Highly Pressured Small Lakes: Untouched Bass?

[Bartableman7]

With guys beating up every spot over and over...are there still big bass out there that are never caught?  Never see a lure?  And live with a few big brother and sisters that are just smarter and well hidden from every fisherman?  I sure hope so and...WHERE are they?  Open water not sitting near anything we fish?

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1000%, offshore big fish is the last frontier left to discover.   FFS is changing that though.   

[Zcoker]

There's a small shallow dug out lake down the road from where I live in a city park that is beat to death daily by ski boats and swimmers, kayaks and small watercraft. I've known about the place for years and never heard of much of any bass caught in it. Heck, they even have a ski park on the lake with long cables pulling water skiers round and round over the jumps all day long. I was out there one day testing out a spinnerbait, which is usually the place I go to test blade configurations, etc. Well, I was pulling in the bait and then BAM! Frigging 8 pounder! I was in shock, and so were many others who witnessed the catch. So, to answer your question, never ever, ever underestimate ANY body of water, no matter how busy or pressured it is! 

[gim]

1 hour ago, Bartableman7 said:

With guys beating up every spot over and over...are there still big bass out there that are never caught?  Never see a lure? 

Yes, there are.  Where I fish, they are in: 1) hard to reach places where you can't get a bass boat, or 2) minimally pressured waters.

 

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northeast MN likely has a lot of smallmouth bass that have NEVER once seen a fishing lure of any kind.  But to reach and find them, you must enter that wilderness with a canoe and camp out there to try and find them.  I would probably also say that many lakes in Ontario receive no bass fishing pressure either.  There might not be a 7 pounder in them because the water is always so cold, but I bet you could catch 100 fish in a short period of time with a very aggressive approach.

 

Living in the land of 10,000 lakes here, there are quite a few small lakes to my north that receive virtually no bass fishing pressure all season.  Heck, there are even a few within an hour of my house in the Twin Cities.  One particular lake I fished 8 times this past season, not once had another bass angler on it.  My last trip there in mid October was arguably my best outing of the entire season, and produced the biggest largemouth I caught all season too.

[WRB]

If you see big bed bass they live somewhere in the lake.

Tom

[TnRiver46]

3 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

1000%, offshore big fish is the last frontier left to discover.   FFS is changing that though.   

Don’t underestimate mister bass, he can still hide 

 

they said the same thing about 2D sonar, 3D imaging, side imaging, Alabama rig, etc 

 

there have been studies conducted on the subject, seems like they always conclude some bass get caught over and over and over and some bass never strike a lure 

[DitchPanda]

So I live about 45 miles south of Sioux falls South Dakota- a city of about 200,000. One summer several years ago me and a buddy went up to a small lake in the city limits called family park. That place gets hammered all year and the first time I went I caught one on a spinnerbait that was over 7 maybe close to 8.

[Bankc]

On my home lake, I tend to catch my biggest bass, and on certain days, the most numbers of bass, when fishing the few areas other anglers can't/won't.  

 

The easy one is the skinny water up in the backs of coves where the small, dead trees make it almost impossible to get to with a power boat.  But with my kayak, I can slide over and around them to get back into the areas no one else ventures.  Those spots are also inaccessible by foot, which helps.  

 

The harder one is finding the offshore spots.  The lake is nothing but a thick layer of silt and heavily stained water with almost no rip rap, docks, large rocks or any other kind of cover you might hope to find.   Therefore, finding bass on structure in deep water isn't easy.  And then getting them to find your lure in the that near complete darkness without kicking up a ton more silt makes it even harder.  So the learning curve is steep, and the chance of skunk is high.  

 

But, the most reliable method of consistently putting fish in your boat is doing what the other 98% of bass anglers do on that lake, which is troll around targeting the standing timber.  

[king fisher]

    I fished a small lake that got almost zero sport fishing pressure for 2 years.  Every time I went I got a bass of 7 pounds or more.  I landed many over 10 pounds, and I thought I had found paradise.

      Eventually the word got out, and I started seeing a few kayak anglers, as well as some people fishing from shore.  I was still catching trophy bass, fishing offshore where the other anglers were not fishing.  I had a fish finder and was able to find offshore structure and cover so I wasn't concerned about the shore line getting some more pressure.  The other anglers were occasionally  catching large bass, so life was good for everyone.

      Then the owner of a lodge at a nearby lake found the lake.  He started taking clients there 3-5 days a week.  Now the fishing for large bass is difficult at best.  I still can catch many small fish, but getting the trophy's is no longer easy.  I just got back from fishing there for two day's, and the biggest bass I got was 2 pounds.  The water clarity was a little over 2 feet, which is perfect for this lake, and the surface temp. was 74 degrees.  Conditions couldn't have been better, but I couldn't buy a bite from a bigger bass.

