Shad_Master

I understand that fish will position facing into the current, my question (and again I don't mean to hijack the thread) is will they orient in front of the brush pile or behind it? It would seem to me that if the current is flowing through/over the brush pile they would position on the back side to allow the bait fish to collect there before ambushing them. The issue would be where to start fishing brush piles (especially visable ones) in a current (wind or water) situation.

We used to have a guy in our club that got booted out for this very reason -- he was always late and sometimes didn't show at all. Never seemed to be remorseful either. I got drawn to fish with him at one tournament and decided the best way to be on time was if I offered to pull his boat with my truck -- I figured if I had the boat I would have him -- the morning of the tournament we woke up at 5:30 for a 7:00 blast (we were about 20 minutes from the lake) and he got completely dressed and then announced he was going to take a shower. While he was showering, I put all the stuff in the boat so that when he came out all he had to do was get in the truck and we could go. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, he announced that he needed gas for the boat. I pulled into the gas station and went in to buy ice for the cooler. When I came out, I passed him going in. The pump had not been turned on??? So I filled the boat up with gas and went to let him know he could pay (I had paid for the motel and the gas to drive us to the lake). He was walking around the aisles of the gas station "looking at stuff". I told him we needed to go and he wandered up to the cashier. Before paying, he struck up a conversation about how the fishing had been. I told, "tick-tock", we gotta go. He finally paid and we pulled out. Got to the ramp just as the last boat was being launched . It took us almost 1 1/2 hours to travel 20 minutes. The guy was a heck of a fisherman, but not dependable. The next year the club voted him out.

Hope I'm not hijacking the thread, but I have a similar question -- when wind it blowing out on the lake and fish are relating to the visable brush piles, will they orient on the windward side or the leeward side?

Didn't know that about a fish's vision being better in cold water, but one thing I did learn that may come on the heels of this tidbit. A couple of years ago I was fishing on my local "test pond" in the afternoon and had some good hits on a Senko. Went back the next morning and threw the bait in the same location and noticed that it tended to stay up in the water longer and fall much slower. The only difference was that the air temp had dropped drastically over night. After discussing this some of the local "experts" the general consensus was that baits do fall slower in colder water. If they see it better and it stays in the strike zone longer---

To respond to your question, just got back from a tournament here in the Midwest -- "blast off" was at 7:15 AM -- first fish came on a chatterbait at 7:20 (water temp - 56) -- bluebird skies with 20-25 mph winds out of the southeast -- tournament ran until 3:15 PM -- all reported fish were caught within 6" to 1' of windblown banks -- bite essentially died by 11:30 (by this time the water temp was 63-65). My partner caught his limit and 8-10 cull fish throughout the day on a buzzbait -- now, your assignment, if you choose to accept it is to explain this. Bottom line, as long as there are fish in the lake, go for 'em. You neve know.

I started swimming a jig last year when I started fishing with a guy who does this a lot and loads the boat that way. His primary technique is to use the standard jig/hop when working brush piles, standing timber or laydowns and if he doesn't get bit then he will swim it around the edges. He also swims along grass lines, but only in water that is clear to lightly stained. One question I have for you guys though, do you use rattles when you are swimming a jig. My buddy says he doesn't think rattles help or hurt either way. Just curious.

I've never had a real problem with cuts/scrapes encountered while bass fishing, but earlier this year I caught a pretty good sized catfish and as I was getting him untagled from my net he stuck me with his fin. That became inflammed and was sore for a couple of weeks.

Deuceu72, you must not have any ceiling fans in your house ;D

I'm certainly not an expert on this either, but usually when there is a turnover there will be "gunk" (dead leaves, grass, etc.) floating around in the lake as well as the water turning muddy.

Vyron, I go in the exact opposite direction -- starting out weightless and then adding weight (up to 1/4 oz max) depending mostly on the wind and the water depth.

