Looking for some advice/encouragement

[cpaterso]

Long story short.  Grew up fishing occassionally, usually with orange pumpkin worms.  Bought a fishing boat this year so have been pretty serious about it.  Probably been about 12-15 times now since August 1.

 

I'm at a loss as to what I'm doing wrong.  I have caught one bass on an orange pumpkin (of course) only because I swear I hit the poor fella right on the noggin!  I tell you guys...I dont think I am clueless.  I have watched hours of YouTube vids from BassResource and other instructional.  I have thrown a t rig, Carolina rigs, crankbaits, tubes, topwater.  I know we are in the fall transition...I look for bait fish, points and pockets, throwing shad colors, etc.

 

I am fishing Morse Reservoir north of Indianapolis.  Watched a guy today go fish the same spot I was fishing and pull out two with the same spinnerbait.  An older guy came up to me after and asked me if I tried by the dam.  Yes.  Did you use worms?  Yes.  How about crankbaits on the points.  Yes.  Anything anyone suggests I seem to have tried.

 

I use braid on my reels...starting to wonder if the fish can see it but I hear that's a myth.

 

Also wondering if I'm doing something wrong with the boat or trolling motor...freaking the fish out or something.

 

Does anyone remember some newbie mistakes you used to make and maybe I'm making them?

 

 

[813basstard]

Thinking to much. Worrying to much. If you like the pumpkin worm, throw it. Take everything out of the boat except that. You’ll start to find where the fish are. Once you find them, you will be amazed how lure choice has such a small impact on fish that are FEEDING. 

[Hammer 4]

One mistake I see a bunch of is new fishermen fish Much to fast, i.e. especially plastic, worms, ect..As the water temps get cooler, bass don't like to chase bait down if they can help it. Try fishing you spinner bait slower, i.e. slow roll it at different depths until you find the fish. Also, look for hard cover, rocks, docks tree stumps and the like. This should be a good starting point.

[JediAmoeba]

Just like 813basstard is eluding to, you need to simplify!  It sounds like you have too much information in your head and are flopping around with techniques and lures.  Pick 1 shallow, 1 mid depth and 1 deep approach and fish only those until you get confidence.  You could fish that orange worm in all those depths just rigging it differently.  

 

Think simple, catch some fish and then start tweaking and adding more techniques!

[Bird]

Worms always bail me out when fish aren't hitting......maybe try drop shot.

 

Braid is great stuff, casts, sensitive, but if the water you fish is clear than you may want to consider a fluorocarbon leader. 

 

I like 15lb powerpro to 8lb Sunline snyper with Alberto knot, works great for the clear water lakes I fish for slow moving baits. 

 

Keep casting. 

 

[WRB]

Good looking lake with good structure elements. Morse lake is also a residential water way with lots of homes, dock and boating traffic. The bass in this type of lake see every lure made but the vast majority of angers will target the shoreline. My advice is fish the underwater point near the dam on the right side that extends about 1/2 way across the lake with hump topping at 7' near it's deep end. Concentrate on the structure element until you know it well. With your tackle I suggest using a Carolina rig with 1/2 oz egg sinker, 3' 8 lb test mono leader, size 2/0 worm hook and 6" Roboworms in MMIII and Oxblood red flake. 

Work the entire point down to 20' all around both sides, outer end and across the top.

You should get bites on this structure and learn how to fish it.

Tom

[cpaterso]

12 hours ago, 813basstard said:

Thinking to much. Worrying to much. If you like the pumpkin worm, throw it. Take everything out of the boat except that. You’ll start to find where the fish are. Once you find them, you will be amazed how lure choice has such a small impact on fish that are FEEDING. 

You're definitely right.  Only reason I have been avoiding worms is because the water is very stained....was trying to use other things with more action or noise.  What worm setup do you recommend for muddy water?

12 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

One mistake I see a bunch of is new fishermen fish Much to fast, i.e. especially plastic, worms, ect..As the water temps get cooler, bass don't like to chase bait down if they can help it. Try fishing you spinner bait slower, i.e. slow roll it at different depths until you find the fish. Also, look for hard cover, rocks, docks tree stumps and the like. This should be a good starting point.

Plastic worms...how slow are we talking?  I definitely feel like I move it slow, twitching and letting it fall, but I dont let it sit for more than 1 to 2 seconds.

