bchase44

X3 on both sides. After getting used to positioning and fishing from an anchored kayak in wind.. You will want the option to switch sides. I can't recall how many times I thought.. if I had a second trolley on this side I would be sitting perfect right now and not twisting to cast!

Flatten that incline to where it's a steady gradual increase from like 12' to 4' in about 200 yards.. Remove all fish.. And add some stumps and that's about what I see from my graph You make good points though, I will try to pay more attention if I get out Thursday (and I can stay warm enough!)

I was actually going to try it Thursday with a high of 63 and water temps probably the same.. so just slightly higher than 120. But I have never tried that before. My kayak is a WS RIDE 13.6.. I usually never get wet unless it's loading / unloading. I will have to research these dry suits, most seem over my budget. (and yes I at first thought that was a dry-suit )

http://www.diverightinscuba.com/drysuitsundiesundergarments-whites-glaciermk0onepiece-p-2293.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cse&utm_term=6116(46-51)&gclid=CjwKEAiA9s_BBRCL3ZKWsfblgS8SJACbST7DPSuV5mTBdABxmRtHqVgEW6zQHDDN_rRCdFf2F1niBRoC5qbw_wcB Is this a good choice? I couldn't do those 4-500 buck ones!

From someone who really started bass fishing this summer and has never caught more than 3-4 fish bass in one day: Since I'm in a kayak, I try to pick a put-in point that will possibly have a pattern existing within a reasonable distance. I go near spots game&Fish mark as "year-round spots" on their lake map. Deep water is normally close-by (about 15 feet max). I've read that you simply try to move around, try high - medium - low in the water column.. Try to find structure, cover, or preferably both.. And try "searching" techniques.. spinners, cranks, carolina rigs, etc. I search on my way to my memory spots lol, but I do attempt to find a pattern. Supposedly if you catch a bass on the north side of a submerged stump.. you look for other submerged stumps and fish the north side. However my lake has 10,000 stumps or more. When I'm searching, I feel like I'm too slow.. It's hard to move quickly and fish at the same time in a paddle powered kayak. And many times I think to myself, "I'm fishing that 90% of the water that is a waste of time". (unless I'm at the memory spots) I suppose my question would be: How do you search efficiently enough to find the pattern (ie catch about 4 fish) before the day is done? I am doing good to catch 1 per every 2 hours! It seems like it requires a xxlb thrust.. And how would you pattern if the area of the lake you fish is pretty much the same, scattered docks, 1000's of stumps and trees.. No real drop offs.. just some slight declines / inclines in contour?

A brand new Red Eye Shad, lost under a bridge, probably 5th cast or so. Another lipless crankbait Cotton Cordell, that previous trip caught 2 decent bass, Lost on a stump. About 2 packs of Roboworms and various pricey hooks.. Lost to the depths. And the only 4 tungsten drop-shot weights I've bought are with them. My favorite joined shad-rap.. another stump. Ned rig holocaust, I've lost count. I cannot go further..

Thanks for sharing this, This being my first season to really bass fish, I am guilty of above, I make a bee line straight to that spot I caught before. 2 bass over a pound is a good day for me, and I average about 4 hours per outing (usually afternoons till dark). I feel I try to find "paths" rather than "patterns".. I am in a kayak and cannot cruise the whole lake looking for similar structure / cover that I find in one area. So I tell myself that if they aren't at my spot right now, they are deeper.. I go attempt some deeper fishing with no luck, then I go back the "spot" to see if anyone is home now! I still have not caught a bass in what I would consider "off-shore structure" though. Maybe next year..

50lb braid should be around 12lb mono diameter. On my MH baitcasting setup I'd have issues too I believe with light baits.. especially if I were trying to cast far from shore. If your baitcaster reel is lower quality (like mine) then that plays a part as well, I am going to find a good Black Friday deal on something that is regularly in the 100 dollar range.

Yep Lake Conway I tend to go the Adam's Lake area (at least that is what I consider home-base) I will try your advise on the pad stems if I can get out again soon.

Welcome to the forum, I love fishing for blue-gill and red-ear!! Never caught them that big though!

For some reason I thought bass would want solid cover, not floating.. But at least all the ruckus makes it easy for me to slide up next to them. This is exactly what I'm going to try next time. I went today but there was a lot of wind.. I wasn't into going that far upwind with whitecaps breaking on me. I caught one and lost one. My uni to uni broke on the lost fish and I lost my brand new blue-gill Scatter Rap!! I saw the flouro in the water for a few seconds and I tried to get to it to hand line him in lol.. but it was gone to quick! There is only current from wind so it varies.. But there are so many stumps and perpendicular logs that, once you reach the area, it's usually not as choppy even when the main lake is.

