Need some expert advice on how to fish this situation.

[Hemi6677]

Okay, a little prelude to the question I am going to ask. The wife and kid were busy after work yesterday so I decided I was going to go fish a small body of water that I have driven by a million times but never tried. Basically this piece of water is an ending point for a very large creek channelthat branches off the White River in Indiana. In the picture below you can see the length of the channel.

I've seen people down there fishing before but never really gave it much thought but yesterday I had the free time so I went to check it out and HOLY COW was I surprised at what I found. There were fish EVERYWHERE! Bluegill and bass and some small gar all floating around right at the surface just hanging out. Underneath the bridge there were schools of fish (not sure what kind but something kept spooking them) so there seemed to be plenty of food for any bass to eat. Along the banks were concrete slabs plus fallen trees that had tons of fish around them. Here is a up close picture of the area. The box in red is the area I could get a lure too.

So herein lies my problem.... For all of these fish (I probably counted 40 bass in that small area and more bluegill then you could shake a stick at) I only caught 2! One on a chatterbait and another on a spinnerbait and both from under the bridge. I tried weightless senkos, brushhogs and powerworms, jigs, floating and suspending rapala's, buzzbaits, crankbaits, and a spro frog and although they would swim to the bait they just wouldn't bite.

I know when you can see fish they are hard to catch but what I experienced yesterday honestly kept me awake last night wondering what it would take to get them to bite. I was there from 5:00pm to 7:00pm so I know the heat had them lazy but surely something I threw would have enticed them.

So does anyone have any advice on what I should look into? I'm also going to get a small boat with trolling motor and see work the bank cover more as I suspect the big boys were hiding.

Thanks for any advice forthcoming!! 8-)

[Hemi6677]

Sorry roadwarrior, it says on the General Fishing section that it can be used for questions but I guess since I talked about what happened it should have been placed here............  :-/

[roadwarrior]

Well, the Senko and Fat Ika are always something worth

throwing in relatively shallow water. Another suggestion

is running a Norman Fat Boy along the edges of some of

the cover. Maybe topwater in low light: MegaStrike Cavitron

Buzzbait, Rage Tail Shad, Spook, Chug Bug or Sammy. Probably

need to try a spinnerbait if there is a little breeze and the

jig is always a priority for me.

8-)

[Uncle Leo]

You said you fished it one time and caught a couple. Seems you threw about everything at them. Some days are like that, I am sure this will turn into a honey hole or you. Keep trying!

[Hemi6677]

I really though the Senko would be the ticket but other then bluegills nibbling on it they just swam on by. I did try my cavitron white and chartreuse buzzbait but no taker on it either. tried flipping a pumpkinseed and blue and black jigs at a fallen tree but nothing hit.

I'm guessing a late evening trip right before dark may be my best choice. I should have tried my rage tail shad but I figured since they weren't hitting my buzzbait they wouldn't hit it either.

After thinking about it some more I'm guessing that since the water was clear enough for me to see them they could get a good look at my bait and tell it wasn't real right when they got up on it. Might have to invest in a good swimbait.

[jesse D.]

What kind of line are u using,

if it's mono or braid the fish could see it and not want anything to do with your lure

give flourocarbon a try  

[IdahoLunkerHunter]

I would take all advice with a grain of salt. Us fisherman are all compulsive liars! Just kidding... Not really

I would have all levels of the water column baits. Top water, sub surface right under top water, 2-5 foot depth bait, 5-10 foot diving bait and a bottom bait. If you have all these you will get bit.

I would definitely listen to RW. He knows what he is talking 'bout.

[Quitlimpin]

In ultra clear shallow water I would be tossing everything on the lowest lb rating 100% flouro I could get away with. Small white inline spinners & roadrunners will catch all species. For topwater I would go with clear or natural colored torpedoes & zara puppies.  4" watermelon type senko looks good too.

Clear water can be tough & I compensate by downsizing.

[hoot3384]

personally i would toss my Rapala DT04 bluegill, those bass must be feeding on the, toss one with really erratic movement your bound to get hits.

[Hemi6677]

What kind of line are u using,

if it's mono or braid the fish could see it and not want anything to do with your lure

give flourocarbon a try

For the fish that were out in the open water that I could see real well I was using my spinning real with 12lb Vanish fluoro. The two fish I caught under the bridge were on 30lb PPower braid as there was trees and other stuff I was bumping my lures off of.

I'm thinking the weather conditions were the main factor. It was bluebird skies and about 88 degrees. I'm off work next week so I'm going to go out there one morning or evening and give topwater a good try.

Thank you for all the suggestions!!

[Paul Roberts]

Hemi6677 wrote:

So herein lies my problem.... For all of these fish (I probably counted 40 bass in that small area and more bluegill then you could shake a stick at) I only caught 2! ...I know when you can see fish they are hard to catch .

You are in good company. This is EVERYONE'S problem. But it's not just that they can see you, although this CAN make a BIG difference, but that bass are difficult in general to catch, much of the time especially those that have been fished for. If anglers knew just how many bass ignore their lures on a given fishing day, they'd probably hang it up. Ignorance can be bliss.

You were right on in saying

I'm thinking the weather conditions were the main factor. It was bluebird skies and about 88 degrees. I'm off work next week so I'm going to go out there one morning or evening and give topwater a good try.

CONDITIONS make fish vulnerable:

Sky and water conditions, and others like exposure to angling, competition, hunger, and prey availability/vulnerability (often directly related back to conditions) are your BIGGEST obstacles.

You were right on in saying

The two fish I caught under the bridge were on 30lb PPower braid as there was trees and other stuff I was bumping my lures off of.

LURES are not food.

And food is hard for bass to catch most of the time. Those bass weren't chasing all that real food out there were they? They can't! Bass are super-athletes, but so too are their prey.

Lures have to do something special for a fish to try to eat it. Conditions help. Under the very best of conditions there is little you need to do beyond chuck-n-wind. Here, all the 'magic' needed is in the lure.

But realize there is NO lure that will accomplish this under all conditions and circumstances. Banish that expectation. Some lures are better suited under the variety of conditions you'll face. But, it's what you do with that lure that counts, by far, the most.

If bass are not aggressively chasing vulnerable prey then you have to make it happen. Bouncing off stuff, as you tried, is one way. There are lots of triggers to draw on. But, like lures, when and where you apply them matters. I call it finding the in'. Just because you bounced a lure doesn't mean a fish was in position to take advantage of it. You gotta keep doing it, from all angles. Angles can mean everything. Really knowing a spot is often more about divining the best approach and retrieve angles. For this you need the proper tools (the proper lure tethered to the proper line) and the proper angle of attack the in. Depth and Speed are the primary controls, action is often next, often followed by size. After this, color, isdown on the list most of the time; usually related to conditions, and more rarely, to specific prey.

One more thing: To start, don't spook em, or put em down these are different. Spooking them is easy to avoid for all but the most clueless -under most conditions. Putting em down is how you approach and fish. Here are some things that can put em down, or off: Just seeing you (esp if they have any experience with angling), loud splashdown, heavy line splashdown, line cutting (singing) in the water, too heavy a line tethered to your lure (varies with lure and what you can get away with here varies with conditions).

Hope this gives you some things to chew on.

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

I'm chewing.Good post Paul.

[skeetermike]

RW had all the right stuff I'da said to throw.  Fish that can be seen are tough sometimes.  I grew up fishing creeks and catching floating bass so I know.  We used to use plastic worms w/o a weight.  That was before senkos though.  I'd say wacky rig that senko on some light line and be patient.  Find a good overcast day to go also, that might produce more hookups.