can't find the big bass

[Makitcnt4u]

On the lake I fish I have fished cliffs, points, the old streambed, the main channel, flats. I have been fishing this lake for 7 years and I have never seen any weeds, lillypads,duckweed,seaweed. All of the places I fish have plenty of cover and I also find places with plenty of structure on the bottom with my fishfinder. All I ever catch is small(1-2 pound bass). I've had the occasional 4 pound bass but I can't find any fish that are bigger. :'( ??? At all the tournaments they have 10-12 pound fish. What other landmarks should I fish? What other lures should I get to attract the big bass? ??? What should I do? Please Help me!

[Rich]

Right now I'd head up in the creeks. If the water is still above 60 the fish will be chasing shad in the backs of the creeks

[Makitcnt4u]

Good advice. The weekly report said it was 60 degrees exactly. There is a steam plant that lets out water that is in the high 70's would the bass travel up in there since the water is warmer? Should I just go up in the creeks with my fishfinder on and look at the bottom for structures?

[Rich]

The thing you want to find is baitfish. When the water temp starts dropping in the fall they move into the backs of creeks. Why, I do not know. The bass also start to feed heavily so they follow the baitfish. You can start by going as far back as you can and work your way back out or vice versa. Here "matching the hatch" is a real benefit-if you can see what size the shad are try to use a bait that is the same size. Since the fish are active (or should be ;D ) a crankbait is probably the bait to use, with a spinnerbait second. However, don't hesitate to throw something like a shad colored Super Fluke. Work the cover that can act as an ambush point for the bass. If you don't do any good there, it couldn't hurt to check out the hot water discharge area-like people, bass like to be comfortable ;D.

[mike0062466]

They just did a very interesting series of articles on big bass which shatters some myths. It can be found on BassFan and features a guy from California who has 300+ 10-pounders on artificials.

http://www.bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=1179

[Rich]

Good article, Marty. Thanks!

[Makitcnt4u]

Thanks alot Marty! That was a great article. I'm going fishing tommorrow and I will try to apply what the article said and what Rebbasser told me. Great info from both of you. Thanks again!!

[Makitcnt4u]

Rebbasser-
Should I use a rattletrap resembling a shad or baitfish?
What is your favorite lure or bait to use that imitates a shad? Â*What is a good wintertime bass bait? Â*Will the bass be bedding up in the far up end of these creeks? Â*What should I look for to locate the big bass' bed?

Also What depth should I be fishing for big bass?

[Rich]

A trap is a great bait-I like Smokey Joe or chrome/blue back. I vary the speed of the retrieve and work them as close to cover as possible.

I also like a Mann's minus one, a Strike King series one or a Bandit 100 series in this situation. All of them run real shallow, which makes them ideal for the shallow water in the back of a creek. the thing to remember with a crankbait is to make it hit things-rocks, wood, etc. When they bounce off something the erratic action is what triggers the bite. The crankbaits I listed have a square bill rather than a round one which allows them to deflect off things rather than get hung up.

Good wintertime baits-I mainly use 4: A jig-n-pig, a suspending jerkbait like a Smithwick Rogue, A teilspinner like a Little George, and a jigging spoon. the tailspinner and spoon are for when they are deep and suspended. The jig-n-pig I throw the most, and the suspending jerkbait I use when the water is 50-55 and work it slow.

The bass won't be bedding until the spring when the spawn is in progress. What they will be doing is feeding for the winter, so fish the cover that they can use as an ambush point.

The depth-that really depends on where you are fishing. The larger fish are usually a little deeper, so if you are catching small ones shallow try backing off into water that is a little deeper. Hope this helps and good luck tomorrow. I'm going out too, so post back and let us know how you did.

[Makitcnt4u]

Thanks for all the info. I'll post it in this message. Let me know how you do. Good luck tommorrow!!

[Makitcnt4u]

I am not very familiar with jerkbaits. How should I retrieve them? Should I count the lure down to a certain depth? What depth do you typically fish with it at?

