10,000 lakes Bassin

I finally got a chance to sit down and thoroughly read through this. Thanks again because that was a wealth of insight. Also fishing like this without a trolling motor is super impressive. It makes sense that the big girls don’t school up in big schools except for some situations, but do you ever find them mixed in with schools of smaller bass? Or are they just in smaller 3-5 fish “wolf packs” of all big fish? It’s also a great to know that these big ones probably won’t be out in the middle of the main basin, and might hang close to shallow area where they can hunt panfish up shallow in low light, and hang out under the schools of panfish during the day. After hearing your observations that the biggest fish in the lake aren’t normally the ones chasing shad, I might spend more time fishing the deep areas with shallow access rather then trying to chase the fish schooling on the pelagic bait( perch or whitefish or whatever they might be) in the middle of the lake. Sounds like they can be more trouble than they are worth. Lots of times when I’m cruising around in 20 or 30 foot of water near the shore I see hundreds of little bluegill and sunfish come up to the boat and hang around. Now I know that the big ones might be right under them!

I got out to this lake today and was able to get a picture of the bait balls on my down-scan. 20ish feet down in 25-30 feet of water.

I got out for a few hours yesterday on a lake I haven’t fish in a while. Water temp around 57. Fishing wasn’t great.

I appreciate it. I’m ready for some fishless days but hopefully I’ll crack the code.

Omnia has 20% pro credits for everything right now I believe. You’ve got to have the premium subscription.

That’s what I’ve done in the past, but I’ve had an amazing spring out there that really showed me how many big fish there is. I really want to figure them out during the summer.

In most lake I fish shallow all the time, give me a flippin stick and a frog and that’s June through September. This specific lake is really weird though. Around the shallows there is a thin patch of pads or two (so thin you can see the bottom), a few thin bulrush’s (again, super thin) and a couple docks. This is all in 1-3ft of water. Then the water drops almost like a cliff edge into 20-30ft. Minus a bit of thin coontail in 20-25ft there are no deep grass lines. The shallows are lifeless seeming. There might be some small bluegills but otherwise pretty much nothing. I believe the very limited shallow population is just fish under 12” for the most part during the summer. PS. Water is clear around 12ft of visibility.

Wow!! That is a boatload of amazing info.

Thanks! That was a great video and I love fishing jigs but I’m not sure if that will translate to these fish because I’m under the impression that they are pretty much roaming in open water, not really relating to the bottom. I guess I don’t know how to target these fish specifically with a jig.

Everything still pre spawn?

That’s some awesome info. Thank you!

Last year I caught a bunch of fish that were really beat up looking and that’s when I figured the spawn was basically over. Im wondering the exact same thing right now with the weird conditions we’re having. Our water temps up here just dropped from 67 degrees to 55 in 2 days. I’m very lost.

Sweet. Different is good with all the pressure these fish see.

Does the vibration seem similar to the other one? I was reading the reviews and people said the vibration was stronger, like inbetween the other one and the big blade

After years of fishing a certain lake I never could figured out a way to catch big largemouth from post spawn onward. I could find and catch good numbers of big fish during the spring but as soon as they laid their eggs the big fish seemed to literally disappear. Well after a chat with a local I started to connect the dots with some of my observations throughout the years. I have very good reason to believe that most of the bass, and the big ones specifically vacate the mostly lifeless shallows and become pelagic, suspended in open water chasing large schools of shiners, and other schooling baitfish over 30-70 feet of water. I know this lake holds lots of big fish, and now it’s my goal to try and catch schooling fish suspended over deep water that are chasing these bait balls. I have 2d, down scan, and side scan but no FFS so that might make this much more challenging. Ive never fished like this before but I’m ready to learn how to catch these bass. Any and all input would be greatly appreciated.

I got out for a long day today. Water temps had dropped 10-12 degrees since early last week so the fishing was tough. I struggled big time with finding anything of size. Biggest fish was a little over 3lb. I couldn’t seem to put any sort of pattern together. This cold front really messed with stuff, dropping the water temp from nearly 70 to 55-57.

It’s funny because shorter kayak rods are by far the most common but I dont mind a longer rod in my kayak at all. I feel like it gives me better line pickup, makes up for less hooksetting power, and lets me control them better around the bow of the kayak. Granted I haven’t used a rod in my kayak that’s longer than 7’4, but that 7’3 range is what I mostly use. If you’re working a bait like a jerkbait or frog then you might want to go shorter I suppose.

I’d say there’s a 99% chance you’re hitting it too hard. Much soft than a spook work best for me.

i just checked now and we might get snow 😕

Thanks Glenn, this about perfectly answered my questions. I guess the only thing I’m wondering about now is what will happen to the fish on beds?

With water temps in the high 60s and a week of 90 degree weather the fish are getting very ready to spawn. Now we are supposed to get three days of weather in 40s and 30s and possibly a frost or two. I’m not sure what will happen to these fish. Will they stick to heavy cover up shallow and burry in grass or wood? Will they pull back out to deep water? What about the fish that might already be on beds? I don’t think I’ve ever fished a temperature swing like this before at this time of year. 60 degree swing in only a couple days is something. Thanks!

I went out for a few hours Tuesday afternoon. My best 5 went for 24.24lbs give or take a couple ounces. They were: 20”( spawned out I think), 4.4lbs 20” 4.8lbs 19.75” 5.02lbs 19.5” 5.15lbs 19.5” 4.87lbs I still am at a loss for words. That got to be my best day bass fishing ever. Ive caught the same amount of 20”+ largemouth in my 3 trips this year than I have my whole life before this year. Water temps were around 67 degrees. Im not sure what this cold snap will do to the spawn cycle. Highs in the 30s on Saturday. I’m a little nervous if I’ll be able to find them again.

Man those are some good deals. I need to get in on some flea market deals.

Thanks! They need some insulation to make it through the winter up here 😂

Here you go! My 20” at 5.2lbs and my 18.5” at 4.2 or 4.3lbs ( can’t remember exactly)