wannabeangler

Ever since I saw a picture of a guy holding a bass next to a stop sign, I've always wanted to catch a bass in a flood zone. Last September when Atlanta flooded, the lake I fish most was 18 feet over pool and the entire park, parking lot and bridges were completely underwater. I spent 2 weeks solid working submerged playgrounds, trees, bushes, picnic tables, parking lots, etc. and completely blanked. The hardest part for me was the mud and washed up forage. The place was super-saturated with crawfish and frogs making meals easier to come by. That combined with 0" of visibility and floating debris everywhere made it ridiculously tough. Guess I'll just have to wait for the next 30-year flood. Good luck to ya'.

Definitely bass. One of them let us get within a rods distance. The canoe grounded out and I couldn't get any closer. If I could, I would've just scooped it up and taken a closer look. And I'm with you Smith, not sure how anyone confuses bass with carp. If someone can't tell the difference, it's probably just called a "fish."

Night before last we had a monster storm that raised my favorite small, 90-acre lake by 2 feet, turned it into a mud bowl and dropped the surface temp a few degrees from 69 to 65ish. I usually target the shallow flats and grass with frogs, buzzbait and worms and typically when it rains and the lake is up, bass here will still hug the shoreline ... wherever the shoreline ends up. Yesterday afternoon/sunset we found 6 or 7 two-four pound bass in water so shallow, their dorsal and tail fins were sticking out of the water. For the most part, each bass was sticking to an area no bigger than 2-3 square feet. Sometimes they'd go out of sight, but give it a minute or two and their backs would be sticking out of the water again for minute or so ... usually as they slowly circled around. Each one of these bass reacted the same to whatever we threw ... absolutely indifferent. We tried weightless worms, frogs, buzzbait and flukes. If we worked slow and dropped bait right on them, they'd ignore it. If we worked fast and aggressive, they'd slowly meander to another side of the grass. Not once did I see any of these fish do anything close to aggressive. At first, I thought it could be some late spawners, but at this temp, they're normally deeper. Plus this area is normally not even underwater and it was all grass with no clear patches nor was there ever a second bass with them. So my questions: -a- What were these bass doing? -b- Was there ever a shot of getting them on a hook?

On the topic of storage, I've had a hard time managing long leads. I do a lot of striper fishing and use 5-10 ft leads for downlines and freelines. I tried paper towel rolls, coke bottles, ziplock backs, etc. but for one reason or another, they all weren't cutting it for me. Lately, I've simply been tearing off a flap from a cardboard box and wrapping the leads around them. If it's a lead with a snap on one end and a hook on the other then I start with the snap inserted into the corrugated edge, wrap the lead and bury the hook in the cardboard. I can fit 5 or 6 leads on one piece and I have a box that fits 4 of these cardboard flaps to store them in. If it's a lead that I tie directly to a swivel, then I'll simply tear the cardboard about an 1/8", slide the line in and then wrap the lead. That's my current method but I'm all ears if someone has any better suggestions!

Hey guys, figured I'd give an update. So far, the only addition to my arsenal I've added is the weightless fluke and it's definitely been a nice addition in the thick grasses. I've experimenting with slow, fast and sporadic presentations and really it depends on the day. The fluke definitely pulls a wider range of fish than some of the other presentations. For example, frogs are pulling 3-6 pounders for me, weightless worms 1-2 pounders but the fluke has been pulling 7" bass up to 4 pounds along with perch and crappie, too. I'll update with some of the other suggested presentations as I try them. Thx again everyone!