[macgyver]

[quote author=lonestarboater link=board=MessBoards;num=1102119059;start=0#0 date=12/03/04 at 19:10:59]On the lake I fish I have fished cliffs, points, the old streambed, the main channel, flats. I have been fishing this lake for 7 years and I have never seen any weeds, lillypads,duckweed,seaweed. All of the places I fish have plenty of cover and I also find places with plenty of structure on the bottom with my fishfinder. All I ever catch is small(1-2 pound bass). I've had the occasional 4 pound bass but I can't find any fish that are bigger. :'( ??? At all the tournaments they have 10-12 pound fish. What other landmarks should I fish? What other lures should I get to attract the big bass? ??? What should I do? Please Help me! [/quote]


Always good advice from Reb and Marty ;D One other thing to remember is that a body of water can only support x amount of fish(usually given by total weight) So if you have thousands of smaller fish, there may not be a whole lot of Bigger fish, so some culling of the smaller ones may help to get some of the bigger ones. I will also say, that night fishing is also a very good time to catch some Hawgs, since they will feed more at night then during the day from my experience. Sounds like you have a good heat source to keep the water warm year round, so there really should be some Hawgs in there. I am however a little confused, when you say there is no vegetation, but you say there is a lot of cover ??? What type of cover are we talking, tree stumps, laydowns? If you can find some structure, combined with cover, around an area that has access to both shallower, and deeper water, that's where I would concentrate on. I realize you are probably out or ready to go out, perhaps you will catch the Hawg today

Lizards

[Makitcnt4u]

There are alot of old cedar tree stumps and logs& sticks all over the bottom. I have seen some duckweed and seaweed type stuff in the past but it has all diappeared. I think it was either from pollution by boat traffic or wildlife resources wanted to get rid of it. I mainly fish around old logs and stumps. This lake is part of the cumberland river so it is not uncommon to see a whole tree floating down the channel. There are places with tons of cover. I know there are big fish because the lake is 50 years old and it is connected with 4 or 5 other very old lakes too.

[OhioBass]

just a thought but...I'd head to the creekbeds and throw a albino or smokin shad fluke ;D

[Makitcnt4u]

What color is albino? I haven't seen that before. Is it like pearl? Thanks for the advice.

How should I rig a fluke for shallow water?(weight or no weight? If wieght how much weight?)

[OhioBass]

[quote author=lonestarboater link=board=MessBoards;num=1102119059;start=0#14 date=12/04/04 at 10:29:48]What color is albino? Â*I haven't seen that before. Â*Is it like pearl? Â*Thanks for the advice.

How should I rig a fluke for shallow water?(weight or no weight? Â*If wieght how much weight?)[/quote]
yea its like pearl...i'd rig it weightless

[Makitcnt4u]

how far back should I go into these creeks? Most of the creeks get down to about 1 foot at the very end and are about 20 feet at the most. I would think big bass wouldn't want to go alll the way up because there is not enough water depth for them. Would this be true?

[OhioBass]

[quote author=lonestarboater link=board=MessBoards;num=1102119059;start=0#16 date=12/04/04 at 12:06:06]how far back should I go into these creeks? Â*Most of the creeks get down to about 1 foot at the very end and are about 20 feet at the most. Â*I would think big bass wouldn't want to go alll the way up because there is not enough water depth for them. Â*Would this be true? Â*[/quote]
you better ask reb or zook about that

[Rich]

Spent about 3 hours this morning on the water, and could not buy a hit . Â*However, the fact the lake was up at least 30 feet probably had something to do with it. Â*First time I ever launched the boat while still in the parking lot rather than on the ramp ;D. Â*Never seen the lake that high. Â*Only a couple of other folks out and they found the same thing we did-the fish were real scattered so nobody was catching anything. Â*Fun to get out, though. Â*As we were getting the boat on the trailer I noticed the water had fallen a couple of feet. Â*Wish I had known that it was falling when we launched-would have fished a little deeper since falling water pulls the fish out of the shallows to dropoffs near deeper water.

Lonestar, Albino is pearl colored. Â*

We threw cranks, tiki sticks, flukes, jig-n-pig-no takers.

To answer your question, I throw the flukes rigged weedless and weightless. like a Texas rig but with no weight on it. Â*Cast it out, let it sink, and work it with soft twitches of the rod tip. Â*Regarding the depth of the creek, I'd fish 10 feet and less, working the edges where fish can set up ambush points.

Jerkbaits-two kinds: Â*soft and hard. Â*The soft is like a fluke. Â*A hard jerkbait is like a Rapala minnow. Â*There are two types I use: Â*floating and suspending. Â*Floating I use in the spring and in warmer water often like a topwater-twitch it on the surface or pull it under and let it float back to the surface. Â*Suspending I fish a little differently. Â*Cast it out, crank it down, and stop. Â*It will suspend, or stay right where you stopped it in the water column. Â*This is a great cold water bait, and the colder the water, the longer I let it sit and then gently twitch it, letting it sit and suspend again.

