How would you pick this apart? Contour lines, strategy, lures, etc.

[casts_by_fly]

Hi all,

 

local lake, probably my most fished by hours last year. Good head of largemouth and toothy critters, small enough to fish in an evening or morning and not be bored. Very close to home. I’d heard there were smallmouth but the lake isn’t typical smallie country. It’s mostly weeds and muck for 95% of the lake. But last year I just kept trying because that last 5% is where they’d have to be if they were in there. My dad said they will be in the deepest part for the winter (and I value his experience). It’s a natural lake, but on the edge of that deepest part is what must be enough of a creek channel when there is a bit of flow in the spring and these bluffs(?) stay rocky unlike the other 95% of the lake. So last year I fished this stretch as the first spot on every trip. I tried a ton of stuff and only touched a couple perch. I think I had one small smallie chase a swim bait to the surface without taking (it was quick). 
 

fast forward to last weekend. Fished the mucky brush for other things but made a swing through this patch. I figured it couldn’t hurt and a couple casts later there is a 4lb smallie. I know what I did this time and why I think it worked, but most importantly it showed me what’s possible. Now I’m going to refocus on this stretch and lake again to see if I can do it again. 
 

here’s two pictures of the same bit from autochart, one zoomed more than the other. I’ve mapped most of this lake.  Public maps of this lake are generic enough you wouldn’t know this is here.  Autochart has been great (navionics online doesn’t show this). Everything to the right is 11-12’ and mucky bottom. Nothing interesting. To the left of the charted area it’s roughly 3’ gradually tapering to zero at shore. Above and below the ‘bluffs’ flatten back down and stay sandy/rock flats the same as between the bluffs and shore. For reference, WP012 is about 50-60 yards off shore and the dropoff from 4’ to 11’ happens over about a 20’ span (pretty steep). So we’re really talking about a 100 yard stretch or so that has the deepest water in the lake adjacent to the only rocks in the lake up on a 3-4’ deep flat. Sounds like about perfect prespawn smallmouth territory. 

 

So how would you fish it?  I have a kayak with spotlock so can put the boat anywhere. Do you sit deep and cast shallow?  Vice versa?  Sit on the break and cast parallel?  What about lures?  Water is fairly clear (3-4’ visibility) but a tanic dark color. The rocks on top of the bluff and back to shore range from pebble to watermelon sized chunks. The muck at the bottom isn’t something I want to drag much of anything through as it’s Funky algae covered muck.

 

for reference, the one I caught was on a red eye shad. Boat sitting deep and letting the shad clip rocks as I bring it out.  When it stopped hitting rocks I gave slack to let it flutter down the bluff.  She hit it on the drop. The water is 44 now, so I figure I’ve got a couple weeks before the fish start spawning and this pattern changes (though they might just back out to the bottom of the bluffs for the summer). 

i have some ideas I’m going to try, but wanted to see what the experts here thought and I’ll work through them next trip out.

 

thanks,

rick

 

[SWVABass]

Depending on conditions there are a couple things I would try.

 

Drop shot 

jerk bait

t rig craw

spinnerbait 

square bill

pop r

wake bait

 

would all depend on water temp, wind, time of year. Right now I’d probably start with the jerk bait then the t rig the drop shot.

[casts_by_fly]

1 hour ago, SWVABass said:

Depending on conditions there are a couple things I would try.

 

Drop shot 

jerk bait

t rig craw

spinnerbait 

square bill

pop r

wake bait

 

would all depend on water temp, wind, time of year. Right now I’d probably start with the jerk bait then the t rig the drop shot.

thanks.  I was thinking this time of year, water 44-50 or so. Once the water hits 50 I’ll be throwing a topwater at them. 

