what to try for bigger fish

[king fisher]

I have fished a small reservoir near Tepic Mexico twice now.  The lake is approximately 1.5 miles long, 3/4 miles wide.  I know there are large bass in this lake because a friend of mine went there  a couple months ago.  My friend and his wife landed many over 3 lbs. fly fishing, and she landed one that was 5.6 kilos. on her only cast with a Senko. They were there pre spawn and  said almost anywhere along the shore had nice fish.  They are beginner fly fishermen it was windy and they still landed many nice fish on flies.  Who knows what they could have done if fishing conventional gear all day.

        I have gone there twice now with my Kayak.  I have no problem catching small bass under a pound fishing close to shore with  Senkos  but can't find any larger fish.     The wind blows 15 MPH or more most of the day making it difficult to fish bottom contact baits slowly in deeper water.  The water has about two feet of visibility and water temps. in mid 70's.  Because I have not spotted any bass on beds, I assume the spawn is over.  One side of the lake has a steep rocky bank with a couple long rip rap points.  The other side of the lake is a slow sloping flat that gradually descends in to deeper water. There is no aquatic vegetation, but some stick ups, and flooded fence lines for cover.  There lake has Tilapia so I am assuming that is the main forage but I haven't seen any bait fish so I'm not sure what they eat.  I don't have a fish finder making it difficult to find structure in deeper water.  I have trolled most of the lake with deep diving crank baits and only found one place where a DD22 did not touch bottom.  There is little to no fishing pressure.  I few locals net the Tilapia.

       Most of my fishing has been concentrated on the rocky points that extend into about 15 ft. of water and a few stickups in 6 Ft.  I have been using mostly spinner baits and crank baits.  Both lures I prefer to fish especially in windy conditions.  I have landed one 4lbs. and a couple two pound bass on a spinner bait, along with a few around two pounds on medium diving crank baits. I have caught baby bass everywhere.  Anywhere near the shore, along the deeper sides of the rocky points, even trolling in the deepest part of the lake near the dam.  Every time I have caught a fish trolling in deeper water  I stopped and worked the area casting from all angles with not luck.  I have tried drifting soft plastics on one rod while casting towards the shore with  cranks, and spinner baits with another. Works great but again small bass.  The few larger bass I have caught have been lone catches with no luck repeating the success with similar retrieve and depth.  Was wondering if I should try some larger lures along the shore hoping to eliminate the small fish, in hopes of a big one, or stick with the same lures and keep  trying to find where the bigger fish live.  I have also tried jerk baits, creature baits, and some top water.  Best small bass catchers have been Senkos, and Hula grubs.   

         

 

[Hammer 4]

What you may want to try is get some 1/2 ans 3/4 oz football jigs, and maybe a couple of trailers, like the rage craw. Make as long of a cast as possible, let it hit bottom, the hop it about a foot or so off the bottom every 5 seconds or so, let hit bottom again, do this over and over. You may have to experiment with colors, green pumpkin or craw colors should work. This isn't a sure fire way, but jigs are well known to catch good size bass.

[king fisher]

3 minutes ago, Hammer 4 said:

What you may want to try is get some 1/2 ans 3/4 oz football jigs, and maybe a couple of trailers, like the rage craw. Make as long of a cast as possible, let it hit bottom, the hop it about a foot or so off the bottom every 5 seconds or so, let hit bottom again, do this over and over. You may have to experiment with colors, green pumpkin or craw colors should work. This isn't a sure fire way, but jigs are well known to catch good size bass.

I didn't have any jigs, but did try a punch skirt with rage bug and  1/2 oz tungsten weight.    I Have lots of punching gear because I normally fish Lake Chapala, punching is the go to technique year round there.  I am not able to fish there at this time because of travel restrictions.  I did catch some small bass on the punch skirt set up.   I will try to get some football jigs and give them a try.

[WRB]

Texas rig a Berkley 4" Chigger Craw in green pumpkin or a 5" Yamamoto Twin tail Hula in 330 color using 1/4 oz sliding sinker 3/0 worm hook. Prefer using a 3/8 oz football jig but the T-rig will work.

Tom

[Boomstick]

Bigger baits will catch bigger fish, but it's also quite likely bigger baits may also get you skunked at the same time if you aren't getting them in front of bigger fish. So what I would do is like others have said either try a jig (3/8oz or 1/2oz should do - use a football if you have rocks or pitching for weeds) or T-Rig a soft plastic with a larger profile like a Rage Tail craw. This way you won't limit yourself to only bigger fish, but bigger fish will definitely hit them too.

