Hi, I'm relatively new to fishing and I am going to try something I have yet to do.  I'll be headed to a quarry lake.   Not sure what to expect, but I am sure I will enjoy it.  I don't know how to fish it.  I went to it once, just to scope it out.  It looks deep and it looks like it gets deep quickly.  The water looks crystal clear.

 

I will be bank fishing.  I am guessing top water is out of the question.  Am I correct?  There does not look to be a lot of cover, at least on the top of the water.

 

What do you guys recommend on how to fish such a lake?

I catch them on 3/8 oz green pumpkin jigs with a craw trailer. Use natural colors. Also live bluegills under a bobber works great for big fish.

Yes, you can use top water baits a long the banks. 

See if you can locate the road once used by equipment. 

 

The VERY clear water quarry I use to fish, they held tight to the banks and we'd catch them on Zoom lizards " cotton candy chartreuse " , consistently. 

38 minutes ago, Bird said:

Yes, you can use top water baits a long the banks. 

See if you can locate the road once used by equipment. 

 

The VERY clear water quarry I use to fish, they held tight to the banks and we'd catch them on Zoom lizards " cotton candy chartreuse " , consistently. 

The lake's shores seem to be very shallow up to about 6'-7' out.  Then it looks like a big dropoff.  If I am throwing a Whopper Plopper, I am guessing I should be throwing around the color change of the water?  And, if it's very clear water won't the fish see me and get spooked?

 

Also, I do have some Zoom lizards, but only the green pumpkin color.  Do you think these colors would work?  Oh, I am in the southwest Ohio area, by the way.

 

I was in Florida this past March, and I was very successful with the Reactions Innovations Sweet Beaver on a swinging football jig (caught my PB 6 1/2 lbs. largemouth).  I was thinking of giving this a try, as well.

 

 

Quarry lakes are very steep verticle walls on 3 sides with 1 side having truck access road for removing rock or gravel.

Depending on the water sources, usually spring water if clear, the bass relate to the steeper walls and incoming water sources. 

Like pond bass they know every square foot of their environment and wary of anything above the water. You must keep a low profile or fish at night.

Day time most finesse presentations work. Night big worms and rat wake baits are good.

Tom

4 minutes ago, WRB said:

Quarry lakes are very steep verticle walls on 3 sides with 1 side having truck access road for removing rock or gravel.

Depending on the water sources, usually spring water if clear, the bass relate to the steeper walls and incoming water sources. 

Like pond bass they know every square foot of their environment and wary of anything above the water. You must keep a low profile or fish at night.

Day time most finesse presentations work. Night big worms and rat wake baits are good.

Tom

I have some rat wake baits.  If I fish at night, how far out do I throw the lure?  Do I keep it close to shore where that shallow water is located?  Or, do I try to keep it around the color change, about 7' from shore?  Or, do I go further out even more?

 

Quarry lakes generally share two traits in common: 

> They typically feature steep depth drop-offs (not necessarily tangent to the shoreline)

> They generally contain clear, and often crystal-clear water.

 

In quarry lakes & phosphate pits, the main focus should be along the breakline of depth drop-offs.

If the drop-off can't be reached via shore casting, keep moving until it can.

Worry about Location first, before getting too involved in baits & colors.

In gin-clear water, light colors are favored, especially 'white' (In clear water, you DON'T want contrast).

A topwater bait may work better in turbid water, but no lure is off-limits in crystal-clear water.

 

Roger

The bass around the steep walls are looking for critters falling in near shore, so fish a paralell as possible. The more sloping areas fan cast the worms and wake baits, the bass could be anywhere. Not knowing water is underwater like rock piles, broken equipment or whatever. Fan casting lets get familiar with what is there.

Lots of fun fishing quarry lakes, be careful.

Tom

50 minutes ago, WRB said:

The bass around the steep walls are looking for critters falling in near shore, so fish a paralell as possible. The more sloping areas fan cast the worms and wake baits, the bass could be anywhere. Not knowing water is underwater like rock piles, broken equipment or whatever. Fan casting lets get familiar with what is there.

Lots of fun fishing quarry lakes, be careful.

Tom

Tom, a couple of questions: 

 

I am not familiar with the term fan casting.  What is that?

 

From what am I to be careful?  I don't plan on wading the waters, at least not more than a couple of inches of depth...if any.

 

Thanks for all the info (to everybody, as well), so far.

Fan casting means casting in a fan pattern. You start for example casting along the shore line to your right, then another cast maybe 5' further out then the first cast and keep repeating until you complete the 180 degree fan pattern. Then you move forward along the bank to where the first cast landed and repeat the fan pattern. 

Beigng careful not to fall into the water along the steep deep after areas or running across a snake etc.

Tom

The lake I primarily fish is a quarry. The two things that have yielded the best results are casting to the breakline as @RoLo suggested and locating deep hard bottoms with a carolina rig and following up with a drop shot.

 

I would suggest throwing squarebills and lipless cranks towards the drop off and retrieving (be prepared to lose baits). 

At night time split shot trick worms have typically been excellent.