Fishing Strategies

[carlito77]

I was at a lake this weekend and realized that when the early morning bite is over, I really don't have a very good plan of attack.  I caught a 4 pound largemouth at around 9:00am but after that we were pretty well skunked.  This is a short synopsis of our day:

Lake depth: 8ft and under (in most areas)

Conditions: Hot, Humid, and Sunny with some wind (occasionally strong gusts)

Equipment: 1 spinning setup (15 lbs Power Pro braid), 1 baitcaster (30 lbs Power Pro braid)

7:00am - 9:45am

Started off shallow, fishing pockets with a lot of cover like lily pads, and timber.

Spinning Setup:  Rapala Original Floater

Baitcaster: 6" Berkeley Power Nightcrawler (black) Texas Rigged with a chartreuse bead and brass bullet weight. (Caught a 19.5", 4 lbs Largemouth with this rig)

10:00am - 12:30am

We stayed shallow.  I didn't catch anything during this time, but here is a list of what I tried.

3/8 oz chartreuse spinnerbait (combo blade: 1 willow, 1 colorado)

5" Watermelon Senko (weightless)

Black with red flake Fat Ika (weightless, rigged tail up)

3/8 oz Jig with Yum craw trailer (blue)

6" Berkeley Power Nightcrawler (black) Texas Rigged with a chartreuse bead and brass bullet weight

3" white tube (getting desperate)

Can anyone suggest anything else that I should have tried.  It seems like this is happening to us every week.  I'll catch 1 decent one in the morning, then it dies off in the late morning to early afternoon.  Should I be moving out deeper?  Slowing down my presentation?  Speeding up my presentation?  Using different lures?  

Any feedback is much appreciated

[Hookemdown.]

How hot was it?  When the temps rise, the bass move a little deeper out

[carlito77]

It was around 80 at around 11:00am - water temp was 70 degrees.

[fishlikemad]

All of the above.  Try everything and anything until you come up with a pattern.  I tend to go deeper depth or deeper in the cover.  I used to use one presentation and if nothing happened I would change.   Now I find a piece of cover and methodically work it over with a few baits, starting with my search baits and working to plastics.  Watch that fish finder all the time this time of year.  Look for that one stump in deeper water, that little dip on the bottom can be a small creek channel they could be laying in.  Usually in the summer the fish feed shallow in the morning and evening and go deeper during the day, but not all.  

Keep at it you will figure it out.

[jomatty]

c-rig?

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

Fishlikemad probably has it pegged. Although that water temp isn't enough to drive bass deeper to whatever cooler water there is, shallow lakes like that in Arkansas don't offer much security for bass once fishing pressure increases and the bass see too much above & around them, so they seek out holes and channels even if only a few inches deeper. The shallow cover obviously satisfies both their need for forage and cover during low light conditions, but not when it's sunny. I'd spend some time marking little ditches leading up into the shallower cover. They might be stacking up in those once filled with minnows, shad or crayfish from feeding all night into early morning. The pressure to stay shallow feeding is reduced a lot. My favorite for that is to put a standup jig&craw across the ditches then down or up channel. I like crawling them down into the ditches slowly, and along the drainage right into them. If you get a bait close enough their greed or gluttony habit kicks in even with throat stuffed. A C-rig would work there too, using floating baits.

Jim