 

As far as jig colors, I tend to keep it pretty simple - dark and light -- I don't really care if it's white, just lighter than green pumpkin -- I like the Dirty Jigs Alabama Bream I think it's called for a lighter color. And sometimes I carry black, and I have a few with some brighter chartreuse tones to for stained water but that's a luxury not a necessity.

[NELABassguy]

I would try a weightless Magnum Super Fluke.  Your numbers will go down, but you will catch some bigger fish. They are an El Salto stand-by. 

[king fisher]

1 hour ago, NELABassguy said:

I would try a weightless Magnum Super Fluke.  Your numbers will go down, but you will catch some bigger fish. They are an El Salto stand-by. 

Thanks, I will have to try and locate some Super Flukes.  Was going to fish the lake again tomorrow,  but they have new restrictions in place.   I'm afraid it will be awhile before I can try again.  I'm hoping that when summer comes the bass will not be so spread out, and I will be able to establish a pattern for larger fish.

[WRB]

2 hours ago, king fisher said:

Thanks, I will have to try and locate some Super Flukes.  Was going to fish the lake again tomorrow,  but they have new restrictions in place.   I'm afraid it will be awhile before I can try again.  I'm hoping that when summer comes the bass will not be so spread out, and I will be able to establish a pattern for larger fish.

Weightless Super Fluke in the wind....

Sometimes you can lead a horse to water but can't make it drink.

Goid luck,

Tom

[Black Hawk Basser]

Make sure it's the Magnum Super Flukes.  The regular ones aren't exactly big fish baits.

 

I'd keep grinding with spinnerbaits and jigs as well.  Try them deep and slow roll them.  If the spawn is done, many of the big gals may be off shore on deeper structural elements.

 

Maybe study how tilapia behave and their preferred habitat  Do they school up, suspend and roam around like shad?  Do they like to go shallow?  Those are questions I'd want to answer to help me find the bait and likely find more bass.

[Kidflex]

Use an anchor for your kayak. You’ll be able to work an area throughly with bottom contact baits. You’ll also be able to work your crankbaits more effectively. 

[king fisher]

4 hours ago, Kidflex said:

Use an anchor for your kayak. You’ll be able to work an area throughly with bottom contact baits. You’ll also be able to work your crankbaits more effectively. 

I have anchored and fished the steeper drops on the points.  The biggest frustration has been catching small bass less than a pound everywhere, with every technique.  Deep, shallow, fast or slow, doesn't seem to matter much.  The few bass over a pound have all been in random places on different lures with different presentations.  I'm sure it isn't random I just don't see the pattern.  I'm sure there are others that would easily see the similarities.  That is the difference between an average fisherman and a great one.

       It will be awhile before I can go back.  I plan on fishing Hula grubs with either 1/4 ounce ball head jigs, which I have plenty of or Texas rigged if I snag up to much.  I fished the Hula grubs the last time I was there, but mostly on the shoreline because of the strong wind.  I will start in deeper water in the morning before the wind starts up.  The closest thing to a normal bass jig I have is bullet weights with punch skirts, and many different creature baits for trailers.  I did try these is deeper water but probably gave up on them to soon.  I wont be able to buy any other jigs because of the difficulty in getting things shipped from the states right now.  I do have salt water jigs, that I could put a skirt on but will probably get snagged often.  I have lots of different styles of spinner baits, and many hard baits, but from the advice I get here I need to slow down and fish jigs.  I'm sure it is good advice and what I will do.  I did spend a decent amount of time slow rolling different spinner baits which is one of my favorite techniques but only caught baby bass, that will hit anything everywhere.  I have lots of large surface and subsurface lures I use in salt water.  I thought maybe I should just try them and cover lots of water looking for bigger fish. I will fish slow on the bottom until the wind picks up and then maybe try some of the bigger lures.  Once I am able to order from the states again, I am thinking about getting a couple big swim baits and a large Rat or should I just stick with normal size lures and work more on determining where the large fish live?  I will eventually get a fish finder for my Kayak but for now All I can do is troll deep diving crank baits to try and find off shore structure.  I have found a couple of spots this way but only landed more baby bass.   It is exciting to be exploring a fishery with no pressure, and potential for big fish,but frustrating when I have no body to compare notes with.  When I no longer have to practice social distancing I will talk to the local Tilapia fisherman.  I'm sure they will be a wealth of knowledge. Until then advice here is my best bet.  Thanks  

[primetime]

I find if I slow down, make accurate casts, focus on really picking an area apart and experimenting with different retrieves  is key. I would think it is hard to beat plastics, and if deeper water, a carolina rig is not a bad idea to locate fish, and then you can modify the presentation.

 

7" Stick worms are fantastic and will get more strikes from smaller fish than you would expect. Plus they cast a mile & give fish a different look. You can use a weighted hook in deeper water or add a small bullet weight that slides. 

