how would YOU fish this?

[basspimple]

ive got somthing i would like you all to help me out with. there is a small lake that i fished a few times before in my child hood, but never caught any goodsize bass out of. its a public lake, with lots of pressure in the warmer times, but almost non existant this time of the year. its managed and ran by the kentucky department of fish and wildlife, and is FULL of good size bass, and i want to catch them! by the time i will get to fish it, these fish will probably be in prespawn. here is a link to a topographical map of it:

http://fw.ky.gov/pdf/sportsmanslakes.pdf

how would YOU fish it?

[Sam]

I am taking the positing that you have a watercraft.

If they are in prespawn, then they are staging in deeper water, waiting to move shallow.  

The males may be scouting the shoreline for good places to make their beds.

The bass are hungry and should hit your baits as they get ready to spawn.

Check the water temperatures so you will know how much along they are with their spawing activities.

And do you know the baitfish in the lake?  Are there crawfish?  And what color are the crawfish?

Suggestions.

1.  Go before sunlight and throw a black Cavitron buzzbait with a trailer hook.

2.  Go at dusk and throw a black Cavitron buzzbait with a trailer hook.

3.  Throw a Bandit 100 or 200 chartreuse with blue back crankbait or a shad colored crankbait to find the fish.  You can also consider throwing a chrome with blue or black back Rat-L-Trap to locate the fish.

If there are crawfish, throw a crawfish colored Rapala or smaller red crankbait to locate the fish.

4.  Once you locate the fish, throw your plastics, including a Senko, to find out if they are interested in them.  If not, go back to the moving baits.

You need to find the depth the fish are holding each day. That is the main challenge for us all.  Once you find the depth, you can knock them silly with your crankbaits.

5.  If a bass strikes at the Cavitron and misses, throw a Senko to the spot where the bass missed the buzzbait.

6.  Rig up Senko wacky style. Rig up a Shaky Head and throw it.  If not takers, then they are not on the bottom so go back to crankbaits.

7.  You can throw whatever you want.  For example, did you consider throwing a Carolina rig with a lizard to the shore and reeling it back to the boat?  

8.  Or, you can throw a poor man's C-Rig by using a Split-Shot rig with a small, light hook and a light weight six-inch plastic worm.

9.  Any rocks in the water?  Jig and pig can work.

What about the Chatterbait? Ever thought of trying it?

10.  Ever throw a Trick Worm on a 2/0 light wire hook on spinning rig?  Lots of fun and you will be surprised when you start getting hits, especially if you throw it in grass or along the shoreline or by any wood. You can let it sink and then rip it off the bottom, too.

You will have to experiment to find the fish each day and then decide what to throw.

You know that you need to recon the body of water and try to find out as much as you can about it.  Not from a topo map, but on the water.  

Using your topo map of the lake, check out the water depths and mark the shoreline out to 5-feet with a marker and then look for drop offs and humps.  Fish these areas.

If you do not have a map, or need more data, make one.

If you are fishing from the bank, do the same thing.

Have fun and let us know how you do.  

[mrbassky]

Hey Sam if you looked at the map you would see it is bank fishing only. I fished the lake with my son before and everytime I have been there it has had lots of color to it. Its full of things to snag on as well lots of fishing line, rocks, wood, ect. I would do a two prong approach. First fish a swimming jig around the banks casting parrallel to the shore and working it fairly fast. Go around the lake once doing this unless its in the 50s or colder. Also cast it an work around the big dock. My next step would be fish at texas rigged worm. Use a looong rod and make casts out to find pieces of cover out off the bank others might miss. The lake is shallow enough that fish could be anywhere even out in the middle on the bottom. If you find a piece of brush out there thats where the fish would be and my guess is the kyfw put brush in the lake. I would stay away from crankbaits I fished the lake before there is a ton of fishing line in it. Good luck but I think there are better places you can fish close when the water gets warmer I live in Winchester and went to UK in Lexington and there are some decent places to fish around without a boat.

[JiggaMan512]

This just came off the top of my head, but try throwing an x-rap around there.

I don't know if it'll work, i think i just feel like using one right now.

[405z06]

2 words:

Flying

Lure

[Blade-Runner]

1/2 oz. spinnerbait.

With limited access from shore, you can have less fear of getting snagged and can make long casts. You can also vary your retrieves significantly to match the strike zone or activity level of your quarry.

[lineslinger]

Surprised no one has suggested trying some topwater baits, especially if there is a little wind.  Just an idea.

[Big Tom]

After it warms up a bit the topwater is a great idea.  Get there really early though.  I have caught bass all over Kentucky on a Baby Bass Zara Spook.  

For right now I would try Texas Rigging a watermelon Zoom U-Tail.

Just a couple of things that work for me.

[basspimple]

thanks for all the replies guys. spring is just around the corner here. seems as soon as the water gets in the mid fifties, the fishing really fires up! unfortunately my pitchin skills have not thawed out yet! ;D

[WRB]

The ponds, too small to b a lake, are nearly featureless. They may be over stocked with too many varieties of pan fish.

They stock rainbow trout; try a #5, 6" Huddleston swimbait. Otherwise forget about these ponds and find yourself something that can sustain a good bass population.

WRB

[Btech]

It could be me but it looks like a POND in the picture. If thats the case I would just tie on a spinner in a 1/2 oz for distance and walk the bank casting out to the center until you get some fish.  The map didnt seem to show too many depths ..... looks pretty shallow at only 15ft. If anything Maybe an Xrap (7-14ft range) if you can reach the center of the lake ....

Tight-lines.

[Izzy3374]

Whatever you do..... if something isnt working right away change it.  Bass a finicky in prespawn on small lakes. Basically all I fish is small lakes..

Change presentation, color, style.. everything until you find something that works.

When you find that something, it usually works the whole time.

Today in Mid March in Chicago I went out and caught around 50 largies in 2 hours.

Why????  Because I found what they want, where they want it and, what they want look like.  A Lucky Strike Fat CB BSD-1 Aurora Black Extreme Shallow Crank Bait.

I threw everything else at em' without a bite.

GOTTA FIND WHAT THEY WANT