Help fishing a quarry

[knkfiend]

First of all, im a n00b and this is a great site. ive been fishing a quarry around my place that has to be 100+ feet deep, and the water is clear as can be. im talking you can see 30 feet down. me being inexperienced, any ideas on how to fish this? i would say the surface temp is ~75 degrees right now. i can see the fish, i just dont know what to use to catch them. ive cought a few out of there, using real worms and real minnows, but ive only fished maybe an hour total so far. thanks for the help guys

john

[Chris]

When its super clear i like to throw a tube. I take a medium spinning rod and tubes that look like a shad or greenpumpkin. Small worms like 4-6 inch worms or senko's greenpumpkin, pumpkinseed, grape, would be a good choice. Clear lakes scream jerkbait.

[Matt Fly]

light lines are an advantage.  6-8lb when water is gin clear.  try the above mentioned baits with a 12-18" leader and barrel swivel.  or use 1/16th-1/8thoz split shots.  a fininshing nail inserted into the worm body.  or weighted hooks to fish the finesse baits.  This is the way we fished the So. Cal. gin clear lakes.    watermelon colors, albino,  The key is to be patient allowing your bait to get into the target zone.  we normally targeted fish in 30-45ft.   When targeting the deep hogs,  a swim baits has taken it share in shad colors.  

[Rebbasser]

Welcome to the forum!

I've fished quarries like that in the past.  What worked best for me is to fish real close to the quarry wall in the deep parts, and if you have any tailings or rock piles they will be good fish holders.  Use natural colors-watermelon, watermelon red flake, green pumpkin-and light line-6 to 8 pound test.  There can be some great fishing in those flooded quarries.

[Will]

Some spooks and poppers might be a good topwater lure during the low light conditions. If you decide to use spinnerbaits use the double willow's so that the bait will have lots of flash while moving quickly. Fishing some flukes can also pay off big. I also agree with all of the previous answers.

[senko_77]

how do fish get in the qurries???

[Grey Wolf]

Believe aquatic birds such as herons , will bring differant fish eggs into the quarry. When they are wading in a lake  , the eggs will get attached to their feet or legs and they are unwittingly transported to another body of water.

[knkfiend]

thanks for the tips guys, ill let you know how it goes hopefully sunday. i already have 6 lb on the rod so i should be in business.

this quarry flooded about 50 or so years ago from hitting a spring. it is really beautiful there, ill see if i can snap some pictures. a few days ago my buddy pulled a decent sized pickerel out of there also. thanks for the warm welcome.

[knkfiend]

i also have another question. will the fish swim to the bottom of the quarry at over 100 feet deep, or will they only travel down so far? i only have so much line!

[MyKeyBe]

how do fish get in the qurries???

Bass-Brat is correct. Birds will transport fish eggs from one body of water to another, but a lot of quarries are stocked when they are full of water.

[MyKeyBe]

i also have another question. will the fish swim to the bottom of the quarry at over 100 feet deep, or will they only travel down so far?

"Fish" may or may not be found that deep. Depends on a lot of other factors like time of year, clarity of water, oxygen content of the water, etc...

Having said that, bass most likely will never be that deep. 50 feet maybe in the middle of the day when the temps are in the 90's but most times they will be shallower.

Now get out there and find out how much shallower! ;D

[Joshua Vandamm]

On 9/2/2005 at 8:20 AM, Chris said:

When its super clear i like to throw a tube. I take a medium spinning rod and tubes that look like a shad or greenpumpkin. Small worms like 4-6 inch worms or senko's greenpumpkin, pumpkinseed, grape, would be a good choice. Clear lakes scream jerkbait.

Belly weighted flukes in a shad or white color can be money. No need for smaller worms imo. I've done way better with 6-9" worms, weightless. Color preference seems to change seasonally a black and/or blues are usually killers as his pumpkin with green/Cooper flake.  

[fishnkamp]

I would try a few baits. I agree Jvanda1 a fluke style bait is good. I prefer the Reaction Innovation Skinny Dipper and Big Dippers work great. I would rig them two ways. First is the Gamakatsu belly weighted swimbait hooks and the swimbait jigheads like he Big Hammer ones or Picasso  smart mouth ones.  I like to use 3/8 and 1/2 ounce swimbait jig heads and 1/8 and 1/4 ounce swimbait hooks.

 

I would  also throw some Strike King Red Eye Shads which are rattle trap type baits.  These would be 1/2 ounce most of the time.  Something in a bass, shiner, bluegill color.