Submerged Trees

[LrgmouthShad]

Hey y’all,

 

I am unfamiliar with fishing submerged trees. None of the places I fished before had any, so this is a whole new ball game for me. I’m curious what baits/techniques you prefer to utilize around submerged trees. My concern is that a lot of fish will suspend around these trees. Seems to me like that would make them harder to catch, but perhaps y’all know some tricks that I don’t. 
 

How do you target tree-dwellers?

[scaleface]

Standing trees or horizontal trees?

[LrgmouthShad]

Just now, scaleface said:

Standing trees or horizontal trees?

Standing. Im talking branches, tree tops. Whole a** trees, lol. It’s kinda funny to me, for some reason. 

[Jar11591]

One place I fish on occasion has some standing timber. I’ve had good luck throwing a weightless wacky rig next to the trees and letting it fall. Also a popper has worked well in fields of standing timber. A popping style weedless frog may be better for getting right up in the tree. 

[LrgmouthShad]

^ thanks

 

Let me clarify a depth range also. I think, if memory serves me right, the trees I’m talking about are in about 15ft of water, and they come up the water column quite a good ways

[Functional]

Never having fished them id try spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, swimbait/jig (weightless and weighted) and some type of creature baits or worms with a really slow fall rate. 

[Catt]

Foward facing sonar & jerkbaits 

[LrgmouthShad]

4 minutes ago, Catt said:

Foward facing sonar & jerkbaits 

If that’s the game, then I’m not good at it. I don’t have FFS and not convinced that I’ll ever get it, and not good with jerkbaits. Not to say I couldn’t learn, though 

[PaulVE64]

Texas rigged weightless senko

Spinnerbai

Bill Lewis ATV Squarebill

 

1

[scaleface]

If the entire tree is submerged, where you cant see them except with sonar, I dont have a lot of experience with those . If they are emergent, probably my top lure has been a Squarebill . I dont like to use deep divers because the line gets hung up on limbs , then the lure has to be pulled up and over the limb.  

[Catt]

2 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I don’t have FFS and not convinced that I’ll ever get it

 

Same ?

 

Long before Toledo Bend was known for its massive grass flats it was known for its standing timber...still is.

 

I don't target suspended fish in standing timber, instead I look for fish located on or near the bottom. 

 

Look at the structure first & then then timber.

[LrgmouthShad]

12 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

Same ?

 

Long before Toledo Bend was known for its massive grass flats it was known for its standing timber...still is.

 

I don't target suspended fish in standing timber, instead I look for fish located on or near the bottom. 

 

Look at the structure first & then then timber.

Let me be sure that I understand what you’re saying. Are you saying that you believe that timber on some kind of structure positions fish closer to the bottom rather than timber not located on any structure?

[Cbump]

43 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Standing. Im talking branches, tree tops. Whole a** trees, lol. It’s kinda funny to me, for some reason. 

You probably know this but in Texas there’s only one natural lake (Caddo). Everything is is manmade, mostly flooded valleys, etc that used to be woods. 
 

I like a weightless Texas rigged senko pitched right into them. 

[LrgmouthShad]

1 minute ago, Cbump said:

You probably know this but in Texas there’s only one natural lake (Caddo). Everything is is manmade, mostly flooded valleys, etc that used to be woods. 

I believe it was @TnRiver46 who told me that. 
 

The lakes round here ain’t like lakes in NC, I can guarantee you that. Lol

[Cbump]

Also you could probably just drag a t-rig 10” worm around the bottom. A lot of my fish are coming up off the base of the tree to eat the falling senko. 

[Catt]

Uhh! No!

 

When making a cake you do not start with the icing?

 

Structure is the "cake", timber/grass/brush is the icing.

 

There will be bass suspended & there will be bass near the bottom. 

[LrgmouthShad]

1 minute ago, Catt said:

Uhh! No!

 

When making a cake you do not start with the icing?

 

Structure is the "cake", timber/grass/brush is the icing.

 

There will be bass suspended & there will be bass near the bottom. 

Okay, thank ya thank ya. I committed a logical fallacy: jumping to conclusions ?. 

[Catt]

Trees on a point, trees on a flat, trees on a hump, trees on a ridge, trees on a creek channel. 

 

Two things are common, trees & structure. 

 

Another consideration, is there grass available nearby?

[scaleface]

This lure , specifically, has accounted for several Large bass from emergent timber. Good luck finding one . Its a Rogers Big Jim, silent model.

[Jig Man]

You may have heard of one of our local guys, Stacey King.  Table Rock has hundreds of thousands of standing dead trees.  He is a master of the single tail grub on a 1/8 oz head swimming it through them.  I go more for the bottom dwellers with jigs or plastics.  One of the guys who I regularly fish with catches a lot on Keitech swim baits around them.

 

Right after the spawn try a spook on isolated trees.  The big girls often hang out there for a while.

[LrgmouthShad]

6 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

You may have heard of one of our local guys, Stacey King.  Table Rock has hundreds of thousands of standing dead trees.  He is a master of the single tail grub on a 1/8 oz head swimming it through them.  I go more for the bottom dwellers with jigs or plastics.  One of the guys who I regularly fish with catches a lot on Keitech swim baits around them.

 

Right after the spawn try a spook on isolated trees.  The big girls often hang out there for a while.

Huge help, thank you. I’ve absorbed what information I can find on the web about fishing on this lake, and a spook is a factor here. I will more than likely be picking up some in the near future

[Mobasser]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

Uhh! No!

 

When making a cake you do not start with the icing?

 

Structure is the "cake", timber/grass/brush is the icing.

 

There will be bass suspended & there will be bass near the bottom. 

I agree with Catt here. There could be hundreds of trees, but the bottom countour dictates where the bass will be hanging out. Not all standing timber is productive.

[steve carpenter]

Also agree   with Catt. Would try a jig and pork pitched or flipped close to the tree. Stout rod and line