scaleface

Buoy's are invaluable . Use them in conjunction with GPS . Good luck and let us know when and how you start hooking up with those bass . When I finally started having success fishing structure , it was exciting . A whole new world opened up . Like you I had a lot of those 8 hour days with few bites , then once I gained confidence with the bank to my back , my best days were to come . Most of my fishing is done in a 14 foot jon boat with no outboard , just an elec motor and a sonar I mounted on a converted worn out trolling motor , so you are well equipped . I have a bigger boat for large waters but those small gems are just to good to pass by .

I know how to walk baits but I have had such bad experiences with Spook type lures , bass missing the bait , that I rarely use them . I choose poppers or I like to call them "Chuggers" on windy days . Those big sized ones that make a lot of noise and throw water six feet . One year I dedicated a part of each day to top water fishing , no matter what the conditions . I used every top water bait I had . The one bait that stood out was the old Dalton Special . Bass loved that thing . It walked a little bit but I wouldnt classify it as a true walking bait . I dont know what happened to that lure and have yet to replace it .

You have been fishing 8 hour days with very little to show for it . I'm speculating you have been beating the banks and want to venture out into deeper water . The very first thing upon arrival is get a general impression of water clarity , level , wind , weather , cloud cover.... In your case less than a foot of visibility , that is what I'm use to and I wouldn't expect the fish to be more than twenty foot deep . After launching the boat I will check surface temp and look for a thermocline . If a thermocline is present I eliminate water deeper than it . I also watch to see if gulls are present . Even if they are flocked on the banks they will be positioned near an area where there has been recent feeding activity . Look for the depth that most of the fish activity is at .Then try to tie all this together on a good piece of structure . Points are the easiest structure to find and often receive lots of fishing pressure but I will check them out with sonar . If you dont have marker buoys I strongly suggest getting some . They will keep you oriented , on the spot .I find off shore fish often and without buoys I would catch a fraction of those fish . You already know about structure like points , humps , channels... you must put in the time to seek them out and explore them . Unless fish are schooling on top I will use bottom bouncing lures or diving crankbaits . Bottom bouncers include anything that sinks . Soft plastics , jigs , lipless cranks , compact spinnerbaits ... Crankbaits should be selected that dive deeper than the bottom being targeted . For instance a ten foot bottom choose a bait that dives 12 to 14 foot . You're already spending a lot of time on the lake and this looks like a " good ' little structure lake. Utilize a lot of that time using that sonar , you will eventually catch fish and gain confidence , then no more 8 hour days with 0 to 4 fish . There are submerged bridges on your map . Those look super interesting .

What kind of rubber peg ? You just slide the bait on it , huh ?

I thought Indiana blades had more lift , between a willow and Colorado . I make deep water spinnerbaits and put small willows on heavy baits and cut the wire down to make it more compact . Like WRB I have pegged worm weights ahead of the lure , added rubber core sinkers with the rubber removed on the hook and use DOA crimp on weights .

I tried floro once and hated everything about it . Maybe I had a bad brand and need to try it again . First , it wouldnt tie a decent knot . It just wasnt flexible enough . Then when trying to worm fish in deep water , it did not slack up when it hit the bottom like mono does . I'm use to mono slacking up like that . Many decades of fishing soft plastics I know it pretty well and when mono slacks up kind of funny . I set the hook .

I have a 22 foot Lowe and need something to hold in 20 foot of water with a hard clay bottom . My fluke anchors do not dig in and they skip .

Will this work in hard clay ? I fish small conservation dept lakes more than my home lake {Mark Twain } save tons of gas money and catch more fish and bigger fish . The one I fish the most has free boats . I hook up a trolling motor , depth finder , take some marker buoys and fish it just like large reservoirs for a fraction of the cost .

