CDobber

If you can cast (or let wind/current drift it over) you can always look at Vexilar Sonarphone. I have one, though I haven't used it much. I fish at a quarry frequently that has no topo map available, and have used it casted from shore or floated out from a canoe to see structure.

Keep us posted on your results either way. I took a Dad and his two kids (my students) out on the 'toon today for a couple hours of fishing. All of us used crawlers....they did the ol' bobber/worm, probably 12-18" under the surface, I did a drop shot to the bottom...started in roughly 8-10 FOW on a submerged island edge (anchored) and eventually moved more shallow to a weed edge in about 8 FOW. None of us had any luck today.....sounds like the bite for bass, gills and many others is just tough right now. Marked a decent amount of fish on the FF, couldn't encourage any takers. I had all my plastics and probably could have thrown on senkos or other varieties, but figured (and have seen of late from shore) that even 'if' I can locate fish, they really only bite at crawlers right now.

http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Gander-Mtn-Fishing-Tackle-Bag-Blue&i=778152 I have something very similar to this combo...4 plano type boxes......both have shoulder straps so it essentially works like a backpack but is still a tackle box and slings over one shoulder...and the "cooler" I use was a $5 insulated lunch box that carries plastics in a gallon ziploc. I take 2 or 3 poles with me, depending on my desire to use an UL or not, and a decent sized net.

Bait monkey made me buy 2 of them at Dick's sale the other night, based on positive reviews on here. I've only thrown it from shore once and only a few casts to get a read on its retrieval. Will definitely be trying it more in the coming days, didn't feel like a good idea today when I had a lot of weeds or grass at or near the surface when casting from the boat.

Mac...I'm with you....I've tried jigs on and off this season and have had no success at all with them. All we can do is keep trying and switching things up like color and trailer and eventually things will click.

http://www.lake-link.com/Wisconsin-Fishing-Reports/report.cfm/15488/Pearl-Lake-Waushara-County/ Not a lot of talk on there for that particular lake, and unfortunately, any talk of bass seems to be very small ones up to about 14". I read through the first page and sounded like a good panfish lake but hard to say on bass. Then again, the Madison lakes don't get a ton of talk on bass and I suspect its because of all the bass tournaments, people not wanting to give up their spots or success stories.

Around here, especially in the fall, the Rapala J-9 in Firetiger can be on fire. I've never experienced that, but have caught bass on it in a pond that doesn't have perch (that I've seen or read about anyway)...but many of our lakes have them.

I use an UL spinning setup when I go trout fishing, and here in Wisconsin, anglers are either using those or fly rods....but trout here (much like bass) are not huge, probably comparable to the many 14" LMB I frequently catch nearby, and that's on the big side. 20"+ is top end for the creeks, though there are bigger rainbows and lake trout in the Great Lakes and such.

I have been drop shotting quite a bit from shore this season and found quite a lot of success, including a similarly heavily pressured pond/quarry. I wish i had the lily pads on ours though. I've had success on wacky rigs at mine in the past but they don't seem interested this year....they prefer a smaller worm (3" skinny senko) or the real stuff. The only situations I'm not liking the drop shot rig from shore are heavily rocked/cluttered substrate. Weeds are fine but anything else and I tend to lose my weight frequently.

Had this exact post running through my head today as I was fishing the bottom side of a dam for the first time.....didn't have success but the location that was available along the shore was too close to the dam, would have preferred being 50-100' down river. Felt very shallow, even that light of a rig (with a small blade) was catching up on rocks and eventually broke off.

Quick update...did FINALLY get one smallie in the boat on Saturday.....anchored on top of the same bar I've mentioned in our biggest lake. Marked a ton of fish in all depths (was watching for common depths as suggested on here, but they swam through at all levels)....was normally at 18' though it ranged from 16'-22' even anchored. Drop shot rig with 5" green pumpkin senko and a small crawler as well for added enjoyment.....had it dropped off the side of the boat while I cast a variety of cranks and my sebile vibrato around the perimeters of the bar. Wasn't huge, probably about 12"-13" and not fat, but still the smallie I was targeting. It really wanted that bait, it was gut hooked...got it back in the water as quickly as possible to try and let it heal, but it ended up succumbing shortly thereafter even though it swam away fine. Saw a similar sized fish floating about 10 min later, had to be the same one. I've caught my fair share of fish on my drop shot rig in the last month or so, alternating between senkos and crawlers (or both)....but that was the first one that was gut hooked.

Another vote for the slow but at the surface. I have tried buzzing them fast and will also occasionally let it stay a foot or so under water, but by far have had more strikes slow and at surface, and normally with plastic trailer.

Biggest creature I've ever caught was with my KVD 1.5.

I've caught a lot of largemouth in that general range this year, and I would say its in the 13-14" range. The first picture makes it look bigger than the others.

