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Structure Fishing Question
I've been watching the recent Woo Daves dvd I purchased on structure
fishing and doing some off season reading. Here's where I'm hung up I guess.
On the dvd with Woo he's fishing a lake, a big one and obviously there's
"some" current, but not like one would have on a river. And the rivers we
have around here flow pretty darn fast. Knowing that large mouth bass don't like current, how does what I'm
learning about fishing off shore mix? I mean if I pull off the banks here
and try to fish a ledge 30-40 yards off shore the water's really flowing.
Will they hang on a ledge in deep water where there's current? And if not
isn't all this off shore stuff mute for where I fish? I"m haveing the same
visualization problems with all of the structure I've been reading about
e.g. humps, sunken islands, ditches etc. Anyone that can help reconcile this
for I'd sure appreciate it. The other thing is that I know I can run over the structure with my
graph, but we have our fair share of rough fish here and cats etc. so it
will be really hard for me to tell the difference. Thanks in advance for any
thoughts or clarifying help.
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Joshuall
Mar 2
2005
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| In the lakes I fish, largemouth love current. If they are generating at
the dam and current is moving across ledges, humps and points, the
largemouth bite can be fantastic. As soon as the current stops, so does
the bite. This is true on lake like Eufaula, West Point, Bartlett's
Ferry, Siclair, Oconee and others that have current from power
generation or pumpback. That is one reason fishing is much better on
weekdays than the weekends - they seldom move water on weekends. Bass will move up on top of points, humps and ledges, usually on the
upstream side, when current is moving across them. Current moves shad
to them. I have fished in current on the above lakes where I had to
stay on the trolling motor pretty hard to hold in one place. A big
crankbait that will hit the bottom is usually my best bait, followed by
a Carolina rig. Ronnie
fishing.guide@about.com
http://fishing.about.com |
Ronnie
Mar 2
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| Joshuall, It depends, if you are talking LM, how much shoreline structure is
availalbe?? What other species inhabit the lake. Are LM the dominant
species, or do you have Pike, Walleye, Smallmouth? Bass naturally are
not a schooling fish. They may gather in packs to hunt, but school and
feel in open water when they are forced, such as lack of cover and prey
in shallow water. Are there weeds on these humps? If so, the current
will not be much of any issue. also how far down is the top of the hump.
If you have a lot of current you can use the hump to your advantage and
depending on how deep the top of the hump is. The fish locations on
the hump will be predictable if you have considerable current. View it
like a river, if the current travels north to south, and it is
significant, I would focus on the front of the hump and the back side of
the hump. Depending on how deep the top of the hump is again, the front
can be just as good, because as the current flows over the hump, the
water hits the front and flows downward creating a current break at the
front of the hump. Now does your offshore structure even hold LM, again that depends on
competition for food, and availability of normal cover (weeds,
availability of prey, etc). If LM are your primary species you could
definitely find them out on open water, but if they are not, and you
have a lot of pike, and maybe walleye, and say the humps are just rock,
chances become slimmer. The first thing I do when I look at a map is
find spawning areas. I figure that is something as sure as paying
taxes. You know the fish biologically get the urge to spawn. From the
spawning area I widen my view to find points, humps, flats, and from
there I determine where they could possibly winter, and areas they can
use in transition. In searching for LM in open water, I never just pick
an arbitrary hump out in the middle of the lake. But then again I have
never fished a lake where there was a lack of shoreline cover, and bass
were the primary species. All I have to go off is books, videos,
magazines. I know the lake I fish LM are not the primary species, and
the walleye guys dominate the reefs, and smallmouth are packed on them
from time to time. LM relate to typical shallow structure, and our
deepest weedline is 5'. So for you , there are a lot of factors that
will determine if you have fish offshore, and if you do, what offshore
structure they use. Questions I would ask if it was my first time on your lake is, primary
and secondary forage, other species, are bass the dominant species,
deepest weedline, location of spawning areas, what offshore structure is
availabe (are the humps covered in weeds, or just straight rock), and of
course that is all dependent on time of year, if the water was 55
degrees I wouldn't be fishing offshore structure (first). Hope this helps Chris |
Chris
Mar 2
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| Ronnie, I think Jay Yelas would agree with you 100% about the generated currents
and how they bite as the current is being generated. He counted on it
for 3 days and it paid off big time :-). Chris |
Chris
Mar 2
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| LMB like current. They just do not want to be in it. The Sacramento Delta
is a tidal river system, and there is always current. Sometimes down river,
other times up river. The bass lay behind structure, out of the current and
let the current bring them an easy meal. That way they just dart out into
the current, munch and go back behind the current breaking structure. |
Calif
Mar 2
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| I think it's more of a question of the bass positioning themselves in
predictable locations then it is a feeding scenario, much like it is in
tidal rivers. The no-current scenario in your lakes is on par with the
slack tide situations I face. The fish don't really stop eating during the
slack tide, but they do scatter & reposition themselves when the water stops
moving. Warren |
go-bassn
Mar 2
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| Northern bass must be very different from southern bass - our bass
school all year long, hunting in big schools following the shad,
especially in open water during the summer. There is lots of sunfish in
shallow water, but they prefer shad. This is even in lakes full of
hydrilla. |
Ronnie
Mar 2
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| They are still there - you can see them on a deptfinder. They do move
off the structure and suspend, and I have a very tough time getting them
to hit. As soon as the current starts they move into contact with the
structure and feed. This movement is often just a few feet - straight
out over deeper water. |
Ronnie
Mar 2
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| That was something I never realized till I fished Oconee and Sinclair way
back with a guy that knew the lakes.As soon as he knew they had stopped
"pullin' water" he would start organizing his tackle and getting ready to
leave.Till then we had been on fish.
Poof! I was enlightened to the effects of current in a reservoir. |
Bass_Mr.
Mar 3
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| Here in East Texas, the way largemouths react to current is lake dependant.
A lake like Toledo Bend, where they pull water for power generation, the
largemouth bite will turn on when they are pulling water. The current is
sometimes quite noticeable miles up the lake from the dam. Just as in a
river, the bass will nearly alway face upstream, i.e., into the current, and
generally be close to whatever structure is present using it as a current
break. Whereas, on a lake such as Lake Fork, whenever they are pulling water to
maintain lake level, the bass bite will slow down noticeably. The bass will
generally pull back into deeper water and may often suspend. When they do
this, it can be pain to get them to bite, even when you locate them. |
Doyce
Mar 2
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| Big difference there is the shad. We have very few lakes with shad or any
kind of major schooling fish that bass would prey on. |
Steve
Mar 2
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