How would you fish this

[Bmuskin]

I decided I must do some bass fishing this past Saturday. I went to a conservation state property about 20 miles north of me. It is a 35 acre remote lake. No roads just trails and some grown up craziness. I got there about 6am and hiked in. There are supposed to be nice bass in there. I threw Senkos, Floating worms, Texposed worms, Spinnerbaits, Cranks, Hulapoppers and nothing.
I gave up about 9am and went to another area. 17 acre lake and 2 smaller ponds. The temperature was about 90 at this point and sunny. The lake was clear and low fished it for a few and nothing here either. Just for fun I went to one of the small ponds. It was covered with some type of green seed like material. I discovered that a senko would barely sink so I started fishing and found a brown with silver flake in a 5 inch size that starting producing. I ended up catching 2 in the 15-16 inch range to salvage my day. I missed a few and some got off when they were caught up in salad. A buzzbait got clogged as did a spinner or just about anything else. My scumfrog was also ingnored. Any ideas on how to fish this pond? Curious to hear what anyone else would have tried. I am posting pics from my phone. The first pics are the area where I was skunked & the last pic is from the smaller pond where I caught some at 11 am. Notice the tracks I left.

[cassidyta]

I also made a hike to lake yesterday. Threw everything I had and it wasn't till I went C-rig with a fluke that I had any luck. Water was clear and I could see some interest in jigs, but they disappeared into the muck to fast to get a bite.
Out here, we have the blue gill spawning now and the earliest baby bass are making their way out of the vegetation. I think it is affecting the bite on some of the lakes.

[jooleyen]

I'm just curious on how this is working, but how did I have the bluegill spawn over a month ago and our weather isn't nearly as hot as San Diego's? I don't get it.

[Snake2715]

Ok.

That last pic is what I ran up against... Some people said to penetrate the slop with say a Yum Wooly weighted, or say a Jig N pig.

In my situation I did exactly that and had the best luck top water. Make sure you have a 4/0 or 5/0 hook if you are going to use the rage toads, or other similar Horney Toads etc.
What I have produced on, and watched many people catch stuff on in that last picture is those hollow mice, or "snag proof" brand frogs... they are a light, hollow body with two hooks coming out from under and over the top. The Snag proof is actually weighted so it sits upright on landing.

Fish it slow over the top and if you come to a thin or small opening in the seeds/vegetation stop for a second and then pop it in and across the top. This will work, I would suggest early or later in the day.

Again the hollow bodies will produce for you there. Fan your casts out a little.

[dubyatee]

I second the frog suggestion. the two bottom pics are just begging for a frog to be thrown. Just keep casting and varying you retrieve. Also make sure you tie the frog onto a rod that has some backbone to haul them out of that thick stuff.

[Bmuskin]

They did not like the scumfrog. It was the basic scum frog as shown in the pic. I have a couple of different colors of this. The seemed to ignore it but were bloeing up on the Senko.
I was using a shimano rod medium 10-20 pound line with a medium fast tip. It has a Daiwa Megaforce on it. I recently put Power Pro 30 pound braid on it after having 14 pound mono snap in the weeds and brush.
I tried a worm a few times unweighted and was throwing this on a Okuma spinning reel with a Fenwick HMG rod and 17 pound fireline braid. Really these are the only 2 poles I carry.
I like the Senko for barely sinking through this and not catching a bunch of salad. I liked how the frog worked and that it did not get clogged up. I might have been working it to fast as it was so hot and late in the morning. I bet if I worked the frog slow at dusk or dawn it would do something in this mess.
The first 3 pics was another area where I did not even get a strike after 3 hours.

[Snake2715]

I would have my kayak on one of those top lakes. Especially if its not hit that much.


Does the maps.live.com link cover your area in the "Eagle Eye" view?

http://www.bassfishin.com/bassfishin...ad.php?t=16327

[cassidyta]

I'm just curious on how this is working, but how did I have the bluegill spawn over a month ago and our weather isn't nearly as hot as San Diego's? I don't get it.


The two biggest impacts to the fishing that I have seen this year are the results from our last batch of wildfires and the water levels.
The amount of ash that fell into these lakes appeared to push almost all spawns back a month or so.
We have had a very dry year and water levels are feet lower than they had been. I think that this disrupted the normal spawning locations. I agree that this is a very late spawn, but I know that even on Saturday, the gills were on the beds. I watched several attack other gills and even bass that made it close to the beds.

[Bmuskin]

Originally Posted by Snake2715

I would have my kayak on one of those top lakes. Especially if its not hit that much.


Does the maps.live.com link cover your area in the "Eagle Eye" view?

http://www.bassfishin.com/bassfishin...ad.php?t=16327

Yes it does cover this area the areas are only 20 miles or so out of Kansas City. Both are state owned conservation areas. I quit fishing before I moved here because of lack of time and no areas in cities. I went once here and hunted some of these areas and now I have been bitten by the bug again hard. Unfortunately the bait monkey also showed up.