Tourn. prep - need tackle advice

[jb_adams]

I'm fishing my first tournament this Sunday. ;D  It's a local event with only a $35 entry fee so it's no big loss.  I'm pretty excited about it but I want to do my best.

Recent weather conditions has brought 3-6" of rain in only 2 days, rising barametric pressure today up to 30.12 and rising, cold front, lows in the 40s Sat. & Sun. with highs in upper 50's, the dam is generating around 1/2-3/4 capacity which is stirring up silt and making a clear lake muddy and stained in under a week, AND........to make matters worse, the water temps are already 60-61 so the water temp dropped 10 degrees in a week.

Any advise would be appreciated.  I'm thinking finesse baits with the occassional reaction bite from a deflected crank off trees over channel swings, t-rig worms, etc.

Where will the fish be? (I'm thinking near channels and holding on structure)

What's the best baits to use in upper 50's to low 60's (jerkbaits?)

Thanks a lot!

[Pantera61]

are you boater or non-boater?

[jb_adams]

boater

[Smallmouth Bass49]

I'd use jigs near cover.  I'm a big Berkley Powerbait user, haven't had much success with Gulp.

[luz2blaze]

sounds like the fishing is going to be tough for ya.keep an open mind

and pay attention to every little thing.  Good luck and fish hard  8-)

[JohnMac]

Go get yourself some booyah boo jigs preferably in a watermelon color and get some sweet beavers and slay em

[Pantera61]

The "classics" for early fall.

1.  Jig and pig, black and blue or natural colors

2.  Shallow or med-cranks

3.  Jerkbait

4.  Spinnerbait.

5.  Finesse worm or shad

those are in no particular order depending upon conditions when you get there.  Keep an open mind, no preconceived notions.  The spinnerbait, jerkbait and cranks are for searching for active fish.  When you find attractive cover work with the jig and pig and finesse baits.

knock'em dead!

[jb_adams]

Here's my report from a quick practice round this morning.

Weather (couldn't be much worse)  

- rising barometric pressure, was 30.15 @ 6:00AM and rose to 30.25 by noon

- wind from N at 5mph (no biggie)

- cloudy overcast when forcast was sunny

- foggy

- temps dropped to 38 and thats the lowest temp so far since last winter (average temp has been upper 40's over last few weeks)

- Wind was very cold (hard to fish with cold clamy hands)

- humidity was @ 100% by 8:00 AM  (ouch!)

Where I fished:

- I found no bites in the back of coves (water clarity: clear)

- I fished a large cove area off the main lake that has lots of deep water with shallow coves branching off with stick cover (submerged trees)

- Fished chunk rock and large boulder formations thinking the bass would hold tight to absorb the heat from the rocks (found a dink smallie on X-rap - little rascal hit it like a freight train!) ;D

I discovered the reaction bite close to cover and off of deep water was the only bites I got.  I had a bass interested in a t-rig worm as I was burning it back to the boat to recast.  THat's when the light went off........gotta have the reaction bite and burn baits and bounce off cover.  By that time, I was out of practice time and had to leave for other duties on my Sat.

I had every bait tied on that everyone suggested.  That gave me confidance that I was doing the right thing and I think I have an idea where to find the fish.  If the barometric pressure will drop overnight to around 30, I'm set. ;D

Thanks all!  

[aarogb]

Here's my report from a quick practice round this morning.

Weather (couldn't be much worse)

- rising barometric pressure, was 30.15 @ 6:00AM and rose to 30.25 by noon

- wind from N at 5mph (no biggie)

- cloudy overcast when forcast was sunny

- foggy

- temps dropped to 38 and thats the lowest temp so far since last winter (average temp has been upper 40's over last few weeks)

- Wind was very cold (hard to fish with cold clamy hands)

- humidity was @ 100% by 8:00 AM (ouch!)

Where I fished:

- I found no bites in the back of coves (water clarity: clear)

- I fished a large cove area off the main lake that has lots of deep water with shallow coves branching off with stick cover (submerged trees)

- Fished chunk rock and large boulder formations thinking the bass would hold tight to absorb the heat from the rocks (found a dink smallie on X-rap - little rascal hit it like a freight train!) ;D

I discovered the reaction bite close to cover and off of deep water was the only bites I got. I had a bass interested in a t-rig worm as I was burning it back to the boat to recast. THat's when the light went off........gotta have the reaction bite and burn baits and bounce off cover. By that time, I was out of practice time and had to leave for other duties on my Sat.

