Bass fishing guru's How would you attack this lake

[Waterwolves]

I hope this works. Here is a picture of a small Res. I fish on a regular basis. I will admit I am not the greatest stick. I do really well in spring but once it gets hot I have trouble catching fish. I have not been able to catch a bass when the water drops under 50 degrees. I know they are stacked up some where but I can not seem to find them. So my question is this how would you fish this lake with the water at 40 degrees or less? What lures would you try and what areas would you concentrate on?

The north end of the Res is the shallower side of the lake. There is some under water laydowns in 20 foot of water on this side of the lake. There is also a canal that runs out to the main river channel on the upper right hand side of the lake. The south side of the lake is deeper. It is 50 foot deep at the dam and it slowy gets shallower as you get to the north side. There is a point on the west side of the lake that has a deep hole. It is the first really deep water out from the shallow end of the lake. Should I fish the area's that I catch fish in the spring and early summer just with different lures, should I move out to deeper water and spoon, or should I try something else. The lake contains spot and LM. Any tips or help would be great. Thanks

Neil

[MemphisFisherman]

Does any current move through the lake? Does it have a spillway and if so, what type?

Ps. Hi everyone, sorry I haven't been around as much lately   :-/

[Waterwolves]

I doesn't have any current. It is kind of a funny Res. The water comes in on the south eastern side of the lake right next to the dam (right above the a in digital on the pic). I have had moderate luck fishing a drop off 30 yards in front of where the water comes in with a drop shot in the summer. It drops from 12 to 40 feet pretty quick there.

[Jig Man]

I would start fishing with a jig or trig not necessarily deep but close to deep water.  I'd also fish those lay downs with jigs, slow rolled spinnerbaits, and crank baits.  This time of year the fish here in MO I find mostly in very rocky or ledgy places.

BTW:  Is this Brush Hollow Creek?

[Waterwolves]

No this is Brush Hollow Res. It is a very small Res that is located just south of Colorado Springs in Colorado. It has got to sit a an elavation of close to 7000 feet. It gets pretty cold here but not cold enough to freeze every year. Sometimes you can ice fish it and sometimes not.

[luckyinkentucky]

I would fish the drop-offs on the main channel.  Definitely a challenge if you don't have good electronics.  At those temps you will definitely have to get them to strike instinctively.  It may take up to 10 casts in the same spot to get them to even strike.  I would try a jig, and if that didn't work I'd throw a few 'flashy' deep divers.  You really just have to experiment to see what they want.  

[Brian_Reeves]

I'd hit the main channel.  On any body of water, it's hard to go wrong working main channel structure.  Laydowns, deep water close to flats, and steep banks/bluffs are always good holders too.  For search lures, I'd use a 1/2oz spinnerbait with a big willow blade.  Slow rolling it around those drop-offs and laydowns would be a good bet.  People don't consider a spinnerbait as a winter lure, but it will still generate reaction strikes.  Another good searcher is a rattletrap fished the same way.  I prefer those two over crankbaits 10 fold.

For saturation lures, it's hard to beat a hair jig with a pork trailer in the wintertime.  It's nice, soft, munchy, and subtle.  I've had better luck with those in the winter than silicone or rubber jigs.  Carolina rigs are a year round producer as well.  Never underestimate the dropshot in deep water situations either.

[bass109]

Big lay down, runs 8-18ft would be the area i would fish.

[frogtog]

At 40 degrees, I would try to find the bait fish and once you locate them I would

go after them with a 3/4oz Hopkins and 8lb test line. More often than not you will find the fish around 25 - 35'. Either way, when you find the bait fish you can bet that the bass will be close by. My second choice would be a 1oz spinner bait

with a #3 and a 4-1/2 willow blade on lite line and a 5:1 reel and just turn the handle enough to feel the blades.

[Tin]

With frogtog on this one, find the bait. They are probably somewhere in that main channel and have  shallow water nearby. Find the bait with your electronics and then go with a silver buddy or rat-l-trap and locate the bass.

[Waterwolves]

So I should drive around untill I locate bait balls. Then I should anchore down and use a jigging spoon. Should I let the spoon go all the way to the bottom? If that doesn't work then I should try a heavy spinnerbait and cast out let it sink to the bottom and then slow roll it under the bait ball. Right? I know where the main channel is so I know where to fish that. I will also try a few of the lay downs in deeper water. I will give this all a shot either this Friday or Sat (which ever day is warmer) and I will post a report.

Any more suggestions?

[Tin]

In winter time around here thats what we have to do to find the fish. Just idle around in areas that are deeper than the rest of the lake and watch the graphs. It seems like every fish in the lake gets stacked up in a few areas.