I picked a worm because that is what I use the vast majority of the time , but i like all sorts of soft plastics . Grubs , lizards , craws , tubes . They all catch tons of fish and are often interchangeable . Weve had these threads before where I chose a lizard because I then would have an effective buzzbait. I could just as easily pick a grub. I always carry Tiki worms , jogger worms or other inexpensive stick baits because of the weight . I use sections of them on light jigs , roadrunners , spinnerbaits... when the situation calls for small baits but I want to continue using casting gear .

Yep , this sounds like the best advice . I do this but need to concentrate more on it .

You aint fishing where I'm fishing .

All mono all the time . You confused yet ?

I fish from bank below a small dam that is notoriously bad at snagging lures . Rip rap lines the banks for two hundred yards on both sides . A severe flood a few years back washed most of the old rip rap into the river . When fishing here I have to bring a "lot" of inexpensive jigs because i'm going to lose them in bunches . To catch fish consistently here one needs to fish baits in the rocks . I went Saturday . I tied on a 1/8 ounce roadrunner with the tapered end of a senko type worm [ I used a Luck E Strike Jogger worm ] on bait casting gear with 12 lb test . The wind was blowing pretty hard and I couldnt make the upstream cast without back lashing . So , to add more weight I used the middle , fatter part of the worm . I was still getting hung but the soft worm was thicker than the leadhead and it fell horizontally , so instead of the jig-head getting wedged the soft plastic would get wedged and I was able to pull it out .I didnt lose a single bait and caught five fish . This was by total accident and the lure was pretty ugly but it worked splendidly . Most of the snags popped out using the bow and arrow technique . Just something to think about when rip rap is encountered .

When fishing prime real estate , I tend to stay in place and put a hammering on those small fish and take my chances that big fish are there or close by . Some days I catch a nice one some days not .

1 to 2 lb fish . My biggest bass this year was caught while in a school of these guys . Also had one hit like a sledge hammer and snap my line . It may have not been a bass .

But , what if you have caught really large fish on the same spot before ? Do you think the larger bass will abandon the prime spot because smaller fish have moved in ?

Here a situation I find myself in frequently . I find a large school of small bass on good structure .It could be a point , channel bend , hump... But in this instance lets say it is a long point . I usually just keep catching numbers and hope that eventually I hook a big one or two . How do you try to get a few bigger bites ?

I would look for well used lures with teeth marks .

^ That lure has been through a lot .

Sound like a spot for a 3/4 ounce Red Eye shad .

I'll hit on the RedEye shad just a bit longer . I have a one knocker . A silent chrome lure that the weight came loose in, I guess . Man , it worked good jigging off the end of points . When fishing from an aluminum jon boat , I can hear it do its magic below me . I can hear it falling and hear strikes . Sometimes I hear the strike and not feel them . A-Jay , does any of your silent ones rattle ?

As far as I know , I had the first fiberglass bass boat in Hannibal Missouri . a 15 foot Skeeter tri hull . That would have been in "78 or "79" The nearest lake I could take it too was 90 mile away but the Mississippi river was only a mile away. I usually made the 90 mile drive .

I have always thought my best strength was fishing sinking lures on the bottom . I learned that from watching Virgil Ward . He hopped everything off the bottom and I mimicked him .

I caught an awful lot of fish on crankbaits again this year . For Square bills Rapala crankin Rap was number one . Rapala Fat Rap saw a lot of action at 5 to 6 foot .Mid depth the Norman Deep Little N was awful good againthis year. A little deeper the Rapala Crankin Rap CR!4 was probably my most successful diving bait of them all . Then for maximum depth 15 to 17 foot the S K 6x was the lure . Lipless bait , the SK Red Eye Shad was my top producing lure in deep water. I just started fishing it this year and I'm sold . I'll be tossing and hopping it it a lot from now on . Top water was almost non-existent for me . I did catch a few on a Cavitron and Original Lunker Lure . I'd call it a tie . Spinnerbaits , a homemade single spin willow leaf was by far my best . Soft plastics , I think Jelly Worms was all I threw . Thats about it for me .

Define finesse . If its fishing light lures on spinning gear then i'm a power fisherman .