Summer morning bass hugging pond shoreline

[Rora]

I go out fishing early in the mornings and I’ve started to notice the fish are almost asleep and hugging the shoreline walls of our local pond. I’ve gotten to bite throwing a free rig Maxscent flatworm but it think they are very line shy. How would you guys recommend I attack them?

 

thanks for any help in advance.

[Jar11591]

I would be willing to bet they weren’t sleeping, and were probably up that shallow to hunt/eat. If you’re on the bank, try casting from a distance. Stand far back from the water and drop the bait in front of their face while they can’t see you. 

[Mobasser]

Usually bass that are near a shoreline like this will strike. I'd try casting parallel along the bank to your left and right. You'll cover more water this way, and keep your baits in the strike zone longer.

[LrgmouthShad]

Most of the time I believe that if you are casting from the bank, if you can see them, there’s a good chance they can see you

 

I literally used to creep up onto walls surrounding a reservoir and intentionally crouch instead of stand on top of them. 

[galyonj]

What you need is a ghillie suit and an ice fishing rod. That way you can start your crawl about 500 meters out from where you want to catch from. Then you can just drop it right in their faces.

[casts_by_fly]

As above.  Try throwing a frog and land it on shore first.  Then ease it into the water.  

[Pat Brown]

Yeah I really like the suggestions of casting parallel to the bank and getting your bait on the bank and then dragging it into the water.

 

Go with the lightest line and baits you can cast accurately with.

[Team9nine]

I encounter this frequently, and it took me a bit to figure out before I started to score heavily on these fish. I’ve discovered 3 options that all work well at times and can be implemented by anglers, a couple of which have already been touched on above.

 

First is casting tight to, if not on the bank and pulling the bait back into the water. Obviously weightless or very lightweight baits work best here, as well as (semi)weedless, but open hooks can be fine depending on bank cover. Take advantage of shoreline angles or narrowed areas that allow you to throw all the way across a section of the pond.

 

Second is to fish small lightweight baits just a few feet out from the shoreline and parallel, making long, quiet casts well past the fish and then swimming the baits in that shallow water behind the fish. Too close might scare them, but a few feet out gives them a chance to turn and attack in time. Baits like tubes and small swimbaits or similar seem to work particularly well for this.

 

Lastly, let the fish see you and swim off, but watch where he goes, then just pitch a bait like a wacky, Neko or weightless presentation to the area. What they most often do is just swim out to the first edge of deep water and then pause or turn and look back toward the bank, not completely flee the area. You might not see them, but trust it is happening in many cases. I actually had this confirmed via conversations with Paul Roberts. So many of these fish are catchable with this tactic - just be subtle and stealthy in your approach.

 

Give these a try, as one or all three could work in your situation. 

[RRocket]

I'd throw some finesse topwater here. Rigged weedless, it wouldn't matter if you dragged it off the bank into the water...sometimes that alone with prompt a strike.

 

It really is surprising how much water a weightless Z-man Baby Goat or Goat displaces. And bass seem hard pressed to pass these morsels up when buzzed by them. 

[Pat Brown]

@RRocket I love the z man floating plastic idea so much I'm stealing it and trying it tomorrow.  That's just evil genius.

[RRocket]

1 hour ago, Pat Brown said:

@RRocket I love the z man floating plastic idea so much I'm stealing it and trying it tomorrow.  That's just evil genius.

For the Baby Goat, I use a 1/0 or 1 hook.

 

For the Goat, a 3/0

 

All weightless. 

[RRocket]

2 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

@RRocket I love the z man floating plastic idea so much I'm stealing it and trying it tomorrow.  That's just evil genius.

Oh! And please let us know how you do! 

 

The Goat family is so productive for me, it's my topwater "go to" these days. Hook up ratio extremely high. I'm guessing the narrow Goat profile is helpful in this regard vs wider frogs/toads.

 

You'll know your retrieve speed is correct when you leave a bubble trail.

 

You can also use these like a popper.

[Pat Brown]

I 100% will do.  I'll be going out at 5 am before work tomorrow and I'll probably just toss the weightless goat and maybe a jig.

 

I expect this to work very very well because I've had some wild blow ups on swim jigs with craw trailers buzzed on the surface when it wasn't really intentional or expected or a prime time of day for it at this pond.

 

Should be fun.

[Rora]

This is all awesome information guys! I swear they are sleeping. A lot of times their head is buried in the weeds and won’t bite the lure unless it ticks them off or doinks them on the head

[Pat Brown]

I fished the GOAT on a screw lock hook and got a massive fish to blow up on it right when dusk was hitting but had to leave right as the action was getting good to do groceries and dinner.  

 

I'll definitely be tossing it in the morning and it definitely works.  Try it out @Rora

 

Thanks again @RRocket  that's golden.  It literally FLOATS on the pause.  I'm gonna stick a toad with this thing this year and I'll be sure to tell everyone who showed me this one.

[RRocket]

11 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

I fished the GOAT on a screw lock hook and got a massive fish to blow up on it right when dusk was hitting but had to leave right as the action was getting good to do groceries and dinner.  

 

I'll definitely be tossing it in the morning and it definitely works.  Try it out @Rora

 

Thanks again @RRocket  that's golden.  It literally FLOATS on the pause.  I'm gonna stick a toad with this thing this year and I'll be sure to tell everyone who showed me this one.

Yea! Did you like the little bubble trail and mini whopper-popper sounds? 

 

And yes, if you miss a blow up, just pause...twitch, twitch..and they'll usually hit it again! 

 

What size Goat were you using? 

[Pat Brown]

I was rocking the Billy GOAT in the green pumpkin color and I got it on 50 lb braid on a MHF 7'4 with 8 speed reel.

[RRocket]

Billy Goat, eh? Go big or go home, huh? 

 

It's a bit surprising how much churning and racket the Billy Goat makes on the top of the water for what it is.

 

Also, these Goats skip under docks, tree hangovers, etc like nobody's business. Just about the easiest bait to skip I've used thus far.

[Pat Brown]

I was THIS close to having a picture of an 8 lber for ya this morning.  I went back for her and hooked her and got her to the bank and tried to flip her when she started making more runs on braid up close (scares me) and she popped off because  I couldn't heave her in.

 

It was the exact same fish I caught on a frog 3 weeks ago!!!!!  Same area as I caught her before but closer to the bank cover/shallower.

 

I had 2 more blow ups that I didn't connect on also in a 1.5 hour session so it's proven itself to me.  These are highly pressured fish that typically don't go for anything noisy or fast and this is as close to something like that I've ever gotten them to bite!

[RRocket]

Congrats!! 

 

Just a matter of time before you pull in old Ocho Bass!