Lil'Gunner

Off and on over the years, I've tried to schedule my fishing to solunar tables. It's a concept I dearly want to believe in, so I keep trying. But, I've yet to have a solunar period pop out as the best fishing of the day. If fishing is good, it's usually equally good on either side of the hot time, or it's just poor all around. I just think it's bunk at this point.

Hey, macfish.. I feel ya. I've been out on S-C a few times and have struggled. I can't imagine there aren't a lotta bass in there, but I haven't been able to hook up. I've just ascribed it to the fact that I can't get out there on a consistent basis. One place I have seen a lot of fish on beds is about two cove arms away from Taw Caw campground toward the main lake, on the east side. There was some water willow there; that was 3-4 years ago. The S-C system has shad, but they're ocean-run American shad and the dams don't pass the migrants very well (in a lot of lakes, when they say "follow the shad", they mean threadfin or hickory shad, which do better spawning in lakes than American). One forage item the S-C system is chock with is crayfish -- the swampy cove arms produce them in droves. That might be a clue.

Thanks; that seemed logical enough, though fish don't always follow logic, so worth an ask. Wisconsin ex-pat here, too - Milwaukee / Hartland born and raised. Sure miss the kettle lakes with all the awesome natural structure; miss the pike and musky, too! (.. but not the cold; I'm sure you already filled that part in yourself).

Hey, All... Just wondering.. Do you get better action in mid-day during early spring pre-spawn, or is the old sunrise-sunset thing still in play? Logic tells me that since temperature is a big driver, mid-day would be best. For all my years of bassin', I've typically gotten a late start and missed the pre-spawn most years, and don't know that I've ever really followed a whole pre-spawn start to finish. I'm trying to change that. Thanks for any advice you have.

I'm going to try my first-ever all-season bass fishing, if I can stand the cold. I use a float tube, and I'm just starting to notice the chill with the water at 54F some places here. No way I'd switch to catfish ever, but that's just me..

There are many, many different species of crayfish in the US with a wide variety of habits. Some in rocks, gravel, streams, swamps, mud... some even live on land.

The shallow areas with pads and soft bottoms are great places to find bass early in the year, particularly on those first few warm days of spring. They can be tough up there, as they tend to see you coming. I've had some success with that by scoping those areas out until I see fish, then coming back 30 minutes later and throwing the longest casts I can muster at them. Small spinnerbaits work great in that situation - you don't want anything that makes a big splash. I grew up in WI and fished a lot of lakes like you describe. Many shallow lakes up there don't have any apparent sand/gravel bottoms. I found a lot of spawning areas by poking a stick into the bottom from time to time as I fished along. Often, hard bottom is hiding under just a few inches of muck and rotted leaves, and a spawning bass can sweep a nest out of that in no time. Another way to find these places is to observe the shoreline - if it's cattail marsh or alder swamp, no hard bottom likely. Steep rock or uplands - maybe too much of a drop for spawning. But, gently sloping high ground onshore is likely to continue underwater and provide some good spawning. Hope that helps.. I miss the fishing in my home state, including the pike, with all its puzzles and complexity. Best of success..

This REALLY sounds fun! I'll be making plans now. So, boat space hasn't been an issue on past trips? As a float-tuber who doesn't own a boat, I feel a little funny imposing on other people's rigs..

Yup... I caught a 9lb this late summer in my local lake (~30 acres). She has a blind eye that distinguishes her; caught her again about 2 months later. Same fish; same 4" black watermelon senko.

I've had both happen - turn on and turn off -- but mostly, it seems giving a spot a 10-min rest or so increases how many fish I can get off a single spot overall. It's hard to do, though!

Better yet, I like it for locating structure. A lot of the color variation in the photography are depth changes. I use the measure tool in GE to get some general dimensions of these areas (how far offshore, etc), then map for it on the water by counting down a jig. A lot of times when I find the structures, the jig doesn't reach bottom.

Reason is.. there are several crawfish going around that are not native to that area. They get away from the fisherman or are released, breed explosively and create more damage than you'd ever think a crawfish could make. Generally, non-native species getting around as bait have caused a lot of havoc in our waters. Anyway, FL is a little tighter than other states on this because FL has been ravaged by non-natives on land, lake, river and sea.

Only on mono... I've been getting more interested in flouro and braid, but haven't tried them yet.

Over 30 years ago, some upstart line company that quickly disappeared put out a new knot (at the time) and gave it a name, I think it started with a C. I've used it since; absolutely killer fail safe, fast and simple. Best I can do is describe it: Put the line thru the eye from right to left and make a figure 8 with the tag crossing the main line in the process. The tag is now pointing downward. Wrap the "waist" of the figure 8 one full time and put the tag thru the top loop coming toward you. Wet it and tighten and you are ready. I still marvel after decades that this thing doesn't slip, but it doesn't. It has a quarter of the twists and turns of any knot, and thus takes 1/4 of the time to tie. I've caught everything on it, including 25lb lake trout on ultralight gear with 4lb test. I'll use a Palomar for drop shot, and barrels to connect two lines, but this thing is my direct-to-lure go-to. Any ideas? And what's in a name / who cares -- try this thing (you'll know if you got it right if it holds..).

I'll spend 20-60 minutes, depending on the complexity of the spot, its recent productivity, and the weather (cold front = longer time). I'll usually cycle through at least 3-4 presentation approaches. Before I head out to the lake, I review what I've been doing lately and think about what approaches I may be neglecting and try to pre-identify something new / recycled to focus on for that trip. I don't have electronics (yet), so I have to follow my instincts. I have some spots that produce every time, it's just a matter of what time of day; rarely about the lure. On one, there were a couple weeks recently where 10-11am was prime; now it's the half-hour before dark (but, daybreak = zero). Obviously, I end my day there now unless I'm killin' somewhere else. I believe in "fish highways" -- paths that fish use to move from one place to another that funnels them through (sorry -- can't remember the pros' name that came up with this - there's a BR article on this). I've caught bass of every form here -- 6" to 12 lbs