My favorite lake is a small 300-acre with a LOT of grass and shallow flats (2.5ft or less). At certain times of the day (usually sunset) the bass go absolutely nuts. Smaller bass (2 pounds or less) will completely clear the surface and larger bass (4# +) will usually clear about 3/4 of the way and crash on their sides. These are my favorite fish to target ... unless they're hitting bugs. I'm still slightly puzzled when it's a bug feeding day. Anyway, in this part of the lake the primary forage is frogs. Unless a bass jumps twice (back-to-back), I don't bother with it for at least 10 minutes. If they pop two or more times in a row, then chances are higher that they missed their target and are usually primed and ready if I can get on them quick (within 15 seconds of the pops). If I can make it in time, I'll throw a weightless fluke just passed the ripples, work it forward and let is slowly sink. Couple of twitches and if there's no bite, then I quickly switch to a frog, shoot it passed the target zone, slowly work it on top of where the breach was and let it sit for a long while (up to a few minutes if it feels right). Couple of small twitches and then one harder tug and that usually does the trick. Here's a picture of one these jumping bass. She was clearing almost completely out of the water about every 10-15 minutes during sunset. I waited until about 10 minutes after a jump and threw the fluke passed her and let it sink right where the last jump was. Tail end of sunset but most of that evening was targeting these jumping bass. =)

That's a great idea! I'll start with this tip first and let you know how it goes. THX

Now THAT looks interesting! Have you ever used it?

Haha! I'm already there! Well, almost. I do have a setup with braid and 10" rage tail anaconda's ready to go to town. I'm just waiting for it to get a little more aggressive ... probably just another couple weeks. I chuck em' weightless with a 5/0 gama spring lock hook. This slop is only 1.5 ft deep and gets thick but there's plenty of 5 pounders in it.

Do you guys catch more bass near the bank or in the deeper water? Yes. Depends on where the structure and drop offs are. Can the time of day/water clarity (or even sunny vs overcast skies) be an indicator of where fish may be hanging out? Absolutely! Classic sunny/overcast/cold front/warm front rules still apply to small ponds. Personally, I prefer the sunny warm days. The fish may be more lethargic but I know where to find them on small ponds ... on the shade side of anything!

Yeah, I've thought about carrying a small flyrod for those days. But it's random and doesn't happen very often. Usually frogs, buzz and weightless plastics do the trick. But it's irritating when I happen on those days and am not prepared nor have a clue what to do. Oh and I never thought about paying attention to insect hatches. I track the crawfish/frogs/baitfish but not the bugs. Thanks for the tip!

For buzzbaits and spinnerbaits, I use fish tank tubing (see link below), clip off a small amount as a ring, slide it over the r-bend and then clip on. It prevents the lure from tumbling down the shaft when casting or when running over/through cover. http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?familyid=7897&Ntt=PETCO%20Clear%20Air%20Line%20Tubing%20for%20Aquariums&OneResultRedirect=1 And this is an advantage, why? Just tie a simple clinch knot and be done with it. Fast as aich-ee-double hockey sticks. Cuz' if I already have a duo-snap on the line, I can just clip on the spinner or buzzer without having to cut and tie. I'm willing to bet it's faster then aich-ee-double hockey sticks. ;D Also, I've got a bunch of pre-cut rings in my spinner/buzz box and I tend to change my mind alot in the first 45 minutes ... size/color, etc. until I hone in what's getting the best reactions.

A friend of mine has a small pond in his neighborhood that he fishes every lunch break (nope, no jealousy here ... none whatsoever!). Last year had nominal success with a variety of lures but during the fall and winter he kept a better eye on the forage and found a gray/blueish pink-bellied crawfish and also some creek chubs. He started throwing black/blue jigs and had been nailing 4-5 pounds all winter (again ... no *** here!). A few weeks ago, he noticed the pattern changing and starting working faster lures and nailed a 7# 10oz on a yellow (I think) spinnerbait. Bottom line is finding the natural forage and keeping up with the patterns on the ponds!

Are you talking about something like these? http://kent-klewein.com/georgia-fly-fishing-blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/basspopper3.jpg

Yeah, I'm all about poppers and have a fair collection of shapes/colors/sizes etc. but they're just about off limits in my prime target area. I can work them on the edges with nominal success but getting into the thick of the grass and small pockets are where the fish hit the most. I can drag frogs and buzzbait right through the thickest of grass but anything with treble hooks or downward facing hooks is toast. Those fly fisherman were able to consistently hit just the pockets in the grass and would basically "sting" the water 3 or 4 times, pause and then it would explode. You can the grass in the background of the attached photo.