Many on here won't agree, but if I get in a funk from shore of not catching anything, I'll take some good ol' fashioned nightcrawlers and use them on my drop shot rig. Catching fish is better than not catching fish.....even that wasn't working the other day, and I suspect the time of day and clarity of water has the bass very cautious and lethargic. It was overcast today and went to the exact same spot I was yesterday in bright sunshine and caught 4 bass in less than an hour, a couple with crawlers and a couple with senkos nose hooked, all on my dropshot rig. It was a good learning experience for me, really concentrating on the bite and using more of a sweeping hookset versus a more violent pull up to 12 o'clock hookset. I was setting the hook a bit sooner today as well, all valuable lessons and also helps the confidence when the bite at this particular quarry has been non-existent for a few weeks for myself and most others I've talked to on the banks.

As my plastics collection grew, thanks to the bait monkey, I pulled them all out of my tackle box and bought a small $5 lunch bag with handle. I have a gallon ziploc bag full of plastics that is in that, and its attached to my tackle box strap...2 bags in one. The thing I've really liked about the setup now is when I choose to take some live crawlers with me, I can put a small ice pack on the bottom of the lunch box, put the worms on top of that, and my gallon bag of plastics on top of that...creates good insulation and keeps the worms fresher longer.

Thanks for the ideas.....even with bending the wires together some, my white buzz just wouldn't stay in place today. Just cut up some air hose and will give it a try next time out....on many of my spinners/buzzbaits, it wasn't a snug fit, so I cut up extra expecting that they will fall off inevitably.

LMB: Scum Frog over lily pads...wish I would have weighed it for future comparison sake. This year its been 1/2 oz black buzzbait with Havoc trailer black/purple fleck SMB: 1/8 oz Mimic Minnow in perch color

I prefer black or white and in 3/8 or 1/2. I believe my first 1/2 black one was a Strike King model from Dicks, and when it was lost I was unable to find the same one. It really had a nice squeak to it. The black booyah I replaced it with was ok but wasn't fond of the black blades, silver was better. I bought a new black one yesterday as the booyah snapped off last week. Decided to give a tri-wing a try, in 3/16, by Strike King. At first, I was disappointed right out of the package, the blades felt cheap and didn't want to turn much, by flick of finger or in water. I took a little steel wool to the shaft and remembered a little trick I have picked up along the way....hold the buzzbait out of the window while driving for a while, and it will eventually develop more squeak. I did this today and it functioned much better afterwards. I have never seen/noticed any clacker models for sale around here.

I pinch the buzzbait down as well for my snap swivels, and know every few casts I'll likely have to re-position, still a lot faster than the alternative.

I am also a snap swivel guy for everything but t-rig, and lately chose not to use one trout/stream fishing as they are spooky and was getting tired of losing fish that my buddy got, even though everything else was the same. Last time out, he still won 1-0. I don't really know if it has been a detriment or not to my overall success or the action on any of my lures for bass though....I usually only get an hour or two and am not going to rely on one lure during that time, I want as much time with the lure in the water as possible. I try to keep them on the small/medium side for sizing, and prefer black to gold.

Shallow will likely be your key for LMB.....to tag onto what FishChaser added, look for hiding spots near the shore (shaded areas under lily pads/weeds, fallen timber, overhanging branches, etc. Also, to tag onto what jignfule said, look for local forums for Maine, though there's at least one regular on BR from Maine that has been chiming in a lot lately that may be a resource, depending on how close the two of you are to similar water bodies. Google search forums or lake reviews and you may get some good starting info that way.

I recently asked a similar question, and got a lot of great responses. Here is the thread: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/141509-frustration-setting-in-success-from-shore-not-translating-to-boat/ I'm 2 years in and struggling to find fish with any consistency, especially bass. Have caught a couple nice northern pike this year, some other assorted fish here and there (one SMB, white bass, panfish, etc).

I am a teacher by trade, so obviously I post to this forum and our local lakes forum to give out helpful information and seek out advice. I talked to a guy at the quarry today that was also clearly fishing bass and we shared some notes....unfortunately, he had the same conclusions I had for this particular body of water lately.....live crawlers are all they are interested in. He was working a frog in the muck and shaded areas (much like I normally do), I was running a Pop-R over submerged trees.

I'm in my 3rd summer of fishing for bass. I get skunked more than I find success, but I enjoy the process and am always trying new techniques...partly to gain comfort and understanding in how they work and partly experimentation to find what the fish want. I have recently been working on using my spook puppies and pop-r to get a better feel for the cadences and methods. This morning, I probably had the best walk the dog I've had, due in part to the slight incline I could gain in the particular spot, standing on the retaining wall gave me an extra foot above water level to work the point of the rod down better. Couldn't interest any bass in it, but the rhythm is there now.