Mobydick

What are you throwing and throwing? I would throw a tube and a lizard first and see what that does. If you are throwing those, then have you tried leaving it sit in the bed for a long period of time? Try from all angles and leave it sit in many different places. Sometimes a bass will not hit it unless it is in a certain area in the nest. Is the area highly pressured by other fisherman? Try to find beds that are in an area away from where shore fisherman can fish them, you could also try fishing the deepest beds you can find. Add scent if you dont already do, it could just be the extra edge your bait needs (((((Megastrike))))). Good luck!!! Ian

Nice fish!!! Congrats on the new PB!! Ian

Welcome to the forums!!! Where are you located? Im in Juniata County. Ian

I think you found a really definite pattern there for sure. I have a few guess's about it also. They may have been in the cove because of the wind...they may be on the side of the cove that the wind hits first because the shore serves as a wind break and therefore a current break (current caused by wind). And I could be totally wrong...but rocks take longer to warm up fom the sun than wood does...they may have been on them for the tempurature. It may also be because the food may have been there because the rocks provide a safer cover to them...crayfish prefer rocks over wood too. How large was the area of trees? If there was any isolated smaller areas, did you fish them? I would have searched for the sweetspot in the area, there is always one. Thats where you need the depthfinder to find cover and structure such as humps, channels, depressions, ridges, weedbed, etc. You need to find somehing in there for them to relate to. Its all on what the bass want at the time....you may go back tomorrow and only find them in the trees. You eliminated the unproductive water (trees) and stuck to the productive water (rocks). Just another thought. They may have been on the slopes as you put it because it offers a quicker escape to deper water, quicker than if they were in the shallows. At night they may be up in the shallows with trees and brush though. Good Luck! Ian

That purple one is SWEEEEEET!!! They all look good, nice job! Ian

Being the water is that warm I would try spinnerbaits. I would also try a 4 1/2 inch tube and a crankbait. If it is sunny out you could try gold blades on the spinnerbait but more often I use painted blades, either white, chartreuse, or black. As for the color of the skirt, I try to match the blades, and colorado blades should perform better as they put off more vibration than other kinds of blades. Put a grub on before you put your trailer hook on, and rig it so that the tail curls downward, this way it will not interfere with your trailer hook, and a trailer hook is a must. I never throw a spinnerbait without a trailer hook. The grub will add bulk, and vibration. Put some scent on the skirt and grub also, it cant hurt. For fishing shallow water I like the Bandit 100 series, Manns baby 1 minus, and Bass Pro Shops Nitro Extreme Shallow cranks. I prefer either really dark or really bright colors, and a rattle is a must for me. Lipless cranks may also do the trick in those conditions. Try a white or black, with a rattle. As for the tube, black with blue tail, black neon, and green pumkin are my favorites for muddy water. Experiment with pegging the weight and pitchin into brush and working the shoreline, thats what I did a few weeks ago when the water was rising and I kicked butt. If you are fishing where there is a lot of current, use a heavier weight, 1/2 or 5/8 ounce. I usually use a 1/2 and it works ok for me. If the water is rising then you want to be fishing the bank, the fish will rise with the water and will most likely be on the bank side of structure hanging out, and will move up as the rising water moves up. If the water is falling I would fish the outside, or towards the middle of the river, side of the structure. Good luck and tight lines! Ian

Fantastic!!! Those are some beautiful brownies! Ian

Ok Sean....enough...lol! I just might have to come down there soon! Ian

Welcome! Ian

Congrats! That one sure was a nice one, way to go! Ian

Well, what are you having? I am having popcorn with extra butter and Franks Red Hot. With a side of a 1 gallon jug of locally made iced tea. Ian

You are very welcome! That area is almost always a good area, especially when you go the whole way up past the springs. Thats some of the nicest water in the river anymore. Ian

Welcome to BR, and thank you for your service! Ian

Welcome to BR! Ian

Welcome to BR! Ian

Nice! Thats right above the bridge on the far side right? Ian

Nice fish! Is that right below the launch? Ian

Awesome job! If you dont mind telling, what areas were you working over, as to cover and structure? I would think you would be working the outside (towards the middle of the river) of rocks, logs, etc. being that the water is falling. Thanks, Ian

Thats awesome! A fish is a fish...with many more to come after it. Ian

I would start off throwing a buzzbait depending on how stained the water is. If it is on the edge of being muddy I would skip topwater and go straight to jigs, spinnerbaits, and soft plastics. Being that not many people fish it and the water is stained, I would start off with a slightly larger jig than usual, such as a 5/8 ounce, and in black/blue or green pumkin. Add a trailer, I would suggest something along the line of a Paca Craw. In stained water I like to throw solid color skirted spinnerbaits, such as white, my favorite. As far as blades go, If the sun is shining I will throw gold blades. If it is cloudy I will throw one gold, usually colorado, and the larger one painted the same color of the skirt, and its usually a willow blade. Plastics, I would throw tubes, lizards, and some creatures. I prefer a 4 or 4 1/2 inch tube in green pumkin or black. I prefer a lizard in watermelon chartreuse laminate, 6 or 7 inch. I would throw all the above lures in and around the cover. Have fun and good luck! Ian

Check out the Know Thy Shad article! This is the poo right here! http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1134661967/10#10 http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1134662267/1#1 The second article is most likely what your looking for. Ian

My MOS is 35H (Intelligence). My basic is at Fort L. Wood Missouri. Ian

I leave August 5th for basic. You can bet i'll be fishing all summer too. Ian

> NO!!! Landon took my camera. I have pics on my phone though. I cant put them on here either. Idaho***er, Yes I love finding patterns! It ensures me that I am doing things right and that I am learning. Like I said, I could have put on the same thing my buddy was using, but I wanted to find out WHY they were hitting that specific lure. It's all about WHY! Ian

Put in around 2:30 this afternoon and fished until dark. It was a 20 minute run to our first hole. I was excited because the weather conditions were just how I like them. I hadnt even had a chance to get the troll motor down and my partner hooked up with a beautiful smallie. We landed the fish, which happened to be 18 inches, and released him. My partner was throwing an x-rap, black back, grey belly, and red on the head. I was stuck on my favorite rogue, purple back chartreuse sides. About 20 minutes later he landed another nice fish, 17 1/2 inches. It was more than an hour later when my partner landed yet another nice fish, 16 inches. By this time I had switched to another rogue, but still no luck. I had an x-rap like my partners, but I was trying different things to see what color on his x-rap they liked, or if it was the action of an x-rap or what. In the end I caught 2 on a olive color x-rap, and my partner caught 5 on the black, grey, and red x-rap, including a very nice 19 7/8 inch 4 1/2 pound toad. All of our fish were very nice. I eliminated all the bad water and put down a good sturdy pattern today. The bank had to be dirt, the bottom had to be sand, the depth was between 2 and 4 feet, and there had to be scattered medium size rocks. All in all I learned a lot today, so even though I was outfished, it was a productive day. I have been outfished by my partner 5 times out of over 400 in the last 3 years. I taught him everything he knows, so basically I outfished myself, I taught him well. Ian