11 hours ago, Bird said:

Worms always bail me out when fish aren't hitting......maybe try drop shot.

 

Braid is great stuff, casts, sensitive, but if the water you fish is clear than you may want to consider a fluorocarbon leader. 

 

I like 15lb powerpro to 8lb Sunline snyper with Alberto knot, works great for the clear water lakes I fish for slow moving baits. 

 

Keep casting. 

 

Pretty stained lake but I'll probably still give it a go.  Have not tried drop shot though.  Will look into that! Thank you!

[cpaterso]

11 hours ago, WRB said:

Good looking lake with good structure elements. Morse lake is also a residential water way with lots of homes, dock and boating traffic. The bass in this type of lake see every lure made but the vast majority of angers will target the shoreline. My advice is fish the underwater point near the dam on the right side that extends about 1/2 way across the lake with hump topping at 7' near it's deep end. Concentrate on the structure element until you know it well. With your tackle I suggest using a Carolina rig with 1/2 oz egg sinker, 3' 8 lb test mono leader, size 2/0 worm hook and 6" Roboworms in MMIII and Oxblood red flake. 

Work the entire point down to 20' all around both sides, outer end and across the top.

You should get bites on this structure and learn how to fish it.

Tom

Wow thank you so much.  Just to be clear, the green circles are in this snapshot?

 

I have attempted the Carolina rig and a big football jig with rage bug in the yellow area after witnessing the same.  Morse is very heavily fished and I can see at least some type of fish holding on sonar in this area.  But I was told by a fellow angler it was a waste of time.. so I let that go.  Everything you're saying makes sense so I'm going to give it a fair shot.

 

Any tip on how to work something like this?  Sit on top of the flat and just cast in a circle?  Or approach the flat from all different directions and not go on it?

 

 

[scaleface]

Some of the more important things I do better now than when I   started 

 

  Lure selection . I use to try to figure out  what lure  the bass were wanting . Now  I throw lures that will effectively perform in the cover/structure I encounter . There are usually several . Rotate through them . I cast into heavy cover with minimum snags using several different  lures .The  last thing I want to do is   ruin a high percentage spot because of getting hung up .

 

  Casting . My casting is much more accurate and each cast has a purpose  . It may sometimes appear the  cast are  random but there is a reason behind each one.  A lot of times I'm targeting  a depth , a dark spot...

 

  Boat position .  Get the boat positioned to make accurate  cast . Try to keep the lure in the strike zone for as long as possible   . Much of the time this is accomplished by parallel  casting the bank . If for instance,   a buzzbait is being used  ,  it might be presented to a heck of a lot more fish parallel casting the bank than casting at ninety degree angle toward the shore. 

 

  Offshore structure . I use to think points were these little short , steep areas. The good points are long and tapering. I rely heavily on marker buoys   " old school " .  I dont necessarily mark fish with the buoys but instead place them to keep me oriented in a promising area .   Toss them near dropoffs , brush , stumps , fish or whatever . It appears the effective use of buoys is becoming a lost art .

 

   Sonar interpretation .I keep it  simple . In the warmer months I seek out the   thermocline , its usually easily seen as a solid band  . I consider water deeper than the thermocline dead water . I also look for a life zone  , where much of the bait fish are congregated . They can usually be seen   out in open water . Then when reaching a point  or other structure, ignore water deeper than the thermocline and pay special attention to the zone the bait fish were observed at .  Shad are the prevalent food source in  my part of the country  and they are very fragile . They die easily so I speculate they seek out the depth with the best combination of conditions to survive and predators wait in  ambush . This time of year the fish seem to be more spread out   than in the warmer months .

 

  

[WRB]

Position your boat in 8' to 10' of water at the base of this point on side away from the dam like you are standing on shore and casting out along the side of this point. Cast into about 10' of water and drag the c-rig back about 1 to 2 reel handle turns stop and repeat. Very boring technique but also effective, remember your goal is to catch bass and learn what is on the structure. Make casts about every 10' apart working deeper to about 20'  until you cover most of the point area, both sides, top and around the end. It should take about 1 hour to do this thoroughly. You can do the same using a 1/4 oz bullet weight T-rig or 1/2 oz football jig, but not knowing your skills with these presentations the C-rig eliminates strike detection issues, you simple feel like a rubber band pulling or a few light ticks. The C-rig hook set is pointing the rod tip at the fish then reel fast and sweep the rod back.