It can get really frustrating too, seeing all those fish on the graph but they wont touch a thing. Just stick with it and give them those little things they cant resist, like a spoon or a jerkbait suspending right infront of their face.

[fishfordollars]

Jigs and dropshot on the deeper drops and the deeper ends of the laydowns. Depending on the season also deep diving cranks and c-rigs in 20-30 ft. If you get two or three days of sunshine do not be afraid to move up and fish in the 8-12 water off points and rocky banks.

[WRB]

You said the lake is at 7,000 feet, the map indicates 5,485, big difference. Also you indicated it freezes over on occasion. The water source is via an aquaduct, so this is a water storage reservoir: a small hill land or possible high land classification by the look of the surrounding land.

If the lake freezes it doesn't contain shad. More than likely doesn't have a traditional creek channel due to the lack of a stream bed, so the lake bottom contour is fairly flat.

The breaks will be ravines and whatever man made structure is under water.

Does this lake have planted trout? Bluegill or crappie? catfish? Carp?

You say it has spotted bass, so it must have a good crawdad population.

Forget about baitfish schools, unless it is planted with silver sides, a small 2" to 3" minnow.

Your primary area is the inlet zone and the dam itself. The points can all hold bass from time to time, so always check those out. Do you see any Grebes or other diving birds feeding out in the middle of this lake or just around the shoreline?

The bass in this lake will target crawdads and young of the year blurgill or crappie. If it has trout, then you shopuld be using a swimbait.

During the cold water period use black 1/4 to 3/8 oz jigs with 101 size small pork trailers. During the warmer periods use a dark cinnamom spider jig. Drop shot with Roboworms size 4 1/2" curl tail, oxblood red flake or Aarons magic.

If the lake has a decent population of bait fish, then spoons are also a good cold water period choice. Kastmaster or Crippled herring in 1/2 & 3/4 oz chrome should work well, Change the hooks to size 2 treble, VMC red.

Crawdad color small crank baits may also work at times.

WRB

[Waterwolves]

You said the lake is at 7,000 feet, the map indicates 5,485, big difference. Also you indicated it freezes over on occasion. The water source is via an aquaduct, so this is a water storage reservoir: a small hill land or possible high land classification by the look of the surrounding land.

If the lake freezes it doesn't contain shad. More than likely doesn't have a traditional creek channel due to the lack of a stream bed, so the lake bottom contour is fairly flat.

The breaks will be ravines and whatever man made structure is under water.

Does this lake have planted trout? Bluegill or crappie? catfish? Carp?

You say it has spotted bass, so it must have a good crawdad population.

Forget about baitfish schools, unless it is planted with silver sides, a small 2" to 3" minnow.

Your primary area is the inlet zone and the dam itself. The points can all hold bass from time to time, so always check those out. Do you see any Grebes or other diving birds feeding out in the middle of this lake or just around the shoreline?

The bass in this lake will target crawdads and young of the year blurgill or crappie. If it has trout, then you shopuld be using a swimbait.

During the cold water period use black 1/4 to 3/8 oz jigs with 101 size small pork trailers. During the warmer periods use a dark cinnamom spider jig. Drop shot with Roboworms size 4 1/2" curl tail, oxblood red flake or Aarons magic.

If the lake has a decent population of bait fish, then spoons are also a good cold water period choice. Kastmaster or Crippled herring in 1/2 & 3/4 oz chrome should work well, Change the hooks to size 2 treble, VMC red.

Crawdad color small crank baits may also work at times.

WRB

It has trout, crappie, bluegill, catfish, walleye, spoted bass and Black bass. But the biggest bass in this reservoir might be 6-7 pounds. The bottom is as you describe. It is kinda flat except it has been drained a number of times (last time  about 7 years ago) so it has road beds from people driving all over it. I think it has a lot of shad. Thats what the Division of wildlife told me. Thanks alot I will try some of this stuff.

[BASS fisherman]

Am I experiencing deja-vu?  Here it is again:

First try and find some baitfish.  Chances are the bass will be around them.  If you can't find any baitfish, try fishing the deepest areas with a c-rig, jig-n-pig, a jigging spo-on, and 1/8-3/8 oz bucktail hair jigs.  If your fishing from a boat, you could also try any finesse techniques you can think of such as a shakey head or drop shot.

Winter fishing can be tough to say the least so let the odds play in your favor.  Unlike sping, summer, and fall, the fish in winter don't actively feed until later in the day.  I've had better catches between 1pm and 4pm during the cold water period. Try to fish on sunny days where you might have some fish move up shallower to warm up.  Also look for rip-rap areas since supposedly rocks hold heat better than other structure in the lake.  The key is to find a ledge where the fish can easily move shallower or deeper with the most minimum of effort.  Remember the fish are a product of their habitat....being cold blooded, when the water temp is below 50F, their metabolism slows down too.  Alot of times the cold water bite is extremely lite, so get yourself some flourocarbon line and keep your finger on it to feel the light bites.  Concentrating on your line in the water helps alot too.  And when you think your fishing slow enough, fish even slower!

