California bank fishing - Fish pics & Advice appreciated!

[ryanerb]

Alright guys, I went out for like 3 hours today (2pm to 5pm) to a lake I've always known about but never fished.

 

Lake is typically pretty clear from what I've heard, but today there had been so much wind earlier that the water got cloudy... good? Maybe....

 

I had 3 fish total:

1. First fish on a 3.8 Keitech with leadhead
2. Second fish on a drop shot with roboworm
3. Third fish on the Keitech again

 

Lures I tried:

1. Lipless for a little bit
2. Crankbait for a little bit
3. Keitech swimbait (mostly)
4. Dropshot
5. Spinnerbait (at the very end for only a few casts)
6. Neko rig

 

Key things to note:

1. Yes, I'm lucky to live in CA where the weather is always nice. I think it was over 80 degrees today?
2. I snagged a LOT! I think I lost over 5 setups? You'll see some submerged trees/big bushes in the background. Very frustrating. All my snags came on deep (10ft+ trees)
3. I didn't get any bites right as dark approached. I was expecting a lot more bites towards the end of the day, but most bites came in my first hour...
4. I'm probably thinking I was fishing a little bit too finesse for the water clarity, however, it was slick calm and super sunny out... 
5. I focused on fishing a steep rock bank given the time of year (access to deep water)... 

 

Advice appreciated:

1. Given the dirtier water and the rocks I was fishing and all the submerged trees I was snagging, is there any super good lure choices in this scenario? 

 

 

Any other info I missed, let me know and I can add... (but won't provide the name of the body of water hahahah)

 

Thanks for your help!

 

See attached pictures...

[TnRiver46]

Wow nice fish and scenery! 

[WRB]

Definitely SoCal, the lake is nearly full pool with rip rap area.

If You want to keep the lake unknown it makes it difficult to make specific suggestions.

Fishing bottom contact lures uphill in rip rap is a recipe for snagging.

My suggestion is target the seams where the rip rap meets the clay banks in lieu of working the rocks uphill. Use lures you can swim above the rocks in the rip rap areas. 

Wood or brush areas are good and T-rigged weedless with a 3/16 oz bullet weight or 1/4 oz jig can be finessed through the cover.

The bass are generally roaming during this seasonal period hunting deep Threadfin Shad schools, you best bet was the small swimmer. Look for grebes feeding on Shad.

I would a 1/4 oz weedless finesse jig like Skinny Bear Pro in brown-purple rubber with Iovino 2 1/2" soft plastic trailer in liver color to target the stick ups, works good in all SoCal lakes. ADd a Sworming Hornet under spin with Jr hologram Fluke to imitate the Shad along with your swimmer.

Tom

PS, this thread belongs in the Western forum. 3 bass in 3 hours is good form shore in SoCal!

 

[ryanerb]

15 hours ago, WRB said:

Definitely SoCal, the lake is nearly full pool with rip rap area.

If You want to keep the lake unknown it makes it difficult to make specific suggestions.

Fishing bottom contact lures uphill in rip rap is a recipe for snagging.

My suggestion is target the seams where the rip rap meets the clay banks in lieu of working the rocks uphill. Use lures you can swim above the rocks in the rip rap areas. 

Wood or brush areas are good and T-rigged weedless with a 3/16 oz bullet weight or 1/4 oz jig can be finessed through the cover.

The bass are generally roaming during this seasonal period hunting deep Threadfin Shad schools, you best bet was the small swimmer. Look for grebes feeding on Shad.

I would a 1/4 oz weedless finesse jig like Skinny Bear Pro in brown-purple rubber with Iovino 2 1/2" soft plastic trailer in liver color to target the stick ups, works good in all SoCal lakes. ADd a Sworming Hornet under spin with Jr hologram Fluke to imitate the Shad along with your swimmer.

Tom

PS, this thread belongs in the Western forum. 3 bass in 3 hours is good form shore in SoCal!

 

Tom, really appreciate the advice, I always look for your posts and take the advice with a lot of weight!

[JustJames]

That lake look familiar to me. I’m working on Neko rig for rip rap uphill. So far I have a lot of bites but missed them all. Oh well gotta learn how to use spinning all over again.