Any tips on fishing lakes with no structure?

[Needemp]

I have this lake that so far this spring has produced the 3 biggest bass of my life, but now it has gone into the post spawning period. The lake is probably 30 acres, averages 10 feet deep, its about 30 feet deep in the middle, it has an active creek, but no visible creek channel. There are no slopes or ledges, brush or any kind of structure 10 feet from shore. The only forage in this lake is bluegil, crappie and crawdads. Oh yaeh, and its pressured from shore a lot. Any tips on finding these big bass? :-/  

[Garnet]

I'd drop a christmas tree or 2 about 40 ft past the longest shore cast (if) legal.

Garnet

 

 

[Bassbum80]

Are there any noticable changes in the contour of the land surrounding the body of water?  Sometimes the part above water can tell you alot about what's below the water.  Anything that would produce any change beneath the water is where I would start.  There's a great article I read a long time ago about where they put bass in a pool and painted lines on the bottom of the pool & added a single rock in another spot & a whole bunch of random things.  The bottom line was they look for anything "different" than what is typical of their surroundings.  Try to find that spot and you should have some luck.

Good luck!  

[Raul]

No structure ? it 's physical impossibility, the structure is the contour of the terrain where the lake is built, the dam is a structural feature and so is anything below water level, averages 10 feet deep, its about 30 feet deep in the middle, it has an active creek, but no visible creek channel. There are no slopes or ledges: there is slope because the lake slopes from 0 to 30 ft deep. You know the terrain before the lake was filled ?

I'd drop a christmas tree

Christmas trees are not structure they are COVER.

[Garnet]

Raul

you read Buck to. 25 years ago i could quote the whole book. And christmas trees are cover or objects.

Needemp

What a great lake that different color bottom or sand to clay could hold every fish in the lake. The fish could suspend and get active when shadows from clouds go by. A little 30 acre lake I'd have my camera down and go over every square inch.

Garnet

[Needemp]

Thanx for all the responses. Christmas trees are not legal. The lake literally is flat. It does go from 10 to 30 feet, but it is very graduale. To show you what I mean, the lake tapers off to the deep end probably at a 10 degree angle. That pretty much provides no real ledge or dropoff for bass to ambush prey. This lake is just old and has settled to a flat bottom. Trust me, I can go to every other lake in my area and find something to target. This lake literally doesnt have anything. I used my depthfinder for 2 hours one day and four hours the next. I know its wierd, and I didnt believe it when one of the locals told me that there was nothing out there, but now I know he was right.

So how in the world do I fish this lake? How can I find the location of the current without any physical signs of the channel? Has anyone else fished a lake like this and how was your success?

Thank You!!!

[Daniel My Brother]

This sounds very similar to the strip mine pits we fish in southern Illinois. Very little structure, but some cover.

During the daytime we troll a LOT. We've pulled some big bass trolling with deep diving crankbaits (I like the Norman DD22s) and are able to cover a lot of ground, and enjoy a beer in the process. It seems the bass are always on the move.

We get most of our quality fish at night, just beating the shoreline, when we can have the lake to ourselves. What works one trip, usually fails miserably the next.  

[j-bass]

I know what you mean about no structure, the resacas that I fish in have cover everywhere, but the bottom is flat mud, no rocks, no drop-offs, the deepest part of any of these resacas (that I have found so far) might be 15 ft., usually more shallow.  For this, I just stick to the cover, thats what seems to be working.  The best I can hope for, in the middle of these resacas, is clusters of underwater vegitation.  

[Guest avid]

I would set my boat about 40' from the shore and cast a worm or jig to the shoreline and work it down the slope.  Theres bound to be some weed patches or blowdowns.  Hell, the bass gotta be somewhere!!

If all else fails, throw a rattletrap and a finesse worm.  My guess is that with all the fishing pressure from the bank, the bass are conditioned not to trust baits moving toward the shore.  

[Needemp]

I wish this lake had cover away from the shore. I believe that because the only forage in the lake is bluegill and young crappie, that these fish are going to be hard to find and entice. I dont know if these young fish school up together or not. I suspect the crappie do, but if that is the case, then those schools usually stay in the shallow mostly and the bass are heavily pressured there. They get used to seeing spinnerbaits, plastic worms, and the rattle of crankbaits by fisherman everyday. In early spring, I got my 7.5 pounder on a spinnerbait and a crankbait (long story). Then I got my 5.5 pounder on a crainkbait. Ater that night, I have not had a quality bite on any of those lures. I caught my other 5.5 and 4.5 pounders on baits that are more realistic to the forage of that lake. All these fish were caught in the shallows when they are not used to seeing any pressure at all. Now that they are off shore, it is making it difficult to find them, but I will, one way are another. I guess what I want is 'The Great Bass God' to come down and tell me what to do, but he never bothers to, oh well!

[Needemp]

Hey Avid, thats a good point about those bass seeing lures swim toward the shore. See, I love this forum. I learn new things all the time. The only thing better than learning this stuff is using it to catch dem hawgs!

[RoLo]

Structure is a relative feature.

In lakes that lack prominent structure, minor changes in bottom contour

become extremely valuable. On the contrary, deep lakes (oligotrophic)

may have so many bluffs plummeting from 5 to 20-ft deep that they're virtually worthless.

In deep lakes, the "shallow flats" become the most valuable feature,

but in shallow lakes, the "deepest holes" become the most valuable feature.

I call this phenomenon, "The Priority Of Poverty".

The same holds true in lakes that might be referred to as "structureless".

In saucer-shaped lakes with very slow bottom tapers, bass will seek and embrace

a 6" step in the bottom, which is enough to conceal the outline of a 9-pound bass.

Roger

[senile1]

RoLo is right on the money.  The big bass will seek any change in the contour no matter how minor.  I've fished a few lakes like this.  If you can't find these minor changes, then work some plastic down the slope as Avid suggested.  There will always be something that will draw the bass, but you may not be able to see it.  

[BD]

Structure is in EVERY BODY OF WATER we fish. It can be VERY subtle where (this is an example) the rocks meet the water way, there will be somewhere in the water where they stop and the bottom is now the bottom. This is an edge, also structure. Any depth change from a flat to deeper water, a channel etc etc

Depending on where you are located, you can still find some spawning. I would go where they WERE spawning, and fish it BACK to the deeper surrounding water. You can also go on an edge fishing day (fishing every edge you find like where grass comes out and then stops, points where there are edges etc) and just edges, or you can even go topwater all day.