a log of every trip to try to find the hidden pattern.

 

You know you have to find what the bass like to eat and where they like to rest inside, under, and around the grass.

 

Good luck and be sure to let us know what you are throwing, where you threw them, and any success you have.

 

 

 

 

 

I definitely don't know too much about fishing. I couldn't find an answer that day. I am not used to fishing water that clear or fishing that much vegetation. Any crankbait would have been a nightmare to fish. I used a Manns 1Minus up there before and it was catching junk. I tried several things I thought would work that didn't but nothing works every time. I just didn't think about using something for punching since it is something I very rarely have to do.

[Sam]

Hey Greg, you are doing everything correctly. Please bear with me as I offer some suggestions.

 

With the grass that high you have to fish on top of it with a buzzbait, popper, frog, unweighted wacky Senko and an unweighted trick worm on a spinning outfit, spinnerbaits, a walking bait of your choice, and flipping a drop shot/shaky head with a finesse worm in any openings or boarders in the grass.

 

If you have any Rat-L-Traps use the smaller ones and remove the rear hook that accumulates grass. Do not use any trailer hooks on your buzzbaits or spinnerbaits. Rig all hooks Texas style or use weedless hooks.

 

When the grass gets high on the Potomac River we go to a spinnerbait, unweighted Senko rigged Texas or Wacky style, an unweighted trick worm to move like a snake over and through the grass using weedless hooks, topwaters, frogs, and of course, we have openings in the grass where we flip and pitch our shaky heads and drop shots.

 

We drag the Senkos over the grass, letting them sink about 6 to 8 inches before pulling them up to the surface and moving them again, like a snake. We do the same with very lightly weighted or no weight trick worms, too.

 

Experiment with different techniques and baits.

 

Have patience. Fish slow. Concentrate on your bait at all times. Remember the circumstances of every hit and catch to try to develop a pattern. Fish each bait in a "fan" pattern from left to right and right to left. And then do it over. Take your time. If the bass are there you will aggravate them into hitting your baits.
 

Bring us up to date on what happens.  Good luck.

 

 

 

P.S. When you have clear water you can see the bass and they can see you. So be as quiet as possible.

[Log Catcher]

4 hours ago, Sam said:

Hey Greg, you are doing everything correctly. Please bear with me as I offer some suggestions.

 

With the grass that high you have to fish on top of it with a buzzbait, popper, frog, unweighted wacky Senko and an unweighted trick worm on a spinning outfit, spinnerbaits, a walking bait of your choice, and flipping a drop shot/shaky head with a finesse worm in any openings or boarders in the grass.

 

If you have any Rat-L-Traps use the smaller ones and remove the rear hook that accumulates grass. Do not use any trailer hooks on your buzzbaits or spinnerbaits. Rig all hooks Texas style or use weedless hooks.

 

When the grass gets high on the Potomac River we go to a spinnerbait, unweighted Senko rigged Texas or Wacky style, an unweighted trick worm to move like a snake over and through the grass using weedless hooks, topwaters, frogs, and of course, we have openings in the grass where we flip and pitch our shaky heads and drop shots.

 

We drag the Senkos over the grass, letting them sink about 6 to 8 inches before pulling them up to the surface and moving them again, like a snake. We do the same with very lightly weighted or no weight trick worms, too.

 

Experiment with different techniques and baits.

 

Have patience. Fish slow. Concentrate on your bait at all times. Remember the circumstances of every hit and catch to try to develop a pattern. Fish each bait in a "fan" pattern from left to right and right to left. And then do it over. Take your time. If the bass are there you will aggravate them into hitting your baits.
 

Bring us up to date on what happens.  Good luck.

 

 

 

P.S. When you have clear water you can see the bass and they can see you. So be as quiet as possible.

Thanks for the info. I did use a weightless fluke stick for a while with no luck. I wasn't confident a topwater bait would work since I had not seen any topwater activity. The sun was out all day with clear blue skies. Water temp was around 76*. If I get desperate enough to go back up there I will keep these ideas in mind. I will try to stick with places I am more familiar with if I can.

[Sam]

And toads. Don't forget your toads.

 

Buzzbaits work at all hours of the day and night.

[Log Catcher]

1 hour ago, Mike Wright said:

Yeah Man! Not able to get into ones favorite place to fish really makes the fishing experience worst... I also usually don't get lucky about finding a new place with research! did this forum have Fishing Place List? (I am new Here)

Welcome to the forum. The place I was going to isn't my favorite fishing place but is a short drive to get to. I have fished it quite a bit. I don't believe they have a list of places to fish on here. You need to start a new thread letting people know where you are and what part of the country you would like to fish. There are many members on here that will help you out and let you know where to fish.

[Log Catcher]

1 hour ago, Mike Wright said:

Thanks, Man for the Reply, I think I should start a thread that's concluded the list of Best Places to Fish (contributed by other members) it would be super useful for others, what do you think?

It would be okay. I'm sure you would get a lot of different responses. The places some people love might be hated by others. Bassmaster already puts out a list of the top 100 Bass lakes based on tournament results.

[MN Fisher]

19 minutes ago, Mike Wright said:

Oh... Wow I didn't know about it, Thanks for sharing can you share the link of the list?

Here's the list as of last July

https://www.bassmaster.com/news/2018s-best-bass-lakes-revealed