Got skunked, help me figure out why

[kevin159]

Just got skunked after an entire 5-6 hours of fishing yesterday on Busse Lake (Northwestern Chicago metro area), cousin caught one.  In an effort to become a better angler, I'm analyzing and trying to figure out how I could have avoided it and what I could do in the future to avoid it.  I attached a contour map that shows our route, at the end of the post.  Sections of blue are shorelines that we fished.

 

We focused on shallow cover near shore in the deep half of the lake (south half), especially relating to the river channels where the shoreline has a steeper dropoff into the channel.  There was a good amount of natural cover - algae, submergent vegetation, laydowns, overhanging trees.

 

We mostly casted a b&b swimjig and rockerhead jighead, both to shore and also parallel to shore it drops into the river channel.  Also used a hollowbody frog to target mats of algae.  We also used other lures without much luck.  Only fish of the day was caught on the rockerhead, about 15-20 feet from the shore where it drops into a river channel (yellow arrow on map).

 

Link to lake countour map

 

What mistakes did we make?  How would you have approached fishing this lake, both in preparation and also during?

 

Things I can think of:

• Focus more on offshore structure.  This is hard for us as we don't have electronics, but there's some points we maybe could have hit in the 8.5ft river channel, where the two smaller north channels meet up, and also some choke points in the two smaller north channels.
• Use lures with more drawing power bc of murky water.  Buzzbaits, lipless cranks, spinner baits, etc.

 

Other info

Weather

• Sunny, no clouds
• ~65° in the morning rising to ~85° at noon
• No recent or future rain
• No wind in the morning, picking up to ~8mph in later morning/noon

 

Lake

• Murky water, ~5-8in visibility
• Large areas of shallow water
• Submergent vegetation everywhere, even in 7-8ft areas (milfoil maybe?)
• Grassy, muddy bottom.  Couldn't find any hard bottom - rock, clay, etc.

 

[Pat Brown]

Judging by how long you were on the water.  How much water you covered and the conditions. I think you fished way too fast.

 

You need to slow down on areas they are biting and try different stuff.  Usually there is one bait they want way more than others and you can often find them biting it in similar areas on the lake so you don't just burn bank.

 

I probably would have fished a few stretches really hard for that 5-6 hour day and those stretches would be determined by bites and my electronics looking for steep drops with cover and baitfish in current.

[thediscochef]

This looks like a job for a downsized chatterbait (think skirtless micro or a minimax) along the lines where shallow sections of the lake become deeper in open water. Especially if there's any of those areas that also have flooded timber or other objects. Any idea what your water temps are like? If it's below 70f in the places you fished I'd say you need to be in warmer shallow areas of the lake. That water clarity isn't helping either, tough especially on a calm day because most noisy baits also make a big splash. Also makes locating baitfish a real challenge without sonar. I hope our luck improves ?

[TnRiver46]

Classic case of trying too hard 

[Tennessee Boy]

I would have spent more time in the deeper part of the lake and fished some of the structure near deep water.   That said,  I’ve never fished the lake before. I don’t know where it is.  I don’t know what species you are trying to catch.   I don’t know what forage is in the lake.  You have fished the lake so you would be crazy to take my advice over your own opinion.
 

My advice is do something different next time until you figure them out.   Time on the water will trump advise from the Internet every time.  Especially advice from uninformed people like me.  ?

[Susky River Rat]

I agree with others where I think you fished to fast. I would have tried shallow cover first then worked my way to the first break of the lake. It took me years to get the discipline to fish a body of water small. Every once and awhile I catch myself running and gunning. Unless you are on a great bite it doesn’t normally pay off for me. Covering as much water as you did you were 100% over fish. You just didn’t spend enough time or work to the right presentation to get them to eat.

[MGF]

I'm originally from that area but I never fished Busse. Some cousins of mine used to do well there but that was 35+ years ago. 

 

My first thought is that there must be an awful lot of "pressure" on that place. Not just pressure but pressure by anglers using all the latest and greatest. I would expect that you'll earn every fish. I wouldn't assume that you were doing anything wrong.  

 

If I were to fish it I'd probably give the old faithful texas rig a try...weighted and unweighted. For me anyway worms (of some flavor) seem to get bit about anywhere even in dark water.

 

 

[Functional]

What was the water temp? With a 65deg air temp starting I'd have started shallow at feeder creeks where there is typically more clear/fresh water and warmer and worked my way to down to areas (still shallowish) that have quick access to deeper water late in the morning or afternoon.

 

Depending on veg/cover I'd have thrown a swim jig/minimax chatter/1/4oz spinner until I found something hitting and worked it until I got few bites and went worm/jig/creature.  

 

still, with that little visibility I'd have tried any feeder stream I could find to get clearer water. 

[Darth-Baiter]

I got nothing, since I am on the other side of the country..but that is a neat looking lake!!

[casts_by_fly]

summer time, blue sky, no wind, makes for tougher conditions most of the time, especially if that lake gets a good bit of pressure.  Typically that's not an active chasing bite.  So to the other's point above, slowing down and really covering the cover is a good strategy.  Fish it shallow to deep (or vice versa) until you figure out where they are setting up for that day.  If there is wood and grass figure out if its thinner bushes, big laydowns, grass edges, or the intersection of two of those things.  Then just work over those areas with a couple different things until you figure them out.

 

Also, some days and times they just don't want to bite. 

[kevin159]

All great suggestions everyone, I'll try them out.  Especially about slowing down and figuring out what they're biting.

 

On 7/23/2023 at 5:11 PM, Pat Brown said:

Judging by how long you were on the water.  How much water you covered and the conditions. I think you fished way too fast.

