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

I catch bass and pickerel in the same spots. I enjoy it; they're great hitters and fighters. Just grab them at the back end of the gill plates to freeze em; I've handled 45-50 inch musky this way; works great.

Gators are timid of humans. The fear is overhyped. I've swam for years in, and spent many hours fishing in gator waters from a float tube (legs in the water). Never a problem. I've had them eyeball me from a distance, but never approach. I take heed about nests - stay away. And I try not to be sloshing hard in the dark where I could be mistaken for something. But heck, the drive to the lake is way, way more dangerous, and I just don't worry about it. So many fates, so little time.

Congrats.. that always feels good when you have a breakthrough like that. I've been chomping at the bit all year for the water to get cool enough for hard baits down here in SC. I love working soft plastics but jeez, you just like to have some variety too - finally found 'em hitting squarebills down here. That's been fun. Cheers..

Thanks for that - it's good just to hear one other person mention bass and the S-C system in one breath. I've noticed that cats and stripers get all the press... In fact, the last time I was on Marion I didn't catch one bass, but caught a 12-lb striper that about wore my arms off! Ironic more than anything..

It just strikes me odd that I hear so little about bass fishing in the S-C system anymore. I think there might be one old post on here about it. You google fishing reports, and they're either crazy-old or all about catfish. Nobody talks about it. When I pass over the lake on I-95 (which I often do), it's dead as a doornail, boat-wise. I know the DNR grass-carped the hydrilla out of it a few years ago, and that threw a lot of people off it. But, that strikes me as the heart of quitter-hood to pass on a system like that just cuz they knocked out a non-native weed that never belonged there anyway. Mostly curious... I'm sure there are plenty of good bass out there. I plan to take a crack at them next weekend. I fish out of a float tube, so I'm confined to smaller creek arms and such, and now seems to be the time one would find them up there chasing shad.

I don't know that area intimately, but you should do well on redfish anywhere you can access a saltwater creek. Check tide tables and fish on a falling tide. Fish em' just like bass with soft plastics, preferably a jig head with some kind of swim-tail trailer; don't waste time and money with special rigs, cutting up shrimp and other nonsense; not needed. They're completely unfussy, and the most excellent eating. Just about every pond here has bass in it. The deeper the better. The surface geology here is all sand - very acidic and nutrient poor -- so shallow ponds have small, skinny bass. Deeper ponds cut into subsurface limestone and are very rich and produce monsters. Look for ponds with lots of straight edges and square corners - many of these are old mines and cut a lot deeper. Good luck..

Water is 72 near the ocean; should be good!

Others covered this well. I fish soft plastics on both. I prefer baitcasting for most applications. I prefer spinning gear for skipping under overhanging objects and brush, and swim jigs / reapers, etc. I also love the fail-safe fish fighting that back-reeling on a spinning outfit provides.

Being in NJ, one thing I would ask is, how much fishing pressure does your lake(s) get? The more pressure, the more sophisticated your approach needs to be. Having come up on some busy lakes in the north, the big switch for me was learning to fish offshore features and deep structure. There are still surprising numbers of fishermen who have no clue about this. You may be doing things that would work in a lot of situations, but don't there because of pressure.

No telling for sure until you catch something, but some clues are 1) does it have a culvert inlet / outlet? Means it's connected to other ditches, ponds, creek and yes, likely has fish. 2) are you in the coastal plain - the flatlands? These places flood from time to time, despite people's best attempts to pretend otherwise. The ponds are in the low points, so they all connect up once in awhile and fish move around. One way I suss this out is to use Google Earth. Look for the pond on past aerial photos. If it's been around 15, 20, 30 years, you can be pretty sure it has fish. Not sure about the regulation / must have fish thing. That could mean mosquito fish, which can live in a lot of places that bass cannot. Love the crumbled cracker idea, Dogman.. I'll have to try that.