I had every bait tied on that everyone suggested. That gave me confidance that I was doing the right thing and I think I have an idea where to find the fish. If the barometric pressure will drop overnight to around 30, I'm set. ;D

Thanks all!

Wow, I'm surprised by that.  I would think that the Bass would be back in the coves chasing and eating Shad.

But I guess thats why its called fishing not catching.

:

[central.PA.bass]

look for the hardest bottom possible...  thats where your fish will be.

[jesse D.]

i would try a chatterbait you said that the water was more muddier and dirty right than something with alot of flash will get there attention

[jb_adams]

i would try a chatterbait you said that the water was more muddier and dirty right than something with alot of flash will get there attention

It's actually really clear.  I heard it was stained and because the dam is generating, I figured it would be muddy but it was pretty clear.

I fish Beaver Lake.  It's a big river reserviour and and the average clarity is 4-5ft depending on where you are on the lake.  It can get up to 20ft visibilty on the far end by the dam.

The back of coves are clear and up to 4-5ft visibilty easy.  WHen the sun is high, you can see 6-7ft.

With the high pressure, cold front, rising water, cold surface temps dropping the water temp rapidly, they are staying near deep water I think.

I like the sweet beaver idea.  Never used one.  Could be a good thing.

[jesse D.]

maybe try a drop shot

[CHEVYRIDAZ]

lipless crank should do them in for sure!

[Catt]

Most bass will be around chunk rock and the mouths of coves in 6-18'. Best baits will be green/brown crawfish soft baits, dark worms (6-7) & white/yellow spinner baits. I personally like a Carolina Rig with 2-3' leader & ½ ox sinker.

From a friend who lives on an island in Beaver

[Simp]

Personally I haven't been able to get out for a week and conditions change fast, but we did have a killer crashing crank bite. We have a lake that is filled with shad and and we will take a square billed crank and just crash it into the rocks as shallow as we can and BAM!!! Now if you find hard rock bottoms deeper try a wiggle wart or brad's wigglers that runs deep enough to hit bottom. Here is a exmple of the fish and structure we were hitting them on about a week ago.

Look to the left of the picture and you will see the rocks. In this situation this is a rock made point to protect the boats docked. It runs from very shallow by land and very deep for this lake at the end. It's a great place for bass to ambush and various depths for them to hang out. With this point I'm often able to get a good idea where the fish may be staging at other areas. I can often reason if I catch a fish early in the day at the edge of the point against the rocks that fish are just moving up to the edge of the point or holding there. Now if I come back to that point a hour later and nail one or two further up the point I know we have a situation where bass are moving up into shallow water and so is there food. Now on the other hand if I get some at the edge again I can reason the fish are holding in that depth and I should look for similar depths with similar cover. I also try to pin point the shad. I'm convinced there is resident bass on this rocky point and there is non resident bass that often fallow the shad onto the point. When you can time it right we've been able to have a nice 20lb sack. Well I'm rambling, long story short try to find some rack and crash some cranks. Don't be afraid to get right up and parallel these types of rocks either.

[jb_adams]

Most bass will be around chunk rock and the mouths of coves in 6-18'. Best baits will be green/brown crawfish soft baits, dark worms (6-7) & white/yellow spinner baits. I personally like a Carolina Rig with 2-3' leader & ½ ox sinker.

From a friend who lives on an island in Beaver

That was good info!  Thanks!

Unfortunately, I only had one bite and landed that single fish but it was 11-7/8" long and a spotted bass.  On this lake, 12" is a keeper.

I fished all 8hrs and only got that one bite.  I was near the Prarrie Creek end of the lake near the launch of the tournament.  My boat only has an 85hp outboard and it's not worth it to drive all the way to the dam.  That would take me over an hour at  a WOT of 40mph.  

The guy that won the tournament had just over 10lbs and that'a always a great limit on this lake.  It usually wins the pro tournaments as well as local tournaments on tough fishing days.

The barometric pressure rose up to 30.28 that day and the water rose a foot overnight.  I found a group of feeding fish over a channel at the mouth of a cove in 40-50ft suspended on deep structure just below the thermocline.  The thermocline was around 16ft as I recall.  Later I found a few in the back of a cove around 19ft deep and on the bottom just below the therm.  I couldn't get a bite but another guy caught 5 fish off the same area just minutes before I got there.

So the fish were scattered and the only people that had any luck had to run far down river towards the dam.

Thanks to all those who replied.  You helped raise my confidance level and gave me hope that my bait selections were on par.