30 minutes ago, WRB said:

SoCal highland deep rocky structure lakes big flats don’t exist outside of silted in river beds from soiled rain runoff.

thanks! Yeah most of the lakes have deep rock and wood from what I've experienced, there is just one tiny reservoir near me that is similar to the standing timber in SV thats blocked off by rhe boyes, but has much dirtier water and a quarter of it is clay flat bank tapering with featureless bottom. There was a tournament and everyone flipped the wood and fished rockpiles deeper and had good success, but one that fished the lifeless mud clay bank won 2nd.  It was like you said, part of a large riverbed inlet that gets alot of runoff.

There's times when I'll drift down the river with a ned craw or something similar and I'm always amazed at the amount of times I'll catch a decent bass in areas that no one would ever intentionally stop at.

 

 I feel I need to add a disclaimer though: these are always smallmouth bass. I can't remember catching a largemouth in a 'dead zone' area.

Locally the lakes are small around here so taking a few casts on those do nothing banks while passing them doesn't take much time out of the day.  I found that I don't catch many fish doing that, but the ones I do catch are generally better fish.  More times than not, ill eventually find there is a little piece of cover that I couldn't see on my graph.  It could be a partially buried lily root or something unnatural like an old minnow trap or even a brick.  

Several years ago I fished with Mike Siebert at Pickwick during a BassResource RoadTrip.

After fishing most of my best spots, we were still working on a skunk. I said, "Mike we have

fished some great looking water, let's fish the worst looking water we can find." 

 

Mike rigged up a white grub on a white  jig head. I threw a 3/8 oz swim jig, black with a blue

baby craw trailer. Mike went 3 for 3, but they were squeakers. I finally got a bite! Over the 

next couple of hours we both caught a few bass and maybe a keeper or two. Our "no chance"

targets worked out surprisingly well.

Dead zones I can think of are in a river I float for smallmouth in midsummer.  The average depth is anywhere from less than a foot to 2 feet, with a few deeper holes mixed in, when there is normal flow.

 

I've been fishing specific sections of this river from point A to point B for almost 20 years.  There are definitely dead zones that do not hold fish.  They are generally areas with minimal or no current.  When there is a lack of current, there is a lack of oxygen.  Fish need oxygen to breathe, and moving water is where this is, especially when the water is warm in the summertime.

 

Areas near current, and on a sunny day, and areas with some kind of shade, are high percentage areas.

40 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

Several years ago I fished with Mike Siebert at Pickwick during a BassResource RoadTrip.

After fishing most of my best spots, we were still working on a skunk. I said, "Mike we have

fished some great looking water, let's fish the worst looking water we can find." 

 

Mike rigged up a white grub on a white  jig head. I threw a 3/8 oz swim jig, black with a blue

baby craw trailer. Mike went 3 for 3, but they were squeakers. I finally got a bite! Over the 

next couple of hours we both caught a few bass and maybe a keeper or two. Our "no chance"

targets worked out surprisingly well.

At my local pressured pond, occasionally the old sticks show up for their once every few months 'walk n cast' and I will chat with them.

 

They will tell you all about how in the winter the bass always set up here or there and assure you that's where they are.

 

Then they'll point down towards the water intake/shallow muddy side and way 'never bass in there during the winter'

 

And they'll fish their high percentage spots and get skunked and say 'guess they aren't biting'

 

Maybe the bass finally figured out you're walloping on their faces when it gets cold and that muddy shallow side is safe?

 

Hard to say, but I'm gonna start fishing that dead side a bit more til spring after reading this thread!

 

?

 

On 1/26/2023 at 1:01 PM, Catt said:

FYI: A flat is a form of structure 

A muddy or sandy flat also means bottom composition changes.

 

Y'all don't target "bald" spots in grass flats?

 

Food source doesn't necessarily mean baitfish. 

 

A lifeless dead zone to us can be teaming with life.

On 2/2/2023 at 11:03 AM, Pat Brown said:

At my local pressured pond, occasionally the old sticks show up for their once every few months 'walk n cast' and I will chat with them.

 

They will tell you all about how in the winter the bass always set up here or there and assure you that's where they are.

 

Then they'll point down towards the water intake/shallow muddy side and way 'never bass in there during the winter'

 

And they'll fish their high percentage spots and get skunked and say 'guess they aren't biting'

 

Maybe the bass finally figured out you're walloping on their faces when it gets cold and that muddy shallow side is safe?

 

Hard to say, but I'm gonna start fishing that dead side a bit more til spring after reading this thread!

 

?

 

Mud warms up quickly