 

You need to slow down on areas they are biting and try different stuff.  Usually there is one bait they want way more than others and you can often find them biting it in similar areas on the lake so you don't just burn bank.

 

I probably would have fished a few stretches really hard for that 5-6 hour day and those stretches would be determined by bites and my electronics looking for steep drops with cover and baitfish in current.

 

On 7/23/2023 at 6:16 PM, thediscochef said:

This looks like a job for a downsized chatterbait (think skirtless micro or a minimax) along the lines where shallow sections of the lake become deeper in open water. Especially if there's any of those areas that also have flooded timber or other objects. Any idea what your water temps are like? If it's below 70f in the places you fished I'd say you need to be in warmer shallow areas of the lake. That water clarity isn't helping either, tough especially on a calm day because most noisy baits also make a big splash. Also makes locating baitfish a real challenge without sonar. I hope our luck improves ?

 

On 7/23/2023 at 8:25 PM, Tennessee Boy said:

I would have spent more time in the deeper part of the lake and fished some of the structure near deep water.   That said,  I’ve never fished the lake before. I don’t know where it is.  I don’t know what species you are trying to catch.   I don’t know what forage is in the lake.  You have fished the lake so you would be crazy to take my advice over your own opinion.
 

My advice is do something different next time until you figure them out.   Time on the water will trump advise from the Internet every time.  Especially advice from uninformed people like me.  ?

 

On 7/24/2023 at 4:40 AM, Darnold335 said:

I agree with others where I think you fished to fast. I would have tried shallow cover first then worked my way to the first break of the lake. It took me years to get the discipline to fish a body of water small. Every once and awhile I catch myself running and gunning. Unless you are on a great bite it doesn’t normally pay off for me. Covering as much water as you did you were 100% over fish. You just didn’t spend enough time or work to the right presentation to get them to eat.

 

On 7/24/2023 at 5:10 AM, MGF said:

I'm originally from that area but I never fished Busse. Some cousins of mine used to do well there but that was 35+ years ago. 

 

My first thought is that there must be an awful lot of "pressure" on that place. Not just pressure but pressure by anglers using all the latest and greatest. I would expect that you'll earn every fish. I wouldn't assume that you were doing anything wrong.  

 

If I were to fish it I'd probably give the old faithful texas rig a try...weighted and unweighted. For me anyway worms (of some flavor) seem to get bit about anywhere even in dark water.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Functional said:

What was the water temp? With a 65deg air temp starting I'd have started shallow at feeder creeks where there is typically more clear/fresh water and warmer and worked my way to down to areas (still shallowish) that have quick access to deeper water late in the morning or afternoon.

 

Depending on veg/cover I'd have thrown a swim jig/minimax chatter/1/4oz spinner until I found something hitting and worked it until I got few bites and went worm/jig/creature.  

 

still, with that little visibility I'd have tried any feeder stream I could find to get clearer water. 

 

1 hour ago, casts_by_fly said:

summer time, blue sky, no wind, makes for tougher conditions most of the time, especially if that lake gets a good bit of pressure.  Typically that's not an active chasing bite.  So to the other's point above, slowing down and really covering the cover is a good strategy.  Fish it shallow to deep (or vice versa) until you figure out where they are setting up for that day.  If there is wood and grass figure out if its thinner bushes, big laydowns, grass edges, or the intersection of two of those things.  Then just work over those areas with a couple different things until you figure them out.

 

Also, some days and times they just don't want to bite. 

 

[kevin159]

No idea about the water temps, I'm going to be investing in something to measure it while I'm out.  Seems like a small investment for something that gives a lot of knowledge.

 

On 7/23/2023 at 6:16 PM, thediscochef said:

This looks like a job for a downsized chatterbait (think skirtless micro or a minimax) along the lines where shallow sections of the lake become deeper in open water. Especially if there's any of those areas that also have flooded timber or other objects. Any idea what your water temps are like? If it's below 70f in the places you fished I'd say you need to be in warmer shallow areas of the lake. That water clarity isn't helping either, tough especially on a calm day because most noisy baits also make a big splash. Also makes locating baitfish a real challenge without sonar. I hope our luck improves ?

 

1 hour ago, Functional said:

What was the water temp? With a 65deg air temp starting I'd have started shallow at feeder creeks where there is typically more clear/fresh water and warmer and worked my way to down to areas (still shallowish) that have quick access to deeper water late in the morning or afternoon.

 

Depending on veg/cover I'd have thrown a swim jig/minimax chatter/1/4oz spinner until I found something hitting and worked it until I got few bites and went worm/jig/creature.  

 

still, with that little visibility I'd have tried any feeder stream I could find to get clearer water. 

 

1 hour ago, Darth-Baiter said:

I got nothing, since I am on the other side of the country..but that is a neat looking lake!!

 

Lol yea, right up there with the Cal Delta ?

[Swamp Girl]

When I fished for smallies in northwestern Ontario, because we were fishing wilderness lakes where the fish rarely saw lures, lures would work UNLESS a cold front slammed us. Then we used worms or leaches, which always worked. A cold wind would be howling out of the northwest and they'd hit live bait, again and again and again.

[scaleface]

When the fishing is tough two of my favorites is a Texas rig in the thickest cover available and various small jigs  , neds, small swimbaits... on rip rap .

[Captain Phil]

When fishing is tough, I fall back to the basics.  Texas rigged worms, spinnerbaits and flipping heavy cover.   Don't be in a hurry.  Sometimes they bite and sometimes they don't.   Fishing pressure drives bass deep into cover and shrinks their strike zone.  Get in there with the fish and slow down.