How to learn lakes for conditions question

[Pumpkin Lizard]

On 10/24/2024 at 1:12 PM, bishoptf said:

I really not sure where to post this, kid of a big dumb question but hear goes. I've been fishing all my life, older guy and if I could fish every day I would (being older body doesn't always agree). I have recently retired and I am fishing a lot more, but still feel like I struggle to figure out what I should be doing for a given day/season. I grew up beating the banks and trying to be smarter and learn more offshore techniques but one of the lakes I fish is a private community lake (about 600 acres) and have been fishing it for almost 30 years and still feel like I am at a loss during certain times of the year. It's an odd lake imho, has no grass (that would impact the skiers etc), its not a deep lake, average depth is 10ft, closer to the dam goes to maybe 20-25ft. So it's fairly shallow and there are brushpiles scattered and I know those locations and really the only other structure in the lake are all the boat lifts and there are lots of metal boat lifts all over the lake. There really is only one creek that feeds the lake and only when we get rain consistently is there any flow and there is not much flow then unless we have had a lot of rain so no real river/creek channel that runs through the lake. There is a local anglers club but there is not much information shared since they have weekly tournaments and my thought is no one wants to say whats working because ya know they want to win the weekly tournament. I do not fish tournaments I just fish for the fun and enjoyment.

 

I guess I am just trying to learn how to figure out for a given time what the bass are relating to and how to figure out whats working. I have pretty much everything at my disposal tackle wise, hard baits, soft baits etc but I struggling at figuring out what and where I should be. I sometimes think I spend to much time in an area or a given bait and waste time that way. Just looking for any advice that could help me figure things out, what part of the lake and what baits to help me cover water to eliminate areas etc. Kind of humbles me since there appears to be so many folks that make it look easy and I seem to struggle more than I would like to admit. I read and watch youtube and there is lots of good information out there but there are alot of just trying to sell baits etc and I am really trying to learn how to be better at breaking down the lake each time I go out. What lures can I use to do that and where do I start, 600 acres is not that big but still a good bit of water to cover.

 

Just thought I would throw that out there and see what else I can do to learn more, thanks! Really enjoy the forum!

 

I live in Missouri too but on the other side. I fish around KC and in the Northwest. I got back into bass fishing recently and there was an interesting learning curve for me because most of the places I bass fished in the past didn't have shad.  For a while I was still not getting much because I was using the wrong presentations or using the wrong sized baits. Once I started trying to figure out and find the shad and the baits, I started finding active feeders and my luck improved.

 

When I can't do that, I'm fishing creature baits on rugby jigs or shad imitation on a jig.

 

It's been tough at times late this summer and this fall because it's always sunny and we haven't had many overcast days.  Most of the best action can be in the morning or in the evening, but by jigging through the day I find them and they are in fact exactly where you usually expect them to be.

 

So many of the lakes and ponds I fish seem literally infested with shad and carp. I think with so many shad being available the fish are also just really well fed, and it's probably harder to attract and trigger fish that have such easy access to food all around them.

[bishoptf]

37 minutes ago, Pumpkinseed Lizard said:

 

I live in Missouri too but on the other side. I fish around KC and in the Northwest. I got back into bass fishing recently and there was an interesting learning curve for me because most of the places I bass fished in the past didn't have shad.  For a while I was still not getting much because I was using the wrong presentations or using the wrong sized baits. Once I started trying to figure out and find the shad and the baits, I started finding active feeders and my luck improved.

 

When I can't do that, I'm fishing creature baits on rugby jigs or shad imitation on a jig.

 

It's been tough at times late this summer and this fall because it's always sunny and we haven't had many overcast days.  Most of the best action can be in the morning or in the evening, but by jigging through the day I find them and they are in fact exactly where you usually expect them to be.

 

So many of the lakes and ponds I fish seem literally infested with shad and carp. I think with so many shad being available the fish are also just really well fed, and it's probably harder to attract and trigger fish that have such easy access to food all around them.

This lake has lots of shad, they are well feed and how its able to have decent size fish. When you say shad imitation on a jig what exactly is that?

[Pumpkin Lizard]

14 hours ago, bishoptf said:

This lake has lots of shad, they are well feed and how it’s able to have decent size fish. When you say shad imitation on a jig what exactly is that?

I’m not really imitating shad with the jig, I’m usually using a Rage Bug on a VMC rugby jig dragged on the bottom.

 

 

[bishoptf]

Welp today was a good day, best I have had in a long time. Really appreciate folks suggesting things to do etc..I still have so much to learn and being older hope that I can learn quicker than my past lol. Was really windy today, gusts to 20mph but I knew it was coming from the south with would be coming up the main lake but there would be plenty of branches that I could fish and be out of the wind, and let me tell ya it was windy. Front coming through tonight so not sure if that was the deal or I actually figured at least for today what they were wanting. I had been fishing for a couple of hours and had some new stuff tied on, micro chatterbait and some of the other stuff that I had been throwing, spinnerbait, jig and bunch of other stuff. Wasn't sure what skirt to go with on the micro chatterbait, changed the white out to a green pumpkin and went to a couple of shallow flats and nothing...decided to change my jig from a black/blue skirt and blue craw trailer to a more bluegill skirt, still dark has a little blue and green and change my trailer out for a green pumpkin craw. Was fishing an different area around a lift and reeling my lure back to the boat and had one swim up and almost hit it at the boat. That got me thinking, all my skirts on my spinnerbaits, and chatter baits where white, not bright white but that light white with some chartreuse in them so I switched out my skirt on my spinnerbait (one willow, one colorado) to the same one that I had on my jig and, trimmed it a little and put on a watermelon red fat albert grub. Well I started getting some hits, still pretty slow but was getting some dinks here and there and that was better than nada.

 

Fished up one of the arms and it was getting late, had about couple of hours and wanted to fish a pocket off the main lake. Oh boy the wind was crazy gusting up the lake, pretty small pocket and the wind and water was pushing into it pretty good, there was a couple spots that I wanted to fish, one was towards the back on the side of the lift that was acting like a funnel with the wind and water, and what do you know nice 3lb fish. Really glad I had spot lock since the wind was really pushing me around. From there I bounced to the other side that had and arm that would be out of the wind and decided to fish that. Again up shallow to the side of a lift, 5lb fish (ok it was 4.93 but I'm rounding up, lol). I fished pretty much that arm and caught nice keeper after keeper. Probably caught 5-6 keepers and bunch of dinks. Not sure if it was the skirt making the difference or maybe the front coming through but I've not had that good of an outing in a long time, will keep trying the darker skirts for sure now, haven't tried it on a spinnerbait. 

 

TLDR; really had a nice day on the water, best day in quite some time even with the wind. Still have so much to learn about where and when and on what but will keep plugging along and try to keep learning. Again appreciate all the suggestions and advice. My plan is to create a thread in the Fishing reports section and just record my outings on these lakes and maybe over time continue to figure things out. I need to write things down anyways so I can see what the trends year over year so I figure I will just create a thread and record my outings, good and bad, lol.