Fishing Heavy Pressured Waters

[CMorg]

I have finally joined a bass club , the first of next month I have my first tourny. It is in a 900ish acre lake , according to the internet it takes almost 20 pounds with 5 fish to win. It is heavily pressured. What type of lures would you use this time of year for heavy pressure , and big bass ?

[Tavery5]

Whats the water like?

[bamabassman]

Cmorg...........if it were me and with that much pressure on the lake, I would go SLOW with a worm in the UNUSUAL places. Creep it along and dead sticking. Maybe a 8-10 inch worm. Shaky head style too. Jigs also.

[keithdog]

I've always heard that in heavily pressured lakes, going with lighter tackle and smaller line will often be very helpful. But I question whether you really need to do anything differently right now this early in the year. I'm up here in northern Indiana and the ice has only been off the water about 3 weeks. I wouldn't think the pressure has been that bad yet this early on? Most of the guys I've seen fishing around here are looking for crappie now.

[Cavs1123]

I would try small baits like a grub on a jighead or a 3-4" senko in natural colors like watermelonseed. I would also go with 6-8lb fluorocarbon

[pig n jig]

Remember heavily pressured waters doesn't always mean that you downsize. You need to fish something they don't see a lot of or change colors and cadence on baits they do see often.Look for reaction bites by burning spinnerbaits and rattle traps.Don't spare any speed when looking for reaction bites, you can't reel them fast enough.

[landingcrew]

Look at what everyone else is doing, if there fishing slow, jigs, softies, dropshots, etc. then beat the water on the surface like it owes you money personally though that is what I would do, trust me it works.

[bamabassman]

Landingcrew has an EXCLENT point. Look at what the others are using, and change your bait and stlye a little to alot. Say if they are using buzzbaits, you use a frog topwater bait. I like to use the softer frogs cause they give off a little softer niose and still run on the top like a buzzer.

[Bob Smith]

I would guess the water temps up there to be in the upper 40s to low 50s right now and the bass to be in a pre-spawn mood. I would go with the lipless cranks and an erratic retrieve over and around staging points, corners and channel ledges/edges that enter traditional spawning flats and pockets (colors vary from body of water to body of water and clarity: Reds and oranges for dirtier water, golds and chrome for clearer situations). Always keep a suspending jerkbait on as well, they may want a more lethargic presentation and jerkbaits fill the order in that case.

[Embrey]

not sure exactly where that is, but around here, its 65 -70 deg

[Bob Smith]

Originally Posted by Embrey

not sure exactly where that is, but around here, its 65 -70 deg

Same here in North Georgia and North Alabama. I was guessing that since his location in the avatar said Washington, In., he might be in Indiana? They aren't as far into the spring warm up as we are here in Georgia!

[CMorg]

The lake is in the south to mid section of illinois. I went there today , no boat , just to get necessary stickers for my boat and an out of state license. Wednesday at 1pm , there were 27 trucks with trailers on in the parking lot. I have heard that on the weekends you may have to wait up to 30 minutes to launch due to the amount of people...did I mention this lake is heavily pressured ??

[Bob Smith]

Wow! Cmorg, kind of makes one wonder if it's worth all that?

[rodnreel]

I'm probably seeing about the same type of water temperatures as in Illinois. Water temps here are low 60's, anywhere in between 63-65 throughout the day. It would definitely benefit to be out on the water at the same time as all the other guys. You can see what they are throwing, this more than likely will clue you in on what SHOULD be working. However, if everyone is doing the same thing, like is so common on the lake I fish, the SHOULD's usually turn into SHOULD NOT's. Try to find something different like others have mentioned. I had some success this past week finding fish with a LC Sammy. Once I found them (they weren't eating it, but just smacking at it) I went in with a tube and caught them. But this was totally different from what others do, which is just flip/pitch the numerous docks. Don't be afraid to try those unconventional lures at unconventional times because it may pay off. Keep at it, you'll figure it out eventually

[bassinbob]

Chatterbait with a swim senko trailer. Look for emerging grass beds. Try to find grass beds with deeper water on outside edge.