Questionjack thanks for responding.
my lake is like an egg shape with the inlet and outlet on the bottom of the egg. theres fallen timber, underwater grass that looks like spruce limbs, flats, some rocks, holes, LOTS of lilly pads, and the deepest part is about 12 feet, this is right near the outlet of the lake. we drug some trees out on the ice in the winter so when spring came they would sink and provide cover. we have american shad that appeared in the last 4 or 5 years we think its from releaseing minnows while ice fishing since my dad was a kid (im 14).
i have almost every kind of lure, hulla poppers, scum frogs, jitterbugs, baby-1 and -4, jerkbaits, cranks, rubber worms, lizards, grubs, frogs, crawfish, and shad. i also have various types of spinners for perch and pickerel.
if you have any other questions please ask i really want to catch some big bass. your a lot more experienced than me.
thanks again,
scott price
AnswerScott; Your lake sounds like one that I used to fish in Illinois. Twelve feet as the deepest part is pretty shallow but it can have some really big bass in it. You did not say the size of the lake but I assume that it is not very big from other characteristics.
For big bass let me give you a couple of ideas that have really worked for me in small shallow lakes. One is to fish a Johnson silver minnow with a pork frog trailer. I believe the Johnson lure is superior to many of the other spoons. It has to be a good lure to have stayed on the market for over 50 years. Use heavy line, at least 17-20lb test. Tie the lure on directly without snap or swivil. Make sure the knot is well tied and one that will not slip. There are several good knots for this purpose. A knot shown on your little instruction sheet that comes in the box with a new line will work fine if tied correctly so be sure to learn how to tie it correctly. There is nothing more disappointing in fishing than to have a really good fish on and then come off with your lure and all you wind up with is a bunch of curls in the end of the line where the knot slipped and came lose. I had that happen one time and after that I learned to tie several knots properly.
Now go to those lilly pads and cast that silver minnow as far back into the pads as possible. Try to keep your rod tip high as the cast goes out and as the spoon just hits the water or a pad start reeling it back making it climb up and over pads. If you keep your rod tip high it will usually but not always come through. Suddenly you may see an explosion with pads flying every which way. DO NOT YANK YET! The fish may or may not have the lure. If you feel him pull back against you then set the hook hard and hang on. He, or rather she may tear up yards of lilly pads. you may have the biggest bass in the lake on the other end. Keep pressure on her as you work to get her out of the pads either by working your boat toward her or working her through the pads. This is about as exciting as fishing gets. You will lose some of these big fish but just remember they are still in their and may well bite another day.
I make another assumption, That the deep part of the lake near the outlet is fairly open water since you say you put tree limbs on the ice to sink. Some day when nothing else seems to be working, especially if the water is very still or with only a slight ripple, Tie on a Zara Spook or a Sammy or some other dog walking type lure. Start casting the lure near the bank near the outlet and walk it back over the deepest part of the lake. Fan cast that lure and walk it over that whole area of deep water. Again your lure may be walking along and suddenly a sound something like someone tossing a concrete block into the water may take place where your lure is walking. Again do not yank now. With any surface lure many if not most people yank at the sound or sight of the explosion of the strike. Most of the time if you do this you will simply pull the lure away from the fish. Wait that second or so until you feel the fish then set the hook. I know this is very difficult to do and I sometimes jump at the strike and miss fish after all these years. This particular lure is one of the best for pulling really big bass up from deep water and when you get a strike the chances are very good that it will be a pretty big one. I don't think color is too important here unless the water is gin clear. In that case I like a clear colorless dog walker.
There is a special technique in using this lure. It is different than any other lure. It has no lip or other thing about it to make it wiggle, pop, wobble,dive or anything else. If you just reel it steadily in all it will do is come straight in and you might as well have tied a clothespin to your line. But if you learn the method you could put hooks on a clothespin and catch fish. Here is how to do it. Make a long cast and when the lure hits the water give it a little jerk just to make it sort of shimmie on the water. Wait three seconds or so while you slowly take up the slack in the line. Then give your rod tip a short and medium sharp downward jerk. The lure will sort of jump to one side. You do not want it to move foreward more than an inch or so.
Now with a little slack that the first jerk put in your line give another short sharp jerk. The lure will jump to the other side and there will be a little slack in the line. Do not take up the slack just give another of those sharp jerks making the lure's nose jump to the other side and move foreward a couple of inches. Now keep him walking with those little sharp but not hard jerks and he will sort of walk along the surface an inch or two at a time with his nose swinging from one side to the other. Walk him slowly back to the boat. I have had bass strike this lure as many as five or six times finally getting hooked or simply giving up. Again if you yank when you see or hear a splash you will probably miss him and scare him back down. As he walks along the fish will often keep attacking until you suddenly feel him pulling and then set the hook and hang on. These lures are often the "go to" lures when all else has failed but in my case I often try them as I search for a pattern.
One more big bass method that has worked well for me, In fact I caught my biggest bass ever, a little over 9lbs, just missed the ten pound goal and then a couple of casts later caught her twin sister just a little under 9lbs. I have caught a lot of 6-7-8 pounders with this method too.
I seldom go out earlier than between 4 and 5pm in the summer and often fish until midnight. Of course I live in the deep south and almost astride the line between eastern time and central time. It does not get dark here until 9:30 in the summer and the midday sun is much too hot to sit out in a boat. Your time schedule will differ from mine but the situation is about the same. I fish with crankbaits, and other underwater baits until the sun reaches the treetops. I then go to poppers or stick baits on top along the Western shore where it gets shaded by the trees first. I like to try the walking dog lure at this time too. When it gets too dark to see clearly, and I prefer moonless nights, I tie on my special night lure. It is a black Magnum Jitterbug. This is a very large lure and is getting difficult to find but I think Arbogast probably has it on their website. I then just move along slowly with my trolling motor and cast that big lure in any direction except directly into the weeds. I then reel it steadily back to the boat. That plop,plop,plop sound is distintive. The smaller ones go blip,blip,blip, but the big one goes plop, plop. This is very exciting fishing too. Of course here in my lake it isn't always a bass that may grab this big jitterbut. The lake is full of gators and they sometimes will take a crack at the bug. They seldom connect fortunately although I have hooked a few three footers but they can usually get off.
I would bet that there is an 8lb bass in your lake and these methods are about the best that I can give for having a chance at catching one of them. Although you know how things are. I still haven't caught a ten pounder, but saw a woman fishing for bluegills off a bridge catch a ten pounder on a cane pole and a worm. So goes life.
Give these ideas a try and let me know when you catch a big one. I believe up in your part of the country a five pound bass would be about the equivilent of an eight pounder down here. Now catch a big one.
Jack from Seminole
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