       At the time I was catching giant bass every trip, I started thinking of myself a great big bass fisherman.  Sadly now I have been forced to realize the truth.  I am not a great trophy bass guru, I was just fishing a lake that had lots of very stupid big bass.  The bass are still there, I simply have to improve my angling skills to catch them.  I will probably take the easy road, and fish another lake I found that is further away, but has many large stupid bass, that never see a lure.  Should be a good ego boost to catch some big bass, even if they are dumb.

      I will try to improve my skills, and go back to the first lake, and hope to catch some more giants, but for now I am humbled.  From my experience I am certain finding less pressured waters is the easiest way to catch large bass.  I have great respect for those anglers who are able to catch larger than average bass regularly on pressured waters.  They are truly great anglers.

      The Bait Monkey just informed me while I was typing, that I am a good big bass fisherman, I only need to quit being so cheap, and buy some expensive large swimbaits, and glide baits.  I think I will go to the stupid bass lake, and catch some big bass on one of the thousands of lures I already own, before going down the swimbait road.  I might even try fishing at night, before I let the Monkey drain my bank account.

      

      

[AlabamaSpothunter]

4 minutes ago, king fisher said:

    I fished a small lake that got almost zero sport fishing pressure for 2 years.  Every time I went I got a bass of 7 pounds or more.  I landed many over 10 pounds, and I thought I had found paradise.

      Eventually the word got out, and I started seeing a few kayak anglers, as well as some people fishing from shore.  I was still catching trophy bass, fishing offshore where the other anglers were not fishing.  I had a fish finder and was able to find offshore structure and cover so I wasn't concerned about the shore line getting some more pressure.  The other anglers were occasionally  catching large bass, so life was good for everyone.

      Then the owner of a lodge at a nearby lake found the lake.  He started taking clients there 3-5 days a week.  Now the fishing for large bass is difficult at best.  I still can catch many small fish, but getting the trophy's is no longer easy.  I just got back from fishing there for two day's, and the biggest bass I got was 2 pounds.  The water clarity was a little over 2 feet, which is perfect for this lake, and the surface temp. was 74 degrees.  Conditions couldn't have been better, but I couldn't buy a bite from a bigger bass.

       At the time I was catching giant bass every trip, I started thinking of myself a great big bass fisherman.  Sadly now I have been forced to realize the truth.  I am not a great trophy bass guru, I was just fishing a lake that had lots of very stupid big bass.  The bass are still there, I simply have to improve my angling skills to catch them.  I will probably take the easy road, and fish another lake I found that is further away, but has many large stupid bass, that never see a lure.  Should be a good ego boost to catch some big bass, even if they are dumb.

      I will try to improve my skills, and go back to the first lake, and hope to catch some more giants, but for now I am humbled.  From my experience I am certain finding less pressured waters is the easiest way to catch large bass.  I have great respect for those anglers who are able to catch larger than average bass regularly on pressured waters.  They are truly great anglers.

      The Bait Monkey just informed me while I was typing, that I am a good big bass fisherman, I only need to quit being so cheap, and buy some expensive large swimbaits, and glide baits.  I think I will go to the stupid bass lake, and catch some big bass on one of the thousands of lures I already own, before going down the swimbait road.  I might even try fishing at night, before I let the Monkey drain my bank account.

      

      

Every single time I have a brilliant day on the water I think to myself....." I really should have tried to become a professional Bass fisherman"

 

A week later inevitably I'm thinking about buying live worms from Wal Mart and paying a fish to bite ?

 

Fishing is the most humbling thing I've seriously pursued.   I agree the key to a happy productive fishing career is finding stupid Bass who haven't seen lures.    That's an artform unto itself.  

 

 

[Luke Barnes]

From what I have seen, live scope and the like, are allowing anglers to find these fish and target them. Whereas before it was a more of a guess about the size and all that. I could be very wrong though. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

19 minutes ago, Luke Barnes said:

From what I have seen, live scope and the like, are allowing anglers to find these fish and target them. Whereas before it was a more of a guess about the size and all that. I could be very wrong though. 

It's undeniable with Smallmouth.    The recent 10lb caught in Erie almost certainly wouldn't have been caught without FFS.

 

I still think it's much harder to target trophy Spots and LGMs with it though.    Smallmouths seem much more vulnerable to FFS than the other two.     

[Tennessee Boy]

We anglers tend to WAY over estimate how much impact we have on the bass population.  The science shows that fishermen kill a lot of fish but no where near as many as natural mortality kills.  For a fish to get bigger,  it needs to avoid getting caught but it's far more important that it get plenty to eat and find water that will allow it to thrive.   I'm not aware of any evidence that there's lots of state record bass swimming around that are just too smart for anyone to catch.  

 

My best chance of catching a state record largemouth is on Lake Chickamauga which is the most heavily pressured lake in the state.  Why? because it provides a good environment for the fish to grow big and the TWRA has had a very successful program that introduced Florida strain genetics into the largemouth population. 

[Deleted account]

30 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I'm not aware of any evidence that there's lots of state record bass swimming around that are just too smart for anyone to catch. 

