Black Hawk Basser

Big ole Slug-Go, Fin S Fish or Zoom Magnum Fluke with a couple rattles shoved in it. I have tied rattles on the shanks of screw lock hooks before, using a fly vice, thread, and lots of head cement.

I don't really consider pressured fish when I'm fishing, because there are so many factors that determine whether they are going to bite or not. On your end, it could be bait depth control, profile, action, speed, vibration, color. Variables out of your control, for example, would be weather/barometer, water clarity, pressured fish...if I'm not having success, it's hard for me to pin down why. One of the last things I'd consider is pressure from other anglers. I feel like I'm a good enough angler to overcome that.

I go to those places too.

If I seem to be finding fish in somewhat concentrated fashion, I try to repeat my drifts/passes through the general area. The only spot lock I have is the old fashioned type - an anchor. ? Sometimes I may anchor a little ways from the spot I've found and do some casting, although I think it's the slow, "do-nothing" method of strolling that gets bites better than casting. I really only do this when I'm exhausted of power fishing options. It's probably not the most effective way to find and catch big numbers. But it is the best I can do with a tiny boat and a Vexilar flasher for sonar.

^ This. I catch lots of suspended bass over (12-18 ft) water with the "strolling" method. I only have either a kayak or small boat w/electric motor, so just a sort-of controlled drift with lightly weighted action plastics(like 4" curly tail ringworm on 1/16 oz head) or 1/16 to 1/8 oz hair jigs works for me. You can really catch a mixed bag of species this way, which I think is fun. I also do well trolling 1/4 to 3/8 oz double Colorado spinnerbaits over weed tops and along the deepest weedline I can find. I vary my motor speed until I can consistently stay above the salad. I think spinnerbait thing works for me because of schooling shad, and at times, hoardes of young yellow bass that congregate near the surface. If bluegills are a huge part of their diet, which I'm sure they are, topwaters sometimes work well past the deep weedline where the gills are suspending and bass are below them.

I've always had my best luck with any frogs that have a yellow belly. My best performing Chug Bug also has a yellow belly.

I think braid would help. Having line that stretches and a really limber pole would definitely put you at a disadvantage. Having said that, I also like to battle bass on light gear. I have a B&M 8 foot crappie rod that is a blast to fish with for bass and walleye.

8 oz of water is not a pint...8 oz of water does not weigh a pound. A pint (16 oz) of water is pretty darn close to a pound. 8.34 pounds per gallon of water.

Bottom line is, if you fish, even if you release everything, you kill plenty of fish.

It sure is, but as I mentioned, there just doesn't seem to be as good of a topwater bite as I experience in other waters. Some of my favorites are poppers, ploppers, buzzbaits, frogs, and toads. The best have been a 130 Whopper Plopper and a buzz toad but anything with a treble is totally out of the question now. The buzz toad is my only option aside from working something slower than I'd like.

I go with the smallest and thinnest hook I can get away with, in an attempt to save from tearing plastics. Doesn't much matter because the bass destroy then pretty quickly anyway. The plus with senko type worms is that you can bite a little off of the ruined front end and make it a bit shorter and keep on fishing. I go with 1/0 for anything around 3".

I can't say I like either one better because to me they are different tools. If I'm searching and fan casting all over, the Plopper is excellent. I got the 130, it's big but still catches 12 inchers. It casts a country mile. Frogs only seem to work for me in heavy veg. Haven't gotten many hits over open water with it, so it's relegated to just shallow shoreline stuff for me.

Suspended bass often fall prey to my hair jigs when I'm strolling around for big summer panfish. Not a popular opinion, I know. ?

I definitely do this, especially with slower tactics. I don't really imagine that a bass is always looking; I think if I always did that, I would try a little too hard to trigger bites to the point where I am doing too much.

