Todays results... (interactive)
Try something a little different - an interactive fishing report...Fished a lake today called Summit, in east Central Indiana. Caught 17,
without a single keeper. What do you guys think I should have changed to
find the bigger guys? Here's lake info and what I did:
Lake is usually clear to 5ft or so. Today, it was a little dingier then
normal and about a foot higher, with the water level dropping very slowly.
I could see a white lute in about three feet of water. The lake is around
800 acres, and has major weedbeds of coontail, with interspersed beds of
curlyleaf pondweed deep, and slender pondweed up shallow. The reservoir is
of the age where many of the old stick-ups have fallen over into the water.
There were not a lot to begin with.
Wind was blowing about 15mph from the north/northeast, and the lake
offers very little relief from the wind, so it whitecaps pretty easily.
I found my fish in two basic places. First was on points with the wind
blowing directly in on them, or across, with stick-ups in place or fallen
down. I was casting a Bill Norman Middle N crankbait (in white with a lt
purple back) in and retrieving it with the rod tip high to work my way over
the weeds. The second was around the larger stick-ups that were next to an
old channel. I have marked up my topo and placed it on the rofb website. http://rofb.net/gallery//displayimage.php?pos=-28 One thing to keep in mind, this lake is very busy, and usully has a boat on
almost every point by 7:00am. I had the majority of windblown points to
myself because of the windspeed today, but it made it dificult to fish a
soft plastic without a heavy weight. The heavy weight causes tons of
hangups in the weeds...sooooo.... I tried a 6"culprit a little today but
wasn't really into while catching 17 small bass on a crankbait... :-) Anyone like to add their input, jump right in... |
Andrew
Jun 19
2004
|
| Forgot to also mention that I used a white 1/4oz spinnerbait with silver
willow blade and a smaller silver indiana blade. Used it quite a bit with no
action! Also used a buzzbait early (5:30am) with no luck.
|
Andrew
Jun 19
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| Guess I should have read the second post. LOL! Brad Coovert
2003 Angler of the Year, Greenfield Bassmasters
http://www.greenfieldbassmasters.com |
sweepers
Jun 20
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| Right there is your problem, you were throwing the wrong color and size Norman!
Where was the ol' standby? ;-) Seriously, did YOU not try a spinnerbait? It's like your second bait after a
crankbait, is it not? Fishing a spinnerbait over and in the weeds and ripping
it free from time to time might have gotten a bigger bite. Maybe slow rolling
the bait over and around the deeper weeds. I would have also had to try a Crigged plastic in the grass beds. I know it's
a pain in the rear to do it in the weeds, but it can pay off. I've fished in
the wind in weeds and got away with using a 3/8 oz. bullet weight on the Crig.
I could still cast and feel the weeds and the hangups were a bit less. Brad Coovert
2003 Angler of the Year, Greenfield Bassmasters
http://www.greenfieldbassmasters.com |
sweepers
Jun 20
|
|
I was really surprised the spinnerbait didn't work. I used it during the
time I was using the buzzbait, cause there were fish breaking on shad all
over the place in the cove where I launched. Any good tricks for holding the worm on the hook in the weeds while
C-rigging? I don't mind the weeds, but having to adjust the worm after
every other cast gets a little frustrating... Maybe I need to get one tha
floats a little better...
|
Andrew
Jun 20
|
| Try a thinner wire hook. or try a dab of superglue ... or try a
different hook shape. or a different style worm....or modify a walleye
worm rig w/ floats to be your c - rig leader ... or try the new
superflexxx plastics..... |
zenbasser1
Jun 20
|
| Are you sure you didn't have spawning shad? I ran into that on Mittry Lake
back in March. Shad were busting up and down both banks were I was fishing,
and there was nothing chasing them. In open water I would have tried a popper. Then gone to a sub surface shad
imitator like a Kastmaster in blue and chrome or a shad pattern crank bait.
If that didn't work I would probably have tried dropping wacky Kinami Flash
natural shad color stick worms through the bustting shad. I don't mind sharing that with you Andrew. I think you're one of the guys
who helped me figure out that sequence of fishing in busting bait fish for
bass last year when I asked. Of course if there are striper in the area you
will catch them too using that pattern.
|
Bob
Jun 20
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| > In open water I would have tried a popper. Then gone to a sub surface |
Andrew
Jun 21
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| Have used a gamakatsu straight and offset hook. Don't like circle or EWG
hooks. Even though I don't really like super glue...or should I say it
doesn't like me (picture guy with new hook stuck to finger), I might have to
consider this... Have used berkley lizards, zoom centipedes and standard culprit worms. Might have to try the superflexxx plastics...
|
Andrew
Jun 21
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| > In open water I would have tried a popper. Then gone to a sub surface |
Andrew
Jun 21
|
| Have used a gamakatsu straight and offset hook. Don't like circle or EWG
hooks. Even though I don't really like super glue...or should I say it
doesn't like me (picture guy with new hook stuck to finger), I might have to
consider this... Have used berkley lizards, zoom centipedes and standard culprit worms. Might have to try the superflexxx plastics...
|
Andrew
Jun 21
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| > In open water I would have tried a popper. Then gone to a sub surface |
Andrew
Jun 21
|
| Get under the school. Big bass will kick back and suck up wounded falling
bait fish while smaller ones are slashing through the school and wounding
fish. The Kastmaster is good because you can cast it beyond the school and
give it a pull and fall retrieve as it passes under the bait fish. I like
the stick worm too. Others I have heard will go to a a crank bait that runs
4-6 ft so it will cut under the school, but I prefer the Kastmaster of the
stick worm. The crankbait I prefer were there is more of an ambush
situation. -- |
Bob
Jun 21
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|
Bob,
I have not been very clear here. The shad busting only lasted maybe
fifteen minutes tops. I couldn't connect with any of them at all. Of the
17 fish I caught, none were in this topwater style shad busting... The fish
were not balled up on any one school of shad (or so it appeared), they were
all up and down this weed edge. I do agree with what you're saying,
although it would have only given me a chance at another fish or two. I was
thinking of ways to enhance the crankbait pattern I was on to try and catch
larger fish, instead of just quantity... Thanks for replying....
|
Andrew
Jun 21
|
| Sorry Andrew. I mistook your whole explanation. I probably would have
still tried to follow my patern. When I get into something I usually have
4-6 rods strapped to the front deck and another half dozen in the locker.
I've even been known to throw out a stick worm and let it drop then take a
popper and work it right over the top of the falling worm. (only when fun
fishing) For those who don't know you are only allowed to have one line in
the water per angler in most tournaments. There are exceptions. I have
seen guys in walleye tournaments jigging with a rod in each ahnd before.
|
Bob
Jun 21
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| Superglue. Doc
= "Andrew Kidd" <spamxwebmaster@rofb.net> wrote in message news:x6oBc.66701$Hg2.8114@attbi_s04...
I was really surprised the spinnerbait didn't work. I used it during the
time I was using the buzzbait, cause there were fish breaking on shad all
over the place in the cove where I launched. Any good tricks for holding the worm on the hook in the weeds while
C-rigging? I don't mind the weeds, but having to adjust the worm after
every other cast gets a little frustrating... Maybe I need to get one tha
floats a little better...
|
Doc
Jun 21
|
| Pro's Soft Bait Glue or a toothpick through the eye of the hook and bait. Brad Coovert
2003 Angler of the Year, Greenfield Bassmasters
http://www.greenfieldbassmasters.com |
sweepers
Jun 22
|
