a little beyond the ropes

Question
I read one of your responses from a beginning fisherman here in the Carolinas. I couldn't have asked for a better response.

I grew up with the notion that any rod would do, tie on a bobber and slap a worm on a hook. I soon realized that wasn't going to be enough for me. Over the past couple of years I've read everything I could get my hands on about fishing and put together a decent collection of tackle. I've moved past the panfish of bobbers, the catfish by default and for the moment, crappie. My brother and I are determined to really grasp the sport of bass fishing.

I've been going out just about every day since the spring and have had some decent luck with trial and error. For the time being, I am fishing from the shore, but hike wherever necessary to find coves and brush-laden holes. I do have a kyak, but my dog refuses to stay in the boat. :)The luck I have been having is on a carolina rigged frog and texas rigged dark-colored worm/salamander. Not a bite yet with anything else (spinner baits, chatter baits, jitterbugs, etc.), and all of my bass have been relatively small (I drool over the pictures in Bassin' magazine and my weekend fishing shows).

My question is, what can I do to make my fishing more effective? What are the signs for fishing one lure as opposed to another. Why do I keep missing strikes on toads? How can I achieve the advantage in reading the area I'm fishing without a depth finder (I did purchase a map of the lake, but it has done little good). Where should I be fishing for the lunkers? I realize that was more than a question. My apologies.

I'm especially at a loss now, with the hot Carolina sun cooking the lake all day affecting the feeding habits of the largemouth. I caught a nice bass tonight right after sunset, much to my surprise.

I don't have any "expert" to go out with and show me if I'm doing anything incorrectly. I guess I'm just looking for some experience-based advice on how to more efficiently land bass. Thanks so much for making yourself available to guys like us.

Answer
1 making fishing more effective
2 signs for fishing one lure vs. another
3 why keep missing strikes on toads
4 how read area without boat or depthfinder
5 use of map
6 where are the lunkers
7 hot sun affecting feeding habits of bass
8 fishing at sunset and after

1 Making fishing more effective.  I guess my first thought about this would be leave your dog at home and use the kyak.  

I am assuming that you are fishing a lake of some sort.  Take that map and study it carefully.  If it has contours on it it will help you determine the depth to a degree without a depth sounder.  Before I had a depth sounder I used a lead line.  I took a heavy sinker and line on an old reel.  I marked the line showing depth in feet.  I would drop the line over the side and find bottom.  By doing this over and over on a lake I fished a lot I got a pretty good picture in my head of what the lake bottom was like.  I found where several drop offs were located.  I found the deepest water in the lake and also a large flat that had a virtually unchanging depth over a whole end of the lake.  
Using the map look for places where the banks come closer together than other parts of the lake.  Look for places where old roads come down to the lake.  If you do not like to fish from the kyak use it to map the lake then go back and find those places on your map.  Mark your map then when you hike in and find the place you will have a better idea of what the bottom is like.  

Fishing from shore is always more difficult than fishing from a boat but there is no reason you shouldn't catch some nice fish from the bank.  Where possible make casts parallel to the bank.  When I lived in Iowa the city had built a new lake for water supply.  Below the dam was the old lake which was made into a park but no boats allowed.
One side of the lake was a grass covered bank that was kept mowed.  On a weekend there would be several hundred people picnicking on the grass and many were fishing.  Almost all of them were standing on the bank and casting out toward the center of the lake and cranking back in.  Nobody was catching anything.  Late in the afternoon one Sunday I went out there.  I saw what was happening and it didn't look too promising at first.  Then I saw a swiril about 4 inches from the grassy edge where people were standing.  I tied on a floating minnow that dived when it was twitched with the rod tip.  I was using an open face Spinning outfit with a 7 foot rod.  With it I could easily cast sort of side armed parallel to the shore and right under the feet of several fishermen.  I twitched the minnow and a bass grabbed it.  I brought him in a nice 1 lb or so.
I stood along that shore and in the next hour I caught and released at least 30 bass up to two lbs.  I got one four pounder and kept it.  People gathered around and watched as I caught bass after bass.  Some wanted me to give them the bass but I released all but the one I kept to bake.
The strange thing was that I did not see a single other fisherman try what I was doing.  They continued to cast out to the center and reel right back in.  

There are a couple of things to be learned by this story.  One is don't do what the unsuccessful fisherman is doing over and over.  Another is don't just cast out and reel in.
Most lures are not designed for that.  There are a couple of exceptions but most need to have added action on your part.  Use different retrieves until you either find what the fish want or find that they do not want that lure with any retrieve.  The idea with almost any lure is to make it look like it is alive and perhaps hurt.  Cast it out and let it set or sink then give it a quick upswing of your rod to make it suddenly jump into action.  Most bass can't stand to see a good meal escape. Often bass will hit a lure that is perfectly still providing they saw it move before.  

I am not sure what kind of toad you are using.  If it is one of the plastic ones that floats, has a double hook astradle its body you are probably doing the common thing that the beginner does.  You are probably seeing the strike and striking back immediately and pulling the toad away from the fish.  I know this is hard to do but with almost any kind of floating lure or one running through lilly pads or other weeds such as a weedless spoon with a pork (not plastic) frog.  That is seeing the strike of the fish and jerking the lure away from him.  Always wait until you can feel the fish pulling before trying to hook him.   This takes both patience and practice.  I seldom miss a fish on a surface lure anymore because I have trained myself to wait for him to get the lure inside his mouth then setting the hook.