 

10-12" Ribbon tails like culprits or power worms, Magnum trick worms, and the classic BPS curly tail worm in 9" up to 14"...Black blue tail in stained water tough to beat, but green pumpkin, watermelons always a good choice.

 

Flukes are a great option as well, the magnum size is essentially the size of the 7" stick o. Big bass are hard to catch, I find slowing down once I find a good area helps, and sometimes if everyone is targeting big fish, you may want to downsize to the same plastics in 4-6" range. Shaky heads and split shot worms catch big fish.

 

I am not confident in my deep cranking skills, but I find fishing a Carolina rig, or simply a split shot rig/mogo rig is plenty effective, its not boring if catching fish, and if c-rigging a fluke, you can work it faster to get it to dart and then pause if you hit something. 

 

Big fluke on a jighead is not a bad idea either.....

[NELABassguy]

As others have said make sure you get the Magnum Super Flukes, you can cast them much better and they generally do catch a better grade of fish. 

 

Someone also mentioned fishing a Fluke on a jig head and that reminded of catching some on scroungers. 

[Big Swimbait]

Try the Mag Fluke on a big shakey head.

 

[king fisher]

     I was finally able to go back to this small reservoir and my luck definitely changed.  The water was significantly lower, exposing many trees that I previously didn't know were there.  I started the morning fishing top water a around some trees in about 15- 20 feet of water.  After just a dozen or so casts with a Rebel Jumping Minnow, I landed my short lived new personal best.  I didn't have a scale, and had left my camera in my car, (big mistake) but I measured the bass at 25 1/4 inches.  Needless to say it crushed my old PB. of 5.5 lbs. from 1977.  Last summer I caught some that were close but didn't have a scale so wasn't sure. 

     Landed a few more from 1 to 2 pounds, on top water, then switched to a square bill.  Hooked another monster, but had difficulty backing my kayak out to open water, and the fish wrapped me on a branch.  Win some, loose some.  Tried a jig and multiple soft plastics, with no success, but fishing slower presentation techniques is my big weakness.

     When the afternoon winds picked up I switched to a spinner bait.  On my second cast I hooked and landed my new PB.  It measured 25 3/4 inches and was fatter than the one I caught in the morning.  I was close to the launch, so  I made a stringer, and slowly peddled back to get my camera.  A family was swimming there, and were glad to help take a few pictures.  I revived the bass, but unfortunately didn't feel it was strong enough to make it.  If I had it to do over again, I would have released it immediately, a picture is not worth killing a bass of that size, very bad decision on my part.  I gave the fish to the family that helped take the pictures, and they were grateful, so wasn't a complete loss.

     The small bass that had given me so much trouble the times before at this lake were gone, replaced by monsters.  What a difference a few weeks can make.  I never solved the puzzle from the last time ,simply was there at the right time using the same lures as before.  Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.  I don't know the weights of the two big bass, but I'm sure they were both well over 8 pounds.  My old personal best from 1977 was caught on a solid fiberglass rod, with a Zebco 33 reel.  Times have really changed.  The old PB was also caught on a spinner bait, a Cotton Cordel black and yellow spring killer, and my new PB was caught on a home made spinner bait, I guess some things haven't changed.  I know I wont be around for another 40 years so a plan on buying a scale and hope to break my record a little sooner next time.

     

      

[looking45]

If there are talapia in the lake, the bigger fish are probably eating them. You probably don't have the equipment to toss a big swim bait, but I would try using a 5" soft plastic swim bait that resembles the talapia.

 

[Catt]

#1 Location 

#2 lure of choice 

[Luke Barnes]

Big hugs with big trailers may weed out the dinks. Catch rate will go down but they should be decent bass.

[RoLo]

 

I’m assuming you’re referring to the post-spawn season.

If tilapia are abundant, it's a safe bet that large bass are present.

 

Soft jerks like a Super Fluke are most useful near the surface.

For bottom coverage, a strong choice would be a jig-&-trailer.

If it were me, I'd spend most of my time raking hotspots with a soft swimbait.

For example: Keitech Fat Swing, Jackall Rhythm Wave, Gamber Big EZ ~ ~

 

Roger

 

[king fisher]

Thanks for all the replies.  Turns out I didn't need to try different lures.  Location is everything.  The water went down and I found some flooded trees.  That is where the bass were hanging out at least they were yesterday.  Landed two big ones.  One 25 1/4 inches, the other 25 3/4 inches.  I'm guessing the weight around 10 pounds.  One on a spook type lure, the other on a spinner bait.  Lost another one around the same size on a square bill.  Same lures I caught dinks on the last time.  I did order a big Spro Rat, to try next time I go.

[Dens228]

Jigs, jigs, jigs, jigs..................