papa smurf

I fish a place that's almost identicle to what you described. When it gets hot most of the bass will bury up under the pads during the day and move out at night. Your best bet will probably be to flip a tube into the pads during the bright sun and work the edges during low light periods.

I think about what a shame it would be if he "accidentally" : fell in the water.

For me, it's one of those things that seems like it should work, but I never got around to trying it very much. I think I'll give it a shot next time I'm out at night. Thanks for the tip!

I drag it 1-2ft. at the time and then pause it long enough to let the lure sink back to the botton and rest for a second or two. If I bump some cover with the sinker I'll shorten the length of my drags and slow it down a little more. This allows me to fish the high percentage areas a little more thoroughly, and it allows me to feel my way through the cover, so I don't hang up as much.

I think Berkley should have put a coulple of guys that look like Denny Brauer in the commercial. Now that would have been funny.

Thick grass or lily pads. Where I live you can find bass around some form of aqautic vegetation in pretty much every month of the year, but it really excels in the warmer months. It offers bass food, cover, shade, and oxygen.

C-rigs, top-waters(when their workin), plastics around thick weeds, and 10 inch worms on a texas or carolina rig.

Good suggestion. While it's probably not most anglers favorite way to fish, trolling is an excellent way to find fish. This holds especially true if your having trouble finding fish on a new lake or on a lake or if your struggling to locate fish by traditional casting methods.

Try to find the thermocline. On those deep clear lakes bass will go pretty deep, but they can't move any deeper than the thermocline. Once you find the thermocline look for structure thats at or just above the thermocline. If your not catching fish in the sloughs off of the river, don't be afraid to move out into the main river channel.

I would probably go with the fluke too, but I would match it with casting tackle and 12 or 15# test Yo-Zuri

Amen to that!!!

I'd like to try my luck at the other bass species but I would stick to largemouths for most of my fishing.

I figure I spend about the same amount as you, although I really don't keep up with it. I know I should keep up with it, but it's almost better not to know how much I spend.

7-3 on a Sweet Beaver in March

I would think so. After all the rain you have had the water is going to be both higher and muddier. That means that if the bass were spawning 5' deep in clear water they could be in 7' of muddy water right now. That could force the bass into water as shallow as 1' at the current water level, or they may just wait it out until the lake falls some and conditions stablize and pick up where they left off.

I've read the "Knowing Bass" book. It's very informative but not the easiest book to read. It's got a lot of technical and scientific mumbo jumbo instead of just telling you what you want to know. I would recomend it, but I wouldn't try to sit down and read it all at once.

Welcome Home and Thank You!! Now you've got a years worth of bass fishin to catch up on.

Like the others said downsizing to finesse presentations is a good idea. Something else you may want to try, if your schedule allows it, is to fish during low light periods or at night.

Like gaterboy said, a square billed crankbait bounced through the timber or off the dock posts should pick up some fish. A buzzbait fished the same way might produce too.

I watch the weather channel to get the barometric pressure.

Your best bet may be to ask someone who is familiar with the lakes that you fish which could be the people at the local tackle shops or a buddy or coworker who fishes the lake regularly, or you could join a bass club in your area. There are also guys on this forum who are from Texas. If all else fails, hire a guide if one is available. If none of these options are available, pick out one small section of the lake and mark all of the areas that you think will hold fish at this time of year and fish them methodically. One more thing you might want to try is to fish the higher percentage times like dawn and dusk when bass are easier to find and catch.

When I live bait fish I buy shiners at the local bait shop. Postspawn is a tough time fish, especially with the conditions you described earlier.

I've got a buddy who fishes like that almost all the time, and he usually does pretty good. It does take some patience though.

I would start where the stream comes in and work my way out.

On a pressured lake I like a carolina rig for fishing deep and a super fluke for fishing shallow. These baits allow you to cover water and are a lot more subtle than crankbaits and spinnerbaits. Once you locate the bass live bait can be an excellent technique, especially for bigger bass.