[@reelChris]

I would try parking in deeper water facing the bank at the letter "P" in "WP012" on the first map and casting 4', 6' and 10' diving cranks so that they "swim" down the contour break lines towards deeper water without grinding the muck.  I would then try slow retrieving a drop shot rigged creature bait like a small craw or a dream shot down the contour breaks in case they respond to a slower retrieve.  If those technique didn't work there, I would try them at the contour breaks south and north of WP012. 

 

If you can find weeds in the deeper flats somewhere using sonar, you might try swimming a paddle tail swim bait over, through and around them.    

[WRB]

I would fish this steep rocky break like the side of a point

Not knowing what side of your boat you prefer casting, I prefer casting to the left therefore facing from the bottom of the map working up along the break.

Spring up, fall down is a basic direction to retrieve lures to start with. My guess would be following the 7’ break line and casting to the 10’ working slightly uphill parallel until hitting the 5’ break line. This would be my 1st pass, then turn around work back to where I started but this time following the 11’ break line working parallel slightly down hill.

You had success using a lipless crank bait stay with it.

I prefer using jigs and worms including Senko’s plus a medium diving crank bait. Jerk bait and Chatterbait can work and a buzzer in the 4’ to 6’ break line.

small area with high % structure so work it over.

Tom

[casts_by_fly]

11 minutes ago, WRB said:

I would fish this steep rocky break like the side of a point

Not knowing what side of your boat you prefer casting, I prefer casting to the left therefore facing from the bottom of the map working up along the break.

Spring up, fall down is a basic direction to retrieve lures to start with. My guess would be following the 7’ break line and casting to the 10’ working slightly uphill parallel until hitting the 5’ break line. This would be my 1st pass, then turn around work back to where I started but this time following the 11’ break line working parallel slightly down hill.

You had success using a lipless crank bait stay with it.

I prefer using jigs and worms including Senko’s plus a medium diving crank bait. Jerk bait and Chatterbait can work and a buzzer in the 4’ to 6’ break line.

small area with high % structure so work it over.

Tom

thanks tom.

 

Last weekend was a blank working it through.  I started at the top left of the picture where the flat turns to the steeper break doing what I did the previous time- throwing lipless up on top, bouncing through the rocks on the top, and letting it drop down the front face.  I made a couple passes with different colors.  I did a couple more passes (always keeping the boat deeper and perpendicular) throwing a soft swimbait, a sexy dawg, and a single colorado spinnerbait slow rolled.  Then when none of that was working I figured it couldn't hurt to position shallower for a pass or three so repeated some of the lures, also threw in some other crankbaits (DT6, OG6).  I didn't have it in me to slow down to a jig, though I did make a few casts in high priority areas with a TRD tickler.  I think I threw a swim jig through it a few times also.  Before I left the area I got up on the shallow side that isn't mapped above so I could map it but also to see what it looked like.  Its a mix of bowling balls and some big flat rocks (small table size) interspersed on a gravel/sand bottom.  That's what I thought based on the red eye shad feel.  I had good visibility to 4' and didn't see any fish but that makes sense since the water was still 49 degrees there.  I'm sure they are still holding in the 8-12' bracket.  This weekend is COLD here, but next weekend I might run over.

 

Maybe I just need to dig out the snorkel gear....

[WRB]

The reason I like to fish parallel is it keeps the lure in the strike zone nearly the entire cast instead of a few feet.

Smallmouth are roamers, not home bodies.

Keep returning and fish the area every few hours.

Tom

[JWall14]

On 3/25/2022 at 2:54 PM, WRB said:

The reason I like to fish parallel is it keeps the lure in the strike zone nearly the entire cast instead of a few feet.

Smallmouth are roamers, not home bodies.

Keep returning and fish the area every few hours.

Tom

We’ll said especially if it’s deeper structure. They could be roaming up and down a drop off for long stretches of time. 
 

I would recommend a drop shot if it gets tough or you know fish are there. Deep diving jerkbaits and swimbaits would be what I start with. I would try to find rock in that depth zone as smallies relate to rock very well, especially if there is a lot of mud bottom.