great lake little fish

[michiganbassassasin]

I just started fishing a new lake about two weeks ago. Its loaded with lily pads and weeds also there are alot of these weeds that look like coral theyve tangled anything ive tried. Every time i go out i probably catch twenty little guys but no keepers. Ive tried tubes, T rigged tikki sticks, weighted lizards, spinner bait, buzzbait, jig with pork chunk trailer, creature plastics and a hulapopper they have all produced fish but under the limit. The lake is about 50/50 deep shallow ive been catching all the little guys near shore but cant produce any hits in deep water. The water is clear and about 80 degrees. Good drop offs from 12 foot into about 30 feet of water.

[mack]

try going with bigger baits..sounds simple but i always think, big baits, big fish...you try a medium diving crank?

[Bender]

There is a spot on the lake by my house that looks like that. I think that it should be bass heaven but have a hard time catching good fish there. Have you tried dropping a senko in the holes and let it fall and sit there for a while? Also my brother fished with me there one day and he had luck with a pop-R using a walk-the-dog retieve along the edge of the pads. I did have my only big hit in there on a jig-n-pig but he only had the trailer.

[keithdog]

I'd try using a deep diving crankbait on the deeper edges of the weed beds.

[bassintom]

fish deeper.this time of year it seems(around here anyway)that the little guys are shallow.try the outside weed lines...but,skip the bait to the weededge.try 8 to 10 feet..the thickest weeds you can find.the weeds are only thick on top...also try the out edges of the pads.cast(flip,pitch)your bait up onto the pads drag it to the edge and let it fall.if nothing hits it,throw it again.look for anything different in the pads,like a stick poking out of the pads...or...sometimes they are really buried in the pads.get some 50 lb power pro,put a 7/0 hook (EWG) and a dark color(black works good in the daytime(it's hard to do this at night).when you push the hook into the end of the senko go in farther(3/4 of an inch or so).bury the hook point right into the senko.the way that's rigged you don't have to worry about a good hookset.flip the bait onto the pads,don't let it sit.immediately start reeling till you come to an opening in the pads and let it drop in.you may see a twitch or feel just a light something.set the hook hard.
all the above tactics have worked for me more than once...sometimes when it seemed like total lockjaw.

[vagabond]

I'm not adding anything new here, but just sharing an experience I had last weekend.

It was as you say where every cast you got multible bites and ended up hooking a tiny bass. So many of them that once I caught two at once on a Smithwick lure I was throwing.

It was to the point where our fingers were getting pretty cut up from hooking ourselves as we tried to take the hooks out of the fish, but not one fish was even half a pound.

We went out to the weed line and used weighted T-rigged plastic out to the deep and slowly brought it towards the weed line.

I wish I could say that it worked for me...it didn't. But my father-in-law caught two big fish. I don't remember what they weighed but I do remember that both were over five pounds and another that was right there close to five pounds.

He used bait that he poured and swears that it produces better than any store bought bait he's ever used (except at one lake) not sure if it's the bait or not. But like others have mentioned, I'd try the weedline if I were you.

Aaron

[Fishie1]

Get a big Sweet beaver and tie it on or a yum crawbug in the largest size hop this around on the deeper ledges....tooth pick the crawbug....
I got a lake like this around me too... works great!

[michiganbassassasin]

I dont like the deep diving cranks to many hangups. I tried throwing the senkos in the holes in the weeds also tried that with tubes. I think i just didnt spend enough time trying to catch the big boys. My girlfreind was just tearing up the little guys so i couldnt let her beat me. I think im gonna try a scum frog in those lilys. I also am using spiderwire braid in twenty pound test you just cant break that stuff and it cast just as good as a 10 pound test. The thing with the craws in these small ponds is that there are not any real ones for the fish to feed on or there very rare. I think im gonna try spikesome tubes with some alka seltzer see if that pisses them off enough to bite. Thanks for the tips fellas.

[bassnman30]

If all that your catching is small bass, then the lake may be overpopulated with fish. It may need to be cleaned out of small bass to make room for the bigger bass to grow.