Well been out several times right as sun is coming up and man the Bass here in Southwestern Indiana are not doing much. Only caught this one this morning on a frog, but the past 3 times I have been out it has been very hard.

Still learning these Bass, do I need to go deep for them ? I have tried a lot of lures, maybe not the ones they want?

Any help would be great on how to go after these guys in my Kayak, I do have a fish ,depth finder .

What do you guys use?

Thanks for any help,

Brian

I learned to throw a ritual of different baits. I start out at 4am. Topwater, shallow cranks, deeper cranks etc. By twilight I'm still throwing spinnerbaits, inlines. Now day break the bass move from the shallows to there deeper haunts, cover. I use a Carolina rigged plastics to chase them. Do u have a portable fish finder?

A couple mornings ago, I hit up a lake I had only been to once before. Last time I was there it was end of June. Back then, I caught fish around the edges of a big field of lily pads on a hollow-bodied frog and weightless fluke.

 

The most recent morning i brought 4 rigs in the kayak with me: a cavitron buzzbait, a KVD 1.5 squarebill crankbait, a slip-shot/mojo-rigged 7" worm, and a texas rigged, pegged Havoc Pit boss.

 

I started at 6am with the buzzbait. around the pads. Nothing. Then I went a little deeper with the crankbait. Nothing. I ran the pit boss over and down into the pads a little bit -- nothing. Then I went down around 10feet with the worm -- 2lber on the second cast. I stayed with that for the next couple hours at 10-15 feet deep, and caught several more before I had to get back home.  Finding the right depth was key.  

Yes I have a depth finder on my kayak, so I need to put that on there and hit the deep spots .

Have never had luck with worms, but wanted to start using them.

Have never had luck with worms, but wanted to start using them.

Glenn's videos on the Texas rig and the Mojo rig are a good place to start:

 

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/texas-rig-how-tips.html

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/splitshot-mojo-rigs.html

Yes I have a depth finder on my kayak, so I need to put that on there and hit the deep spots .

Have never had luck with worms, but wanted to start using them.

Yes ,  become competent with a texas rig . The day I caught my first bass on a texas rig was the single most important day in my bass fishing life . It opened up a whole new world of bass catching opportunities .

The day I caught my first bass on a texas rig was the single most important day in my bass fishing life .

 

That's a nice way to put it -- definitely the most important and consequential rig/lure I've learned.

Been getting skunked quite a bit, this year.  Doesn't seem to matter the time, the place, the lures, etc.

 

Went down to the river this morning at 5:30.   Started throwing top waters.  Nothing.  Didn't see a d**n bite till about 9:30, when i hooked into about a 12 inch Smallmouth on a crawfish-colored Rat L Trap.  Didn't matter, cause she tossed the hook before I could get the net under her (I wish fishing on a dock by this point.).  At least it was SOMETHING. Still, it woulda been nice to actually land her and take a closer look at her.

Been getting skunked quite a bit, this year.  Doesn't seem to matter the time, the place, the lures, etc.

 

Went down to the river this morning at 5:30.   Started throwing top waters.  Nothing.  Didn't see a d**n bite till about 9:30, when i hooked into about a 12 inch Smallmouth on a crawfish-colored Rat L Trap.  Didn't matter, cause she tossed the hook before I could get the net under her (I wish fishing on a dock by this point.).  At least it was SOMETHING. Still, it woulda been nice to actually land her and take a closer look at her.

 

Could be worse -- at least a strike and brief hookup is something. But, man, are they ever escape artists. River smallies have been skunked me this summer too, although I haven't been after them much. If I'm starting in the morning, I go top-middle-bottom in that order. I start with a tiny torpedo or try a buzzbait around wood or current breaks and edges of eddies if I can find them. Then I try crankbaits or flukes along the same kinds of edges. Then tubes or curly-tail grubs, or a 4" worm on a slider head, hopped along the bottom in the shade or into deeper holes. 

I've been fishing on a lake all summer long, shes been nothing but good to me. Past 2 weeks, it SLOWED down big time...makes me sad.

This year has been awful weather wise,But my go too in any condition is a Rage Craw on a rage rig.It will produce when nothing else will.You can fish it so many ways,Killer rig

My season's been way off too.  Firstly, I've not been out nearly as much this year as last.  Spring saw only one bass, under a pound, and a handful of yellow perch & pickerel.  Early Summer was a complete bust.

 

A trip to Virginia seemed to cure that, however, and just like many members told me, persistence and patience (tough for me....), it all turned.  I've not been slaying them like other members around me, but dinks turned to 2 - 3 pound bass (big metro Boston area...).  I believe I brought some VA bass-mojo back.

 

Trick was that I went deeper and worked my soft baits more quickly than last year.  I have a Lowrance Elite 4X on my kayak.

 

Surface water temperatures are in the mid/high 70s where I fish, in medium ponds and a couple of reservoirs that run roughly 20-25' deep. I caught the largest on drop offs starting at roughly 10'.

 

Keep at it, and good luck.

It's getting hot out and the water is warming up.  Bass will be deep or looking for cover.  I start out early and throw a KVD shallow runner squarebill.  I also like frogs if I get into the pads or slop.  As the sun comes up, it's time to dropshot with a finesse worm or small shad.  I use a bead of Liquid Mayhem fish attractant (which really makes the fish hold on to the bait) to give me a little more of an advantage.

 

Yes I'd say the answer is almost always "deeper" when people have this problem, assuming the lake has areas >30' with structure and is fairly clear.

I've found at least on my lake that bass fishing doesn't really slow at all in the summer, it just changes. I spent quite a few years getting frustrated every July/August by the "slow fishing" but now realize it's because I would still be fishing the shallow 6-12' areas with topwater/spinnerbaits/plastics because that's what produced in the Spring. The only fish there in the summer were dinks under 12". I got fed up with it and just started trolling the lake with crankbaits. I found that there were a lot of fish out way deeper and much further from structure than I ever expected. Weed beds also existed much deeper than expected, as deep as 40' sometimes. Mid lake humps and submerged islands 40-50' deep were holding bass suspended at 25' a hundred yards away. And these were almost always big fish, the borderline trophy class size that are basically non-existent in the shallows in the summer. There are some real monsters out there if you are willing to fish deep.

Trolling does pay off also. I will long cast a crankbait and not catch much. Fan cast it 50 yards out 20+ times and not catch anything, but as soon as I start trolling it and approach a hump or submerged island 30' down it very predictably produces a big fish. I think it just spends significantly more time in the 25-30' target zone where the fish are. Dragging around crankbaits is obviously not as fun as sightfishing or topwater but it really does produce big fish in the summer where I am. It's a tactic that is very under-utilized imo.