I fished a tournament last Saturday in 35-40 mph winds -- there is no standing timber on this lake and no coves where you can get any relief at all -- IT WAS BRUTAL!!! There was even one boat that capsized during the tournament (not one of ours, but our guys had to help them out of the water). The tournament was won on crank baits and spinner baits. Because of the wind, the fish were stacked up at about 4-6 feet in 8-10 feet of water along the channel edges. I tried throwing a jig and a C-rig, but couldn't feel anything that was going on. I caught only one keeper on the day, my partner won the tournament with a 21.25"er and three smaller fish -- there was only one limit out of 11 boats. I think the advice above is good for a start. One thing I have done on windy days when fishing from the bank is to set up a modified C-rig using a Senko and two #4 split shots set about 8" to 12" above the hook. I just let the current blow the Senko around until the fish bites -- as Deuceu72 says, you have to watch your line.

Heard this one on the lake last Saturday when some guys pulled into a spot where some other guys had been catching fish -- a guy who will fish another man's spot would probably date a married woman.

I have only had this happen about a bazillion times -- but what I take from it is that I am usually fishing too fast and not leaving the bait in the fish's neighborhood otherwise. As for getting bit just when I decide to leave, this is a conspiracy cooked up by the fish/animal kingdom to taunt us into staying out there longer -- don't give into the pressure

Thanks for all the replies -- a few did come in a little too late for consideration, but though I would give you an update. I did search around in my stash and came up with a silver/black back CB. Started the day with these set ups: - Black buzzbait - Black spinner bait - Silver/black back CB - Black/blue jig - Black 7" GULP! worm Started out the day on the buzzbait and got nothing - my partner hit a short (<12") right away and had a blow up from a bigger fish without a hookup. Worked along the shore line and then moved out to the first drop off with the worm. Got my first fish on the worm in 2-3 feet of water. Moved around the cove and got another one on the worm. Started working an old tree line just off the channel (6 to 8' of water) and my partner stuck a 19"er on a black/blue jig. Pulled out my jig and caught a 19.75"er about 50' on up. Worked to the mouth of the cove and started back down to where we caught the "bigguns" and stuck a 12"er on the jig as I was swimming it back to the boat. Everything quited down for the next 3 hours and we moved to the other end of the lake, caught a 14.5"er off a brush pile in 8-10 feet of water on a Blackberry Zoom Worm. We then went back to the treeline and my partner picked up two more on the Black GULP! worm. I ended the day in 3rd place and my 19.75" was big fish of the tournament. All of my fish came on black, the 2nd place stringer all came from a Black/chartruse jig with a chartruese trailer. However, the 1st place stringer came on a green pumpkin jig with a gp trailer and a green pumpkin ring fry. (Go figure).

Thanks guys, I hadn't thought about the scent from the Sharpee, maybe I can hang it on the radio antenna on the way to the lake to air out ;D. I will post a report in the "outings" section if the results are good -- if you don't see one you will know.

I will be fishing a tournament on a lake that I have never seen before -- won't see it 'til it is time to launch the boat due to scheduling problems. The lake is reported to be very muddy with blue-green algae. The color of choice is black -- I have black spinner baits, black jigs, black chatter baits, black buzzbaits and black worms. What I don't have is a black crank bait. I made a quick trip to the local sporting goods stores (Scheel's and Dick's) and couldn't find a black crank bait. I was thinking of taking a crank bait and coloring it black with a Sharpee pen. Has anyone done this? What do you think?

An interesting topic and one that I have been working on (sort of) this year -- at my local lake there aren't any shad, but there are tons of blue gill. One of the things I have observed is that both bass and bluegill hang out along the brush piles on the channel. I have found that if I throw a worm out into the brush pile, it is likely to be picked up by a blue gill. But if I let the BG run with it, rather than try to set the hook, the odds are good that a bass will take it away. I caught a limit from one brush pile by doing this in a recent tournament. Also, in this same area, I often fish from bank in the evening. As the sun begins to set the BG's get real active and will pester you to death. But as the darkness settles in, the BG bite slows down and the bass begin to bite. It is a very predictable pattern. Don't know if any of this helps you, but it has been an insight for me.

