Plea for help......not a bite

[ricqik]

I can kick azz catching 3-4lb-ers from bass opener till the temp hits 90's like the past 2-3 weeks and I'm dead in the water. I see others hauling those 3-4lb'ers I used to catch in the shalllows and now they are pulling them on bars, outside weedlines, humps(rock hump too). I just can't seem to catch any. Fishing shallows is still producing but only 12-13inchers with an occasional 15". I've tried fishing deep for the past 1.5 weeks to no avail. I used jigs, texas, even fished weightless down to what I believe is bass suspending in 14'of water and deep diving cranks, still nothing. I seen guys in tournaments sit at one hump or bar all day and weigh in 24-26lbs. I've even tried their spots a week or so after and nothing. What can I do?

[Deitz Dittrich]

Ric, here is my advise for you...

Its all a mind set, when you are fishing shallow do you catch fish all over or do you catch fish on a small part of a piece of cover. You may have a shore line that you do well on, but there is one piece of wood that you always catch a good fish on. Or one dock that always produces a good fish. Right?

Deep water fishing is the same, a hump does not produce fish, yet a very small part on the hump will. These deep water angers are still fishing very small pieces of structure or cover, not the bar as a whole. And then to mess things up, those fish will sometimes move to a different spot in hours, much like they do shallow. Its a matter of finding the spot on a spot. The part that is holding the fish, rock trasitions, wood, access to deep water...

Trust me, I was in your shoes as little as about 5 years ago. I could place in the money in many tournaments in the spring or fall, but I was just donating my money once july and aug hit. For me it was realizing that it was not the bar holding the fish, but a small piece of that bar/hump/point/weedline.

An underwater camera can pull the learning curve to something quite manageable. Knowing fish are there and thinking fish are there are 2 totally different things. Get a Aqua-vu, and start learning what is down there.

Lastly, once you do get the hang of it, it is QUITE rewarding. When you find your first SCHOOL of bass, and catch 12-20 fish without ever moving your boat...Then you will know what you have been missing!

[Muddog]

I'm hear you Deitz Dittrich. Your right on the money.

This is the best time of year for Bass fishing for me. I start by trolling crank-baits (Spoonpluges) on the out side edges of large flats. If I get a hit I mark it on my GPS.

Last year I found a sweet spot doing this. It is a hump 1 foot high with 5" grass on it in 13' of water. This year I have made 3 trips to the spot (It's around 30'x30') and have hooked 5 fish over 15" two of them over 18". I have a friend comming from Wis, soon. So I'm saving the spot for then.

After I find the spots I throw a Texas rig 10" worm. Take a fish or two move to the next way-point and then do it again. I do think once you find the spot and the fish are feeding you could throw almost anything.

The main point is, cover alot of deeper water this time of year. 15'-17' is not to deep. Work hard at it and Mark your spots. You will find schools of just large fish that will be there every year come late July.

[Lunker]

I'm not a great deep water fisherman either, and am still trying to master it. The other day I was out on Bryant here in the cities for the first time, and was having the same trouble, nothing in shallow, in the weeds, or docks. The water was extremely murky, and I wasn't keeping much confidence about using finesse baits(plastics) so I started chuckin a big double bladed black spinnerbait out from the deeper weedlines, hoping the profile and thumping would attract some deeper bass. It wasn't attracting huge numbers, but in the hour and a half or so that I was casting it(middle of the afternoon I might add) I caught a 20", 18", and 15". Deeper milfoil weedlines.

[EBass]

Nice Job Lunker! Bryant can be a hard lake to fish with the jet skiers zipping by all friggen day. I'm surprised no tigers had a whack at the spinner.

Later

[Lunker]

Thanks. I was a little surprised I didn't have any pike or muskie hit either. When I hooked into the 20" I thought I did. Was making deep runs, and with the water clarity I was expecting to se a pike or ski come up, but not the case. I fished it on a weekday, so the rec boaters weren't too bad, although any is too many

[ricqik]

Oops, double posts.

[ricqik]

I'll try it again, this time spending more time and working more thoroughly. I did have an aqua-vu a couple of years ago. The wires near the camera must of pinched over time from wrapping it on it's carrier thing, cuz it stopped working unless I massage the first 1' of wire till it connects again. Eventually it quit all together so it's trash after that. It still works just no camera and they wanted $300 for the camera with wires.