local ponds ,rivers and large lakes

[nospotweld]

I made a comment on another post that i thought there was a difference between fishing local ponds where i have a lot of luck on compared to fishing larger rivers and larger lakes. i am new at fishing the rivers and lakes but have been out a few times with people that have been fishing them for years. i find it much harder to fish these larger places. Cajun i know you said to break these larger rivers and lakes into a small area , Believe me i have !!!! i am new at these places and am still learning how to fish for a limit on them . I have had luck on a river 1 time but am lookin forward to learnin more about them. Anyone have this same problem or am i not doin this right . Thanks for any input you have

[macgyver]

[quote author=NCBASSIN link=board=news;num=1109075282;start=0#0 date=02/22/05 at 07:28:02]I made a comment on another post that i thought there was a difference between fishing local ponds where i have a lot of luck on compared to fishing larger rivers and larger lakes. i am new at fishing the rivers and lakes but have been out a few times with people that have been fishing them for years. i find it much harder to fish these larger places. Cajun i know you said to break these larger rivers and lakes into a small area , Believe me i have !!!! i am new at these places and am still learning how to fish for a limit on them . I have had luck on a river 1 time but am lookin forward to learnin more about them. Anyone have this same problem or am i not doin this right . Thanks for any input you have[/quote]



Your thinking of the bigger lakes as big, but as cajun said break it down. Heres an example. Get a topo of the Lake. Then depending on the time of year figure out where most of the bass are during that time, prr-spawn/post-spawn/summer/fall/winter etc.. Now the fish will often be staging in different areas based on the time of year. So if say the winter bass are deeper, and usually close to roadways/channels, than cancel out all of the shallow water. Now you have a lot less to look at. Then look at which areas, have additional features such as curves, humps, rock pile, whatever, and key on those areas. Then if some of them have vegetation or wood, then thats the spots you should concentrate on and forget about the rest. Bass a creatures of habit, and try to put their habits into a pattern based on the time of year. And yes a big body of water can be intimidating, but break it down into smaller sections, and throw the worthless areas out the window.

Lizards

[Rob Mak]

which rivers are you tring to fish? which part of nc are you located?

zooker

[nospotweld]

im fishing the Neuse River , Trent River and NE Cape Fear River. I havnt tried Bass fishing in the NE Cape Fear yet but i plan to this spring. I also fish Sutton lake and harris

[ALAN_RAMSEY]

well i kinda agree with lizardsrule.

look at it like this!! break that large lake into several ponds and fish them according to the time of year. good topo and some imagination will help a-lot.
when fishing current water start with eddy breaks and work your way into the coves and shallow water. also I have been seeing alot of success with susspending jerks in the current and eddy breaks

[catfishtonyd]

When fishing a river, remember that current in the key. Think of current as wind. In cold weater, you want to get out of the wind. Fish are no different. In cold weather they like to get out of the current so that they don't expend any more energy than they have to. In the summer it's just the opposite. Moving water is cooler than standing water. Fish seek out current then. Current is also a "break". Anyplace where the direction and speed of the current changes, or where two currents meet is a potential hotspot.

In tidal rivers, the same thing applies, but the water runs both ways. Outgoing tide pulls water and nutrients out of areas and into the main river. As the water falls, baitfish and other forage out of their hiding places. Bass and other predators will "gang up" anywhere the water runs out of those areas. Where a creek meets a channel, where a feeder creek meets a creek, and so on down to a place where you see a trickle of water no bigger than a pencil running across a flat. Baitfish will come out and hold right along the waterline. The predator fish will usually be right on the first breakline waiting for forage to make a mistake and wander over the deeper water. Sometimes they won't wait, they'll run up into the shallow water and break up the schools of bait. Then it's JACKPOT time. Wooo Hoooo!!

Incoming tide has the opposite effect. Baitfish can move back up into the flooded areas and scatter. This makes it much harder for the predators to find them. The predator seems to understand that hunting is tougher at this time, and they tend to "shut off" during incoming. You can find some places where baitfish are forced to congregate, and if you find one, you can bet that predators have already found it too.

The best techinques I've found for incoming tide is to simpley put your trolling motor down, and cover ground. Fish can still be caught but you have to work harder and cover more area for them. I like to find pads or grass, and thow something like a rattle trap or a buzz bait. Make lots of casts

When fishing a lake, a good tip is to observe the terrain around where you're fishing. Try to imagine what it looked like before they flooded the lake. Is the land around flat? If so it's probably flat out under the water too. If it's steep and drops off suddenly, the same thing probably extends under the water. A gully above ground is probaby a ditch under water.

No matter where you're fishing think in terms of "breaks". A break is something different. A dropoff is a "break". So is a log in the water. Both will attract fish. A log that has fallen on a dropoff is a "break on a break". Even better.

A "break" can be anything. A place where two types of grass come together. A place where the shoreline changes from big chunk rock, to gravel, or gravel to sand. You get the idea. The bigger the change the better. Fish relate to these places the same way you relate to road signs. They tell them where they are, and how to get where they're going as they migrate from deep to shallow and back. A long flat area of mud for example doesn't give a fish anything to relate to, but if you put a couple of stumps on that same flat, suddenly the fish have a "hangout".

[nospotweld]

Thanks for all the help . Now if i can just get the right weather to put this to use ;D . You guys put up some killer info in this forum....thanks for all of it !!!!!!!!!!!

[hope]

Lizard, That was well put.

[macgyver]

[quote author=Hef link=board=news;num=1109075282;start=0#7 date=02/24/05 at 21:56:40]Lizard, That was well put.[/quote]

Thank you, you can't hang around some of these great fishing guys without learning a thing or 3

Lizards

[zman]

There was a post a couple weeks ago about backup strategies that I basically said the same thing for. Most of the times when you get skunked on a big lake it is because you try to do too much, cover too much water, get too far out in the open ect. I always tend to do my best when I migrate up creeks and rivers and focus on small areas, maybe no more than 35 acres, for the course of the day. As I get older I'm sure I will gain an appreciation for fishing in the open water, I do realize that I probably limit my chances of big fish by targeting smaller, shallower areas.