Since you are fishing a lot of wood I'd keep a jig-n-pig handy. Â*For jig fishing I use a heavy action rod and 50 lb Powerpro braid line. Â*It has a 12 lb mono diameter but is extremely sensitive and durable. Â*I'd throw into the heaviest cover you can find and let the jig fall down into the cover. Â*If you get a hit that is where the braid comes into play-you can horse a fish out of heavy cover that would mangle mono line. Â*

If you are not sure about some of these baits post back and I'll put up some pictures of them so you can see it-works much better than trying to describe something ;D

Afterthought on jigs: Â*When the water is above 60 or so I use a baby brush hog or something like that as a trailer-the fluttering legs seem to get more strikes. Â*Below 60 I use a Zoom chunk, and below 45-50 I go with the real thing, an Uncle Josh pork frog.

[macgyver]

[quote author=lonestarboater link=board=MessBoards;num=1102119059;start=0#12 date=12/04/04 at 10:10:18]There are alot of old cedar tree stumps and logs& sticks all over the bottom. I have seen some duckweed and seaweed type stuff in the past but it has all diappeared. I think it was either from pollution by boat traffic or wildlife resources wanted to get rid of it. I mainly fish around old logs and stumps. This lake is part of the cumberland river so it is not uncommon to see a whole tree floating down the channel. There are places with tons of cover. I know there are big fish because the lake is 50 years old and it is connected with 4 or 5 other very old lakes too.[/quote]


I know I know, but around wood, Lizards are very hard to beat, and as Reb states a PnJ or brush hog, or any creature bait. Definately bang some cranks of of the stumps, and Hold on

Lizards

[Rich]

Good point-lizards are hard to beat-Lizards ;D

[macgyver]

[quote author=Rebbasser link=board=MessBoards;num=1102119059;start=0#18 date=12/04/04 at 13:52:58]Spent about 3 hours this morning on the water, and could not buy a hit . However, the fact the lake was up at least 30 feet probably had something to do with it. First time I ever launched the boat while still in the parking lot rather than on the ramp ;D. Never seen the lake that high. Only a couple of other folks out and they found the same thing we did-the fish were real scattered so nobody was catching anything. Fun to get out, though. As we were getting the boat on the trailer I noticed the water had fallen a couple of feet. Wish I had known that it was falling when we launched-would have fished a little deeper since falling water pulls the fish out of the shallows to dropoffs near deeper water.

[/quote]

Sorry you didn't catch anything, but you did get to go out
I haven't been on the water in a month :P But I'm going to the coal pit tommorrow, even if it kills me The weather has been high lower to mid 40's, and low's in the low 30's, mostly my bird bath is frozen in the am :P Tommorrow supposed to get up to the 50's, and a rain coming in later in the afternoon. I'm hoping the conditions will get em to turn on 1 last time before the freeze hits, with it warming and the barometer falling ??? I love fishing in the rain, but it will be cold on the water if it does, but I don't care, I gotta go fishing ;D

Lizards

[Rob Mak]

seeing the bass are schooled up right now if ya caught one bass. pitch the tent you will be there a while.as for how far back in the creek i let the bass tell me. last weekend i was fishing a chunk of lay down on the wind blown side sitting in 17 feet of water and hitting the bank with the old john deer-yeah i found another one-spinnerbait,and a fire tiger and/or gold trap. catching bass from boat side to 6" of water. there was a good tree and a lone stump the 2 of us worked for 3 hours and got 8 out of there.

zooker

[Makitcnt4u]

The lake over here was up about 6 feet too. I went fishing today but had no luck. I fished this place way up in the creek where there are trees everywhere in the water. It was still plenty deep though. All the other boats are afraid to go up in there because in some places it's really shallow. I had fish jumping all around me but nothing was taking it.Â*Nothing was going on. Â*I fished some senkos, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, topwater, buzzbaits, tiny brush hogs, rat-l-traps, flukes, grubs, anything I could think of. Â*nothing hit them. Â*It was good just to get back out on the lake a drive a little bit. Â*I fished till sunset but nothing took my offers. Â*being that I have a 12 foot jon boat and that 25 hp I have on it lets it go about 32mph. Â*I was FREEZING out there. Â*Next weekend i'm gonna put my boat in by the steam plant on the lake and fish all up in there all day. Â*

[Makitcnt4u]

Rebbasser-
Could you give me more info on everything there is to know about a jig-n-pig? I am definately going to use a real pork trailer this time of year such as Uncle Josh's. should I just let it sit there or give it some action? They mention jig-n-pigs evry week in the lake's weekly report but I have never known enough about them to fish them.