Good luck and tight lines!

[WRB]

Thread fin shad usually die off if the core water temperature reached 45 degrees, in small reservoirs without being spring feed or have a river inflow/outflow creating some current or warmer water.

The fact the lake dries up once a decade and is located at high evelation, freezing occasionally, doesn't allow the fish to grow to larger sizes. Walleyes are very aggressive minnow eaters and the bass must compete with them for baitfish. The best area to target in this lake is the input flume, dam and lower 1/3 of the lake the majority of the year. The upper shallower areas for spawning.

Try a darter head jig, 1/8 oz Owner, with the Roboworms mentioned. The dart jig is a very good suspended baitfish lure. Cast it parellel to the steeper bank areas and dam area, let it fall a several feet, reel a few feet and repeat the fall/reel retreive.

Next time this lake is low you need to add some rock piles about 20 feet from high water line. The rock piles are about 3 feet high by 10 feet long with brush or tree limbs. Locate the rock piles on the sides of points where you can find them or use a GPS to mark the way points. The road beds are just dirt and no value unless structure like culverts or something is creating an edge is there.

Good luck.

WRB

[Waterwolves]

Thread fin shad usually die off if the core water temperature reached 45 degrees, in small reservoirs without being spring feed or have a river inflow/outflow creating some current or warmer water.

The fact the lake dries up once a decade and is located at high evelation, freezing occasionally, doesn't allow the fish to grow to larger sizes. Walleyes are very aggressive minnow eaters and the bass must compete with them for baitfish. The best area to target in this lake is the input flume, dam and lower 1/3 of the lake the majority of the year. The upper shallower areas for spawning.

Try a darter head jig, 1/8 oz Owner, with the Roboworms mentioned. The dart jig is a very good suspended baitfish lure. Cast it parellel to the steeper bank areas and dam area, let it fall a several feet, reel a few feet and repeat the fall/reel retreive.

Next time this lake is low you need to add some rock piles about 20 feet from high water line. The rock piles are about 3 feet high by 10 feet long with brush or tree limbs. Locate the rock piles on the sides of points where you can find them or use a GPS to mark the way points. The road beds are just dirt and no value unless structure like culverts or something is creating an edge is there.

Good luck.

WRB

Just a question but why do you think that the discharge area is the best spot in the winter? Is it because the the oxygen content in the water will be better there? I have, in fact, done pretty well at the using a drop shot at the first big drop off infront of where the canal dumps the water in. I have also notices big bait balls in this area in the summer. I know that the walley were right under those balls of bait.

I have tried to fish the dam and I always get snagged if i use any kind of soft plastic. I did catch a 21 and 1/2 inch walleye there early summer this year using a small lucky craft crank.

This lake is not big and I know if I can find the sweet spot the fish will be stacked up big time.

[WRB]

The lower 1/3rd of any high land or hill lnad reservoir is always the best lake zone to target during the cold water period. The fact this lakes water input source is located within that zone makes this an easy prediction. Deep water is warmer during the cold water period, due to it's depth. A thermocline will develop during the early summer through fall and that level is where the bass will locate. Find structure at the thermocline level and you should find the bass you are looking for.

To reduce snagging when fishing rip rap ( broken rocks) use a lighter weight and keep it moving. This is why I suggested a darter head swimming jig presentation.

Crank baits are an excellent choice to fish rip rap and jerk baits work very well.

Structure spoons and darts are your best lures for fishing suspended bait. The predator fish like bass and walleyes herd bait up agianst the deep water ledges and the input water structure is a good place for that. There should be left over concrete and construction rocks, piled up near the transition areas where the dam ends and input area is located.

I couldn't see an areation system looking at the photo, a dock with a pipe line and bouys. The DO levels will be dependant mostly on windy conditions, the lake doesn't appear to have large weed beds areas to produce DO. The prevailing wind is usually down the canyon towards a dam, another reason why the lower 1/3rd is a good area.

WRB

[HesterIsGod]

Try to find any incoming streams, even if theyre extremely small. Use electronics to find any deep humps or deep brushpiles. Also idle around on deep flats and look for slight drop offs, as little as 5 or 6 inches even. Also, I love points in the summer. When you get a nice sloping point dropping into deep water bass will trap big shad and panfish in the shallow water of the point. Try to find the "sweet spot" of any points and be sure not to block access to deeper water with your boat.