Needemp

Absolutely right 405z06. A Green Sunfish is not a Warmouth.http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/Nonnative_FW_GreenSunfish.htm Warmouth- Chaenobryttus gulosus Common Names - warmouth bass, warmouth perch, goggle-eye, redeye and goggle-eyed perch. Description - The warmouth closely resembles a bass or a bream. It has a stout, deep body similar to that of a bluegill or redear sunfish, yet has a large bass-like mouth. The red eye and large mouth are the first conspicuous field marks of mature warmouth. They vary from brassy to dark-olive green and often have a purple tint overall. Green Sunfish- Lepomis cyanellus Description: A slender bodied bream with a maximum depth that is less than the distance from the snout to the origin of the dorsal (most sunfish are deeper bodied). Mouth relatively large, extending to the middle of the eye. Color is blue-green on back with mottled yellow green streaks. Gill cover is dark but has a light yellowish margin as does the edge of the fins.

Hey Shimmer, do you know for sure that bass eat the smaller Asian Carp? I am sure they do, but my curiousity wants to know for sure. Thanks!

Does anybody know or has anybody experienced waters with an over abundance of these fish? What I want to know is how do they affect bass? I know they are filter feeders that eat plankton. There are so many of them where I fish that it looks like they would deplete the plankton for other forage, like shad. Does anyone know much about these fish as they relate to bass?

You are very limited. The one advantage you have is that those fish haven't seen many lures, but that doesn't mean they can't detect phoniness (hence the ones that followed today). The keys for your success are mostly out of your hands. You have a limited area to fish, so that means the bigger bass need to end up down by you (which they may not be within your reach). Then those better bass need to be active or within the reaction-bite strike-zone. Then your presentation has to be enticing to them. Those factors alone are the equivalent of going on a lake, picking a point and staying there all day without moving. Sounds negative, doesn't it? That's the key. Let the negatives give you a positive mind set. Be realistic with the negatives and plan around them! I would cover every inch of that water I could both with a reaction baits and feeding baits. Try the spinnerbait. Flutter it, burn it, slow roll it. Then if that doesn't work, you will need to try soft plastics to try and get a bite. Don't worry about your line. Bumping cover and/or the bottom gives you the best chance at catching bigger bass! Buy extra hooks and baits and line if need be, just so those factors don't mess with your mental game. Those factors can destroy confidence, and you will need confidence especially if after 4 hours you haven't had a quality bite. I'm sure others will offer some good tips as well. Hope this helps and good luck. Let us know what happens.

Has anyone heard or experienced Coffeen Lake this summer? Just wondering.

Yeah, but not as weird as your avatar picture, lol

It's true. I have always heard that if you get stung by a catfish fin that you can rub it on his belly and heal it. Years ago I got stung by a good size cat taking him off of a trot line. My hand instantly hurt and my hand was barely usable for a day and a half due to the pain. A few days ago I caught one on a crankbait and as I reached for him while he was on the boat, he moved and I got stung again. I instantly felt the same pain I felt the first time. But this time, I rubbed my hand on his belly, and the sting went away. It was awesome. Anyone else experience this?

Update #2 Well, I finally caught a keeper bass. The strangest thing is that the gar have completely stopped biting. They are still there because they are surfacing, but no biters. I am still catching 12" to 20" stripers/white bass off the point (and in the same exact spot every night). My keeper largie came on a c-rig This whole area has a lot of structure, but I have determined that there are not a lot of bass, but I can catch a couple big ones. I caught one in this area that was 5#s and is close to 22" long (I will post pics when I have time to resize them)

Hey y'all. Looking for some guys that want to fish in Stl on week nights. Gotta be at the boat ramp at 530pm and we fish till about 8pm. Looking to meet new folks, and catch up with old fishin' buddies as well. Send me a PM if interested.

Definitely a green sunfish. They do compete with smaller bass for food, but they are typically too small to have a negative impact. They are great for using for live bait for bass and catfish. They are also great for kids. Almost any water anywhere (at least here in the midwest) will have an abundance of them. For kids, all you need is a very small hook and a small piece of worm (or a small piece of hot dog skin) and put it directly in front of any rock, log or seawall and they will come out and grab it with lightening speed. My 11 year old and I compete to see who can catch the most. We have caught a total of 70 in an hour and a half before. Kids love them.

Its going to be a pattern situation. They may be on the docks, up the creeks, on ledges. You need to find the creeks that the shad are using, the ledges the bass are using, etc. Just a matter of finding them. The best tip I can give you is that it is very unlikely that anyone will be able to put you on fish from a forum. Heck, guys on the dock that day may not be able to put you on fish. It is all about your ability. So check the docks, the creeks, ledges based on the conditions for that day.

Update: Still no bass! I did hook another gar on one of my favorite Lucky Craft cbs(yikes)! Luckily he went deep and stayed there. It took about 15 minutes to get him to the boat. He was easily 4 feet long. I used the net to snag the treble hooks and pull the lure free. Crazy! I also tried a c-rig and a jig w/ no keepers > This is an area that very, very few fisherman are ever on. In fact, there are not hardly any fisherman in the whole area. There may be a few on the weekends, but not during the week. Besides, this point is all under water. On shore, it just looks like a typical, round, small point. But there is nothing that signifies it's 'beauty'!