You said you have had no luck on crankbaits or spinnerbaits.  These baits are confidence baits.  You must believe you can catch fish on them or you will not use them enough to catch fish on them.  Remember with the exception of the lipless crank bait and a few spinner baits  you will catch more fish by starting and stopping the lure speeding it up and slowing it down.  The lipless crank bait is designed to be cranked through the water very fast and they work.  But they also work by cranking them several turns of the reel handle very fast then suddenly stopping and allowing them to go dead in the water.  Fish will often hit them as they either slowly rise to the top with some kinds and others as they sink.

When to use a crankbait vs. some other lure like a worm or a spinnerbait is sometimes just a matter of preference.  I like to have a crankbait on one rod and a spinnerbait on another and a worm or other critter on my spinning rod and a topwater lure on another rod.   I usually keep 5 rods rigged in my boat.  I know this is difficult when hiking through the woods carrying your gear.  To make this a little easier when using only one rod and reel I suggest using a snap on the end of the line.  Not a snap swivil just a snap.  I can't always find snaps that I like so I buy snap swivels and cut off the swivel with my pliers.  This makes changing lures easier.  Make up your worm rigs with a piece of line about 18-20 inches long.  Tie a swivel on the end of the rig and the hook on the other.  I use little bell sinkers, the ones that are shaped like a bell with a wire with an eye on the top of the bell and running through the sinker.  I then snap the sinker and the swivel to my snap on the end of my line.  The bell sinker acts as a keel and keeps the line from twisting and it is easy to take off and change to a different lure.
I guess I still haven't said when to use one lure vs. another.  I like to use a crank bait if the water is less than ten feet deep and there is cover like stumps or downed trees.  I fish the outside of a downed tree first.  From the bank this may be somewhat difficult but try to do it as much as possible.  If you can wade safely you can work around a downed tree somewhat.  Cast the crankbait past the end of the tree where it is in deepest water.  Crank the lure down until it hits a limb.  Stop cranking and let the lure float up just a second then crank it down to make it hit another branch.  Often you will not get a chance to hit another branch because a bass will have it.
Yes you are going to hang up now and then and when bank fishing you may lose a lure occasionally but if you don't just crank and yank it will not hang too often.  When you feel the lure hit something stop reeling or slow down so that your lure will simply walk up the limb and then up and over.  Just as it comes over is when  you often get a strike.  I fish a spinner bait in a similar way except that when it hits a limb I stop it and let it drop.  As it spins down bass often dart out and grab it.  I prefer using a crank bait for treetops most of the time.  I like a spinner bait to fish drop offs.  From the bank all you can do is cast out and let the spinnerbait sink to the bottom. Be ready though as it falls because a bass may take off with it. When it hits bottom start slowly reeling it in.  Usually a quick sharp jerk to start the blade spinning then slowly working it along bottom.  Now, worms are also good for dropoffs but I prefer the spinner because it is faster and is covering water quicker.  I usually use a worm as a follow up bait after I have caught a couple of fish from a certain area with something else.  Remember, cast as much parallel to the shoreline as out.  I am not saying never cast straight out from the bank.  I am saying don't just cast that way.

It isn't surprising to me that you caught a nice bass after sunset.  That is my favorite time to fish.  Here in South Georgia the Sun is too hot to be out in midday anyway so I seldom leave the dock before about 5pm in midsummer and fish until well after dark.  Most of my bigger fish have been caught after dark.  At that time I like to use a topwater lure.  I like fishing the Zara spook and the Devil's Horse until it gets completely dark.  Then out comes my huge muskie size Jitterbug all black.  I cast it into open water over and around any kind of cover that is available.  I have caught a lot of 7-8lb bass and one night I caught one a little over 9lbs then cast right back to the same place and caught one just under 9lbs.  This is an extreme case of making sure you wait until you feel the fish because when you hear what sounds like a bowling ball tossed into the water the tendency is to react and strike back.  If you do likely you will not connect and all you will have is the excitement of that big one that didn't get hooked.

Probably one of the more important things to make you more effective catching bass is for you to learn to s l o w  d o w n!  Learn how to make your lures look and act like a scared critter which just saw that big bass coming at him.

The Carolinas covers a lot of territory.  There are a lot of lakes and rivers there and many of these have smallmouth bass.  Probably the most important thing about smallies relative to the big mouth cousin is that they like water a little clearer, a little more moving, and more with rocks vs. wood or weeds although if they don't have rocks they will use wood or weeds as cover.  They don't get as big as the largemouth but sure do put up a fight.  I love fishing for them but we don't have them this far south, I am almost in Florida.  Smallies like smaller lures than largemouth for the most part.  I don't know if you have them where you fish or not, you didn't say.

I am not absolutely certain that I covered every point you asked but I think I hit most of them.  I hope this will help you to catch more and bigger bass.  If there is something that I have missed or that you want a little more on don't hesitate to come back with a follow up.  I will be glad to try to answer.  Thank you for calling on me to answer your question.

I am

Jack L. Gaither  (JackfromSeminole)
Lake Seminole Georgia