One suggestion would be to look for drop offs along the channel and then drag a heavy (5/8 or bigger) jig along until you find submerged brush. Then switch over to a heavy weighted worm (I usually go with a 1/4 oz, but you can go bigger if the water is deeper than say 15' to 20') and work it through the brush pile. I don't know what colors would work in your area, but Redbug and Junebug are pretty popular in this area right now.

Thanks for the input, but there are some things I should have added to my earlier request. I think you guys may be on to something and I just want to try to refine it a little as I won't be able to check any of this out before tournament day. First of all, there are no docks on the lake other than a fishing pier that is always loaded with crappie fishermen and can't be fished from a boat. The grass on the edges stands from 2' to 6' above the water line and the water extends back in 10' to 30' and appears to be up to 3' to 4' deep at the outside edge. There is not much in the way of cover on the breaklines other than a few brush piles that have been placed there by other fisermen and marked on their GPS (not for public display). I know there are fish suspended on the channel breaks and along the ditches of the road bed, but so far they have all been in the 10" to 13" range. I really believe the "bigger fish" are buried back in the standing grass, but don't have clue how to pull them out.

I have a club tournament comming up in a couple of weeks on a local lake. The lake has been very low for the last couple of years and it was even difficult, if not impossible, to get a glass boat launched earlier this year. Now the rains have come and the lake is up 3-4 feet from it's lowest point and there are weeds anywhere from 10' to 30' all along the bank. There is a feeder creek that is 6' to 8' deep at one end and the channel meanders around the upper end of the lake until it meets a road bed that intersects the lake. The channel is 10' to 12' deep and the ditches along the road bed are 8' to 10' deep with the road bed being 4' and the flats along the the channel being 3' to 4' deep. There is not a lot of standing timber on this lake and the few visible brush piles along one end of the road bed get hammered by crappie and blue gill fishermen as well as the bass fishermen. I fished this one Friday and we found small fish (10" to 13") on the channel breaks and where the road bed intersects and fished it yesterday and found tons of smaller fish on the edges of the weeds all around the lake. I know there are bigger fish on this lake, but can't figure out how to find them or catch them. Any suggestions are welcome -- if you need more info, I will try to provide it. Thanks for your contributions.

I have been fishing in the spring, just before the spawn, and seen lots of cruising fish near the shore line -- these fish are hard to catch, but I have thrown to them and had the bass turn completely around and swim to a lure thrown within 2-3 feet of them. As some one who does not alway make the soft feather casts that I would like, my impression would be that the "splash" does not spook the fish unless they are already jittery from loud trolling motors, banging rod lockers, tackle boxes dropped in the boat, etc.

There is a guy that I fish with some. He knows the lakes around here better than he knows his own front yard. He has been teaching me about structure fishing this summer and will often tell me to throw right on top of where his lure landed. The result has often been that we will double up on a cast. He gets mad at me if I am more than 6" off from his point of entry.

A few weeks ago I was bank fishing at my local lake and snagged on some line that was in a weed bed. I was able to grab the line and began pulling it in and was surprised to find a 10" fish on the other end. He had swallowed a small crappie jig and his belly was really sunken in. I cut the line and tried to remove the jig, but it was buried deep so I dropped him back in. He floated on his side for about 45 minutes but kept flaring his gills and then did swim off. Don't know if he survived in the long haul, but he was pretty resilient.

When fishing a lake with a lot of standing timber, it is usually a safe bet that the bigger trees will be on the edges of the channel -- this is because they were able to absorb more water through their root systems and as a result these are usually the last trees standing as the lake matures. This is a trick you can use if you don't have a good topo map and want to look for channels within the lake.

"If I had to catch fish to have fun I'd be a miserable ***".