Bass live in this off color water and find prey trying to hide, they will find your worms.

After you fish this area go to similar structure and repeat the same presentation. You will start to put together the depth to focus on. 

You have sonar and can survey these areas looking for fish and what depth you see any baitfish. Knowing where the fish are and how deep they are catching bass is a mater of timing and lure presentation. Timing is something you can only determine by trail and error. Bass are not active all day, they tend to feed at specific times at various areas.

Tom

PS, yes you circled the hump area, fish the entire blue area on point as I suggested and do not park on top of the hump. I want you to learn boat control and what good structure feels like.

If you have finesse spinning tackle then drop or slip shot ( split shot) presentations will work.

[NorthernBasser]

5 hours ago, cpaterso said:

You're definitely right.  Only reason I have been avoiding worms is because the water is very stained....was trying to use other things with more action or noise.  What worm setup do you recommend for muddy water?

Plastic worms...how slow are we talking?  I definitely feel like I move it slow, twitching and letting it fall, but I dont let it sit for more than 1 to 2 seconds.

Pretty stained lake but I'll probably still give it a go.  Have not tried drop shot though.  Will look into that! Thank you!

FYI, in stained/dirty water I always use a glass bead between my weight and hook. Gives it a little tapping sound when the bead and weight hits. 

[Sam]

Suggestions:

1.  Use either Junebug or Green Pumpkin or Watermelon wacky rigged Senkos or YUM Dingers, 5-inch size but have some 4-inchers with you for all types of water. Junebug for heavily stained and stained water; Green Pumpkin for all other water clarities. Watermelon for clear water.

2.  Throw them on fluorocarbon line with either a 12-pound baitcaster test or an 8-pound spinning rig test.

3.  Go with a medium heavy rod.

4.  Flip, pitch, skip and cast the stickbaits everywhere you can while always watching your line and keeping a finger on the line coming off the spool to feel the hits.

5.  Get confidence in this presentation and colors.

6.  And be sure to put some MegaStrike scent on your plastics.

7.  Note any patterns you find and write down where and the day, time, weather, etc. for each.

 

After doing this, and only this for the stickbaits. Next time out go with a search bait of your choice, only. No other rods for other presentations. Just go with a spinnerbait all day or your Chatterbait or crankbait. Learn how they feel and practice your casting and working them at different depths, etc. You will start to get confidence in one of these moving baits.

 

Keep a log and map of the details of every catch and missed bass. Write everything down. Use the free fishing form in the above Tools listing of links at the top of this page. Put each report in a three-ring binder and study them. You will be surprised at what you will learn about your lake, especially the patterns.

 

Now, for your rod, reel, and line test. Check out the parameters stamped on your rods and be sure to keep within them. In fact, you take the high and add the low test strengths together and divide by 2 to obtain the best line test for your rod's maximum performance. Then note the bait weight limitations.  Stay within both.

 

Bass fishing boils down to confidence. I have confidence that I will catch something using wacky rigged Senkos or YUM Dingers on a spinning set up. I have confidence that I will catch something on a crankbait on a baitcaster. And on and on as you build your confidence.

 

Your goal is to get confidence in your presentations and bait selections. 

 

But it will take time. So keep asking us questions and we will give you our input as best we can.

 

Good luck.

 

 

[Fishin Dad]

When I first started, I went to a lake that was supposed to be a great bass lake, I got skunked.  I felt like I had no clue.  I kept talking to people at the ramp and others that I knew fished it.  I even brought a guy out with me who had some experience on the lake.   After gaining a little knowledge, I just tried to go out there and “enjoy the experience”.  This lake is now, many years later, one of my confidence lakes.  With all that, I got skunked for the first time this year there on Thursday.  It’s fishing.  Good luck and enjoy the experience!!

[Hammer 4]

Op, 1 to 2 seconds imho is not slow. Letting it sit for 10 seconds or more while giving it small twitches would be better.

[WRB]

2 hours ago, NorthernBasser said:

FYI, in stained/dirty water I always use a glass bead between my weight and hook. Gives it a little tapping sound when the bead and weight hits. 

Brass 'n Glass has been my go to slip shot and T-rig for decades in every type of water clarity day or night. The clicking can only help, no down side.

Tom