Use a big topwater, like a Whopper Plopper 130. Make a bunch of commotion. Most people are afraid to fish extremely aggressively. Double Colorado spinnerbaits work for me on highly pressured lakes. I think they have fallen out of favor enough that bass haven't seen them much lately. I use a 4" plastic paddle tail trailer. Again, lots of commotion with the flashy blade and thump of blades and paddle tail plastic. If all else fails, I try Texas rigged plastics like flukes and senkos. I use as little weight as possible, especially if fish are busting on the surface. Sometimes it takes awhile to let the fish tell you how fast to work it. Do you know what the predominant forage is? It would help everyone with possible answers narrow down some techniques to match what they're eating. If you're shore fishing, try to fish during low light or windy periods, or near obvious shallow structure like fallen trees or rocky/rip-rap banks.

I need one of those frogs. For now, the next best thing is a buzz toad. On a side note, a MUCH less fertile, rockier lake near me has been producing good catches on big bucktail jigs I tie. I'm going to try and tie a big one on a jig with a weed guard and see if that won't work for me in the thick stuff in the weedy lake.

Right on. I live in Lake View. Black Hawk lake is just a mess. It wouldn't be so bad if it we're coontail or cabbage, but it's just nasty, stringy stuff from bottom to top in most areas. The town has a "weed harvester" that is supposed to clear areas for pleasure boating, but it isn't very effective, kind of like trying to mow a football field with scissors. I think this is the cause of a lot of the severed clumps of weeds floating around. I've come to the conclusion that the only thing I can stand to do consistently is to burn a buzz toad there for the rest of the summer. If I get desperate to really catch them, I'll travel a bit! Thanks for the tips, guys.

This is pretty much what I've ended up doing. Well, it is in fact 7-8 feet throughout. If it weren't for dredging, it would be 4 feet. Have you ever been to farm country? ? The natural lakes here are like giant mud puddles.

I live on a 800 acre glacially formed dishpan type of lake. It is an average of about 7' deep, with one small 14' hole. Drop-offs/ledges are non existent, a very slow taper from shore to max depth of 6-8'. It has a mostly muck/mud bottom with some shoreline areas containing man placed rock and beaches. It is a popular pleasure boat lake with lots of docks and boat hoists. There are a few small rock piles here and there. The forage base is predominantly bluegills and fry of other game fish. Very few shad or rough fish. There really isn't much of a distinct weed line anywhere. The vast majority of vegetation is a stringy grass that breaks easily and clings to and wraps around nearly everything, even Texas rigs. It breaks off and floats around in small clumps, making it really difficult to run anything that isn't an offset worm hook or topwater frog. Unfortunately, topwater patterns don't prevail, even during peak bite periods. I try them every time out, mostly because it's one of the few options that doesn't get completely inundated with salad. I know I can pick likely areas apart with Texas rigged plastics, and that is what I usually resort to. Chatterbaits and spinnerbaits get through cleanly maybe once every 10 casts, and do get bit when I can run them in an area. Enough to keep me trying them, at least. Does anyone have any other ideas on baits/tactics on how to attack a place like this, with relatively aggressive/searching techniques? I hate fishing slow. Should I just fish somewhere else, or am I forgetting some options?

Welcome, Derek! Awesome site for info and camaraderie.

If you experience carp jumping/breaching and bass/catfish doing the same thing, it's usually fairly easy to see and even hear the difference. To me, carp jumping almost sounds like an object entering the water, rather than something blasting out from below...if that makes sense to anyone. You really see it a lot in my local river, and a whole bunch in any lake around early June.

Being a (mostly) bank fisherman, I hope for wind. It gives me confidence to get to the windy shoreline and throw baits I can chunk and wind, like spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, lipless cranks...a good plastic option in the wind is a Biffle head with a creature bait, retrieved much like a crankbait.

One idea: Take a jig or something that sinks fairly quickly and cast all over an area, while counting your bait down to bottom every time. If your bait touches down much faster in one particular spot than all of the others, you've found a hump or rock pile.

Often when you get a few dozen minnows, chances are a few may be juvenile carp. They don't look much different than minnows(same family). If anyone has ever dumped a bucket of leftover minnows in there, that could be it. I don't think there is a body of water anywhere near me that doesn't contain some type of carp or buffalo.

20 lb Sufix 832 is my standard on bass spinning reels for most techniques, including topwaters. I bank fish and just use 2 to 3 rods every time out, so I lean towards versatility . I use 10 lb 832 on a lighter outfit for more finesse stuff.