I can roll cast from short distances, without too much noise or effort. But getting over and to the backside of things is difficult. One thing that I'm trying to get used to is that I don't have to be 20ft away to catch a fish. At least that is the way I understand it from folks who fish in the heavy heavy cover. I will have to try a bluegill color! Next time I'm out there (hopefully this afternoon) I am going to try to force myself to get into the cover.. And quit worrying about snagging.. if it happens it happens. I cannot stand in my kayak, so there is a limit to what I can reach to gaps without getting snagged but I should be able to get closer than what I have tried which is "casting to" rather than creeping up and "dropping into".

On the lake I fish normally I recently came across a massive stretch of logjam. A good 200 yards or so of "shore" is stacked with logs. The land is a game&fish area so there is nobody to clear it up I suppose. Entire tree trunks seem to have just floated up and are there for good. Sometimes 4 or 5 trunks together. It's a bit tricky maneuvering, even in the kayak. along with the logjams there are standing trees (cypress as shown in my avatar) and many stumps.. Sometimes the logs wedge against these at angles.. It's a tangle. I can get alongside a log closest to land and it's about 3 ft .. if I ease out to casting distance it might get to 6ft. My questions: How would you fish this kind of terrain? It had me a little overwhelmed when I found it. I figure the best bet is presenting something tight to the logs lengthwise. What bait would you use and how would you fish it? With a little chop.. many of the logs were moving and creaking (this is on the main lake).. I began to question whether fish would hold near moving, noisy cover like that? Anyone got any thoughts on that?

If there were a tidal effect on freshwater fishing it seems that it would happen everytime the moon passed over, whether full or crescent. Save for maybe the Great Lakes I don't think it would be any effect other than illuminating prey. When I was a kid I used to take a flashlight to the shore of my home lake and spotlight minnows, crawdads.. None of them spooked or seemed to notice the light.. I'd see the occasional snake, catfish, carp, gar.. Nobody spooked but me if it was a snake. Those minnows and crawdads are sitting ducks right now

Thanks Hamma, Next time I go (hopefully this week) I am going to purposefully try this "top, mid, bottom" attack on that dock and a couple other of my high percentage spots. I think I am very random and not thorough.. I typically paddle (kayak) to the dock and go straight to the corner I get bit on most with a drop shot. Next time I'm bringing 3 rods and trying this method! Edit: I just realized that corner I get bit on is in the shade! Gotta store that in memory banks lol

Another great thread. Hamma, is there ever a condition you would NOT try a topwater on a dock? Besides maybe too cold water temps? what if it's windy? Do you try all three (top water, mid-water, bottom) sequentially in each area: back, side, front, other side.. Or do you make multiple passes? Where I fish on my lake, there are 3 docks.. Most of the area is wildlife refuge so just a handfull of private property. The last dock is on a main-lake point.. It's the only man-made structure for several hundred yards.. It is supported on some rip-rap beneath. And the guy has submerged some brush. It is also close to deeper water. This is my high percentage area. And I am definitely going to use some of these tips! Thanks all!

I Bass fish the most but I am interested in catching anything that swims. I actually have a giant state map (Arkansas) in my office and want to pin each species from each body of water in the state. I have a long ways to go!

Not sure if you have access to all the shoreline (or in a boat).. but If it were me I'd try the bank south of the smaller deep spot in the narrow section to the East.

Pretty sure it's freshwater drum.. they hit aggressive and fight strong. You think you got a real good bass and then those lips surface lol. But they are fun!

someone more in the know would have to confirm but that looks like a freshwater drum to me

I've never heard this one, thanks!

If you have a high percentage "spot" that you feel confident you can get bit there.. Find what structure the bass are relating to at that spot.. Picture the underwater landscape in your head, fish it from different angles.. Remember what you got snagged on and next time fish it with a different presentation or angle to attempt to prevent that. If your angling shallow to deep.. bounce a bait slowly.. If your dragging a carolina rig you might want to fish deep to shallow. Try deep to shallow first if possible. Then look towards the deepest water in the area.. What is in between your spot and the deep should be checked at different times of the day / year. (All this is easier said than done.. I am still trying to learn how to do all this! )

I do that with Google earth

Welcome and Greetings from Arkansas!

Thanks, I tend to forget topwater since I am least experienced in doing that. I will check out the Rovers.