I have a perfect looking point. It extends out from shore about 100 feet. It is mostly 3-4' deep on top and falls off to 20' on each side. It runs at a 45degree angle from shore, so it creates a nice little valley in between the point and the shore. It has small rocks on top of the point, but not a lot of other cover. My problem is I have caught 6 stinking gar on this point. I also caught a 20" Striped bass, 3# channel cat and a short Kentucky bass. But I can't catch a keeper bass for my life. I have fished it 4 evenings in the past week and a half, now. My question is does anyone else ever deal with this problem? Do the gar really scare off the bass like this? HELP! I want a bass off this point lol!!!

If your going next month and we continue to have cooler temps than usual, then you should get lucky and find bass moving into the early fall pattern (and I will be envious of you). That will be mainly the corners of docks using topwaters, sub surface lures and possibly crankbaits that dive 4-10 feet deep. If that is the case, shad will be the predominate forage. Use shad colors whether white or silver or whatever. But more importantly you should use the color you have the most confidence in.

I know how you feel. I posted in the "Central" earlier this year of my experience. I lost a huge bass. I have landed a couple 8#ers, and several 7s. I know what a big bass looks like. So when I got this one to the surface, I seen her and she was a lot bigger than my 8#ers. The only thing that gives me some relief from that experience is that she will more than likely be there next year. She was in spawning phase on a classic location. Usually, they return to the same areas every year. I WILL get her next year!!!

I know you fish KY Lake. Do all of your productive ledges (I know that is a relative term) have cover? Are there any that you have that are barren, but still produce? Do you bother if there are no baitfish?

That makes sense. Although this would only account for a percentage of the ledges in a lake, it's a great point (no pun intended). You mentioned morning and evening, do you waste your time mid-morning to mid-afternoon? Do baitfish need to be present in the morning and the evening?

Current is a good topic. I assume you are referring to the current running perpendicular to the ledge? Without cover, how would this work? And also, are you talking ambush or roaming bass? Thanks Md.

Good point Willzx225 and thank you! I should have excluded that. I'm looking more for your basic run of the mill ledges. Usually around a 45 degree slope give or take. And no other additional breaks or major bottom compositional changes or any kind of definitive edge. Just plain ledges mostly. So Willzx225, do you ever produce on plain ledges?

Do you ever fish ledges that have no real cover? No weeds, no trees, no big boulders, etc? And if you do, do those barren ledges ever produce? Even better, are those barren ledges ever really good? Thanks for your replies.

Yeah, I like Mark Twain as well. The best I ever finished there was 6th as a nonboater. That particular tourney, I was fishing with the defending AOY out of his Skeeter and he didn't land a keeper. Go figure. Later that year with the same guy, roles were reversed. He caught all the keepers and we finished 1st. He had a technique that only worked with a couple brands of crankbaits, and wouldn't you know, I didn't have any. Even when he eventually gave me one, the technique had to be so precise to be successful. I struggled with it and didn't fair to well. But it was a very valuable lesson.

I'm definitely not that good. In fact, there has been times where I laid the goose egg. So if there is someone else that is good then when I struggle, which will happen, maybe they will know what to do. Besides, it's a team event. The team gets 5 bass limit apiece, totalling 10. By myself, I would only get 5. It's a bass club. Most guys in there are bank beaters. They are competitive, but are just having fun (nothing wrong with that). Winning at the club level isn't as big of an accomplishment to me, yet. My goals are much bigger. In addition to the club tourneys, if I get good enough to fish BWS or other bigger circuits, or even open tournies, I will need a good partner.

I have not fished many tourneys in the last two years, but I have been fishing hard, trying to learn the things I need to know. I plan on fishing at the club level. It is a club in St Charles. There are some good fisherman in there and they will be tough to beat. I fished several tourneys two years ago in there. I fished one as the boater by myself that year and I finished 2nd team/2nd individual. I picked the spots as a non-boater in the classic and we finished 2nd team/ 1st individual. I had some other good tourneys as a non-boater as well. The club fishes 3 at LOZ and 3 at MT and another at Truman, Pomme or whatever one they vote on (usually 7 or 8 altogether). You can not be a guide or live within 50 miles of the lakes. We can fish up to 3 tourneys if you become a member of the club (30.00 entry fee) and only one as a nonmember. What I am looking for is a non-boater that can fish. I am all about winning. Now I am not crazy (well maybe a little) nor a sore loser. I just want to win. I don't fish for 'fun'. But it is a team tourney and both of us need to put fish in the boat. I am considerate as the boater. I try not to be a jerk. I do not have a fancy boat or a big engine, but I can find the biting fish often enough. Let me know if you are interested. Thank you.

Good post Daniel, and Paul did get most of them right on the nose. But are you sure that is a Grass Carp? They are Hybrids and they do not reproduce. That doesn't mean one didn't get dumped in the Mississippi, but they do not breed. I grew up on a lake that had them. They were gigantic. It looks like an Asian Carp, but it is hard to tell from that angle. The main reason I ask is I would be curious as to why grass carp would be in The Big Muddy?

Thanks for your straight forward advice. I don't mind sharing some spots on a bigger lake. They can replenish themselves. But this area can not replenish itself. I try not to be secretive as well. I want others to succeed at fishing, but I guess not at my expense. I have other areas I can direct people to, and those areas are good enough, just not as good as this spot. Thanks Paul Roberts