River Lakes ~ Any suggestion on how to fish em'

[BASSMAN1301599783]

I will be fishing a Jr. Bassmaster Tournament here in KY in the State Championship in October 1st and 2nd.  Nolin, the river lake i will be fishing, was created in 1963 as a flood control impoundment, so the water depths on the lake can vary as much as 70ft. per year.  It covers about 6,000 acres, has a mazimum depth of 95 feet and an average depth of 55ft (at summer pool).  Most of the shoreline is heavily wooded, but there is also a lot of residential development nearby.  As is the case with other flood control impoundments, aquatic vegetations is limited in Nolin River. Most of the fish cover  is downed timber, stumps, and broken rock, shich accompnies numerous fish attractors.  The size limit on all largemouth and smallmouth bass is 15in. which can speak well for the size of the fish located in this body of water, and spotted bass are 12in. And the base forage is baitfish.  Also because it is a river system, the oxygen count near the surface is as high as 8.0.

PLEASE,  do you have any suggestions?  I will be going there to pre-fish, and am looking to build some confidence, after a startling ZERO there in the March of this year.  Any specific patterns you would look for or try to pull together, or any baits / techniques that you would suggest.

[5bass]

With fall coming on and water temps dropping,I would start the pre-fish in the mouths of any larger creeks,or just outside them,and work your way into the creek.You will run into the fish if you just keep moving in.Being the beginning of October when you fish,the bait should be headed into the larger creeks by then.Once you find the general area of the creek the fish are in,you should be able to fish just that section and catch plenty of fish.If the lake has a big population of baitfish such as alewives or blue herring,a spinnerbait on wood cover could be a decent pattern.

I would definitely key on the wood cover that is available and start there,the bass should be moving up as the temps drop.A morning topwater bite should be productive too,be sure to give it a try.Pop-R's produce well for me in the cool fall mornings.

Another pattern you should try out is the jig/dock pattern.You mentioned residential areas on the lake......that is where you will find your docks.Bass really like docks in the fall and a jig will get you some bites for sure.Dont use a rattle unless the water is dirty.The better docks will be in the major creeks or possibly out on the main channel if the shad are still out there.Another good bait for fishing docks is the senko,sometimes a senko on a dock cant be beat.I like white or lighter colors in the fall.

If you are lucky enough to find points in the creeks,this is where you will see fish schooling up when shad pods get up on the points.A super fluke is a good choice on schoolers,or a LilGeorge blade bait,dropped thru the school is a good choice also.A crankbait will draw strikes when you need it to around the points when the fish arent on top bustin' shad.Match the crank(color and size) to the available forage.

If the water is dropping during your tournament,keep in mind that bass that are on steeper/deeper banks will be less affected by a water drop.The flatter banks are the ones to avoid during drawdown.

Good luck,I hope you bring in a 20lb bag.

[Nick]

Five bass limit wrote some good stuff.

Couple of additional points: If current is flowing, go to the points and cove points: if it is not the bass may tend to suspend more and scatter.  With no water flowing, they will be tougher to catch. When the water temps are around 70, bass can be just about anywhere.  I, too, would target the shallow brush first in the major creeks, but with only a few thousand acres, that pattern could be copied by many anglers.

I would search for wind and throw a spinnerbait and crankbait in practice around laydowns to search quickly. If this fails to produce I would perhaps downsize to a jighead worm esp. since Kentucks need to measure just 12 inches. Look for the best combination of wind, chunk rock, and channel swings with wood cover to hold them either on the main lake or in major creeks. If you have docks that hang out over deep water, definitely throw a shite superfluke on the corners of those docks with wind moving past them. This is the easiest and best Kentucky pattern possible in fall.

I would only throw a Senko when I established a confidence area.  Fished correctly, these lures cannot cover much territory which you will need to do initially.

Colors are pretty simple.  When in doubt throw a shad colored crankbait, white spinnerbait,  green pumpkin plastic, and brown jig.  Please post the results or link us up to a site that does.