fishing a shallow lake!

[jrskblx125]

hey guys i'm new to the forums. not new to fishing though!  i'm up here in southwestern maine on vacation. the lake i'm staying at is at deepest right now 8 feet deep. lakes 1400 acres. I have no idea how to fish it consistently for bass. plenty of pickerel they'll hit anything. ive caught a largemouth and a smallmouth yesterday. largemouth was about 7 lbs i'd say. smallie was tiny.  i'd like to catch these bass consistently however.

what do you guys think!?

[SWH]

I would say if you caught a 7lb bass i would keep doing what your doing...

[jrskblx125]

well thats the thing. the bass in my avatar is the bigger one around 10 lbs. i cant consistently catch bass at this place... now the pickerel population is ridiculous ive caught 20 pickerel to my 2 bass. theres never any consistency.  WHAT CAN I DO theres no one on here that can give me some shallow pond advice?

[Bassn Blvd]

What kind of cover/foliage is on the lake?

What are the water temps?

What is the water clarity?

Are there any canals, streams running into the lake?

Are there any docks?

I have never fished out of Florida but many of the Florida lakes average 8-12 feet.  Generically speaking I would use soft plastics such as a Zoom Super Fluke and a T-rig worm.  I would also use a  floater stick bait of some sort.

I would concentrate on the shoreline in 1-3 feet of water in the am  

with the Fluke and stick bait.  I would then move out and fish T-rig along grass lines/beds.  Look for any sudden drop off, even if it's only a foot and fish that.    

[jrskblx125]

along the shorelines its mostly pads and stalks, and that goes out about 100 feet into the pond maybe more.  theres no drop off where i go its all gradual. this pond grows to twice its size come ice out.

there is one river (saco) tributary that feeds this pond and there is certainly a lot of junk / cover by the mouth. there are no docks because there are hardly any camps, and the water level changes so drastically that it makes no sense to have one.  

i caught the 7 pounder around 630-7 last night and i was using a dark purple terminator spinner bait w single tandem.  

i mean youre looking at 1-2 feet of water for 300 feet to the shoreline. its verrrrrry gradual.

[Fishing Rhino]

Fall in New England is peak pickerel time.  Catch very few during the summer.  Come the middle of September, they start biting.

The only thing you can do is to come back in the middle of next summer.

The problem is that pickerel will take anything a bass will hit, and a lot more.  A hook on a clothespin will catch pickerel this time of year.

They are very aggressive now.  Enjoy them.  A four to five pound pick will fight harder than a ten pound bass.

Some say that bass won't hang around where there are pickerel.  Last Thursday, I fished a pond on Cape Cod, drifting a drop shot across a shoal, up one side and down the other.  Making very nearly the same drift, I caught largemouth, smallmouth and four pickerel that probably averaged over four pounds.

You are dealing with typical fall New England fishing.

[jrskblx125]

yeah we come up here once a year at the same time every year, so that explains the pickerel pandemic lol. they do hit anything.

theoretically though, the bass are feeding in the same areas as the pickerel, so they must be present and the pickerel are just hitting the bait. either way with the 10 # and the 7 # i feel like i was in the right place at the right time. but i only fish like 4 days a year lol.

tomorrow mornin i'm gonna go out before sunrise and work the edges again. might run a buzz bait and see what kind of response i get.

[Bassn Blvd]

That's pretty shallow, especially if you're shore fishing.  I would stick with the buzzbait, weightless plastics.  

[jrskblx125]

haha yeah the shore is half the d**n pond at this place lol. and its 1400 acres its a big body of water. just wicked shallow

[WBFishing]

I used to fish a little pond like that.  All shoreline vegetations, I used to flip stuff right off the bank and get bit.  My baits of choice were 1/4 ounce jigs, 1/4 ounce spinnerbaits, a small buzzbait, and a wacky rigged senko, and weightless trickworm.

The problem that I see if the water depth, if it is averaging 1 to 2 feet. the problem I had was tules along the banks and hydrilla out in the middle.  1/4 was perfect for my jigs, I could flip holes in the tules, but it was light enough that it would sit on the hydrilla mats.  I think you could punch those pads with a heavier bait, but I think the bait would move so fast to the bottom with that depth they would never get a look at it.

[SoFl-native]

Stay away from bladed baits to avoid the pike.

try a weightless worm, fluke, senko, etc.

[jrskblx125]

more pickerel today, no bass. this place isn't your typical bass fishing location. ive been to places in MA where i can throw a yum dinger wacky and catch largemouth all day... my brother had a smallmouth hit on his banjo minnow lol but he lost it... naturally

[2006HD]

stick with t-rigged soft plastics

[MEbasserJQ]

Is there any rocks or wood anywhere on this pond? If you wanna catch some smallies I would fish around the mouth of the river. Where there is current.

[Sam]

May I suggest throwing your spinnerbait on the bank and then dragging it into the water and back to the boat?

Color depends on water clarity.

Also, try a popping topwater like a Pop-R.

Last, have you thrown any Rat-L-Trap like baits?  Chrome with either blue or black back?

Just suggestions.  

[bigtimfish]

will pickerel hit a Tx rig worm? If not throw that.

[chainpick1]

Picks will hit a Tx rig, if they can see it, they'll hit it. I prefer them when they are going crazy, actually all the time I guess. Toss some top water and you will think you have sharks coming after your lure.