After they spend enough time in a school, they get an honorary doctorate on how not to get caught, and lunker emeritus status...

There is no such thing as smart fish.

[WRB]

Big bass are females the males are smaller about 50% the weight. 

Big bass don’t start off bigger then their spawn fry, they out feed the them. This means they are more aggressive and active aggressive bass are easier to catch, not a good trait for survival.

Some big bass become very wary from early life experience and survive fishing pressure by avoiding lures completely.

The big wary bass isn’t smarter then other bass, it’s very cautious and alert but still feeds a lot to continue to grow, usually at night or very low light periods.

We see these big bass during the spawn and like phantoms disappear until the next seasonal spawn.

Where I fish all the very aggressive bass have been caught by skilled bass anglers leaving a lake that has wary big bass population. The problem this creates is the wary trait is passed onto it’s spawned fry increasing the bass population with more and more wary bass. Catch rates goes down.

Tom

[GreenPig]

23 hours ago, Zcoker said:

There's a small shallow dug out lake down the road from where I live in a city park that is beat to death daily by ski boats and swimmers, kayaks and small watercraft. I've known about the place for years and never heard of much of any bass caught in it. Heck, they even have a ski park on the lake with long cables pulling water skiers round and round over the jumps all day long. I was out there one day testing out a spinnerbait, which is usually the place I go to test blade configurations, etc. Well, I was pulling in the bait and then BAM! Frigging 8 pounder! I was in shock, and so were many others who witnessed the catch. So, to answer your question, never ever, ever underestimate ANY body of water, no matter how busy or pressured it is! 

 

23 hours ago, Zcoker said:

There's a small shallow dug out lake down the road from where I live in a city park that is beat to death daily by ski boats and swimmers, kayaks and small watercraft. I've known about the place for years and never heard of much of any bass caught in it. Heck, they even have a ski park on the lake with long cables pulling water skiers round and round over the jumps all day long. I was out there one day testing out a spinnerbait, which is usually the place I go to test blade configurations, etc. Well, I was pulling in the bait and then BAM! Frigging 8 pounder! I was in shock, and so were many others who witnessed the catch. So, to answer your question, never ever, ever underestimate ANY body of water, no matter how busy or pressured it is! 

Sounds like a perfect night fishing lake.

[ironbjorn]

3 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

It's undeniable with Smallmouth.    The recent 10lb caught in Erie almost certainly wouldn't have been caught without FFS.

 

I still think it's much harder to target trophy Spots and LGMs with it though.    Smallmouths seem much more vulnerable to FFS than the other two.     

Seeing that OH Ivie madness I doubt that 

[Bankbeater]

Untouchable bass no, extremely conditioned and educated, yes. 
I have a 50 acre lake near me. I know this lake has some 5+ pound bass in it because my friends and I have seen them. We’ve seen them swim out of cover to hit at out baits just to turn away at the last second. 

Those bass have definitely become accustomed to either the baits or the presentations. 

[T-Billy]

4 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

Untouchable bass no, extremely conditioned and educated, yes. 
I have a 50 acre lake near me. I know this lake has some 5+ pound bass in it because my friends and I have seen them. We’ve seen them swim out of cover to hit at out baits just to turn away at the last second. 

Those bass have definitely become accustomed to either the baits or the presentations. 

Gotta go into that cover with a flippin rig. Smack em in the face with your beaver. They'll eat it.

[TnRiver46]

21 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

We anglers tend to WAY over estimate how much impact we have on the bass population.  The science shows that fishermen kill a lot of fish but no where near as many as natural mortality kills.  For a fish to get bigger,  it needs to avoid getting caught but it's far more important that it get plenty to eat and find water that will allow it to thrive.   I'm not aware of any evidence that there's lots of state record bass swimming around that are just too smart for anyone to catch.  

 

My best chance of catching a state record largemouth is on Lake Chickamauga which is the most heavily pressured lake in the state.  Why? because it provides a good environment for the fish to grow big and the TWRA has had a very successful program that introduced Florida strain genetics into the largemouth population. 

You can go a week without a bite there now 

[gim]

2 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Gotta go into that cover with a flippin rig. Smack em in the face with your beaver

#straightbraidbrigade

[ironbjorn]

3 hours ago, T-Billy said:

 Smack em in the face with your beaver. They'll eat.

I'm going to become a dating coach for women and use this slogan 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

"Smack em in the face with your Beaver"  

 

This has to be the best advice I received on this forum since joining.  ?

[T-Billy]

5 hours ago, ironbjorn said:

I'm going to become a dating coach for women and use this slogan 

I don't understand? 

[scaleface]

I use to spend hour upon hour  trying to find deep bass that have never seen a lure before . I was successful in the 70's and early 80's . Now its pretty much a waste of time for me . Bass anglers are real good at finding deep bass in this age . I still fish deep structure but dont put in the time like I once did .